Mieux

Bonsoir!

I am writing you from my bed as usual. Luckily I am feeling a lot better than I felt on Friday! That was horrible and I am so thankful to be feeling better. I am still worried about my foot, but I am trying not to think about it too much. 

It was a gray day here in Grenoble - the perfect weather for a lazy Sunday. I went over to the girls' apartment for most of the afternoon. Ana and I found a great apartment to rent for when we go to Amsterdam. I am so excited because Liz Tuthill is going to come and meet us there!! I have not seen her in like seven years! yayyy!! It will be so wonderful to reconnect with an old friend.

This Friday I will be in Paris! (I am keeping my fingers crossed and praying for my health). David is meeting me there and we will be staying with family friends. I am sincerely looking forward to it. We will hopefully be able to see Lilly (an MH cabin girl) as well. She is studying in Paris and I would like nothing more than to give her a big hug. 

I will be in Paris until Tuesday and from Paris I am flying to Rome to visit Ben and Jasmine! I CANNOT WAIT FOR ITALY. I love Italyy! It is such an incredible and beautiful country. Also, I want PIZZA.

This weekend was probably really good for me - I got to relax, read, and simply rest. Obviously, I needed it. It is hard to remember to slow down sometimes. I miss my family though a lot and I wish I could hug Crissy/mom/dad/jack right now. I cannot wait to see them again. I love Europe, but it makes me so thankful and appreciative of everything that I have waiting for me when I return.

I have a lot of class this week :( My day tomorrow starts at 8 and goes until 4 I believe.. long day!

xoxox

K

Bored

Today is the first day I can honestly say that I am bored - I am sick too so there is no leaving my apartment today. It was soo random, but yesterday I was out shopping with Ana, Carrie, and Anna Cat and I suddenly felt very ill. I told the girls that I needed to go home and preceded to somehow make it home. My host family wasn't even home so I curled up in my bed; I am pretty sure I had some kind of virus or something. I definitely had a fever.
I was supposed to go snowshoeing today, but I didn't because of my illness and my foot still really hurts :(
I do not know what I will do today. Maybe some homework or something.

Vendredi

Salut!
I am sorry that my post yesterday was so incredibly random and short but it seriously made my day when I got that e-mail from Allie. I get to spend the summer with her and Dennis again! yay! I am really looking forward to MH. The only wish I would have is that Crissy could come back :(
Well, class yesterday was EXCRUCIATINGLY boring and long. I had to learn to a professor talk AT me for three solid hours about the history of the EU. It was absolutely horrendous.
Unfortunately, I think I did something not so good to my foot. There is a little bump/bruise on the top of it and it hurts when I bend my foot. Of course, I am naturally a worrier so I am nervous that I did something serious. Hopefully not right? It is a downfall of Europe that I would have no idea what to do if I did something serious to it. I do not want to have to go to the doctor here! I am praying that it goes away in a few days. It doesn't help that I will be going snowshoeing tomorrow :( ahhhh
Last night we had our weekly rendez-vous with Patrick. It was fun - we tried foie gras on toast, some dessert wine, and these great cracker things with powdered sugar on them. I have decided that I am not partial to foie gras - no merci!
I am going shopping today with Ana, AC, and Carrie - I am excited. I am going to try to wear shoes that do not hurt my foot too much. O exciting newS - I have been talking to Liz Tuthill about meeting up while we both are in Europe. She is studying in Denmark; anyways, I think she might come to The Black Keys concert with me, Ana, and Betsy! How crazy would that be?! I would love to see her!
I am going to go eat breakfast.
Bisous,
Kate

yay!

