Last night, Claire, Jean, Eric, and I had our last dinner together with Pierre.  We got pizzas from my favorite pizza place in the entire world - Boîte à Pizza.  I basically died and went to heaven the first time I tried it and spent the rest of my semester with the goal to try as many as possible.  We ended up getting 4 (buy one get one free during the week!), and what a mean trick by the place, they got a new special menu meaning that I left without getting to try all I wanted to.  C'est trop méchant.  We got the chevre figues (with nuts and jambon cru), saveur d'orient (one of my favorites- I memorized all the ingredients), 2 saumon (with smoked salmon AND cooked salmon), and the spéciale (with an assortment of vegetables and meats).  We finished off the dinner with a new amazing chocolate and coconut cake recipe by Pierre.


Afterwards, Jean and I went back to my room to finish up the majority of my packing.  She helped me take down all my posters and seeing the bare walls and exposed light bulb again reminded me of why I hated my room so much.  We then went to the girls and Claire did my makeup :-)  (I don't know how I will ever get ready to go out without her).  The four of us then went to Melodie for some drinks and I went to l'Opéra for the first time (the most popular club in Chambéry) and actual, my first club ever.


I had so much fun dancing with my friends and we danced on stage for awhile to and the music that night was absolutely great (not just European techno...which is actually beginning to grow on us).  The place was pretty packed (for some reason, Thursday is always the most popular night to sortir) and it got really warm.  I am so glad that I finally got the chance to go to l'Opéra (and so happy that people can't smoke in public places anymore in France - I wish that had happened earlier) with my friends and have fun and dance together.  I will miss that so much...

The sales finally began in France (so happy that I got to participate in them), and after being very good all semester, I finally got a little shopping spree and bought 4 tops and a purse at one of my newfound favorite stores, Kookai.  I tied up some strings here and there around Chambéry, like closing my bank account (another reason I ended up shopping...having actual cash makes it all the more enticing) and decided what final things I wanted to eat - my first éclaire, my first quiche from a boulangerie, etc.

Today, I met up with one of my first friends in Chambéry, Rosie (British).


We both did the préstage, so we spent a lot of time together the first two weeks.  Unfortunately after the session, I didn't end up seeing those friends as often as the semester went on.  So I was so happy to get a text from her asking if I wanted to go out for coffee and it was so great to catch up before I leave.  We spent about an hour and a half at my favorite café - St. Nicolas, talking about our classes, shopping, France, and a number of other things.  We then walked up to campus to see if grades had been posted, but they weren't..

Afterwards, I figured out my plans for today for going snowboarding.  I ended up getting a text from Jessica who said that her friend, Billea, from Canada was visiting and heard that I would be going snowboarding and was wondering if she could join me.  So we decided to go to La Féclaz which has a great deal - bus and lift ticket for only 14.50€.  Hopefully it will be nice out tomorrow; my friend Magali said it would be a great day to go.

Considering that I’m leaving on Friday, I really have wanted to make the most of bringing my snowboard all the way to France.  I’ve tried various forms of finding transportation/snowboarding buddies without very much luck and decided a while ago to make a post on couchsurfing in the group “Ski in the Alps.”  Well after no luck, Mickael, a guy living in Chambéry a couple of week back, however I always seemed to have something else going on.  So FINALLY we were able to make our snowboarding trip happen this week and it was awesome.

But actually, we had planned on going Saturday, but he said that the weather was supposed to be bad, so we postponed it to Sunday and went ice-skating at the rink instead.  It was a pretty good deal for only 4€, but there were way too many people and I honestly felt too old to be there, even at 21.  We were completely surrounded by zooming 15 year olds (or less) and teenage boys doused in the style that I’ve found I absolutely hate in France (gelled spiky hair, tight jeans, zip up hoodies in various black and white prints).  And you know how they say that style in France eventually come to the US.  Well I pray that this look won’t.

We didn’t stay too long because the skates starting rubbing up my ankles really bad, plus it felt like we were in a discothèque, with music too loud and an annoying guy constantly making stupid announcements on the microphone.  So we went to his apartment to have a cup of coffee with his roommate, Stephan.


At 8:30 on Sunday, he came by to pick me up and we ended up going to Les 7 Laux, about 45 min from Chambéry towards Grenoble.  I don’t think mom would be able to be in a car winding around the mountains.


It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day and unfortunately a million and a half people, but the blue bird day and great snow made up for it.  It felt so good to be outside getting fresh air after constantly being cooped up all the time.  I had told Mickael the day before that I could do red pistes slowly, and thus we pretty much only did reds.  The snow was great but really chopped, so I was super proud to actually be able to kind of handle it and get some speed.  However, being that he has skied since he was about 10 and then also started snowboarding, I felt like I was super slow, but he said he didn’t mind and would just go on the back trails while I stayed on the main ones and we eventually meet up again.  It was so nice and warm out, we actually just ate on the side of the trails in the sun (baguette, chevre, and jambon…and Swiss chocolate…mmm).

