Helping out a vineyard, cave exploring (YODA!), and day-trip to Switzerland!

The girls enjoying the sunshine and wine

Hi, all! I figured it was about time that I updated my blog. These past two weeks have been pretty awesome. Classes are going well and I've been busy with stuff with my program and with my friends. I mostly just can't believe it is the end of March already. Where did the month go? Now, I am down to about a month a half left year. It is a crazy thought. At a risk of sounding cliche, sometimes it feels like so far away and other times, so soon. I have had such a good time thus far. I have the most amazing host family. I have made some great friends. And I've discovered social dance in France finally! Ok, well, I will start with last Saturday.

This photo is shamelessly stolen from Niki, but I didn't take any pictures

I participated in a volunteer project with my program called "tirer les bois". It literally means to pull the wood. Basically, it entailed pulling and cutting off the dead wood on the wires for the vines. It was for a local vineyard, located about 15 minutes away in a small village. The spot was on a hill with a beautiful view of the mountains. There were about 30 or so volunteers in all and we worked the whole day, clearing a big section of the vines. It wasn't uber strenous or difficult work, but it was a really fun experience and it felt good to help the people out. Plus, we got wine breaks, with their wine and fresh-made grape juice (BEST GRACE JUICE EVER!). We also tasted a wine they make that is made right by Mont Blanc (the highest mountain in Europe). This wine is the only wine made at this elevation and it tasted delicious. Plus, it was a warm day (for once) and the sunshine made the experience that much better.

Alban and me, being our cool, normal selves

This past week, I finally discovered where I can social dance for free. It only took me 2 1/2 months, but I found it. Well, not me. Niki did, but whatever. Details. I am now going to be dancing Monday and Tuesday nights. It's a new style for me (rock), which is a type of swing. It kinda reminds me of cowboy swing a lot, just with some slight differences and no country music. I also learned two line dances to current popular hits over here. Yay for dance!

Really fine stalactites

Thursday night, I went out with my friends. Not unusual for a Thursday night (don't judge- I don't have class on Fridays. haha), but that is to come. You see, one of our French friends showed us this old music video from a French singer, Claude, who was crazy popular in the 60's and 70's. Seriously, all the adults we've talked to about him knew him and were thrilled that we knew him. The link is here if you want to check out the majesty of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AbXBdlLiac8. Be prepared for awesomeness. It has this silly dance that they do and anyways, my friends being how they are, we learned it and are planning to film it in all our favorite Grenoble spots. Anyways, we went to our favorite bar, Bukana, where the guys working there love us. And one of them got that song played and me, Ariel, and Niki did the dance in the middle of the club. We are that cool. Haha. I felt like a doofus, but it was still fun.

Favorite picture that I took

Friday, I went on an excursion with my group to the Grotto at Choranche. This is a set of caves that were discovered in the mid 1800's at some point. I took a ton of pictures, but you can see those in my facebook album. I will just put a few in this post. We had a guide, although I didn't listen very closely. Mostly, I just looked around and took a ton of pictures. The coolest part for me was we went into this one big cavern. It wasn't lit up, so all around was pitch black. We emerged out of the tunnel onto this seating, bleacher-like stands. We had no clue what was about to happen. Suddenly, a crash of thunder was heard and this really cool light show happened, with different lights showing off different aspects of the giant cavern. It was really nifty and so surprising.

Yoda?? Are you there?

The lighting overall was really interesting and beautiful. They had all kinds of different colors and that made the formations just look that much cooler. Another aspect I loved was the super fine stalactites here. They were so thin and densely packed on the ceiling. I had never seen anything like that. My favorite thing, though, was the random rock formation that looked like Yoda's hut from the Star Wars movies. Seriously, it was awesome.
Unfortunately, the lighting doesn't it do it justice in this pic, but the resemblance in person was pretty dang uncanny. I kept expecting R2 to just suddenly pop out.

Famous fountain of Geneva

Yesterday, I went to Switzerland for the first time. I went with my host bro Alban, Niki, Meddie, and Kayley. We decided to randomly take a day trip to Geneva. It was the first time any of us had visited the city and we had a great time exploring it. We started wandering across the bridge into the old part of town. I gotta say, I am really going to miss cobblestones when I go home. They just bring so much charm to a place. Anyways, we saw the grand cathedral that used to be Catholic, but became a Protestant church during the Reformation. The architecture was great (resembled the other cathedrals I'd been to), but it was sadly bare because they obviously had taken all the Catholic artwork down. Just not the same. We went up the two towers and got some great pictures up there.

