Rotary Weekend, Bike Ride, Philosophy Seminar, Birthday Party. (Busy week.)

It's now Tuesday, September 28th. It's been over a month since I got here, and I'm 1/10 of the way through my year (hard to believe)! This past week has been really busy. Going chronologically, I'll start with two weekends ago- the first Rotary weekend! It was great, I got to meet all the other exchange students in the district. It was north of Chambéry in Haute-Savoie near the town of Annecy, which is bigger than Chambéry, and more touristy (and very beautiful). We had an orientation and dinner the first night, then afterwards we had a talent show where we danced to all the songs from the different countries (me and a Canadian girl, Anita, did the chicken dance). Sunday, we took a bus up to the top of this small mountain (grassy and rounded at the top, it looked like The Sound of Music). From there we had an amazing view of Mont Blanc, which is so beautiful it's hard to describe. After we went into Annecy and went around the lake on a tour boat.

Mont Blanc.

Group photo on the mountain-top.

Where we picnic-ed.

Mont Blanc.

Me, Mavis, Rogerio, and Ji-Soo with Mont Blanc in the background.

Picnic on mountain-top.

Annecy on Sunday.

A big group of us!

Team U.S.A.

 Next, the week after the Rotary weekend, on Monday Claudie and I went on a bike ride and saw some of the winelands around Chambéry, which I didn't know existed. There are these beautiful old farmhouses surrounded by vines and mountains (which now have snow on them, as I saw when I biked back there again last night).

Horses.

Village by the lake that we biked to, and the route.

Remnants of a chateau on the hillside.

Cool house.

Grape vines growing on the side of a house!

Vines, and the name of the town of the town, "Les Abymes".

Vines and farmhouse.

Boater on the lake.

Lake and houses on the other shore.

Claudie stops to ask for directions.

Vines, etc.

Mountains, snowy as of yesterday!

Farmhouse with a statue of Mary.

Another statue of Mary.

Sheep.

Town on the hillside, with vines. Because the cultivated too far up the mountain, there are problems with flooding at the base.

On Wednesday I left with my school class for a three day philosophy seminar in Haute-Savoie, close to Mont Blanc, in a little town in the mountains called Saint Gervais. We stayed at a junior high/welcome center run by nuns, the sisters of the Assumption. The first day was all philosophy class on Plato, the second day in the afternoon we walked around in the mountains and visited some alpine churches, then we dined with the nuns at night. The third day we visited the Eglise d'Assy. It was weird, and really cool. I didn't take pictures, sadly, but you should really google it. The mosaic on the outside was done by asylum inmates on the principal that "everyone can create", and the pieces inside were done by famous artists like Matisse and Chagall. It was a really good way to bond with the class and it was really fun!!!

Baroque-savoyard style. Really tiny and cute!

Baroque. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but the inside is incredibly bright and pretty (and there's our tour guide).

View of Mont Blanc.

Nun in the convent garden. All of them were very nice.

 

 

Finally, this weekend it was my friend Claire's 18th birthday party. It was small, there were just six of us. Her mom is friends with my host mom, Claudie, and so I'll stay over at their house one weekend every month. For the party I made M&M cookies! And Cassie brought Oreos. I slept over Sunday night and in the morning we ate crepes and hot chocolate. We tried going to the tennis courts but they were all full so we played ping pong in her yard instead (equally fun).

Making the crepes at night.

Dessert at lunch on Sunday: flan in a plastic container. This is Step #1.

Step #2. (You have to pull the metal thing off.)

Step #3. (Tip upside down on a plate.)

Step #4. (Eat!)

Today, Cassie and I went into town for lunch. We stopped at a pizza truck, got a pizza, and ate in the park. Then, we went to the waffle truck, and I got a waffle with Chantilly cream on top. And, moreover, the waffle was made out of dough so it was fluffy and yummy and chewy like bread! It was the first day the waffle truck was there. It's right outside of my apartment building, and I really hope it comes back! Tomorrow I am getting a cell phone, and, more good news: when we go to Germany to visit Laura's first host family (from when she did an exchange year in the U.S.), Claudie is taking me to stop in Paris for a couple days! So, I will see Paris at Christmas!!!