« Cette sacrée neige de merde! » (approximately: "This f'ing snow!")

Since I last wrote, I went to Barcelona (again) for the weekend to see Fall Out Boy in concert. I was really only there for one day, so I honestly just walked around and then went to the beach. Completely underestimated how cold it would be, but I did put on my bikini and walk in the water, even if only for a few minutes. I was going to go out for Carnivale with the hostel -- but drinks were served at 9:30pm, and by 12:30(am) there was still no sign of actually leaving to hit up 3 different clubs. At that point, I gave up and just went to bed.

Proof that I am actually wearing a bikini (kind of)

I put my vest on because it was a bit chilly

I ordered a beer at lunch -- just wanted a little one; this glass was the size of my face

The concert was amazing. I love Fall Out Boy and they're awesome live. It was also general admission, so I didn't have to wait like a shark for tickets to go on sale, pay like $800,000,000 for a pit ticket and then get in line at the butt-crack of dawn to actually get anywhere close to the stage. It was extremely chill. I arrived about an hour before doors opened, milled around while the opening act performed (The Pretty Reckless -- not too impressive) and then got about 4 people back from barricade near the left side of the stage (where Joe stands) while they were setting up the stage between acts.

The music was great, the atmosphere was incredible, and I'm like 99% certain that Pete smiled at me because I was the only one who didn't whip out my camera the second he came over to our side of the stage. All-in-all absolutely wonderful. I had like 3 big re-centerings during the February vacation: Notre Dame, being home, and this concert. Maybe that seems silly, but their music, especially their latest record (Save Rock & Roll) has really meant a lot to me. So it was a really great way to re-focus for these last couple months here in France.

Joe Trohman -- actually an angel

Pete Wentz

Patrick moved around so much that it was hard to get a shot of him that wasn't blurry

Actual angel Andy Hurley during his sick drum solo

Patrick finally standing sort of still

When I got back to Dax it was business as usual. My classes are going well, though two of my teachers are still out sick. One is going to be out for the rest of the year and they're still trying to find a replacement (in the meantime, we're communicating by email so that I can continue working with the students), and the other is due back next week. My high school classes are starting a unit on Nelson Mandela, so on Thursday I went with them to the cinema as a chaperone to see the movie Mandela. It was really an excellent movie and a good way to ease myself back into working at the high school since I haven't seen these students since before December break.

Yesterday, the Résidence organized a trip to La Pierre St. Martin, a ski resort in the Pyrenées, so I attempted skiing for the very first time in my life. Overall, the trip was really awesome. There were 5 of us residents (Mathieu, Thomas, Esteban, Adriano, and me), and one of the workers (Jacques, who is an experienced skier). Throughout the day, the ambiance was just really nice. Mathieu (the only one I had met before) made sure to include me in their conversations and help me out when I needed it (this generally involved holding my hand so I didn't trip and fall down stairs in my ski boots or slip on ice).

For Esteban, Adriano, and I, it was our very first time skiing. Jacques took us to the bunny hill and set us to work («first you must learn to walk with the skis on»). He then left for a while while we tried to get accustomed to our new ski-feet. We were all doing pretty well until Adriano started sliding backwards down a little slope, I fell over trying to help him out, and then Esteban slid down the same slope Adriano did when he came over to figure out what we were doing. Something was wrong with my skis -- the clamps that held the boots in place (and subsequently released them) were WAY too tight, so I couldn't undo them by myself.

By the time Jacques came back, I had resigned myself to sitting in the snow (« Non, ça va; je suis bon comme ça. » "Nah, I'm good.") and Esteban & Adriano were stuck against the fence nearby cursing the snow (« Cette sacrée neige de merde! »). But we were generally all laughing and in good spirits. Jacques helped me undo my skis (it was then that I realized that there was actually something wrong with my skis -- I wasn't just a weakling).