At one point, we were going down a very steep hill, but even worse, it was very choppy so I basically board slid down the whole time thinking I was going to die.  We I finally got to Mickael at the bottom I asked, “C’était une rouge?” and he responded, “Non…noir!”  So I did a black trail (maybe not that great), but nevertheless, I can say I tried one in France!

It was really great to find someone to go snowboarding with and he was really nice and I’m excited to give his contact info to my friend’s, since I’ll be leaving.  Hopefully, I can get in one more trip before heading home.  That would make 4 and I think enough to justify bringing tweeter :-)

http://hamline.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019238&l=14ef3&id=67700145

I’m sorry for the lack of updates the past week, it has been a fairly crazy whirlwind since we came back from Paris and while not much has happened, a lot has happened at the same time.  We came back on Sunday and the following day, had our thème exam (translation from French into English) which was my one piece of cake exam.  I have to say that after living in France and spending a lot of time being completely confused by the language, the rules and all the exceptions to the rules, Eric and I had a lot of fun listening to the French people trying to learn English.  I guess that you say our snotty sides came out in class, although we always had little debates with the professor, as he is most familiar with British English.

I really don’t remember what happened the rest of the week, however on Wednesday, Jean and I helped Angelica pack up her room.  After spending a semester with us, she is spending the second semester in Paris.  So on Wednesday, we planned (and by we, I really mean Pierre) Angelica’s going away dinner.  Pierre looked up authentic Mexican recipes and wowed us all with his cooking once again: a picante sauce with baby carrots, guacamole (by Claire), red peppers stuffed with tuna and cheese, enchiladas, rabbit in a chocolate sauce, and his famous orange cake.  Jean had us go around and say our favorite memory of Angelica, and needless to say, it started a bit of a crying fest.  One of our favorites, I unfortunately wasn’t there, was seeing Angelica salsa dance for the first time and just come alive.  Then Jean (always Jean…) had us each say something we were going to miss and something we were looking forward to.

After crying, we had to cheer up, so we started one of our favorite dance parties with a mix of hip hop, salsa, techno, and musicals (the BEST part).  We did quite the melody of Grease, Moulin Rouge, and Chicago.  The night before, we had had a dance party and while singing, dancing, and laughing together to “We Go Together,” we all realized at the same time how sad and memorable the lyrics were for us – “We’ll always be together…”


We went out and the next morning, woke up at 7am to cook a real American breakfast (Bisquick pancakes brought back by Eric, bacon, eggs, coffee) before Angelica left.  All 6 of us then walked her down to the train station.  As her train moved away, we couldn’t help but laugh through our tears and how pathetic we must have looked – the 4 of us with red, puppy dog eyes and sad faces outside of the train window.

The next day, I took a long 2 hour walk and thought a lot about what this group of friends has meant for me and all of us.  I all of a sudden had a little realization that I felt like I was in “The Breakfast Club” – 5 very different people who probably never would have been friends otherwise, but in this very trying, difficult, and life changing situation, couldn’t help but become friends and each, in our own way, learn something from the other.  Having Angelica leave began a bittersweet ending to a wonderful story.  While I know we will remain friends forever and will all meet up in the states, it will never ever be exactly the same.  No more lunches and dinners at Eric’s filled with laughs, inappropriate jokes, cringing over Aldi cordon bleu, corn, and carrots, Eric’s random meals, Claire’s crazy stories, trying to get Angelica to relax and not think about school, after dinner massage sessions with Jean, and the best bread we have ever had in our life.

I can’t believe that I will be leaving in a week, but Angelica leaving for Paris really made me think about how I have to take in this last week and enjoy every single minute of it.  I can’t believe this is all coming to an end…

Jean and I decided to sleep in a bit on Saturday (I suppose we didn't decide to sleep in as much as just wake up late), so around 11am, we set out on our final full day in Paris. Our first stop was le Cimtière du Père Lachaise which was about a 10 minute walk for Nicolas' apartment. Père Lachaise is the largest cemetery in Paris, one of the most famous in the world, and claims to be the most visited holding the likes of Edith Piaf, Frédéric Chopin, Balzac, Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, Jim Morrison, Isadora Duncan, to name a few. Unfortunately, the cemetery was so big and winding and like all things French, difficult to navigate, we only happened upon Morrison's grave (I was surprised at how simple it was). I really wanted to see Oscar Wilde's which is covered in lipstick kisses from all of his admirers. Nevertheless, it was still a really cool place to visit and we couldn't help but gawk at the sheer size of many of the tombstones which were quite ridiculous in size and question that sort of excess, even in the afterlife...