We then went to a memorial wall commemorating the Reformation and religious peace and tolerance for all.

ERMAGHERD! A BEHR!

We had a picnic lunch in the park (luckily it wasn't too chilly, although it definitely wasn't warm). Then we walked to find the natural history museum. There were lots of stuffed animals, including some beavers. Represent, OSU! My favorite picture I took on this trip, though, was the polar bear. Now, some of my readers (aka my parents) will have no clue what I am talking about here, but one of my favorite memes out there is the ERMAGHERD face ones. And this polar bear has a serious ERMAGHERD face. I must show you this picture. Seriously, look at his face. Not going to lie, this is my lock screen background on my phone right now. I am such a nerd and very easily amused but there you go. We also saw the oldest and most complete ancient human skeleton, Lucy. The museum also had a animal poo exhibition going on. I am not kidding. It was pretty hilarious. Luckily, nothing smelled like it, so it was all good.

Evolution of man

Anyways, we also went into this beautiful Russian Orthodox church. Definitely one of the prettiest churches I've been in and we couldn't even go into the church itself, just the entrance-way. Everything was gold and silver and it was beautiful. We also couldn't take any pictures, so sad face for that. Another aside, the lack of pedestrians in Geneva was really weird. I mean, certain areas had a lot, like by the train station and the lake-side. But other than that, pedestrians were few and far in between. Tons of uber nice cars (like a Mercedes taxicab! WHAT?), but no people. There were times I felt like I was in a zombie apocalypse. Just tons of cars and no people. We came to the conclusion that no one lives here, they just work here. Weirdos.

We then walked all the way to the United Nations. It was really far, but worth it. Niki and Kayley were totally nerding out about it. Unfortunately, we couldn't go in and take a tour because it was a Saturday. During the winter, they are only open Monday-Friday. But we took some pics in front of it.

My primary goal was getting me some Swiss chocolate and I succeeded. I bought some truffles for me and a few gifts for people. Overall, it was a great, fun, quick trip. I love traveling. I need to start planning for my next vacation, which is the end-ish part of April. Au revoirs, mes amis et ma famille!

Owls, snails, and cats... visiting Beaune and Dijon

These burned down all the time, which is why most are gone

Bonjour, tout le monde! I figured an update was in order after my weekend excursion. I went with my group to the beautiful region of Bourgogne (or Burgundy, for you anglo-phones). This is an area in central-ish France and is celebrated for its wine in particular. I was quite excited to visit. We started our trip in Dijon. I loved this city! We had a hotel right in the center of old Dijon, so it was surrounded by some very beautiful, old architecture. The buildings in the city center are a magnificent melange of different styles, from the Middle Ages until the end of the 18th century, before you get to the modern stuff on the outskirts. I really loved seeing the old, Middle-Age houses. The city has been restoring them, since most were destroyed over time, and they're so unique and quaint.

The famous Hospice at Beaune- a great example of the beautiful roof tiles

This region is also well-known for the colored tiles of the roofs. Especially for the houses of the nobility or for the churches, the good clay in this region allowed for some beautiful, glazed tiles. There are all kinds of different patterns. An interesting fact is that the tiles are much bigger than what we see- 2/3 is covered due to the overlapping and only the small part that is shown is glazed. The old tiles are ridiculously heavy. Nowadays, they don't make them quite so heavy since that obviously isn't practical. The slate roofs were actually more expensive than the tile roofs for a long time since they had to bring in the slate from the northern part of France. Now, since the tiles are so famous, it is much more expensive to have the tile roofs.

The most popular church- the church of the people

We went on a walking tour of Dijon before having the day to ourselves, which was nice. This trip was much more relaxed and less time-constricted than the one to Lyon. Having two full days definitely helped. In Dijon, I got to see great examples of old Medieval churches alongside the Duc's Palace, which has buildings from the Medieval style until the the 1800's. For the tour, my group broke up into two groups. I went on the English-only tour, mostly because everyone wanted to be over-achievers and go on the French one and I prefer small groups. My guide was hilarious. When we first started the tour, I said to my friend in French that "I could've gone with the other group, but now I can practice my English" as a joke. Since that was the first thing she heard me say, she asked me if I was Canadian, which cracked me up. Apparently, I have a funny accent, but not an American one when I speak French. Ah, wells. Anyways, she kept joking every time the other group came by us, saying that "We must go! They don't speak English" or "We don't speak French!" haha. She also was using American slang that one of the guys in my group taught her. They said, "Let's kick rocks" means "Let's go". I don't know where this originates, because I have never heard it. My API manager also said "Let's bounce" multiple times, which was hilarious to hear in her Parisian accent.

