Cheers to New Beginnings, New Memories, and New Friends!!

The first day of school I woke up and got ready in time to be there by 9am only to find out I didn’t have to be there till 10 am. That was my fault but I wasn’t alone so I hung out with some of my new friends and headed to school. Upon arrival, there were croissants, coffee, and orange juice along with all of the students and French professors. We started out with a group photo and then began our placement test. The first page was a bit odd to me…. There was a word bank then a picture with blanks attached to each item with the first letter of each word and the exact amount of blanks as letters in the word… aka if you could count letters, you could complete the first page. The next page was a bit more difficult with different tense conjugations… of which I had no clue what to write. I’m much better speaking than writing or reading. Finally, the back page we got to write a story about a picture of Harry Potter in three different tenses. Naturally I tried to find something weird to write about and have fun with it. After the test we went back for an hour and a half lunch break followed by finding out our placements. I placed into the “advanced” level with about 15 other students. We met our teacher and all of the students in the class. It was very different from my trip to Costa Rica where there were only four students per class and everyone was on close to the same level. Here, we were all on very different levels in the same class so it was a much different and new type of atmosphere. I have some pretty awesome people in my class though, and since then we’ve been having fun and making the best of it…. (Class is still class in any country or language).

Throughout the week, I got to know my flood mates much better. It’s so awesome. Everyone keeps their doors open and we all share cooking tools and utensils. We hang out just about all the time…. So I’ve decided I don’t really care if I ever get Wi-Fi in my room. I enjoy hanging with everyone all the time or exploring the town, sitting down to reminisce about my past week is hard enough, but necessary in my mind. Anyways, we took a bus to the bigger grocery store “Carre Four” where I bought a stove with two eye burners that I can control the temperature. It’s so nice living on my own and cooking every night with all of my new friends. I absolutely love it! We also ventured to “Happy Cash” (the pawn store) where we looked for other cooking utensils.

The town I live in is so cute (Vichy). A boulangerie is right across the street and beside that is a mini convenience store that stays open late when everything else closes. Then, there’s a huge center of the city with all kinds of stores, crepes being made fresh on every street, a cheese store that smells as if someone wore the same socks for a year straight, two different groceries stores, and all kinds of excitement. Obviously the buildings are beautiful and the food is amazing. I’ve already had way too many crepes…. Viva La France! =] Most of our stores stay open on Sunday which is extremely strange for a town in France. We have a cute river running through the city, however there is construction going on there through July and I won’t be able to enjoy it to the fullest while I am here. I’ve spent most of my time after school exploring the town and enjoying every minute of it.

Thursday morning I woke up feeling pretty sick and ended up missing the second half of my French classes and slept for about 16 hours straight and had to force myself to wake up for school Friday morning since I was skipping the afternoon Friday as well to go skiing.

About 3 o’clock, my friends and I took off in two different cars to head to Super Besse to ski for the weekend. First, we stopped at L’eclerc to get our groceries for the weekend (pasta all weekend), which was about 23 euros, a person, chipped in 10 euros per person for gas, and stopped at a sporting goods store to get some ski gear, which cost about 25 euros for me. We spent 54 euros each for the mini apartment, 28 euros for a lift ticket, 45 euros for our rentals…. All in all a little less than 200 euros for an awesome weekend.

Driving to the resort was the craziest thing. About 30 minutes away I began getting worried that it was going to be awful because it was still sunny and I hadn’t seen a drop of snow anywhere, only green grass and trees and beautiful mountains. All of a sudden we turned the corner and there was at least a foot of snow covering everything and it was like a blizzard outside. I think that was the most unreal thing I have ever seen in my life. It was like driving from Florida to Alaska in an instant, unreal. The resort was beautiful and we were so excited once we arrived. The first night we hung out in the apartment and had an awesome time making memories together. About 8 am, we started our day with some eggs, nutella, and croissants. We got dressed and took a bus to the slopes. We got our gear and headed out. Within about 10 minutes, I was covered in wet snow. However, I was in France and didn’t care! We went to their bunny hill to teach the new people how to ski. Ben, the French guy with us, asked me if I had ever been on a bar to get up the slopes. When I told him I hadn’t, he tried to explain to me how to do it, but as I’ve been boarding since I was 3, I didn’t pay much attention and thought it’d be easy. Once we got there it was the weirdest thing and I didn’t understand it at all. I thought it was like this super long pole you grabbed that took you to the top. I thought I’d be fine and got to the front, grabbed on, and it instantly jerked me and I landed on my face in the snow. I got up and went to the back of the line where I realized you were supposed to put it in between your legs and “ride” it up…. I also realized I was the only boarder in line; obviously that’s why Ben thought I needed help. Woops! I finally figured it out and made it to the top with much struggle, the USA is much smarter when it comes to bunny hill carpets or mini lifts.

After a couple of runs, Ben, Frankie, and I left the beginners and went to other hills. After about 2 runs I was frozen and soaking wet from the snow. I couldn’t see anything going down the hill as I only had sunglasses and it was snowing so hard and water was dripping down my face and in my eyes. Also, the snow was pelting my face, and I knew there was no way I was going to be able to continue in the weather without the proper ski gear. I had a blast but I was finished in about another run and headed inside to get warm and wait on the others. When they all arrived, they were just as drenched as I had been. We decided to head back for the night and went swimming and in the sauna to get warm. About 15 minutes after we arrived in the sauna, people were staring at us through the door and we didn’t know why. They opened it and told us they had it reserved and we had to get out… That seems so weird to me being able to reserve a sauna at a resort… I guess money can buy more than I knew. Haha We went back to the room and had another great night. The people here are so awesome and so much fun to hang out with. I’m really glad I’ve been able to spend so much time with them. In the morning we woke up, cleaned the apartment, checked out, and got ready to ski again. However, when we went to get Kim’s car out of the foot or so of snow that had fallen overnight, we ran into some problems. As we tried to remove the snow and have the guys help push her out of her parking spot, we were also on a hill and her car began to slide sideways and about an inch from the next car she stopped the car and we had no idea what to do. We kept digging hoping maybe we could get her out when the people in the car next to us came to their car to leave. The guys helped shovel that car and push it out so we could finally have some room. After 2 hours of the guys shoveling and pushing the car, she was finally able to get her car out. I honestly wasn’t sure if she’d ever make it. After those two hours of getting drenched again in the snow, everyone but Frankie and Ben were ready to head back home. Frankie and Ben stayed while the rest of us headed back. We stopped in a little town to find some lunch, but of course everything except a bar was closed. We tried to go to the bar for food but they weren’t serving any type of food because it was Sunday. We went all the way back and ate in Vichy at a place called “Kankies” (spelling?). It was amazing. I finally ate rice! I was satisfied. Then we came back, rested, and I went to the grocery store. It was so relaxing going alone for the first time. I was able to enjoy my time in the town a bit more and do some window-shopping since all of their big sales are going on right now. I had a nice leisurely walk then came back and watched Nick cook me dinner. Haha I meant to help, but he was doing such a great job and it was looking and smelling amazing. He boiled potatoes, carrots, and onions, then sautéed chicken in garlic and onions. It was absolutely amazing and the first time I’ve actually really enjoyed onions.

To put the final end to my first week in France, my friends and I are having a glass of wine in my room. Nothing like French wine to remind you that you’re in France.

Cheers to New Beginnings, New Memories, and New Friends!!!