Only in Lyon...

Yesterday, I ventured off to Lyon with a few other girls from the program... and we had an adventure! Most of the group had gone to Paris for the weekend, leaving a handful of us to fend for ourselves; so Tori, Katie, Renee and I went to Lyon. The train ride there took just over an hour from our dear old Chambery, and it was nice, scenic break from our apartments. Since we hadn't taken off as early in the morning as originally planned, our first order of business was lunch. And where else do you eat lunch in Lyon but at a sit-down burger joint called The Hippopotamus? The burgers were actually excellent and left us fueled up and ready to face the city!

At Pont Lafayette looking down the river onto Lyon

First, we set off in search of the St. John's Cathedral, but we were stopped by something along the way. We hadn't been in Lyon for more than 2 hours, and we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a motorcycle rally! It looked like it was just beginning -- or perhaps just ending -- and people were crowded all around to get pictures and videos of the festivities.

Above: Bikers as far as the eye can see!
Right: Inside St. John's Cathedral

Once we made it through the crowd of bikers, we started toward St. John's. The walk took us a bit longer than we'd anticipated -- we may have made a wrong turn or two -- but the cathedral was worth the mix-ups. It was beautiful! Well, at least the inside was. The front of the cathedral was under renovations, so we didn't get to see it in all of its glory.

After we finished gawking at St. John's, we found what appeared to be a small up-mountain train/cable car, and we paid the 2.50 euros to ride it up to the Gallo-Roman ruins and the Notre Dame de Fourviere. The ruins were spectacular! It's amazing to think that something man-made can actually survive that long, especially in a society like ours, in which we tear down anything that has been standing for more than 50 years. The only way that the ruins could have been more amazing is if they weren't currently setting up a huge  stage and guard rails for a concert there. To be honest, that really surprised me: they have concerts on the ruins that predate France as we know it, but you can't even take pictures inside the Abbaye (which 90 percent of is less than a century old). The Notre Dame de Fourviere was even more beautiful than St. John's Cathedral. The architecture was so articulate that it completely blew my mind. I don't think I have yet to fully grasp the perplexities in the stone work of most of that building.

Above: Notre Dame de Fourviere
Right: Inside the Notre Dame de Fourviere

Once we had taken the little car/train back down to "Vieux Lyon," or the old town of Lyon, we started to head back to the train station. We had noticed a building trimmed with gold on our way to St. John's, and we wanted to get a closer look, see what it was, on our way back. As we got closer to the building, however, we hear music growing louder and louder and saw a large crowd. Once we were about a block away we could see that it was gay pride parade! Only Lyon, I thought then, could bring a motorcycle rally, some of the most beautiful churches in the world, and a gay pride parade together... and let me see them all in one day! I had never seen a gay pride parade in person before, and the atmosphere was absolutely electrifying. There was music, people dancing and waving flags -- or in some cases wearing flags -- and we saw some of the most interesting outfits. And the building this all happened in front of, the gold-trimmed one we had been looking for, was the Hotel de Ville of Lyon.

Above: A float in the parade (3 blocks from where the
motorcycle rally had been)
Below: My sad attempt to capture the spirit.

Some serious shoes!

We were afraid to try to cross the parade line, so we waited until it was over to head back to the train station. The other 3 had purchased open-ended return tickets. I wasn't aware we could do that, so I still had to buy my ticket for the train back to Chambery. When I bought my ticket, the seller told me the next train was to leave in 5 minutes, but what he actually meant was, "It's leaving right now, but I'm going to sell this to you anyway." When I had checked the train schedule for the day online, just that morning, it looked as if there would be 4 trains between 6:00 and 9:00 pm -- when there would be a bus. The train we missed was at 6:30, and there were none after that. So lesson of the day: don't believe online train schedules. We were told the bus at 9 pm was our last option, so we went out to the bus stop at exactly the time it was due to arrive. It was already full! Since there were at least 20 people turned away from that bus, we were told to take the train headed toward Annecy, and get off at Aix les Bains, where they would have a bus waiting to take us all to Chambery. We finally made it home around 11:00 at night, laughing our heads off about the adventure we'd had that day.

