La Vie en Rose

There's so much to update you on and yet nothing really at all. I met up with my friend Erin, with whom I worked at French camp this past summer, for five days in Paris two weeks ago. Erin is currently doing her student teaching work (to complete her education degree) in Luxembourg, so we met up halfway between our cities, which happened to be Paris! Erin had never been to Paris without her family, so we had a blast just running around and seeing things with different eyes! We went to a lot of the touristy stuff, just to see it, but we also spent a lot of time just walking along the streets, looking at things. We did go to the Paris Catacombs, which is something that neither of us had ever done, and up to Montmartre and the Sacré Coeur, which is something that Erin had never done. The Catacombs were amazing and, as long as you don't become too faint of heart when looking at skulls and bones deep underground, I definitely recommend checking it out!





I had never before been to Paris in the fall and the colors just amazed me! Everything looked the same and yet so different than the last time I was there in the winter or spring.




Now that I'm back in Cusset, things have slowed down a bit. Allana and I have gotten to know Vichy a little bit better; but it's quite a bit bigger than Aurillac, with lots of little side streets that are easy to get lost on. We've started attending a weekly Spanish class at a small independent university in Vichy. It's an hour and a half long, with just adults in the class, and we like to tease about how we learn "à la française," meaning that we haven't necessarily started with the very basics but have instead sort of jumped right into good pronunciation and reading. And we are learning things, just not necessarily in the order, or at the speed, that we normally would in the States. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but I don't think it's necessarily the best way to learn a language either (which might be why the French complain about their lack of English skills-- I've seen how it's taught in the public schools, and teaching middle school kids about Agatha Christie's life and novels instead of good conversation techniques doesn't seem to be working...)

Anyway, now that we've gotten involved in that, as well as the climbing club, things are becoming a little more lively and fun around here. But I'm going to make a huge generalization here, are you ready? The people I met in Aurillac seemed to be a lot more open and friendly and less... bourgeois maybe? But like I said, this is a bigger place, a city-city rather than a country-city, and maybe that has something to do with it.

However, my teachers are amazing and the students are pretty good. At the middle school, they're a lot younger and more easily manipulated to act the way you want, which makes discipline easier. Then I have several EURO classes, which are high school students who choose to take a couple extra hours of English a week instead of math or chemistry, etc. And these students are generally good English-speakers, pleasant, and willing to work. In fact, they WANT to learn English, which is why they've opted to take it five to six hours a week instead of just two. Needless to say, they've been pretty fun to work with so far.

Allana and I went down to Aurillac last weekend to see friends and collect the bikes we'd left there over the summer. It was wonderful seeing all my friends again, or going climbing at the gym (because it's much, much bigger than the one here in Cusset).

When I'm not in class teaching English, I'm applying for grad school and studying for the GRE and GMAT exams. I'm trying not to get too stressed about it all, but it's a lot of work. But come January, when applications are turned in, and Feb/March when I've taken the tests, things will be easier. Though at the same time, with only 12 hours of work a week, this things are keeping me very busy!

Here are some pics of around Vichy! That sheet (with green lettering) was hanging outside of my middle school for a couple weeks. It says "No to this UNFAIR reform," and was put up during those never-ending weeks of strikes. Then the tile-bathtub-looking things hold water from natural springs. This is what Vichy is known for: it's healing water. With a prescription from the doctor (saying you have been diagnosed with anything from rheumatism to arthritis to cancer) you can come once or twice a week and drink this pure spring water, in the hopes that this will help cure your illness. The fountain you drink from depends on what particular illness you have and which bit of natural water is most likely to help you. Pretty cool.








More sooner rather than later, I hope.

Bisous xoxo