Isn't this the cutest owl?

Anyways, another random fact about Dijon is that they love owls and cats. Seriously. That, and polar bears for some reason. As you walk through Dijon, there are these cute owl plaques on the ground that indicate something of historical or cultural significance is there. I loved it. Plus, on the side of the church that is pictured above, there is this little owl statue on the side that has been worn down so much by all the people who touch it. It is a good luck charm. You touch it with your left hand only and make a wish. All the students, in particular, do it so that they pass their exams.

Dijon is also known for the mustard that shares its name. Seriously, they invented it. I went into a mustard show and got to try some good mustard. American mustard has nothing on French mustard. It's just so much more flavorful and complex. They have all kind of flavors, like Gingerbread mustard, truffle mushroom, pesto mustard, green pepper mustard, honey mustard, tomato mustard (Provencale), ancient grain mustard. Seriously, the list can go on forever. It was fun to taste these different flavors.

The room for the poor at the Hospice at Beaune

I got to try some of the specialties of the area as well. Beef Burgogne, commonly seen as a stew, but not always, was invented here, as was coq au vin (Chicken in a similar wine sauce), escargots, and of course, Pinot noirs and chardonnay wines. I didn't try coq au vin, but I had the rest. I've eaten escargots before and they are actually yummy. One of my friends can't get over the texture, but I think the French do a good job cooking them. It is all garlic-y and buttery deliciousness. I also loved the beef borgogne. The one time I had it in the U.S., the red wine was so overpowering and sour that it didn't taste good. During the dinner where we had these things, me and two friends drank 9 pitchers of water. Seriously, the waiter was laughing at us. It was a good time for sure.

Wine tasting!

Most people went out that night, since it was one of my friend's bday, but I didn't want to. I got a good night of sleep so that I would be awake for Beaune. This town is much much smaller than Grenoble. When you think of France, you think of this kind of architecture. I loved the small town atmosphere. We visited a very famous hospice that actually had the first trained pharmacists EVER in the whole world! How cool is that? They were nuns who worked at the hospice and provided some of the best medical care in Europe. Another awesome aspect of this hospital was that there was a beautiful room for the poor people, so that they too could get treated. There was a chapel at the end so that they could hear the mass as well.

Pretty fountain in Dijon

After this visit, we went and had a wine tasting. We tried a rose, a chardonnay, and a red. I loved the red. You really can tell the difference between good wine and bad wine. It is almost sad how you can buy a 3 euro bottle of wine here that is better than our $40 wines, easily. I also learned how to taste and savor the wine to fully appreciate all the different flavors. Interestingly, I didn't know this, but pinot noirs and chardonnays are made with the same white grapes, it's just the skins that are added to the pinot noirs that gives it its color. Chardonnays are also stored for a much shorter time and only keep for a few years at most. The wine tasting was a nice way to finish the weekend trip.

Cute little French kids playing in the Liberty Square (formerly Place Royale)

This weekend, I am doing an API Gives Back Event, basically a community service project called "Tirer les bois". It means pull the wood or basically, trim the vines. We are going to a local vineyard to help with some work. I am very excited. Apparently, it's on the mountainside so the view is incredible. I will definitely post some pictures. In addition, I now only 10 weeks left in my experience. That is such a crazy thought. I can't even believe it. My second week of vacation is creeping up on me so I need to get to work planning that. I also need to get my butt working on my thesis. Anyways, that is all for now. Later, everyone!

Freezing adventures in Milan and getting sick... again...

The Duomo

Ciao! So, as most of you know, I spent some of my vacation in Milan. I went with MC, Van, and Carl. I was so happy that I'd been sick the week beforehand so that I could still go on the trip. As it happened, it was only a brief reprieve from being sick. But anyways, we left Thursday night and got into Milan around 11:30pm. It was snowing and quite cold. A very nice girl showed us where the metro was and we had to hurry because the metro stops at 12pm. We took the metro and then got off to try and find our hostel. It took us probably about 30 minutes to find it because we walked the wrong way multiple times. Just when we were all starting to despair, we found it. We stayed at a nice hostel, but the location was quite a distance from the city center.

