mais, quand même!

"les montagnes sont incroyables"

Oh gosh I'm full. I've eaten so much within in the last three days that my stomach wants to explode. It's been awhile, eh friends? Well...within the last two weeks I've had quite a few adventures and some of them are worth recounting to you now. Allez-y!

I went to my first professional soccer match a week and a half ago. Truly I was reminded of a drunker, rowdier, smellier twelfth man.

The guy standing on the top of the fence led cheers all night. They call the cheers 'songs' which I'm guessing is more masculine(the crowd was 98.7 % male)...?

The best part of the night: some rando offered me a swig of alcohol from a re-used two liter coke bottle while teetering left and right with a cig hanging off his bottom lip. I politely declined and turned my head to gag. The alcohol had colorful things floating in it...This moment was supreme because it reminded me of a really terrible movie. A terrible movie that you laugh about with your friends, that is. Worst part of the evening: discovering that Turkish baths do still exist in France. Again, I gagged, but in plain view of all those around me. Seriously, this is the 21st century!!

Classes are in full-swing and twice already I've been called out for my tardiness. I thought I was in France, where the people lay around until noon and then take a two-hour lunch break. Despite my character flaws, things are going well with my classmates. I really like the size of my class (8 students) and the people in class with me. Everyone is usually in good spirits and everyone knows how to handle criticism. I was kind of afraid that the Russian Muslim in my class might be a bit testy, but he's turned out to be great! There's also a Chinese girl, a Polish lady, a Brazilian fellow, an Indonesian guy, the Guatamerican chica, Srdan, and myself. Even Josette, the French teach, has turned out to be all right. I think she likes to correct me in english more for the sake of showing off rather than trying to insult me. At least I hope that's why she switches to english, haha.

Question: do my facial expressions convey non-comprehension? I feel like of all the other students in my class, my professors slow down their words when they direct their attention towards me. En fait, i think they make concerted efforts to simplify the language for me...

Srdan and I've been having a grand time. He's dubbed me his "little sister", pronouncing every syllable and letter, mind you. Srdan, Sigo (his french wife), Julian, and I went to a classmate's (Romûlo, the Brazilian fellow) house for a soirée last weekend. We had a blasty hanging out with all the Korean and Japanese kids.



L-R: Srdan, Julian, Sigo

As far as my electives go, I've chosen the following: French Lit, Lexical Enrichment, and GrammAr. Blah. The lit class (I hope) will be interesting. We're reading only autobiograhies and the summaries of each of the novels appealed to me.

Ps. I'm listening to the radio right now and I think there's a new song out by Alanis Morisette...Am I right?

Our first exercise in the Lexical class was to describe each of the Zodiaque/Astrological signs, ahaha! I laugh because the night before I left, Bre, Julie, Bill, Brian and I all sat around reading what our astrological traits were from a French workbook I have. Remember that time guys? It was special.

I met another American on my way to church last weekend. I actually knew she would be going to church because Ruth Ann showed me her picture and told me she was coming. Naturally, I walked up to her on the bus and asked her who she was because I had just seen a picture of her...I've maintained my creepiness. Her name is Christie and she is here as an English professor. She graduated from Ohio State in 2006 and she was a Chi-O. How's that for an exposé? Anyway, Srdan and I ran into Christie later on Sunday afternoon at a Hip-Hop competition. Speaking of Hip-Hop, Chris Brown just came on. I think I'll have to break it down for a minute. Excuse me.

After my week of auditing modules, I traveled to a little town south of Grenoble. I was informed by my professor this morning that I visited a region called Oisans. My purpose in visiting the area? To hike in the ALPS!! Yes, I hiked (or rather walked for a long time) in the Alps this weekend. Sooooo beautiful and indescribable. Even the pictures I took cannot capture the magnificence of the mountains. Think of that and then compare it to our God...

Psa 76:4
Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains of prey.
Psa 97:5
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord , before the Lord of all the earth.

Mmm


I forgot to mention who I went to the Alps with...my church! The church is pretty small (about 40 regular members) so we were able to enjoy ourselves without feeling like everyone needed to meet at least 20 new people. The members of the church were all acquainted with each other and most of them were pretty good friends. There were also quite a few young people, at least 10, who hang out together outside of church. I watched Alvin and the Chipmunks one evening in the boys' cabin and I laughed my head off. There's just something so hilarious about watching Alvin and the Chipmunks in French.

The English girls in the church, Rebecca and Charlotte, are really sweet. I told them that I would love to have lunch one day with them, but the high-school kids here are extraordinarily busy. With academics. I immediately felt homesick after discovering how difficult it would be to coordinate a meal with them. At home, I have a car. At home, I know where everything is: every restaurant/coffee shop, every shopping center, every free wi-fi connection, every one of my friends' houses, nearly every street that's important. And if I don't know where something is, usually someone else can give me directions, or google maps in tandem with my knowledge of the city will get me where I need to go. Ahhhh, but I digress.


School is keeping me busy, but keeping with my new friends as well as those I've left behind is getting to be tricky! Perhaps this is a lesson...a lesson in humility. I've always been so proud of my ability to keep up with people. This is good for me.

Updates on my lost friends: Julian has a N.T. in French. Some evangelistic group gave it to him, and he asked me the other day if I would like it. After reading him one of my favorite verses, which i more or less ripped off of Christy Nockels, he and Srdan asked me if I thought God has time for anyone. I said yes, God has time for everyone, and they replied that I must be everyone... All that to say Julian has a N.T. and what an opportunity that presents :)

I hope you all are well! I miss everyone everyday, but I know that we'll see each other again soon :) Send me some mails if you have time...