This post will be extremely short, but I got an e-mail from Allie (from MH) and SHE IS GOING BACK TO MH THIS SUMMER!!!
I am the happpiest girl alive. In French news, I am going snowshoeing this weekend. I wish I could film it because I am sure that it will be quite entertaining to watch me trudge through snow with raquettes on my feet! :)

Mentos

I love Mentos - I do not know why I am telling you this, but I am eating a roll of them and felt the need to share my love for them,
Well, what is new? I had my first Ethics class yesterday and I am sincerely looking forward to the class. It reminds me of my Economics 300 class from last year and I absolutely loved it so yay! We did our group presentations today - I am in a group with three guys that couldn't care less about the project. It is rather sad and I found myself doing most of it. I sincerely dislike group projects.
I have my French class in about two hours from 4:45 to 8:00! O la - c'est trop longue mais c'est la vie! After, I am going to the girls' apartment before Cafe Bayard and Irish music night. I love Tuesdays simply for that reason. I think Anna Cat and I might try to go snowshoeing this weekend! I want to get up into the mountains. I miss them dearly. I hope to be able to Skype with Crissy later too - I want to talk to her!
Bisous,
Kate

LONDON

'ELLO!
Wow - I LOVE LONDON!!! Ana and I as I mentioned in a previous blog decided to take a rather last minute trip to London this past weekend and it was absolutely fabulous!
We had to take a bus from the Gare Routiere here in Grenoble to the Grenoble airport at 7h00 on Friday. It was rather early and very dark outside. The Grenoble airport is a joke - it is soooo small and basically in the middle of nowhere. It is rather annoying too that the airport is called The Grenoble Airport, yet it is a good 45 minutes from the city. I guess that is France for you. We flew on the discount airline, easyjet from Grenoble to the Gatwick airport which is right outside of London. We took an express train from the Gatwick airport to the London Victoria station.
Upon arriving, we ventured out to find our hostel. It was located near Holland Park which is an extremely lovely part of London. It is not in the downtown area, but near Hyde Park. I really love the architecture of the townhouses/apartments of London. The hostel was fairly nice - it was clean so that was good. After we dropped our backpacks off at the hostel (by the way - traveling by backpack is the way to go!) we were really hungry so we took the Tube into London. The Tube was actually kind of difficult to use! We thought that London would be so easy because the whole English thing, but it took a little bit to figure out which line to take into the city.
One goal I had for London was SUSHI. Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful for wonderful French cuisine 24/7 in Grenoble, but I was looking forward to a little change. We found a really cool sushi restaurant where the sushi came around on a conveyor belt and you could just grab whatever you wanted. The color of the plates coordinated with a price. O ya, the English Pound OWNED ME. I hate the value of the US dollar - it was a little depressing how much money I spent this weekend. Anyways, after sushi, we went to visit Christina! It was sooo great to see her and some of the other GLSers in London. They live in such an amazing part too - right near the Museum of London. I think that they are having a wonderful time so it was great to see that.
After we went into that museum and wondered around for a while. I am so happy to have Ana in my program because we seem to mesh really well in terms of traveling. We like to do the same things, we like the same food, and we have fun together. We went to dinner on Friday evening with Ana's mom's best friend, Brian Hollywood. He is Irish and he works as a producer for BBC! How cool right?! He was genuinely one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life! He took us to an incredible Japanese restaurant near Tragalgar Square. It was amazing and he was kind enough to pay for our meal. We then walked along the Thames River which was so beautiful. It was a little cold, but it was totally bearable. Around 10, we went to a little cafe to enjoy hot tea and a delicious dessert. I had a fudge brownie with vanilla ice cream and it was HEAVENLY.
Saturday morning, Ana and I woke up and went exploring! Unfortunately, some of the Tube lines were not running so we had to change lines a lot of times to get to the Tower of London. We then traversed from the East side of the city to the West. We stopped in cathedrals, markets, and museums. It was a very successful day. OMG I forgot to tell you, I SAW CAMERON DIAZ AND ALEX RODRIGUEZ at the restaurant that we went to for lunch. It is called The Wolseley - soooo beautiful! Ana went there with her mom last summer and she kept raving about it so we decided to go and wait for a table. Naturally, it is best to make reservations, but we were determined to eat there so we waited for llike an hour and a half. Well... we were having a coffee in the little tea room and I looked through the glass and there was Cameron Diaz! She was waiting by the door! I freaked outtt so Ana and I moved into the same room and her and stood there for about ten minutes watching her. She is so beautiful and we did not know who she was waiting on... and then walked up Alex R. Soo cooL! It was really neat to see. Anyways, lunch was probably the best and most expensive thing of my life, but it was totally worth it!
Saturday evening we bought food at the grocery store and used the hostel's kitchen to make ourselves dinner.  It was fun!
This is a long post.. I promise to finish it later!
bisous,
Kate

Pas d'ecole!