To think, I wasn't even going to go to Lyon on the group trip which is scheduled for next Thursday. I had such a great experience, though, in my one day there! And there are still a couple of things I didn't get to see -- like the silk shops and the National Opera House. I will definitely be spending the 25 euro to go back for another afternoon :)

The Weekend I Inadvertently Tried to Kill Myself

Since my internet has been refusing to cooperate -- I have tried making and publishing this post 3 different times -- this is going to be a short one. This past weekend I spent a day in Geneva, hiked to a cross on a mountain peak, and took a slightly disappointing trip to a nearby monastery. I told you all about Geneva in my last post, so this one is just going to focus on La Croix du Nivolet and L'Abbaye d'Hautecombe.

On Sunday, our fearless leader, Guillaume, took a group of us on a hike up the mountain. The destination: La Croix du Nivolet. Brief history lesson: In 1861, the town of Chambéry decided to drill on Avenue Comte-Vert (the very avenue my apartment is on), which meant they would have to demolish the chapel of the Black Penitents. So the cross was built in memory of this chapel, and on September 15th of that same year, the bishop of Maurienne inaugurated the cross into the Christian church system of the area. Or at least, that's the gist of what I was told. The hike to the cross was supposed to take an hour, after we drove halfway up the mountain to the official starting point. However, some of us made the hike last an hour and a half. In the picture below, you can just barely see the cross on the peak of the mountain to the left of the gas station sign.

At one point during the hike, a few of us managed to get separated from our apparently very athletic group. At first this didn't faze me, since I figured that the path would take me right to the cross, but then we came to an area where our one dirt path split into two. This freaked me out a bit. It turned out, though, that the paths merge back into one at some point, so it didn't matter which path we took. Whew! The path was mostly mud and muck and most of the uphill treks were laden with slightly loose rocks -- in fact, I just slightly twisted my ankle when one of them moved underneath my foot. All of this combined with my complete lack of any form of athleticism made for an interesting hike (I thought I was going to die!). I was beginning to wonder just why I thought this sounded like a fun trip when we reached the top of the mountain, and the view answered my question for me. Not many people actually cared about the cross once we reached it -- it isn't near as impressive up close -- but the view that lay behind it is just spectacular! You can see all of Chembery from that cross, as well as the lake and some of the surrounding towns. I marveled at this view for what had to have been an hour.

Above: La Croix du Nivolet, still 10 minutes away
Right: View of the lake from the cross

Though the hike wasn't exactly my idea of a good time, I'm glad I went. The view was better than anything I could have imagined, and now I can officially say that I hike up a mountain!


Monday, however, wasn't quite as rewarding of a trip. Once again, Guillaume led the group on an excursion. This time we ventured to L'Abbaye d'Hautecombe, Catholic monastery in just off the lake and in the side of a mountain. My research of the abbaye made me more than excited to go -- a historic monument, full of rich history, and still inhabited by the monks who worship there twice a day. The reality of it, though, wasn't near as impressive as I was expecting. The abbaye was left in ruins for a couple of centuries, then a duke (or someone like that) decided to rebuild it in a troubadour gothic style. The sad thing is that this wasn't to restore the abbaye -- it wasn't originally built in that style at all -- but rather it was because that was how the duke thought it should have been built. Over 90% of the main church and the artifacts in it were less than a century old, and the only truly historical part of it was the large number of kings, princes, and dukes of the Savoie region who were buried beneath the church (that is, if their bodies weren't dredged up in the reconstruction).