We had lunch plans with Max, the guy that Jean had met on the Champs-Elysées the night before, and we met him in what was known as the Italian neighborhood where he had lived for several years and took us to his favorite Italian restaurant, a teeny place jammed pack with people where every single dish looked absolutely amazing. It turns out that he was 28 years old and studied at the Sorbonne and is now a lawyer. He was so nice, the food was incredible, and I was really glad that we made a new friend and connection in Paris. I have learned during my time in Europe that you have to let down your guard a little bit sometimes in order to get to know people. I tend to be really cautious, so if it weren't for being with Jean, I definitely wouldn't have gone out to eat with a guy I just met, but thankfully did, had a great conversation and even got invited to his family's chalet in the Pyranées to ski...sadly, I won't get to go :-(


Afterwards, we headed back towards Rivoli to get to the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, the museum of decorative arts and design, which was the one thing I wanted to do in Paris and was willing to pay for and it was SO worth it. The place was huge and I wish we had had a whole day to visit; I am certain that both of my sisters and my mom would have died and gone to heaven there...it included things for every member of the family - fashion, furniture, jewelry, advertising and graphic arts. Because we were short on time, I spent the majority of my time in the special exhibit on Christian Lacroix, Histoire de Mode. The exhibit was beautifully done and displayed pieces by Lacroix divided by theme (black, white, color, plaid, floral, mixed media, lamé, etc) and then in the background, would have different pieces from history relating to the theme. It was so incredible. You could basically see the evolution of fashion since the 18th century as well has how he was influenced, and each section featured a commentary by Lacroix. For me, it was amazing because I had studied so many of the designers featured and the garments in my history of costume class and it was the first time I've ever seen real life examples. I was so proud of all the things that I remembered and was able to explain things to Jean. I was also extremely proud when I picked out a dress of Schiaparelli by the exposed zipper :-D


I loved look at the amazing jewelry, especially the hair combs from the turn of the century which made me think of all these romantic stories I've read from the time and imagined the girl and her hair comb that the boy loved, etc etc...hehe. And basically as amazing as the exhibit was the bookstore. I declared that when I was rich someday, I was going to own every book there. I am so sad I wasn't able to get any but first of all, I knew how heavy they would be to bring home and second, they were ridiculously expensive (40€ for a teensy paperback dictionary for fashion terms from French to English). I wrote down a bunch of titles though that I will try to look for online and if I can't have them, will ask Angelica to stop there for me...

Nicolas had met us at the exhibit, and afterwards we walked along the Champs Elysées a bit and turned down the street will all the designer clothes (I wish I remember the name) and I gawked at an amazing gown for 21,000€ in the window, after which we talked about how cheap the 15,000€ gowns were. We made our way to the Eiffel Tower after being harassed every minute by guys selling mini Eiffel Towers and getting in your face yelling "one euro one euro one euro" with heavy accents, or as one guy said with his neon glowing towers "bling bling?"...

Every view of the tower was incredible. Even though I've seen it before, even though there were a million and a half people, there is something about the Eiffel Tower that just reminds me of why I love French and makes all the annoying things I had to do in Chambéry worth it. It is impossible to describe the sheer size of the massive structure (that sparkles every hours with thousands of blinking lights). Despite how hard it has been to be away from my family, visiting Paris makes me realize that I still have the dream to live there someday and hopefully I will have the luck to find a job that will make traveling there often possible. Especially after visiting the fashion exhibit and seeing all the people who were as passionate about fashion as I am...how could I possibly find another substitute for Paris? Who knows, maybe I'll still get the life of Jo in "Funny Face"? ;-)

Friday morning, we had to get up early because Nicolas worked, so Jean and I took the metro to go to the Musée Carnavalet, (one of Jean's favorites), devoted to the history of Paris. Since it wasn't open yet, we went to a café before returning. The neighborhood we were in was so charming full of amazing looking boutiques with such cute clothes. It really reminded me of SoHo. The museum was a lot of fun with all the historical pieces and I was amazed at the number of items so old and beautiful at their disposition. I especially enjoyed all the different period rooms and the detail work in the molding and painting on the walls and ceilings.

After the musée, we decided to explore the boutiques a little bit and I fell in love with a number of purses I wish I had gotten! We weaved our way back along the Seine through another area that had the sweetest shops with so many cool things. I got myself an adorable reusable shopping back - cute AND eco-friendly! Jean stopped at a patisserie for a gateaux bretogne aux prûnes which was so delicious.

We were extremely lucky to have a break in teh clouds, and Paris in the sun is breathtaking. The buildings seemed to glow. We walked along the backside of Notre Dame to the Latin Quarter where I got a panini aux 3 fromages for 2.50€ (my first panini in France; Jean couldn't believe it....). We sat in a park for a bit (next to the Roman Bathes) so I could eat and Jean showed me how to massage my calves (ouch!!!).