Salut!
I did not have class today! YAHOOO! last night I went to Cafe Bayard with Aaron, Hugo, Anna Cat, Ana, Patrick, Kelsey, Will, and Sam for the weekly Irish music. It was so great! Anna Cat and I danced around with some young people... I felt like an idiot because I have realized that I have no rhythmic capabilities with my feet, but it was so fun!
Today it was my goal to find Panko breadcrumbs in France.. probably not my best idea. I had plans to fry fish tonight for a little dinner party at the girls' apartment, but I searched and searched to no avail. So I am not quite sure what is going to happen tonight for dinner. Sam is making a traditional potato dish of this region and we are going to have une galette de roi (a king cake) as well. It should be fun. I thought that it was going to be a beautiful/warmer day, but it is definitely COLD. The sun is out, but the wind is blowing!
I am feeling rather sleepy... I probably should try to take a nap.

bisous,
Kate

School

Salut!

Sorry for not writing yesterday – I was very busy. I had my first day of class yesterday. Ahhhh – I was completely dreading it. I have be in lala land here in Europe and I almost forgot that I came here to actually attend school. I have one class, Innovation and Product Development for three hours. My schedule is a little weird because it changes from week to week and the classes are in block schedules. It is interesting, but I have a hard time focusing for three hours. We only get a fifteen minute break in between. I really like my professor thought – she is from Holland and actually knew the town that my dad is from so that was cool! We have a group project already – we must take a product and design a new and better package for it. I am in a group with three very immature boys to be honest. I am afraid I will end up doing the entire project, which would be rather unfortunate. I hate group work! I think we finally decided on doing pasta sauce so we will see.

I BOOKED MY FLIGHT TO ROME! I am so excited. I am going to go to Paris to visit Jean-Luc on February 4^th and then fly to Rome on February 8^th. Then on Thursday night, Jasmine, Ben, and I are going to go to Naples, Italy for two nights. I booked a hostel and our mission of the trip is to eat THE BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD. I am so excited. Also in traveling news, Ana and I spontaneously decided to go to London this weekend! We booked our flights last night. YAY! I am spending way too much money, but I do not really care… it is important to live life and have fun.

I had a three hour class this morning on the history of the European Union…shoot me. I believe that the information is extremely important, but it was soooo boring. My professor literally lectured us on the history of the EU for three hours. It was awful – not to mention at 8 in the morning.

I have my first French class this afternoon. I am looking forward to it. I have decided to start studying French on my own here. There are a ton of French students in the school, but they are not exchange students so they have no reason to make friends with me, an exchange student. We will see what happens. I was invited to a housewarming party by a German girl in my exchange program and I am very excited to go on Thursday. I love German people – they are wonderful.

Tonight I am going to Café Bayard to enjoy the weekly musical Irish group. We are going to try to get there before ten so that we can sit in the same room as the musical group. 

Lyon

Today was my first real travel day since arriving in Grenoble and it was FABULOUS! Anna Cat and I went to Lyon for the day - I felt such excitement to travel. I bought a train ticket yesterday after orientation and AC and I took the 8:30 train to Lyon. We arrived around ten and were extremely overwhelmed when we walked out the the train station. Lyon is a lot bigger than Grenoble! They have trams, metros, and buses. It was so confusing. Luckily, we managed to walk our way in the general direction of le Vieux Lyon! C'etait incroyable! We walked up this massive hill to get to the Basilique which is a famous and absolutely breath-takingly beautiful cathedral on the top of the hill. It was so amazing. It really made me think about the time and effort that was put into that church to create something so majestic and powerful. We could see all of Lyon from up on the hill. On our way up, we stopped and saw ancient Roman ruins that were over 2000 years old! WOW.
We actually managed to make it around to all of the historic and tourist sites of the city. Did you know that Lyon is the birthplace of traditional French cuisine?! The markets were incredible - people were eating oysters and extremely fancy and traditional French food everywhere.
Anna Cat and I grabbed lunch and ate it in la Place Bellecoeur (beautiful heart). The weather was incredible today - a perfect sunny day. We then walked over to the Place Terreux where there is a famous fountain that was created by the same man that created the Statue of Liberty. So so beautiful. There was actually a group protesting in Lyon today. I think it was a group of Tunisians? They were protesting repression... it was rather weird.
By the end of the afternoon, we were so tired. We literally walked around the entire city. Anna Cat and I think we probably walked around seven miles or so. It was totally worth it though because of how beautiful it was today. We took a lot of pictures so that was good news.