Above: View of L'Abbaye d'Hautecombe from tour boat
Right: The main chapel used by the monks

The trips to and from the Abbaye probably made my perception of it that much worse. After being starved and shoved and dealing with some extremely rude people, I expected the actual site to be worth the trip, like the view at La Croix du Nivolet did for the hike. Unfortunately, it did not. After taking the train to a nearby city, we still had a half-hour walk to the boat dock. This wasn't really a problem, since my walk to class each day is 20 minutes -- half of it up mountain -- and this walk was mostly along the beach. It was around 1:00 and since we met to walk to the train station at 11:30, none of us had eaten lunch yet. On the walk we passed through an area with small permanent kiddy rides and little beach-stand food shops with seats in the shade. I expected Guillaume to stop there for us to eat. Instead he took us to the marina and told us we had 20 minutes to find food before our boat left. There were only 4 restaurants in the area and they were all very expensive and very busy. Some of us finally decided on the least busy place and tried to scarf some food down as quickly as we could. I had only eaten a third of my  9 euro (over $13) salad when Guillaume told us to pay and run to the boat dock. On the walk back, we spotted a McDonald's and talked Guillaume into letting us eat there. McD's here is so much more expensive than back home! My McDouble combo meal cost just over 7 euro (over $10), and the fries and drink were even smaller than the medium size back home. The food wasn't greasy at all, though, like American McDonald's tend to be.

So I was already put in a bad mood by hunger before we even got to the Abbaye, and then the Russians in our group were their own rude selves the whole time (a rant for another post, I'm sure). The only things that made the "false" historical monument worth seeing were the souvenirs I bought for 2 people back home. Oh well, chalk it up to a learning experience.

Like the Swiss

So one of the many things the ISEFE program provides for us is excursions to nearby attractions. These are not free, but they are at somewhat reduced student/group rates, making it worth the money. Today we paid 20 euros each to spend take a bus to Geneva -- the capital of Switzerland -- for the day. It was absolutely beautiful, and I spent way too much money in that city.

Our group had its own bus to take us to Geneva, which was about a two-hour drive. Once we got there, though, it was a complete free-for-all. Guillaume, our 22-year-old ISEFE guide for the summer, simply told us, "The bus will leave from here at 5:30. We will meet here at 5:20." That gave us almost seven hours in Geneva! The first order of business for me and the two other girls with me at the time, was to compare prices in the nearby souvenir shops... which turned into locating the chocolatiers. We were is Switzerland, after all! I found souvenirs and presents for so many people (as well as quite a few Swiss chocolate creations for myself).

Next, of course, was sight-seeing! We wandered around for a couple of hours, trying to decide where we wanted to go and getting the lay of the land. The geyser in the picture above is one of the many landmarks of Geneva. The piano player in the picture really gives the true essence of the city, though. There were musicians and artists all over the city, playing and painting for the tips of passers-by. The atmosphere was just incredible! We took a little "train" tour around the city, which was half an hour long and only cost 8 francs. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone planning a visit to Geneva. The train was solar and battery powered, and took us to most of the major attractions. I was in such awe of the whole tour that I'm afraid I missed the prime photo opportunities -- most of mine are of the landmarks and attractions as we are moving past them.

An artist painting for tips, on a huge canvas taped to the sidewalk.

We ventured into the beautiful Jadins Anglais, wandered into a children's store -- which was very fun -- found the expensive shopping district, took pictures of all the landmarks -- including the flower clock -- and witnessed a bride and groom walking along the river just after their wedding had taken place there. I couldn't help but be jealous of the couple for being able to get married in such a beautiful place, while I'm planning my wedding back in what now seems to be the very dull state of Indiana. The weather was beautiful, the river magnificent, and the people nicer and more helpful than I could have ever imagined.

One interesting thing I have noticed in my first week in Europe, is that they seem to be obsessed with American pop culture! I have heard more Brittany Spears on the radio stations here in one week than I have in the past few months back home. They even use our celebrities on advertisements for everything! Nicole Kidman was on an add for a parfumerie, and George Clooney was on window advertisements for espresso machines all over Geneva!

