Samoëns

Wow, the Alps are pretty much as cool as theyre repped to be. I went to this adorable little ski town called Samoëns in the French Alps, leaving Paris thursday night and coming back sunday night -tanned, happy and exhausted.

First of all, the french actually have days of the year designated for strikes. So French. So, if it hadnt been for the quick work on Bertrands part we would have had to cancel our trip due to our train cancelation. Instead we rode in style- a huuuge "magic" bus with 15 beds and two couch areas to hang out. So nice. We were a tiny group of eleven so I feel like we all got to know each other pretty well over the spanse of the weekend, which I guess is what generally happens when you have the combination of close quarters and long drives (slightly reminiscent of my crew days.)

I was nervous cuz it had been several years (sadly) since I'd actually strapped into my bindings, but the first day wasnt too rough. On the contrary, it felt so good to be back on a board! I dont even pretend to be a dare devil, but just riding is one of the most liberating feelings Ive ever experienced- can't get enough! Suprisingly, only 3 of us out of the 11 were snowboarders. Apparently skiing is making a huge comeback (who knew?!) I guess what is really becoming popular is telemark skiing, a.k.a. people trying to achieve thighs of steel. Id love to try it someday but it has to be just incredibly hard- youre basically doing lunges the entire time. Ouch! So anyways, of us three snowboarders, one of them was Bertrand- our activities coordinator- and he actually used to be pro! He has also gone heli-boarding and all this other intense stuff. Needless to say, he was amazing. Even cooler, he gave me some advice on my stance so that actually really helped me out.

We stayed at l'auberge Savoyarde, which is kind of like a bed and breakfast.. and they made our dinner. But it was perfect because we could just get cleaned up and go downstairs and dinner was served. Saturday night we were all a little bit more comfortable with each other and we just sat around the dinner table for hours chatting and laughing with each other. It was just such a fun night!

Hard to believe but it is already the weekend again! This weekend is actually a suprise- I am packing an overnight bag tonight and meeting my friends at the train station tomorrow morning. For a birthday present they bought me a train ticket for a special weekend but they won't give me details until I have to actually have my train ticket in hand!! How great are they?!?! I have amazing friends. The only details they gave me was to bring my carte de sejour (visa, so we are leaving france??), pack light, have comfortable enough shoes to walk around all day but still look cute. And that is all they will tell me haha I guess we will see in the morning!!

Lindso Bindso

Ok time is escaping me. Lindsay would laugh at me because almost everynight I would say I can believe its already 6! or whatever time- the point is I truly can't believe it! So its been over a week since Lindso left and I am now back into my normal routine. We had such an awesome tome together- first exploring London and then hanging in Paris. Lindsay probably walked over thirty miles while she was here! I still had classes so a couple mornings I just sent her off with a little map and she explored Paris on her own, walking around for hours. I was totally impressed by how much french she has remembered from her classes she had nearly eight yrs ago! Needless to say, we had such a great time just hanging out and chatting. Our first day in London Town was rainy rainy rainy, but we didn't let that stop us! We saw westminster, Big Ben and the London Eye- all with no crowds! Haha I actually think my favorite part is looking at the ridiculous pictures now! We are posing for pictures as the wind is blowing our hair and the rain is pouring down- it looks like a joke. But we just really wanted to experience London culture: rainy. Luckily the second day was pretty beautiful. We spent the morning in Notting Hill- loooved it! I even made Lindsay take pictures of the "Blue" door, that is now unfortunately black. I actually met a londoner (?) When I was staying in Barcelona and he told me thay painted it a few years back because they would always get tourists knocking on their door wanting to take pictures! Haha Ridiculousness. We then spent our afternoon walking around- we actually ended up walking to an area where there were no undergrounds nearby. What are the chances?!? To award ourselves for the immense amount of walking around we had done we went to an adorable pasta bar for lunch that we had walked by the night before. Delicious!

Unfortunately when we got back to Paris I still had classes, so Lindsos first day in Paris I sent her off with an apple and a map! She walked to the Eiffel Tower and the arch de triomphe- aka a loooot of walking. She also found an adorable bistro we went back to the following day- "pub kleber." Ok but this pub has a really funny story along with it. So when she first went she had this waiter who was just so sweet to her and took very good care of her, using the little english he knew- in large part why we love it so much. So when we went back, after we were done eating, this waiter does a double take when he looks at me, gives me a huge smile and says "bon appetit!" This kind of kindness from a waiter isn't always a norm in Paris- especially aafter you've eaten aand he isn't your waiter. Thrown off guard I just acknowledge it with a half smile and say "merci." I tell Lindsay and she is says. "That was my waiter! He totally thinks your me!" We laughed and I kinda felt bad that I didn't aknowledge his kindness more, but he had the wrong girl! To make things worse/funnier, when we were walking out the door he barely looks at Lindsay and says, "merci" while he then says "thank you very much!" To me! We just about died, he most definitely thought I was Lindsay WHILE lindsay was right there! We had a good laugh about that one. The rest of her time here we just did what anyone would want to do in Paris- spend hours chatting over delicious plats at adorable restaurants.

Oh I almost forgot to mention the craziest part for me- hearing my host family speak english! Sunday afternoon we had lunch with the family and my family decided to whip out their english- it was so weird for me! I am so glad they did because it was definitely more enjoyable for Lindso but for me it was the kind of weird that it is when I speak french with my american friends- semi un-natural. But it was so fun and I am glad that Lindsay got to meet my family and see how wonderful they are!

I am so glad she had the chance to come and hang out with me here, see a little bit of what my life is like and enjoy the french culture.

Well, mid-term studying is calling! Then tomorrow night I leave for snowboarding this weekend in the French Alps. Awwwwww.