I love Europe. the end.

Nap

Bonsoir,
I love to nap - it is the greatest thing ever. So what is new with me in Grenoble? Well, I do not remember is I wrote about this yesterday or not, but I went to a bar/pub/hang out place last night called Just Beer. It was really cool and relaxed. We sat on beer crates and drank beer so it was good time.
Today was my last day of orientation! THANK GOODNESS. I think that classes might actually be challenging. I think I had convinced myself prior that studying abroad was going to be excruciatingly easy, but it does not seem to be the case. It is probably for the best.
Will and Ana made it to the Alps today and I am insanely jealous. Will texted me to tell me that is is absolutely beautiful and I cannot wait to get out there. I might try to go next week to explore the little towns or go snowshoeing. I have to mentally prepare myself to ski.
I bought myself a train ticket to Lyon for tomorrow! I wish I would have waited because honestly right now all I want to do is go spend time in the Alps, but I will go to Lyon tomorrow. It will be a nice little day escape I think. I went around town today for a little bit after orientation - I love all of the hustle and bustle (I probably did not spell that saying correct at all) of the city; it is wonderful.
bisous,
Kate

13 janvier

Salut!
O Grenoble! Hello again - I am really starting to enjoy writing in this blog. I am sorry if I am boring, but I really think I will look back on this and be so thankful that I kept a blog of my time in Europe. The cat is on my bed again! I love her - she is so cute. Well, today was not as long as yesterday in terms of orientation stuff. I took my French placement exam - I thought it went pretty well except that I have forgotten all of the small details regarding relative pronouns etc. So that part was rather annoying. Afterwards, I went to a cafe with Will and Aaron and sat there for quite some time and talked about random happenings. I think tonight we are going to a bar called Just Beer - it should be fun. Aaron said it is very low key and the mission of the place is to bring good beer to Grenoble.
I bought my train pass ticket that will allow for me to get discount tickets :) hurray. I am going to try to go to Lyon this Saturday. I am looking forward to it.

Bisous,
Kate

and the adventures begin!

SALUT!
O wow do I have a lot to write! Where to even begin?! I did not write anything yesterday, but it was fairly mellow. It rained ALL day it was awful. We went to all of the marches with Patrick and I am happy that we went around so we now know where they are.. I love the vegetable and produce markets because I got the chance to read all of the signs and learn the names of more vegetables and fruits so it was fun. I took a great nap and then I went to a pub where a traditional Irish folk band was playing. The bar was called Cafe Boyard I believe and I really liked the ambiance of it. I went with Patrick, Aaron, Will, Ana, Anna Kat, and Sidnie. We met a few of Aaron's fellow teaching assistants who were all really cool and nice. I had a lovely glass of red wine there. So here is where the fun of the evening really began - I will do my best to provide you with details so that you can hopefully find the humor in my evening. That bar closed at midnight and I had taken a nap and I did not want to go home. However, Ana, Anna Kat, Patrick wanted to leave so they all went home. So Will, Sidnie, and I decided to find something that was open. It was a little weird because there was NO ONE out last night - the streets were empty, most bars were closed... it worried me. Well we found a really sketchy bar called Le Couche Tard which translates to Go to Bed Late and it was open until 2. We went in and it was a great experience. Sidnie left after a while, so Will and I stayed and we actually met a lot of interesting people. One girl explained that no one was out because it is exam time so that it why the streets were empty. It was a relief for Will and me to hear that. Not that I am at all a party animal, but I definitely want some kind of nightlife because it is Europe and fun.
So when we left the bar, Will said he would walk me home... and we were walking and a French young man came up to Will and tried to kiss him! It was sooooo WEIRD. Granted Will is 6'5 so it was the strangest thing. Of course, Will was extremely bothered by it but I am happy that he didn't try to get into a fight with the guy... probably because we were both in shock.
So that was the excitement for the evening. Today, I had orientation for GEM. It was good! I met two really nice German students and a few French guys that are in the MIB program so they are actually older. It was a long day though, especially because I was so tired. Alright, that is all that I can write for now.
bisous,
Kate

