Greetings from Chamonix!!

Merry Christmas!!!

This won't be a long post because I'm busy and freezing. The room with wifi in our hostel is quite chilly. I also managed to loose my toothbrush somewhere so I need to search for a new one. I hope a store is open. Something should be since I am barely in France (everyone speaks English here). I've had to turn off my English radar because I would just end up talking to the whole world. I did manage to score a free day on my skipass because I was the nice American who was speaking French after a bunch of Americans were yelling at the poor workers, so that was pretty cool. I've been skiing a bit and the views are truly incredible. The weather has been perfect and my hostel isn't too bad. It's a little too festive sometimes but most people are pretty nice and interesting. Overall, not a bad place to spend Christmas. I'll post more information when something truly interesting happens!!!

Have a great vacation everyone at home!! I miss you!!!

Lindsey and Sarah in Dijon: Part deux!

Coucou,

This is a very common, non-formal greeting used here between friends. It's kind of like "hi there" but not quite. It also sounds very cute when the French say it. I can't quite pull off using it so I stick to the safe "salut" for informal situations or the good old stand by of "bon" plus whatever part of the day it is.


So I have not gotten to write too much because I've still been busy. As you all know, Lindsey was here for 2 weeks. It was so awesome having her here and I miss her so much now that she's gone. I think I really showed Lindsey Dijon and Burgundy (minus the cows). We did the Christmas market where we drank vin chaud (all the rage here), the Saturday market, lots of shopping. No, for real, we had lots of traditional food and I probably gained a bunch of weight. She also spent some time teaching English with me and hanging out at "le fac". I think/hope she had a great trip too. (To the right are photos of me lighting Channukah candles, I had guests and everything, and Lindsey, Katie and I in a salon de the in Dijon).



She left last Friday morning bright and early in the morning. And then I headed to Strasbourg for the weekend, which was awesome but also further exhausted me. More on that later...

There have been 4 thesis defenses here in one week so that's been interesting. They are slightly different then ours in the US. They have a larger "jury" or committee then we have and they are almost forced to have a foreigner on the jury. Therefore, most of them must make it so that this foreigner can understand it. All of the defenses were mostly in French, however, 2 out of 4 powerpoints were in English. I think its amazing that "the defender" then can change languages when answering questions; I would already be pretty nervous. All of the defenses went very well and I believe they are now all considered doctors. This lead to lots of celebrations in the form of "pots" or cocktail parties. You'd think that most people would be poted out but with the holiday season there is no shortage. It's a bit crazy. Also, with all of these defenses, the pots and work I have had very little time to exercise and it is driving me a bit crazy. I'm really missing our American culture of having gyms on every corner. Hopefully, I'll get a good dose of exercise in the Alps (don't see how I can't).

I've been managing to keep busy and semi-distract myself from the fact that most people seem to be leaving for home this week and I'm leaving for who knows what. The next two weeks should definitely satisfy my adventurous self (10 days in the Alps, mostly by myself!), hopefully not for too long though. I'm pretty determined to meet ski buddies. And there is something about pride that goes out of the window when you are alone in foreign countries; the rules of your life change and when I'm determined to meet people in foreign countries I'm even more forward then I am at home. Well I should get back to working. I'll try to update some time soon.

Cheerio for now!!!

Weekend in Lyon.

Salut!!!

So it's been a bit since I posted last and a good amount has happened in that time so I will probably do this in multiple parts. I went to Lyon with Sasha and we had a great time, after she had some train issues (her train was "shocked" and then stopped for a while) and having some issues because we were trying to open the wrong door to our hotel. We stayed up talking (in English) the whole time and toured around Lyon. We ate yogurt in archaeological ruins and saw a really really cool mural. We also watched a fabulous 2 hour documentary on Narwhals; not having tv really makes you appreciate it after 4 months. We ended up meeting these guys from New Zealand who are going to be snowboarding and working in Mont Blanc (the Alps) for the season so I'll have people to hang out with over Christmas. We discussed the French phrases that we strangely use when we speak English and had a great time explaining to these New Zealanders the idiosyncrasies of France. It was really great to see a new city and to be there with a fun person. Plus, the whole time I knew I was seeing Lindsey in a few days so it was overall a great weekend. This video is of us being silly in Lyon...



After Lyon, I took the train to Paris and hung out in the Marais (the jewish neighborhood) with my friend Chris. I also bought some dreidels and challah to educate people in Dijon about the joys of Channukah. And then I saw Lindsey at the airport!!! It was really nice although we were both quite tired. I'll chronicle that part of this week later.....

A bientot!!!

Oh and check this out...its a house reunion of sorts: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1240334282