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!

Plateau Glieres

The second week of class started today. We have class from 9 til 12 noon, Mon-Fri, and one outside class activity a week. Last Thursday, they took us to Plateau Glieres for our outside activity where we hiked up to the restaurant for lunch. We had bread, pot roast, salad, fried potato fritters, some wine and dessert, and then we took it easy for a few hours to enjoy the weather and the beautiful views.

Lunch was kind of quite, though, because there are so many people from so many different countries and hardly anybody speaks the same language. We all came here to learn french, but since a lot of us are beginners, we can't really hold a conversation. There are students from Japan, Latvia, Switzerland, Norway, Turkey, Mexico and more that I don't remember (In all, there's 46 students total from 22 different countries). A good number of people know english but there are still a lot students who don't, and for some weird reason, when I'm speaking in english, I speak like a fob. Maybe they will understand me better? Lol...I have no clue. Let's just say there's a lot of smiling and shoulder shrugging going on.

P.S. You can't really tell from the picture above, but my hair is growing out, and it's starting to seriously look like a mullet. It's just long enough that I can get most of it into a tiny, little ponytail. I thought about a) trimming it myself (with my tiny swiss army knife scissors), b) going to get it trimmed (and risking the outcome because the stylist will probably have no clue what I'm saying) or c) sporting the mullet until I get home.

Ya gotta eat!

If it wasn't for all the walking, I'd be quite fat by now. I was eating way too much carbs. Bread is everywhere. It's the cheapest option and easy for on-the-go eating. I freaking love all the bakeries here ^_^.

Nutella is everywhere!

 Remember these cheese cubes? Found some in Barcelona!

 Bought some chorizo to eat with my bread.

My cheap and easy meal on-the-go. This baguette, cheese, and chorizo was part of my lunch and dinner on day one. It was also my lunch, snack and dinner on day two. I bought it for lunch in Barcelona on day one, but I was on the train all day the following day, so that's all I had to eat. (Plus some other snacks, crackers and an apple).

This was Sunday lunch/dinner in Annecy. I was so hungry, but everything was closed. The only thing that was open was a bakery near my place. This is when I started to feel sick. Way too much carbs.

There's a small kitchen where I'm staying, but absolutely no utensils, pots, pans, salt or pepper. So everything you see here, I had to go buy at the supermarket. I bought all the cheapest things I could find because I'm not lugging this stuff around with me for the rest of the trip. I tried to get some protein in there with the egg, and added the scallions for some freshness.

So, end result. Didn't taste that great :)

Barcelona

Barcelona is my favorite place that I've visited so far. The weather was nice, the city wasn't too big and it was pretty easy to get around either by walking or by metro, and there were plenty of things to see and do during my four day stay.

They speak Catalan in Barcelona, which is like mix of French and Spanish. But since there are so many tourists, the locals seem to know every kind of language. All the restaurants and souvenir shops try to lure in customers by posting signs by the entrance: We speak English, French, Spanish, German, Italian. A lot of the people that I've met while traveling know many languages and have traveled to many different places. It is quite impressive. I guess traveling in Europe is pretty easy and accessible to those who want to travel.

Here are some of the stories of the people I've met so far (Most of them I've met on the free walking tours of the city):

• I met a Canadian girl who is studying abroad in Vienna. She and her friend, who is also from Canada and moved to London a month ago to find work, were visiting Paris for a few days.

• There was another Canadian girl, who moved to Switzerland and is studying German and working as a nanny, was visiting Paris for the weekend with her Swiss boyfriend, who speaks English, Swiss German, French, and Romansh. Come on now--I've never even heard of Romansh.

• Our walking tour guide for Paris was a girl from New York. She studied graphic design and worked in the magazine industry for five years. After one particularly bad day at work, she bought a one way ticket to Paris. She didn't have a job, she didn't know anybody in the city and she didn't speak French. Seriously? That takes some guts. She said fell in love with Paris after her first visit to the city a few years before when she was on a family vacation. (It was also her first time out of the country). She's a photographer now and has been in Paris for two years. Her work shown will be showcased in a gallery exhibition this May.

• The walking tour guide for Barcelona was an Australian chef, only 26 years old and he's already traveled to over 40 countries and has lived in Barcelona for two years. He moved back to Australia but returned to Barcelona six months ago because he loves this city.

• I also met a girl of Bosnian descent from Slovenia, getting her masters in Media Culture in Germany. She was visiting another friend from Slovenia who moved to Barcelona six months ago and is currently working as an English teacher. Through her I met two doctors who were in Barcelona for a fellowship. One doctor from Slovenia and the other from Greece.

• On the same walking tour, I met another Canadian who was visiting Barcelona with his girlfriend. They both live in Polland and he moved there six years ago to study medicine.

• There were also three American girls from North Carolina and South Carolina studying abroad in Florence. They've visited so many countries during their semester abroad and it sounded like they were having so much fun.

Anyway, it was just really fun to hear all their stories. And this is the website of the photographer from New York if you're interested. http://sophiapagan.squarespace.com/

Paris is for the Romantics

And I’m not one of them. I don’t know if it’s because Paris is always romanticized in movies, pictures and stories, but I thought it was just….eh, ok. It was a nice city with lots of things to see and do, but after a few days, it was all the same to me. Granted, I was just walking around looking at things and not actually doing anything, so maybe that’s why I’m so ambivalent about this city.

I did see some nice things, though. Monuments, cathedrals, and museums. Unabashed public displays of affection (even the old folks get in on the action). Parisians walking with a fresh baguette in hand. Boulangerie and patisserie on every street corner. Unleashed dogs walking obediently next to their owners. Baguette, baguette, baguette….mmmmm...the smell was heavenly.

 

Jardin Tuileries

 

Champs-Elysees

 

Arc de Triomphe

 

Eiffel Tower and a view from the Seine River.

 

The Pyramids and fountains at the Louvre. I didn't see the exhibitions inside the Louvre because it was just too big and massive and I was getting tired at the end of that day. I went to Musee d'Orsay instead, which focuses on works from Impressionism and on. I think I preferred this museum anyway because it was smaller, and I able to see most of it in the 1.5 hours I had before closing time.

 

Notre Dame on a Saturday night.

 

The last three pictures were taken in the catacombs. I didn't actually take any pictures of the skulls and bones because I was too freaked out about having those pictures on my camera. The walk was 2km, about 1.25 miles underground in Paris. It was dark in some spots and kind of chilly. I stood in line for about an hour because they only allow 200 people in at a time. I went down and followed the people ahead of me. But then people started speeding up or slowing down to read the plaques posted on the walls or to take pictuers, so I was by myself for a part of the walk. I started to get the creeps so I start running up that corridor in the last picture to catch up to the people ahead of me. Then I made sure I stayed close to someone when we walked through the part with the bones.