We went into the Pantheon, but only for a peak since you had to pay to get in, before walking across the Pont Neuf to get to the Champs Elysées. We went through the main park, past the carousel, and onto the packed boulevard. Jean was really tired, so she went to get a sandwich and sit at Quick Burger while I walk along the Champs Elysées. I saw an amazing window display at Guerlain with rhinestone giraffes and occupied myself at the enormous Sephora for some time before going to the Arc de Triomphe. I spent about 10 minutes trying to take a self portrait that actually got me and the Arc de Triomphe. Jean was teasing me during the trip, because I refuse to ask people to take photos because I've found that no where in the world can people take pictures. I gave someone my camera, showed them the picture I took, and asked if they could take it just like that, but with the whole Arc. So of course, they preceed to back up 20 feet and have all this empty spaced so that both me and the Arc are miniscule. ARGGGG!!!


It started drizzling a bit, so I returned back to Jean who was exchanging phone numbers with a guy named Max who had invited us for lunch the next day (another random moment that made Paris).

We walked back to the Louvre where on Friday nights, it was free for people less than 26. It is hard to describe the museum and do it justice - aside from the sheer size, teh building itself was a masterpiece. Practically every room had intricate and stunning paintings on the ceiling mixed with statues whose garments were painted in gold. I had never seen that sort of media mix before and it was amazing. Then aside from that, how can you go on explaining the masterpieces themselves? To have one incredible and breathtaking work of art next to another, almost as if the painters or paintings themselves were competing for greatness. It was so cool. To have seen so many of these paintings before in class, I was absolutely shocked to see them in person. Their size gets so diminished in books. For example, the painting, The Coronation of Napoleon in Notre Dame by Jacques-Louis David was ENORMOUS. My favorites seemed to be the pieces from Greek antiquity. I loved looking at the statues and how the artists somehow managed to make something as hard as marble look soft and supple like fabric.

The main problem I found with the Louvre was that it was so huge, I tired quickly and had to breeze past the pieces of art towards the end of our visit.

We took the metro over to Saint-Michel in the Latin Quarter to meet Nicolas for a later dinner. We chose a 12€ restaurant and I got the mussels, pasta bolognaise (ok...), and a very good crême brûlée. It was drizzling when we left, but he nevertheless managed to convince us to bike home. It would have been more enjoyable if it hadn't been raining and I wasn't so tired, but I'm glad we get to say that we saw a bit of Paris by bike, although the rental system was really complicated!

http://hamline.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018965&l=82a40&id=67700145

We thought about going to a movie, but decided that we would save money and watch one in Pierre's room instead. However, when we got back, Angelica (who had caught a cold since returning to Barcelona), ended up getting the chills and was shaking horribly and had blue lips. We aren't sure what happened, but we ended up spending the night taking care of her and kind of missing midnight. Tant pis. Around 1am though, we watched When Harry Met Sally in French since I knew it had a New Years scene.

But anyways, that was it and tomorrow, I am off to my next big adventure!...

Coucou! (that is how the french say "hey there!" and I think it looks and sounds pretty funny)
Here we are already at the end of 2007. It is always hard to believe, especially entering 2008 when I know I will be graduating in just a few months. But so to not have to think about that, I'll talk about my Christmas here in France.

I headed out to Lagnieu on Christmas Eve. morning and Jean-Paul picked me up. So just a recap, I stayed with Jean-Paul and Marguerite Bon (about my parents age, she's originally from New York). They have 4 children, Joseph (works in Zurich, in his early 30's), Richard (lives in London, about the same), Madeline (mid to late 20's, has a 3 month old boy), and Claire (22, was in Africa at the time). I arrived to a pretty calm house, but later when to visit a small medieval town with Richard and his fiancé, Kate (British) called Perouge. It was extremely well-preserved and quite beautiful with all the little Christmas lights and decorations on the doors. We came back and Marguerite played piano while I sang along, and I must admit, our singing voices were terrible and unfortunately, I think Jean-Paul caught it all on tape.


Madeline's in-laws came over later, we had some champagne and started eating at 8pm. We had blini's (little pancake type things) with crème fraiche and smoked salmon, followed by a sort of traditional meal with rice, cooked veal and carrots, covered in a white sauce. For dessert we had bouche de noël and cheese and I was stuffed. We didn't end up finishing until about midnight.


On Christmas day, I woke up around 10:30am and most of the family was heading out to church. So Kate and I stuck around and watched some French cartoons and waited for everyone to get back. For lunch, we had raclette, a traditional Savoyard meal. Raclette is a sort of cheese and the verb racler means to scrape...the traditional way of eating this meal is a round of raclette cheese is heated then scraped onto the diners plates over an assortment of potatoes and deli meat. The modern way of eating it is with an electric-top grill where everyone gets a small triangle shaped pan (called a coupelle) to heat their cheese. It was absolutely delicious and really fun.


We all drove to take a walk a little bit later (after all that eating, it was necessary). It was really beautiful walking through more of a farm area and there was a sort of perpetual frost on the trees that made it seem like snow. Upon returning, we warmed up to coffee and a horrible movie with Russell Crow. For dinner, we had cheese and salads (more cheese!), and finished the night with a French film.

