It's impossible to argue that all of a sudden my life was busier, but it was definitely a valid thought. This week looking at my photo collection I realize that there's a lot more to document but in no way is it fair to say that I did more. After my trip to Chamonix and discovering that the little will-power that I had could be put to use in order to ensure that the amount of stuff that I was to bring home could remain constant. I made one last very important purchase. I needed to own a watch because I have discovered that there is no discreet way to look up the time on your cell phone but a watch, on the other hand (no pun intended!) could be extremely discreet. So Monday I went shopping for the very last time. I bought myself a watch and once that purchase had been made I decided to not enter another store. I pretty much obeyed this plan, but the horrors of traveling with two suitcases will provide me with nightmares for a lifetime. And once I arrived home I told my mom that I would never travel with so much luggage and that I wanted only a carry-on bag for my birthday. I guess that little piece of information can serve as a piece to foreshadow my awful experience that was to come returning home.
So Monday I honestly am unable to document anything else because I can't remember anything truly groundbreaking happening.
On Tuesday I decided that I would try and bring some of this French culture that I was learning/appreciating into the cuisine (kitchen.) So Tuesday night marked the only night that I managed to prepare anything except for the first night in Grenoble where I boiled some pasta. Then I was like, who's kidding who? I am in France. What better opportunity to eat out? I figured that I could learn how to cook later. Even though that was kind of a negative initial mindset to have, I am so glad that I didn't cook, because I probably would have made pathetic stuff like pasta every night, therefore my cooking repertoire would remain to be depressed and because I went out and explored different restaurants and cafés I was able to discover different flavors and delicious cooking concepts that I had never experienced before.
So my cooking course was offered through the CUEF (pronounced Q F) in a really obscure location, but if I have learned anything through this trip is that being lost is the absolute worst, therefore to avoid missing the class that I had paid 30 euros to take, I made it a mission to find this location prior to the start of my class. Well 2 hours later, I found it, and fortunately for me I was able to go home refuel a bit (just a bit of information: whenever I would go for a quick snack I would always take 3 spoonfuls of Nutella, this trick would usually provide me with enough fuel until my next meal.)
One we got to cooking class all of us students, which only consisted of 4 other girls and later on 1 boy, we started chopping vegetables in order to prepare Ratatouille. So just a little information about Ratatouille, no, it's not made with Marinera sauce, nor is it made by rodents. Honestly I was shocked to find out that Ratatouille is more of a stir-fry. I thought that it was a really complicated dish. I guess I have Disney to thank for putting false preconceived notions in my head that making Ratatouille was completely out of reach.
So Monday I honestly am unable to document anything else because I can't remember anything truly groundbreaking happening.
On Tuesday I decided that I would try and bring some of this French culture that I was learning/appreciating into the cuisine (kitchen.) So Tuesday night marked the only night that I managed to prepare anything except for the first night in Grenoble where I boiled some pasta. Then I was like, who's kidding who? I am in France. What better opportunity to eat out? I figured that I could learn how to cook later. Even though that was kind of a negative initial mindset to have, I am so glad that I didn't cook, because I probably would have made pathetic stuff like pasta every night, therefore my cooking repertoire would remain to be depressed and because I went out and explored different restaurants and cafés I was able to discover different flavors and delicious cooking concepts that I had never experienced before.
So my cooking course was offered through the CUEF (pronounced Q F) in a really obscure location, but if I have learned anything through this trip is that being lost is the absolute worst, therefore to avoid missing the class that I had paid 30 euros to take, I made it a mission to find this location prior to the start of my class. Well 2 hours later, I found it, and fortunately for me I was able to go home refuel a bit (just a bit of information: whenever I would go for a quick snack I would always take 3 spoonfuls of Nutella, this trick would usually provide me with enough fuel until my next meal.)
One we got to cooking class all of us students, which only consisted of 4 other girls and later on 1 boy, we started chopping vegetables in order to prepare Ratatouille. So just a little information about Ratatouille, no, it's not made with Marinera sauce, nor is it made by rodents. Honestly I was shocked to find out that Ratatouille is more of a stir-fry. I thought that it was a really complicated dish. I guess I have Disney to thank for putting false preconceived notions in my head that making Ratatouille was completely out of reach.
After we cropped the vegetables, a miracle occurred. It began to rain. I was so happy that my body was finally going to have a chance to cool down. This natural phenomenon was a slight distraction from the class however the teacher managed to regain our attention. We then worked on our desert where we used la fontaine (the fountain) technique. Instead of using a mixing bowl our teacher put all the materials on our metal table and would make a hole with his finger to crack the egg into, etc. This was a very foreign concept for me, but it made me wonder if this was part of the reason why everything tasted so much better here.
Unfortunately the rain didn't really do enough to really make a difference in my sleeping habits. I therefore had to employ the wet towel technique but through my laundry-mat style drying and newly purchased French perfume I was able to keep this technique as fresh as possible. The next day I went to my favorite cinema (Pathé) and I was able to see a really good film. Of course I was beginning to lose touch with American culture. I was no longer interested in the direct English translation of movie titles. This film was called "La femme au tableau," I had no idea that it was an American film but it starred Ryan Reynolds and Helen Mirren. At that point I knew that my French was really improving because I noticed that I was becoming emotional throughout the movie. Then for the next day after my courses I went to Le Musée de Grenoble (a modern art museum) to go on a guided tour to make up for the strike that was held on the first day. Well this tour was a great example of something that was severely challenging for me but was great for the improvement of my French. To my astonishment the only two people who were in attendance at this tour that was "optional" but recommended only 1 other person showed up in addition to me. I think the highlight of this tour was looking at a blank piece of poster board on a blank wall and having the guide tell us that they payed a great deal in order to purchase this piece. I told her that this reminded me of the composer who composed a piece that was silent for about 4 and a half minutes. She was like "Exactement!" (Exactly!) It was through events like this where I really stepped out of my comfort zone where I was really able to improve the most. After the tour I texted my parents and told them that I needed to do something effortless like speak in English. So then I proceeded to Skype with them for about 20 minutes and then I feel asleep for a good solid 10 hours!
Unfortunately the rain didn't really do enough to really make a difference in my sleeping habits. I therefore had to employ the wet towel technique but through my laundry-mat style drying and newly purchased French perfume I was able to keep this technique as fresh as possible. The next day I went to my favorite cinema (Pathé) and I was able to see a really good film. Of course I was beginning to lose touch with American culture. I was no longer interested in the direct English translation of movie titles. This film was called "La femme au tableau," I had no idea that it was an American film but it starred Ryan Reynolds and Helen Mirren. At that point I knew that my French was really improving because I noticed that I was becoming emotional throughout the movie. Then for the next day after my courses I went to Le Musée de Grenoble (a modern art museum) to go on a guided tour to make up for the strike that was held on the first day. Well this tour was a great example of something that was severely challenging for me but was great for the improvement of my French. To my astonishment the only two people who were in attendance at this tour that was "optional" but recommended only 1 other person showed up in addition to me. I think the highlight of this tour was looking at a blank piece of poster board on a blank wall and having the guide tell us that they payed a great deal in order to purchase this piece. I told her that this reminded me of the composer who composed a piece that was silent for about 4 and a half minutes. She was like "Exactement!" (Exactly!) It was through events like this where I really stepped out of my comfort zone where I was really able to improve the most. After the tour I texted my parents and told them that I needed to do something effortless like speak in English. So then I proceeded to Skype with them for about 20 minutes and then I feel asleep for a good solid 10 hours!