Lost

Salut,
Today was my first Monday in France and it is weird to think that I have been here for almost a week. Today was interesting - I definitely got lost. It had to happen sometime - I went out exploring this morning before I met up with the rest of the group and I ended up not anywhere familiar. It was kind of exciting and frustrating at the same time. I managed to find my way back to le centre ville and I was able to go look around in H&M and Zara. I can tell that I will be spending some money in those stores this semester for sure!
Everyday I like to go to un cafe pour boire un cafe - it has become easily my favorite thing that the French do. It is so nice to just sit at un cafe with nothing else to think about and enjoy an espresso. I am sure that my Dad would be jealous of the espressos that I am drinking here.
Today we went the Musee de Grenoble and saw quite a lot of art. The museum had a collection of art from basically every century so that was cool to see the progression that art has taken over the past 6 centuries or so. I will say that I regret my lack of knowledge on the subjects of art and history. It is quite sad actually - although, I still enjoyed myself. My CEA director Patrick studied art in school so he was a wonderful guide to have with us. Afterwards we went to a Kabob stand and I got a cheese naan kabob with chicken and french fries in it. I have already had three of them. I lovee them!
When we went our separate ways, Will, Ana, Pat, and I decided to go get un cafe. It was lovely.
Last night I enjoyed a THREE hour dinner with my host family. They had guests over and it was quite the ordeal. We had l'aperatif before dinner which is just a before dinner drink. They kept offering me more and more liquor and I thought it would be rude to decline so by the time we had dinner I had already drunk three different cocktails. Too much needless to say. Dinner was amazing and it wad followed of course by le fromage (yumm - I have become a huge fan of brie) and then une bouche ( which is a special kind of ice cream cake). I loved it, but we did not finish eating until 11!

Well so far here are a few things that I love about the way of life in France:

1. The bread - it is official: I will never eat bread when I return from France because I am being spoiled with the most delicious bread ever.
2. The freshness of all of the food - basically I love French food - I love les marches, les cafes, les patisseries. everything about food I love here.
3. Les bisous - I find the hello kiss to be absolutely charming
4. The method of transportation - I love all of the walking and tram taking that currently occurs daily for me.
5. The French language - I am falling more in love with it everyday. It is simply beautiful
6. French children - they are somehow so much cuter in France. My host mom watches her grandkids during the week and they are simply precious. Of course I cannot understand a word of their French baby talk but I still enjoy watching them play.

Tonight: dinner with my family, then over to the girls' apartment and possibly out for a drink. :)

Bisous,

Kate

la pluie

Bonsoir,

And at last... the rain. O how I missed the European days of gray skies and rain. Ha ha, seriously I do not mind it at all. I went to church this morning with Kelsey and her boyfriend. It is a small Protestant church in Grenoble. It was wonderful and in French! I liked it a lot - everyone was very friendly and inviting. 

Afterwards, I walked to the marche to buy an apple and headed over to un cafe. It was so lovely because I sat at the cafe by myself and listening to my French podcast. When I got home, JC and Elise were not home so I decided to take a nap. My room is very cozy and I sleep pretty well here. The others in my program talked about going to a movie tonight and I will most likely go. They want to see Love and Other Drugs, which I have seen, but I will go if the rain lets up a bit. Goal for tomorrow: buy an umbrella! I have my raincoat, but the wind is blowing hard so I feel that if I walk to the cinema I will be soaked by the time I get there. 

