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!