In Chambéry

Yesterday we spent the morning traveling. We had breakfast with Mark and Joy and then Mark dropped us off at the train station. Our first train took us to Lyon and then our connection train was late. And late. And late. Then there was an announcement about it but we didn't catch all of it so Anna went and asked some guy. She kind of got what he said so then I went up and asked this lady at the ticket place. She said we had to take a different train to the train that would take us to Chambéry. Apparently someone died on the train we were originally supposed to take!

When we got to the train station we were so late (an hour and a half than what we told them) that nobody was there to pick us up so we just walked to the apartment, it was only like 10 min. Then we waited outside some office for the student guide to check us in. After a while a couple other students showed up and waited too. About an hour later another two students came by and one of them had Guillome's phone number so she called him and he came to check us in.

Anna is living with the other girl from our school, Hannah. My roommate is from Mexico. She speaks English too but I told her I want us to talk in French together. She lived in Quebec for 6 months so her french is SO good. I told her I can communicate in French but my grammar won't be great so she asked if I wanted her to correct me, I said yes please!

Yesterday we spent the day exploring after we checked in. We walked and walked, everything is so cool here! The town is beautiful and there are bakeries and little fruit marts and things everywhere! I went to bed between 9 and 10, I get tired so easily, but the days seem to last forever over here. Maybe it's because it gets dark later.

Today we met at 10 and went to the market. It was amazing! I need to find the equivalent of that in Chicago. The fruit and vegetables looked so perfect and wonderful! Meat is really expensive over here. One boneless skinless chicken breast is around 5 euros. I guess I'll be getting my protein from cheese over the next 6 weeks... We stopped at a boucherie, a meat shop, and although the chicken didn't have their heads on them (like the fish), they had the feet still attached! No thank you.

We loaded up on fruits and vegetables, dropped them back home and then met up with the group at lunch and walked around. Guillome and François, two French students, showed us where a supermarket is. It's cool, here grocery stores don't give you bags, you HAVE to bring reusable ones. I bought a french one, it will be a nice little souvenir for home.

We had a picnic in the park and then just relaxed and talked with the other students in the program. Most are from other schools in America- a lot of people from NC, several from Iowa, Nebraska, Maryland, Arkansas, and there's even a girl from upstate new york! She's from Corning and a huge Syracuse basketball fan so we bonded over that for a second. She told me two of her friends did this program last year and they LOVED it, she said they didn't want to leave. Everyone I've met is really nice. I'm excited for the next 6 weeks!

The bad news- no internet at my apartment. A bunch of us are looking to get it installed for two months, Guillome told us the students last year did that. We'll see. Either way we will have it at school so I can get on there, I just might not be able to skype with people as much as I would like...Right now we're a quick burger, it's like a McDonald's, they have free wifi so I can always come here during the day. I'll manage.

Tomorrow we're getting a tour of a cheese factory and going to a lake. I'm so excited. Everything here is great, I just love it here.