C'est tout pour maintenant,

Kate

le samedi

Salut,
Today was my first Saturday in France! Hooray! Last night I went to the London Pub with Melody, Will, Patrick, Anna Kat, and Ana. It was a lot of fun! French boys are funny - they love to mess with American girls. There are a lot of students in Grenoble so there is definitely a good night life.
Well this morning, I woke up and hiked up to the Bastille with Will, Anna Kat, and Patrick. It was absolutely beautiful because we could see all of Grenoble and all of the mountain ranges. It was a beautiful day and it was clear enough for us to see Mount Blanc which is the highest peak in France - 15,770 feet! How crazy is that?! The Grand is about 13,700 feet! We hiked down and met the other members of our group for un cafe at a cafe that was established in the 1700s! It was wonderful. We walked around, grabbed some lunch, and split ways. I went with Sidnie and Will to Casino which is the name of the marches here. It was HUGEEE.
Then I came home and took a nap with the cat that lives here. She is a beautiful black cat and she is actually still in my room at the moment sleeping at the end of my bed. I went over to Ana's and Anna Kat's apartment to hang out for a while this evening. We decided that we were to tired to go to the discotheque tonight. Surprisingly, I had the energy to go, but I would never go by myself so it will have to be another night.
A demain,
Kate

Salut

Salut mes amis,
Well today was a good day I would say. Unfortunately, I had a very difficult time falling asleep last night, thanks to jet lag, and only managed to sleep for about four hours. We met at the CEA office and then departed from there to visit GEM (Grenoble Ecole de Management) where Anna Cat, Sidnie, and I will be taking our business classes. It is an absolutely wonderful building and it is brand new actually! CNN did a report on the top Business Schools in the world and GEM ranks in at number 50 which is pretty awesome! I am actually excited to go to class there. It will be a nice change from Knoxville.
This morning I had brioche again with homemade jam! It was absolutely delicious. We walked around the city more today so it was a good day. The weather is unusually warm for this time of year supposedly - however I quite enjoy it!
Tonight I am meeting the other students in my program at the London Pub! I am looking forward to it very much.

Bisous,
Kate

Amsterdam airport!

Day One

Salut!
Je suis ici!! Maybe I should start blogging in French! NOT - that would be wayyy to challenging. Well anyways, today was my first full day in Grenoble and it was grand.
I really like my host family. It is a husband and wife, Jean Claude and Elise - they are retired I believe. They have 3 sons and one of them still lives at home. His name is Guillaume and he is 32 years old. It is very different from the US because children do not live with their parents at that age. He is really nice though. They speak French all of the time which is a great challenge for me. Jean Claude does not speak any English actually. Elise is a wonderful cook! Oh my goodness! The first night we had roasted chicken, potatoes, green beans, a salad, and then a cake for dessert. It was so delicious. They also served two different types of wines with dinner and we drank each with specific courses. It was so cool. Tonight we had fish, rice, bread, greens, and CHEESE!!! I got to sample soo many different kinds and I surprising loved all of them. I am definitely going to have to walk A LOT because of all of the food and drink.
Well this morning Jean Claude dropped me off at the CEA office where I met Patrick who is in charge of the CEA program here. He is an extremely nice man originally from Michigan but has been in Grenoble for over 20 years because of his French wife. He was actually a chef at one point in his life so we both share a love for great food. I met the other students in my program. There is Kelsey, Sidnie, Ana, Ann-Catherine, Will, and Patrick. They are all really nice. Ana is actually from Boulder, CO and she brought her snowboard with her!!
We went to lunch at Le 5 which was absolutely incredible. Then we walked around the city for a long time. It was a good day.
I am very tired right now.. I might go to bed soon. O I got to Skype with Crissy! YAY.
Ciao,
Kate

Atlanta

Hello!
I am currently writing to you from the Delta lounge in the Atlanta airport! My flight to Amsterdam leaves in T minus 2 hours and 16 minutes! yay for Europe! I cannot wait.

Simply,
Kate

January 3, 2011

Hello!

Well, I am going to attempt to keep a blog again! Third times a charm right? I am hoping to be able to write and post some videos while I am abroad this semester in Grenoble, France. I leave TOMORROW!! It is a scary/exciting thought. I fly from Memphis to Atlanta to Amsterdam and finally to Lyon. It is weird to think that I am actually studying abroad! Of course, I have always planned on it, but it is really happening. I am so thankful and blessed to be able to have this experience and  I look forward to seeing what the great continent of Europe has in store!

Simply,
Kate