The bus ride back was almost as interesting as the time we spent in the city. Since it is a two hour bus ride, Guillaume gave us options of movies to watch... in French, with French subtitles, since that is what we are here to study. So I enjoyed an hour and a half of the Simpsons Movie en francais. Tres interressant! As hyped up as I still am about our trip to Geneva earlier today, I am still even more excited for the rest of this weekend! Tomorrow we are hiking up to the Nivolet Cross, and on Monday (since we don't have class) we will be going to the Hautecombe Abbey, which is a beautiful church in the mountains. I can't wait!

My First Post (sorry it's so long)

Bonjour! My name is Sondra, and I am an American college student studying in France for the summer. I promised some friends and family members that I would create this blog so that they could keep tabs on me, and here it is. I have been at l'Universite de Savoie in Chambery for almost one week now, and there is already so much to tell. I would have started this blog sooner, but I have been a little preoccupied with the beauty of Chambery.

I guess I should start this by telling you where I am and what exactly it is I'm doing here. I attend Ball State University in Indiana (US), and am here in Chambery -- a town in the Alpes in France -- to study, well, French. I am part of an immersive language program through an organization called ISEP back home, but which goes by ISEFE here in France. The town is gorgeous! Everywhere you look you can see beautiful mountain ranges, and it is what many people would call "Old France" since most of the buildings are in the old architectural style. There is a section called "the old village" in English, or "la village ancienne" in French, that looks like it was straigh out of a fairy tale (much like the town I always pictured Belle from Beauty and the Beast to live in). It has been turned into a shopping and cultural center, but it is still very beautiful. I've been taking the long way back from classes so that I can walk through it every afternoon.

The view on my walk to class

Speaking of class... For the first two days I was in class level B1 -- early intermediate -- but on Wednesday our class was split up and some people were moved. We were told that this was because we had such a large class for the program, however it seems as if I was moved down. My new professor told me not to judge the class by what we're doing now, since we will be reviewing until Tuesday. Unfortunately, my brain just won't listen to him and I'm worried that I'm not going to learn anything while I'm here, as the things we are studying now -- what many people in my class don't seem to know well already -- I learned 5 years ago. Other than that, though, my professor seems interesting enough. He is Parisian and speaks with a very fast Parisian accent, so at the very least I'm hoping to better understand the rapid speakers of French by the time the program ends.

For the program, they have us in college apartments which are very different from those I'm used to in America. I share an apartment with one other girl; each of us have our own room. The bedrooms are actually much larger than I expected, with a very big desk, a sink, a descent-sized closet, and a huge set of shelves which divides the main part of the room from the sink and closet. The parts of the apartment that we share, however, are rather cramped. There is a small kitchen with just enough room for the two-person table sitting in it. We don't have an over, just two hot plates which like to keep you guessing as to what heat setting you need to set them on to properly cook your food. There is also a mini-fridge and sink. The light in the kitchen has been burnt out since we got here, but we did find a stove light, so we are using that until we get a new bulb. Next to the kitchen is a small room with only a toilet, and another with only a very small, awkward shower. The shower has a sort of half-tub, but there is no plug for the drain, so the only reason I can think of for the tub is to keep us from flooding the bathroom -- as one girl in our building already has. The shower head isn't fixed into the wall; you can pick it up and move it about, which is probably the best way to shower, since when it is hooked to the fixture on the wall the shower head tends to spray sideways, soaking the bathroom outside of the little half-shower-door. They really seem to like half-sized things here...

So far, in my 5 days here, we have gone to a couple of pubs, explored some of the restaurants and food vendors, and gone to a local farmers' market for groceries. Buying food and going shopping in general is a very interesting experience given that I can't understand all of what the vendors are saying when they speak so quickly, but I am hoping to catch up soon. We are going to Geneva on Saturday, though, and then hiking to the Nivolet cross Sunday, and visiting "hautecombe abbey" on Monday.

I apologize that this has been such a long blog post. I'll try to post more often in the future so that there isn't as much to cram in. While I'm apologizing, though, I should probably throw in the cheesy title of this blog. It was all I could think of at the time. So far I'm loving the experience, though, and am so glad I have the opportunity to be here!