First time ever in the mountains

The "I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into" face

Selfie on the ground (Adriano & Esteban are behind me, stuck against the fence)

With all 3 of us up, on our ski-feet, and away from the little slope, Jacques taught us how to crab walk up the hill so that we wouldn't slide down. (I am very good at the uphill crab walk.) Then he brought us to a little slope (baby, baby slope) and told us to lean forward so that we would slide. Esteban managed it first, with me following. Jacques said we'd stop by ourselves -- and I did. On my butt. Once again, I needed rescuing because of my too-grippy skis.

Esteban & Adriano took a smoke break (so French, haha) so Jacques worked with me on stopping. If there's one thing I can do, it's stop. Until my stops accidentally turned into turns, which then turned into falls because I kept overthinking it. Esteban & Adriano came back and Jacques worked with them too. Finally, it was close to lunch time, and my not-quite-so-fluent French betrayed me. What I understood was that it was lunch time and "We're tired of walking, so we're going to take the rolling carpet to the top of the hill". I assumed that lunch was at the top of the hill, so I was all for the rolling carpet even though it didn't really seem that safe to me.

During our first break

The boys roughhousing

The boys, from left: Thomas, Mathieu, Esteban, Adriano

Attempted group selfie, but Thomas cut out Esteban

We all get on the carpet (Jacques first, then Esteban, then Adriano, then me, with quite a few people in between all of us). But the moment I slid onto the carpet, I lost my balance. Jacques had quickly barked out instructions ("Knees [something I didn't understand], knees [something else I didn't understand], face forward, don't look around") but I didn't get a chance to clarify. In any case, I lost my balance, beefed it, and almost took out two children (one in front of me, one behind). Luckily, there is an emergency stop button on the carpet.

An attendant helped me off the carpet, and (because I was now super nervous about trying to get back on it) I asked if I could just walk up the hill (to where I thought lunch was waiting). So I walk up the hill (exhausted when I get there, also having passed Adriano, beating him to the top), where I find that it's just a hill -- to get out (and to lunch) you have to ski down. At this point, having spent more time on the ground than upright in my skis, I decided to walk back down the hill and wait for the others to ski down (which took a while -- none of us were very good).

With my feet aching in the boots all during lunch, I decided to call it quits. The boys all headed back either to the actual slopes or the bunny hill, and I decided to grab a bottle of water and just enjoy the view. It was my first time actually being in the mountains, after all.

All-in-all, it was a fantastic day and we were all exhausted for the car ride home and slept most of the way. When we got back, Jacques offered to cook us dinner, so we also got dinner included, which was nice.

Kid sleeping in a sled -- I could've used a nap too, kid

Now I'm just gearing up for these final few weeks -- Vanessa is coming to Paris during the first week of April vacation and my friend Melissa and I just booked our tickets to Cardiff for the second week of vacation. I'm watching airfares like a hawk trying to get my flight home booked, and I just booked a weekend in Carcassonne -- something I'm super excited about because it's one of the UNESCO sites I've most wanted to visit for a few years now.

I'm hoping to get to Arles as well, to visit the town and countryside that inspired Van Gogh so much, but it's looking doubtful due to lack of affordable accommodations for a solo traveler. And I've still got to plan my vacation for May -- I'm starting to lean toward Istanbul and Greece, but I need to check on prices for everything. I remain open to suggestions.

I've also started hearing back from grad schools, so I'm working on making my choice about where I'll be next year (still waiting to hear from a couple places as well). So overall, life is getting to be pretty exciting, even though my time here in France is coming swiftly to an end. I can't believe I have to start thinking about closing my bank account, turning off my wifi, and all that end-of-the-year stuff. (It feels like I *just* got the wifi working!!)

Premature nostalgia hits again, but I'm actually going to miss this apartment. I've gotten so used to the space and to the city. And now that the nice weather is back (HALLELUJAH!) it's hard to imagine leaving it for more than a quick vacation. Oh well, back to teaching tomorrow. :)

Until next time, DFTBA.

The Rhône-Alps!

Since I got back from Christmas vacation, things have been looking up. I'm only working two days a week because my seniors are all doing internships between now and February break (I miss my seniors!), I got a ticket to visit home during the February break (and also start taking stuff home because we all know how much stuff I can accumulate in 7 months), and I've partially taken over my 5A class (7th graders) while the teacher is out sick for a few weeks.