On the 26th, we woke up and opened presents (because Madeleine had been gone on Christmas) and had a fantastic lunch with duck, potatoes, salad, SWEET POTATOES!!!, and...cheese :-) and a really good fruit cake made by Marguerite. I ended up leaving that evening, although I would have like to stay longer, because I had an offer to go snowboarding with Magali. But it was sad to leave my "family" who so kindly took me in over the holiday season.

I am grateful to have got to spend a Christmas in France, although it was nevertheless difficult to be away from home (especially hearing that I missed a White Christmas!). But I'm sure I will look back upon this in the future and realize what a good chance it was to be away over the holidays.

http://hamline.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018736&l=e228d&id=67700145

As Christmas draws quickly near, it's hard not to notice how quiet campus is.  At Hamline, I always used to see the study abroad students and wonder what they did during the holidays and if they got lonely, and now I am the same person I used to wonder about!  Eric and Jean left yesterday to go back home for the holidays, so Claire, Angelica, and I moved all of the food, necessary food making utensils, and disgustingly dirty toaster oven to my place for the 3 days that we would be together.  We are certainly grateful that Eric scored by getting an apartment with a big enough kitchen and table for all of us, especially after having to make due eating in my room these past couple of days!  BUT, the three of us did get to enjoy some Bouche de Noël (Christmas Log...the famous French holiday dessert):


Tomorrow, Angelica and Claire will be heading off to Barcelona for a few days.  And where will I be spending the holidays you ask?  To make a somewhat long story short, when mom and I were in Chicago this summer picking up my visa, we happened to meet a French couple (at Trader Joe's, in the wine aisle...), and it turns out that they live fairly close to Chambéry.  So they have graciously offered to let me come and spend Christmas with them and their family.  I will certainly be missing home but look forward to seeing a real French Christmas!

As for the rest of my holiday plans, I have nothing set yet for New Years...I was thinking about being in the mountains then, but that might be too expensive.  I want to try to get in some snowboarding; it will just be a matter of finding different means of transportation (bus? train?).  Hopefully later on in the week, when my friends that live in Chambéry are free, I will get to spend some time with them.

I hope that Christmas finds you all happy, warm, and well fed.  I will be thinking of you all!

love, Mira
ps. We can't help get over how ridiculous the père noëls (Santa Clause) look.  They are all too skinny!  That's what happens when you're in France I suppose...
pps. During my run today and saw a farm with a pony...

The last week has been pretty devoid of exciting events, but I thought I would update a bit on what I've been doing and what most students across the world have been suffering through at this time of the year - exams. I spent pretty much all last week in sweatpants, locked up in my room, craving human contact all while studying for my 3 tests this week. My Perfectionnement Linguistic course (French grammar, usage, idioms, etc.) was horrible, despite knowing everything by heart. Let's just say that the 400 word essay on either the environment or technology (no dictionaries allowed during the exam, mind you), didn't happen. I even went back to look at my notes on the course afterwards and most of the things on the test weren't even in them...but I would rather not think about it anymore! I have one essay left for history to turn in before mid-January as well as one more exam January 7th. But the worst is over and I will never have to sit through a 4 hour history lecture again!  And I got my grade for my Histoire de la Langue paper as well as my grade for my other history class - 12/20 for each which roughly equates a B(+), which I am very proud of.

Last night, we had a nice celebration and night out and today, the 5 of us took Eric's roommate, Pierre, out for lunch. I enjoyed my shrimp appetizer, broccoli baked casserole with a salmon fillet, and meringue covered in chocolate with a scoop of ice cream. mmmmmm...

After the weeks of rain, the skies have finally cleared just in time for frigid cold temperatures (go figure, when it was raining it just wasn't cold enough to snow, and now that it is...nothing!). It is absolutely freezing, which makes it very difficult to force myself to walk into town and run errands.  I just wish it would snow in time for Christmas!

Well it's about time to head over to our nightly dinner chez Eric.  Until the next time...

-mira

Yesterday, Derek, Sandi, and I went with a student group to Alpe d'Huez...finally, snowboarding!!! Even though they had only a short time in France, Sandi was determined to go snowboarding in the Alps and I very very happily made arrangements for us to go with a student group. We had a very early start in the morning (6:45am) and the bus ride took an hour. I still have not gotten used to riding in a giant tour bus and winding along the edges of the mountains, but coming across the snow was so fantastic and exciting.

The scenery was incredible (when we got a break from the massive snowfall) and it was awesome to be on my board again, albeit so exhausting. I sadly discovered how out of shape I was, and even worse, it was several feet of fresh powder which is really difficult to ride on since I would just sink right in and end up thigh-high in snow and have to bury myself out. And since I couldn't see anything, for all I knew, I was 2 feet away from good, packed down snow.