The beautiful shopping complex right next to the Duomo

The next morning, we went into the city center and stopped first at the Duomo. It is the major landmark of Milan. It is this beautiful Gothic-looking cathedral that reminded me quite a bit of Notre Dame, although the Duomo seemed to be a little big bigger, although definitely not taller. Inside, it had some beautiful mosaics and stained glass. I didn't take any pictures inside, but once MC puts some up, I will steal a few of hers. There were three deceased cardinals who were on display inside, which was really bizarre for me. I hadn't really read up on the Duomo before we went, so I was shocked when I saw the first one.

Castello Sforza with MC and Carl

After that, we went and got some food at one of the American coffee places nearby. That night at dinner, we went to a local restaurant close to our hostel and had really cheap, but delicious pizza. I also had some of the best gelato ever. I got chocolate and it tasted like frozen chocolate mousse. Yum! I had so much good food in Italy. That was probably one of my favorite aspects about visiting. I think I had gelato three different times while I was there. I also tried risotto for the first time, which was amazing. So cheesy and creamy and just delicious.

Cool armor at the castello

The next day, we went and explored some vintage places. Milan, as the capital of fashion, has sooo many shops and boutiques, it is ridiculous. A lot of the second-hand places carry Prada and Gucci items, which results in some severe sticker shock. I picked up this one pair of shoes in the first store we went in and they were 200euros, about the same price as one month's rent. Milan takes their second-hand stores seriously. One of the day's we went looking for this one street that has a bunch of antique stores and they were all stores that sold, like, 14th century gilded mirrors and authentic Rubens paintings. WAY above all of our budgets. The one store on the whole block that looked like a reasonable store was closed, which kinda sucked.

One of many beautifully decorated ceilings in the Castello

We went to a few great museums in Milan. My favorite was the Castello Sforza. It is just down the street from the Duomo and it is this beautiful, fortified old castle that has about 12 different museums inside. For the price of 1 ticket, you can get into all of them, which I think is just so cool. We went first to the more ancient history, starting with some Roman artifacts and then getting into the Medieval period. I especially like all the beautiful ceilings the castle offered. I took so many pictures of ceilings in Italy, it is kinda ridiculous. At this museum, I also found a tiny door, perfect size for me! There are a lot of short Italians, so a small door makes sense.

my favorite item ever- I want this in my house

We then went upstairs to look at the furniture and personal effects of the many generations of people who lived at the Castello. Some of the items were just so intricately detailed. My favorite was this one table that was a black marble base and had this beautiful glass mosaic. It was stunning. There were these really cool conch shell goblets that I liked as well. The items were so decorated and ornate that it was really hard to imagine those being used in everyday life.

I covet these chandeliers

Since the Castello was so big, we actually only went to a fraction of the place. At the time we went, it was Fashion Week and we actually saw one of the big tents where the runways take place. It was in the courtyard of the castello. I saw a lot of very dressed up people, including a few models and probably important people. This one girl I saw was wearing this white jacket/dress thingy that was made up of all white feathers. It looked like she killed all the muppets to make it.







The other museum we went to was more classic art, starting around the 1200s maybe and working up to the 1900s. I liked this museum a lot. The chandeliers were breathtaking. I saw some stuff by Henri Toulouse-Latrec, which was pretty awesome. I always think of Moulin Rouge when I think of him. I especially liked one statue that had a guy with angel wings and a girl with butterfly wings. For some reason, that one really stuck with me.

The altar of the basilica

MC and I also found this amazing, old basilica. It was originally built in the 4th century. I loved the ancient frescoes that decorated the walls. The sense of being in a place sacred and ancient permeated the entire building. I also nerded out a bit when I found a statue of St. Lucy. When I went to private school, I had to a saint's report in 4th grade and I picked St. Lucy. It was really cool to see a statue of her in this amazing church.

Ancient fresco

Although I had a good time in Milan, my experience was not quite as fun as I'd hoped because I got sick. Again. Van was the first one to not feel well and then a day later, I got sick. Once again, I got hit the worst out of everyone. My poor body had just gotten over the stomach flu and then, bam, sick again. We actually ended up leaving quite a few days earlier than expected because most of us were under the weather. When I go back to Italy, I definitely want to go to Florence, Herculaneum and Pompeii, Pisa, Rome, and more.

I start classes again Monday. This upcoming week, I have an API excursion to Dijon (where they created the mustard) and Beaune. I am sure I will have plenty of pictures to put up and a new blog post after the trip. A bientot!