Lake House, Food, and Bedroom Photos

Lake near Chambéry.

Scrabble in French with host sister Laura.

House where Daniel, host mom's ex-husband, lives.

Supply of firewood for winter.

View of lake from house.

 

 

Quiche and tart from dinner party.

Bundt cake cooling (the cake which I made!).

Lemon bundt cake, cooled and glazed.

My room in Chambéry!

Plane Ride & First Days in Chambéry

So... this is the end of my second day! Mainly so far, it's been running errands. The plane ride over was smooth and I wasn't too tired the first day. Although I went to sleep at 9 and got up at 11 this morning. (Claudie lets me sleep as late as I want.) When I first got to the airport in Lyon, I had no idea how to get a cart out for my bags. You have to stick a euro into a slot on the cart and then pull. I was looking for a money-taking machine and when I didn't see one, I thought the carts were free. But then they were chained to each other. Luckily, the kid I sat next to on the plane was standing there, so I could ask him for help. (The picture is of Flat Stephanie in London Heathrow, where I was waiting for the screen to show my gate, because the gate number only pops up 50 minuted before the flight.)
Chambéry is so beautiful! It's an old town and looks a lot like Italy, with yellow houses with white shutters lined up along cobblestone streets. And the houses are tall and there are lamps hanging along the streets and big cobblestone squares with churches and cafes and pigeons... I went to a cafe yesterday with Claudie and my older host sister Laura and had an orange-presée. It tasted a lot like orange juice, which is good because I love orange juice! I still haven't unpacked, so I should hop to that. I'm meeting the Mexican exchange student, Mauricio, Sunday night. Him and his family along with our downstairs neighbors (I live on the top floor of the pink building in the photo at the top right of the page) are coming over for dinner. I'm making a bundt cake! Also, we've gone and bought my school books, which are a lot lighter and thinner than American ones, and which you have to buy and the sell back at the end of the year. Originally, I was going to be in première (junior) ES (social sciences track). But, because that was full, they switched all the exchange students to terminale L (senior year, literature track). So I'll be studying literature and philosophy in France! Well, I should go unpack!

P.S. I wore the new VANS sweatshirt and it's really comfy, and the adapter works splendidly for the computer!

Quick Note

Have arrived safely. Chambery is beautiful! Going to Milan next weekend to find apparment for older sister Laura! Also, keyboard layout different, so weird to type...

Last Day!

So, I've finally finished packing! This picture is from last night, and this morning my mom and I have finally managed to fit all of it into two suitcases, a duffel, and a backpack. I put the lovely flat Stephanie that Hannah made in my backpack, along with the scrapbook and Into the Wild. This morning I ate my last florentine croissant from Bread & Chocolate along with a very yummy chai. I leave for the airport in about 45 minutes for a flight that leaves at 1:50. From Minnesota, I fly to Chicago, then on to London Heathrow (where flat Stephanie will get her picture taken), and then finally on to Lyon!
I'm so excited, although also a bit sad to be leaving St. Paul. But mainly just excited, so I'll try to hold on to that feeling for now. There's time to be sad and miss people later, when I'm happy I'll just try and stay that way. I get to France tomorrow at 11:35 am, and my host mom Claudie and her ex-husband Daniel are picking me up at the airport. Claudie is also taking Friday off to show me around Chambéry! Chambéry is the town where I'll be living. It has about 60,000 people and is located in the Alps right by where Switzerland, Italy, and France all meet. Incidentally, I'm studying Italian at my school, Lycée Saint-Ambroise, which I am very excited about!