Oh, I also had a little scare of being afraid I was going to miss the bus since I got lost when Sandi and Derek were returning their equipment and I was trying to get back to the main chalet! The bus ride home was pretty funny. The students decided to watch a movie - either Bridget Jones Diary II or a somewhat depressing, artistic French film. They chose the later (go figure) and I was once again able to notice the rawness of French films and how they just end...without any sort of resolution. How French!

http://hamline.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018353&l=d6a04&id=67700145
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This weekend was the Fête des Lumières in Lyon, which is a yearly event to express gratitude towards the Virgin Mary on December 8th, although the festival last 4 days. We planned on going Saturday, but since Sandi and Derek were coming through Lyon on the way to Chambéry Friday, we made a last minute decision that I would meet up with them instead. So I hope on the hour long train, found them at the train station, and we made our way through Lyon to see the different light spectacles.


We climbed up the giant hill to the Cathèdrale Saint-Jean where we got an amazing view of the lit up city and ferris wheel at Place Bellecour and eventually headed back down to see strange giant floating balls, a telephone booth converted into an aquarium, and a kaleidescope sphere that casted colored lights in the surrounding buildings.

It was really neat to see, although I must admit I'm glad we didn't pay the extra money to go back to Lyon on Saturday. It was already packed and all the people were a little to much to handle! We were also disappointed at the lack of variety in food stands - kebab, kebeb, fries, crepe, fries, crepe, hot wine, etc etc - but I am still very glad that we went, also considering that it rained all night on Saturday when everyone else went!

http://hamline.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018352&l=4f2cf&id=67700145

Our second day in Brugge started with a giant breakfast at our hotel, which ended up putting the bread and cheese at the B&B to shame. We left the building to FINALLY find a beautiful day outside (although still windy and cold, but no rain!!). We immediately went to an internet café to figure out travels plans for everyone the rest of the day (Brandon had a flight to London that evening, I had mine the next morning, and Sandi and Derek hadn't yet decided what they were going to do). So after choosing trains, the guys went to the train station to buy tickets to Brussels and Strasbourg (for Sandi and Derek), while Sandi and I wandered new routes for awhile and found some cute ducks swimming in a creek. During our walk, we also talked about some of our discoveries of Belgium - the number of people who actually look cute while riding their bikes (no spandex here!), my confusion of whether to speak French or just speak English to people in Belgium, and the ridiculous number of tourists which was the main setback of Brugge, particularly the obnoxious Brits that we hope start taking away the bad rep of Americans!

When Derek and Brandon returned, we went searching in some stores for last minute gifts and I saw the sweetest baby Sheltie (actually 4 years old but tiny as can be) named Ola and got to pet her, and ended our time there with giant bratwursts covered in onions and splitting a waffle covered in some seriously strong eggnog.

We all took trains to Brussels where we parted ways and I waited for Marco, an Italian living in Brussels that I met in Beograd through my family's neighbor, Maja (confused??). He and his girlfriend, Mari (from Finland), graciously let me spend the night at their apartment and they showed me around a bit of Brussels in the evening. We saw the Christmas market and light show in the main square.

After spending the last 3 or so months in smaller towns, being in Brussels put me ill at ease with the number of people, Americanism (in a bad way...there was a Chichi's!!!!!), and feeling that I was going to be robbed at any minute. After being there for just a few hours, I am glad that the four of us opted for Antwerp and Brugge and that I didn't end up in a huge city like Paris.

http://hamline.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018267&l=8e792&id=67700145

We awoke early on Sunday to head over to Brugge (where we found even more wind, rain, and damaged umbrellas in all the garbage cans).  Nevertheless, Brugge was an absolute treat and was brimming with Christmas cheer!  We spent the first day roaming the streets, trying to stay as dry as possible while seeing all the adorable, narrow brick buildings built practically on top of one-another.  Known as the Venice of the North, it really reminded be of Amsterdam, especially with all the bikes!  Derek informed Sandi and I that we have become more and more bike-crazy over the past year.

During our walk, we actually found two windmills (Sint-Janshuysmolen or the stilt-windmill from 1770) and braced the wind and rain to climb to the top of a hill (ok...small hill) to get better photos, before stopping in a small café for some much needed soup.  The place had a handful of old men around the tiny bar and it was fun to listen to them, although strange that Britney Spears and other pop artists were being played.  That is something that we all soon discovered in Europe - the music seldom matches the mood...strange.

On our way back to the main market, we stopped in the Jerusalem church that was quite morbid with the owner's tombs in the middle and an alter covered in carvings of bones, but it was very cool to see.  We came back to the main square and I was very happy to see the Christmas market in full bloom with food and gift vendors of all sorts.  They even had Savoyard tartiflette!  Derek got us all shots of some sort of creamy, Belgian liquor (I think chocolaty), we split some tasty Olibolen (fried doughnuts), and watched the ice skaters attempting to skate on the quickly melting ice.


We walked along one of the larger streets to explore a bit and eventually went back to a small pub we had spotted earlier that was picture perfect with locals, dark wood and lighting, and lots of beer sampling on the part of the other three!