So teaching has been going well; I was on my own with the 5A for the first time this week (only half the class at a time though), and got to handle a Doctor Who lesson on my own. The kids really seem to like it, and they didn't give me too much trouble which was good.

I got back from Chambéry Sunday night after spending an amazing weekend with one of my old French buddies from CMU who is an assistant over there. Basically, all I can say is MOUNTAINS. I think I need to move somewhere with mountains.

I spent all of Thursday on the train and got into town just before dinner time. Megan picked me up at the station and we went back to her place for dinner. We spent Thursday night catching up as she showed me around town a little bit (though the Christmas lights weren't on -- sad). We ended up actually talking until like 4 in the morning, and it was just the greatest thing. I forgot how fun it can be to interact with other human beings, haha!

On Friday, Megan had to work, so I headed off to Annecy (on Megan's recommendation that it was "the cutest city ever") and spent the day wandering around. (Annecy is, in fact, probably the cutest city ever.) I also discovered the most amazing food in the history of food -- the hot dog in a baguette (with mayonnaise). That night, Megan and I got pizza and watched a movie. We even made it to bed nice and early (at 3am)!

The architecture in Annecy was super charming

La pièce de résistance in Annecy -- the lake and mountians

Selfie!

Building in the middle of the canal (on a tiny little (manmade?) island)

On the little island

On Saturday, Megan showed me around the market in Chambéry. I was SUPER tempted to buy some mimosa, and I also got to pet a kitten (which was so awesome; I miss my cats). Then we decided to head over to Grenoble.

We packed up some snacks to take with us on the train -- some aged goat cheese that I had bought in Chambéry (baguette obligatory), some pretzels, and some cookies. Once in Grenoble, we wandered around for a while. We were disappointed that the cable cars that went up to the Bastille weren't working (annual closure for the month of January), so we kind of gave up on that for a bit.

Eventually, we decided to stop for coffee to look over our map and make a plan. And that's when we decided to climb a mountain.

Since the cable cars weren't working, we would have to take the trails up to the Bastille. Quickly, before we changed our minds, we headed out across the river to the start of the trails.

We hiked 1.6 miles (starting at an elevation of approximately 212m and ending up at about 498m). We were passed by runners, bikers, families with small children (you name it). Most often, we were passed by these people twice -- once as they passed us on their way up, once as they passed us on their way down (and we were still on our way up). Basically, I'm in horrible shape, so we had to stop often (you know, to admire the view and also not die) and it took us a bit longer than everyone else. Neither of us thought we were actually going to make it to the top (and if I'd have been by myself, I probably wouldn't have), but we did.

View of La Bastille from the city

Mountains

The start of the trek up the mountain

almost there (88m of altitude to go!)

The view from near the top

At the very top of La Bastille

Taking a quick break to not die

I know it's a pretty baby mountain that we climbed, but it felt like a huge accomplishment. The last time I climbed something even remotely this big was Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh (and Arthur's Seat is about half the height of the Bastille).

Anyway, after about an hour and a half of lying to my legs ("these are the last stairs", "we're almost done", "we're almost there"), we finally made it all the way back down the mountain where we headed for the train station and back to Chambéry for the night where we watched a movie and ate the cupcakes we had bought earlier in the day.

Today was another train day. There was even a delay, so that I missed my connecting train in Paris. It worked out though -- they got me onto the next train, and I had four whole seats to myself for the 4.5 hour ride home.

Teaching is going really well. I feel like I'm starting to hit my stride and am more confident with my students. I'm also starting to learn some of the signs that the teacher's use to help their students with grammar. Next week I'll be taking a group of 6th graders by myself on Wednesday to work with them more intensively, and hopefully my one professor will be back so we can continue with Doctor Who like normal.

Tomorrow I'm leaving for Barcelona for the weekend, so I'm super excited about that.

(I will add more photos when my computer has decided that it's done being a butthead and will actually upload pictures without taking a million years and also erroring on half of them.)