Man how time flies!

This is my fourth and final week in Annecy. Time sure does fly. I'm not sure how much French I've been able to absorb, but I'll keep working on it.

Next, I'm moving on to Interlaken, Switzerland for some outdoor fun... canyoning to be exact! Hopefully the water won't be too cold. Then it's time for Italy baby!!

Pâques is French for Easter

It was a relaxing Easter weekend. I strolled around downtown on Saturday, and all the stores were prepared with everything for Easter--chocolates, pastries, flowers and Easter egg candies.

Easter Monday is a national holiday here, so everything was closed. It was nice because there were less cars on the road, and the walk to the lake was nice and quiet. It was my first time at the lake so I spent the afternoon studying, sunbathing and enjoying the weather. I really wish you all could be here!

Oh, and to dispell/confirm stereotypes: 1. French ladies do shave their armpits and 2. they also enjoy topless sunbathing.

Random pictures from my phone

I forget why I took this picture. Nothing spectacular going on, but look at the bakery hours. 7am to 8:30pm. The bakeries in France are open pretty late. There's one on almost every corner. One time, here in Annecy, I got a baguette that must have just come out of the oven. The outside was nice and crispy and crunchy, and the inside was warm and soft. I'm going to try to bake a baguette when I get home. And then I'm going to sell it to my neighbors. And then word will spread and I'll be a millionaire!

Pictures from the train. The windows are like forever changing pictures frames.

A view of Annecy.

The school took us on a little walking tour around the city center yesterday. Isn't it so Mary Poppins-esque?

Heheheh....ignore my finger :) I just really liked this balcony.

It's a watering hole for the dogs! Two seconds after I took this picture, a doggy came by to get a drink.

Look at this cool contraption! It's used to melt the cheese. See below for the after picture.

After the walk, we had some time to kill before dinner, so I went to the movies with one of the girls from school. The movie was called La Fille du puisatier. I was falling asleep because I couldn't really understand what they were saying. Then we met up with some others from school and headed to dinner to say goodbye to one of the girls who's leaving this week to return to Switzerland. Overall, a pretty good day :)

Saturday shopping day

So I came back with an orange tee, cardigan, scarf, hairties and a headband. All necessary things. A colorful tee to brighten up my boring clothes. A cardigan since it's getting warmer and I don't want to have to wear my jacket everywhere, the headband and hairties to hide my mullet, and the scarf because everyone's wearing one! The sunglasses and bag are from Barcelona, but I wanted to give you the full effect. I had to buy them because my sunglasses broke and I didn't want to carry around the sackpack all the time. And the only other clothing item I bought so far are the boots on the top right corner, which I bought in London since my shoes got soaked from the rain.

Lac d'Annecy

They have weird trees here.

This is by the lake (Lac Annecy) on Saturday afternoon. Lots of people picnicking and sunbathing on the grass.

This lake is supposedly the cleanest lake in the world because of the strict environmental laws in the area. Look, I even got a swan in the picture!

They call Annecy the "Venice of France," but I'm sure the rivers are not as extensive as in Venice. It was kind of surreal seeing people sunbathing by the lake with the snow-capped mountains in the background. Whenever we're sunbathing or swimming, that means that there's sand and waves and an infinite horizon. I'm not sure if I'm going to see the beach or not on this trip, but I kinda miss it right now.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Annecy is one of the candidates to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. They have signs posted all over the city. My teacher said it's in competition with Munich and Korea. Also, there's supposed to be a marathon event happening this Sunday. I'll update you guys if there's anything cool. 

Before getting to Annecy, I planned on making day and/or weekend trips from Annecy to nearby towns like Geneva, Lyon or Nice. There's Lake Geneva in Geneva and wine tasting and vineyard tours in Lyon. Also, I found out that Annecy is the paragliding capital of the world. I thought I budgeted enough to do these things, but I didn't take into account the dollar to euro conversion (oh well). Anywa, I've been very good at not buying anything unnecessary because just the thought of lugging it around is painful. BUT, I'm going to go shopping this weekend because I feel like a slob compared to these chic Europeans. Just something small to make me happy!

A view of my room

Here are some pictures of my room, and the classroom is right downstairs. I gotta remember to take a picture of the classroom before I leave. The bathroom and shower is shared with three other rooms and there's one kitchen for each floor. The only thing missing is a microwave and fridge.

 

Ok, that's all for now. Nothing too exciting going on. Til next time!