For our 2nd day in Antwerp, we went to the Modemuseum (MoMu) of fashion and design (thankfully, Brandon put up with this as he was only one not studying/working in either).  We saw some awesome student work that stretched the creative mind, and spent the rest of the time in the special exhibit of Belgian designer, Bernhard Willheim.  It's hard to describe exactly WHAT we thought, but it was...interesting.  Despite the weirdness, it was really cool to see all of his collections of different seasons in various environments.  One of them was right on the nail with my hallucination box from Fefu and Her Friends...ah!

As Sandi and I knew we wanted to hit up the shopping spots and Derek and Brandon would be a hindrance (bwaahahaha), the sets of siblings decided to split up and Sandi and I started, where else?, but at a chocolate shop.  We ended up getting hot cocoa which was actually a mug of chocolate chips which we had to pour hot milk over to melt and which was accompanied by two chocolates.  Mmm...I love Belgium.  Then in a matter of several hours, we went to many stores as possible, smudged our faces against the windows of stores too fancy and expensive to go into, went to go buy her ornaments, look at the Christmas lights brightening the streets, and gawk at the number of children's clothing stores with not your average run of the mill Target clothes (how do people justify these prices for kids that can barely wear the clothes for more than a month!?!).  We also attempted to go look at the diamond district but arrived just as all the stores were closing :-(  But I did stop and get my ice cream!

We all met back at the B&B before going to dinner, getting caught in pouring rain and horrible wind (the general theme of Belgium...seemed like hurricane season or something), and ate at an asian noodle restaurant, before going to a bar for drinks.  I must admit, I was quite the pain (and baby) about having to go out in the rain into a smoky bar, but Sandi was very patient with me and me and her got to end the night dancing among the Belgians to songs from Grease.

http://hamline.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018255&l=5b61b&id=67700145

Thanks to some new work projects, Sandi and her boyfriend, Derek, wer able to make her trip their trip to Europe a reality, so I met up with them and Derek's brother, Brandon (who is currently working near London) in Belgium for 4 fantastic, chocolate-filled days.

I arrived in Brussels and took the quick 45 minute bus to Antwerp, and quickly found our B&B and Sandi, Derek, and Brandon awaiting, unpacking, and resting.  I was very happily surprised with some of Sandi's amazing spoon cookies and tasty various peanut butter and chocolate treats from Derek's mom.  (Needless to say, I was very excited and they didn't last many days after my return to Chambéry :-P)

We set out on Antwerp to explore and find food.  Barely walking 4 minutes, we found ourself in a chocolate shop (free samples!) and bought our first of many chocolate treats.  I also found out that the Belgians are okay eating ice cream in winter (yay! unlike the French) and made sure that I would eat ice cream later to take advantage of the opportunity.

We walked to one of the main squares, were drawn into a toy shop when we say all these fantastic wooden toys bouncing in the window, and then found a small, hole-in-the-wall french fry shop.  I ordered a vegetarian burger which the translation in the "veggie burger" idea was pretty interesting to see...it was actually puréed veggies in a patty form and fried.  We piled our fries with mayonnaise and perhaps one two many sauces (Apparently you have to pay for the sauces.  If you don't you get yelled at by the woman who speaks half dutch/half english).  But it was SO worth it!  We stopped in a chocolate shop and the nice saleswoman told us that the shop had been in her family for generations.  She also explained to us the story of how Antwerp got it's name and why we were seeing hand symbols everywhere:


Next, we decided to find Grote Markt, the main market square in Antwerp (after buying my own marzipan/chocolate treats!) and saw the statue of Brabo and the giant hand, and afterwards, made our way to the river to get a nice view of Antwerp.  To warm up from the freezing wind, we stopped in a café where Brandon had an awesome warm wine, and Sandi tried out Jenever, the gin of Belgium.

Our next goal was probably the most important.  Over the years, Sandi has become obsessed with handblown glass ornaments and while the majority she buys are from Poland, she knew that being in Belgium, she was at the heart of these ornaments.  So we found a store packed full of hundreds of beautiful ornaments in every size, color, shape, theme imaginable.  It was like watching a kid in a candy store :-)

We ended the night at an Italian restaurant for pizza and I went to bed early to get a fresh start on the morning!

Just wanted to give you all a heads up that I will be leaving tomorrow for Belgium and am planning on eating plenty of chocolate.  I`ll be flying into Brussels and will immediately be taking the bus over to Antwerp to meet up with Sandi, Derek, and Brandon (Derek`s brother).  We will be spending Friday and Saturday in Antwerp before heading to Brugge on Sunday and Monday.

 So until then :-)

love, Mira

Like I mentioned earlier, me and my 4 fellow ISEPers, Eric, Claire, Jean, and Angelica, decided that being in France was no excuse for not celebrating Thanksgiving, so we decided that Saturday would be the day and went ahead and invited Pierre (Eric's French roommate), Erik and Bijan (two other Americans- Colorado and New Jersey), Magali (my French friend I went hiking with - she studied at the University of Montana last year), and her boyfriend from Washington, Lucas.

