Time to start blogging more regularly...

Snack break while shopping: Honey and banana crepe

Town square in Lyon

Getting my room in order

And I will, I promise, really soon. As soon as I catch up on my back log of posts that are way overdue. In the meantime, here are some pictures of Clermont to keep you occupied...

Jan 7, 2011

I have been here almost a week and it feels a whole lot longer than that. I kind of wish that I were surrounded by French as much as I was by Kriolu in Cape Verde but its difficult to do when many people want to speak English with you. Maybe I will tell them to only speak French to me. I really want to learn the language. Will living with two other Americans hold me back from it? I know that having my own space will also be good but I don't know.

The past few days have been exhausting. Last night was the first night I went to sleep before one o'clock and I slept in until 10:30. Way better than the night before where the girl we are staying with had a party until 4 am followed by an 8:30 am French class. I can't function on 3 hours of sleep. Especially in a foreign language. The welcome group from the school has been wonderful but there is definitely a difference in age and stages in their lives. All of them around 21 yrs old and want to party every night. I don't know if this is a cultural thing or an age thing but I can't handle long nights and early mornings 7 days a week. They have been really great in helping us set up bank accounts, get phones, and find apartments. I'm going to be living in an apartment, or a flat as they call it, with two other people from my program.

We started classes and have had two so far. The schedule looks very useful and focuses not only on learning French but learning French to work in a business environment. Our textbook, which in France is given to you—no trips to the bookstore to buy lots of books, references businesses and even the introductory lessons have pictures of business cards, or cartes de visite. Our first class was on culture and civilization, where we learned the geography of France and looked at post cards from all over the country. I now know how to say that Lyon is to the east of Clermont-Ferrand, Nice is to the south, and Lille is in the north. Awesome.

Why chocolate covered marshmellow bears are life changing

Ok, so maybe not exactly life changing, but the girls and I discovered chocolate covered marshmellow bears or "chocomauve- La dream team des oursons!" as they are called on the package during Wednesday's big sale day. In France, there are two big sales a year mandated by the government, one in January and the other in July. Unlike in America where things are on sale all the time, sales here are rare. So this week kicked off the first day of 3 weeks of sales, with each with getting progressively heavier discounts. We were on a quest for boots because they are the quintessential accessory here. I also had my eye on a new Longchamp bag in purple. The main shopping routes and the mall were pretty equivalent to the stores in the US on black Friday so it was a little overwhelming. We'll have to take a bus this weekend to find H & M which is located a little further from the town center. Unfortuntunately (or rather fortunately for my wallet) the only purchase that I made was the chocolate covered marshmellow bears from Jeff de Bruges. Honestly I bought them because they were less than 5 euro, one of the only things I could find without nuts, and included white, milk, and dark chocolate. Definitely worth it. And after a day of bad news regarding our apartment search (more on this to come), they made us forget about our stress for a few minutes. So thank you chocolate covered marshmellow bears for giving us a few minutes of bliss as we fought through the crowds of sale day.

Clermont-Ferrand

Well I'm officially in Clermont-Ferrand, France which will be my home for the next 4 months to a year, dependent on an internship. The trip here was exhausting but it is really nice to finally have reached my destination. A group of students from the Welcome Association at the school met us at the train station and took us to their flats which are scattered around the town for the evening.

The next morning we walked to the school and saw the amazing view of snow covered mountains in the distance. The town we are in has a lot of charm, small cobblestone roads, a town center with a large ferris wheel, and lots of boutiques lining the streets. We all got cell phones and enjoyed a coffee sitting outside in the cold outside a cafe. The time change has not yet set in for me so I've been constantly tired but hopefully it should work itself out in a few days.

Today was our first day of actual class and I felt good about understanding a good portion of what the professors were saying. It is going to be an intense few months but I am really looking forward to it. Tomorrow I will search for a place to live, hopefully I can find a flat and move in by the end of the week.