I started the day by going to the market and buying a 3 kilo bag of apples for 3€. We had all picked different recipes to make and I decided that my contribution would be attempting to make an apple crisp (this would be my first time in France). After preparing it in my teensy kitchen, Liliana, my sweet neighbor, let me use her little toast oven and thankfully, it turned out perfect!!

I arrived at Eric's around 6 to find Claire and Angelica working hard on signs, placecards, and candle things to decorate the kitchen. I was also told that there was a surprise and I had to go put my hair in braids. Well the surprise was that Claire came up with the brilliant idea to make Pilgrim and Indian hats (yes...like you do in kindergarten) and that the girls would be the Indians, boys the Pilgrims. So we all got to be crowned and us girls looked cute, while the boys looked pretty darn stupid in their hat, but that was basically the girls' plan all along. *bwaaahhahaaha*

I was so proud of everyone and the wonderful creations we made considering our resources. We had a gorgonzola and apple salad (Jean), green bean casserole (Claire), broccoli cheese casserole (Claire), mashed potatoes (Eric), stuffing (Angelica), and probably the most amazing turkey I have ever eaten with chestnuts and apricots made by Pierre and his parents. We really have to thank Pierre for that because it really wouldn't have been a proper Thanksgiving without the turkey.

We had a 4 course dessert with apple crisp (me), pineapple fancy dessert (Bijan), incredibly tasty and beautiful orange and almond cake (Pierre), and pumpkin pie made from real not canned pumpkin (doesn't exist) (thank you Magali!!)

Like a good and proper Thanksgiving, we were all stuffed and could barely move. I have to admit, I was sad on Thursday to not be with my family, but this more than made up for it and was probably one of the best and most memorable Thanksgivings I will ever have. All 10 of us were so crammed into Eric's minuscule kitchen that anytime anyone had to move, we had to shift all the tables over and get up. The sound of our voices talking and telling stories overwhelmed the little apartment, and Jean had us go around and say 2 things we were thankful for: 1 serious, 1 silly, 1 english, 1 french. Although I know that all of us are happy that we've found each other, it meant a lot to hear it and say it. During our time in France, I'm positive that all of us have felt lonely or homesick at one point or another, and to have people that can understand what you're going through really makes or breaks this experience. I know that it wasn't until I met my friends here that I actually began enjoying myself and realizing what a cool experience this is :-)

We ended the night taking goofy photos with our head dresses, salsa dancing, and a crazy intense sing-a-long to Bohemian Rhapsody. Now that's what I'm talking about!

my photos: http://hamline.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018097&l=b65cb&id=67700145
Claire's photos: http://tennessee.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2188108&l=4e84f&id=9419100
(ps. just note the difference in photos...how the majority of mine are of food, her's people...i just can't help it!)

Thanks to having a horribly loud roommate with horribly loud friends, I finally have gotten all caught up with Zoki's trip (several weeks later than I said)!  Like I said before, it's all backdated, so to make sure you don't miss anything, look at these dates:

Oct. 30 - Barcelona; Poland
Oct. 31 - Poland
Nov 1 - Poland
Nov 2 - Poland
Nov 3 - Milan
Nov 6 - Chambéry bike rides/Annecy

Just in time for Sandi's visit!

Salut!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving back home and stuffed yourselves silly.  Unfortunately the French don't celebrate fantastic American holidays so there was no turkey for me, but I still had the day off for other reasons!  This week as been THE week of strikes.  It's been incredible.  Everything from the trains, to doctors, to government workers, students, professors, electricity companies,etc etc have been on strike (various reason, just at the same time).  No one seems much bothered though, except for the foreigners, but it's just the way it is.  I went to my Tuesday afternoon class and came across this...

student grève

The students are "grèving" (me and my friends have made it a verb) because the French government wants to privatize the universities and the students are against their education becoming a piece of merchandise.  When we went into town later in the afternoon, we suddenly came across hundreds and hundreds of people parading in the streets against whatever cause they were grèving for.  What's more, when I saw how many people there were in Chambéry alone, I can't even begin to imagine a city like Paris.  We heard that the capital basically got shut down this week.  Almost all classes were canceled yesterday and today, but the news stations are saying that the grèves are looking steam and things should be back to normal next week.

But back to Thanksgiving...as we can't possibly go without this tasty holiday, Eric, Claire, Jean, Angelica, and I are going to push back our sleeves and put together what we can in what we like to call our "kitchens."  I am in charge of making an apple crisp.  And when we thought that there was no way we were going to get a turkey, Eric's roommate Pierre told us that he was going to go home this weekend and his dad would be making us one!!!!! Yay!  We are also expecting two other American's, Bijon and Erik, my French friend, Magali (who studied at the University of Montana last year) and her boyfriend, Lucas (from Washington).  Let's hope that all cooks well!!