Road to the Rhones

Tips for study abroad students in France. DO NOT rent a car in France. The toll roads will demand a leg and an arm before letting you get through to your destination. A little ridiculous. But since it is all said and done on my part, I will concentrate more on the fun I had and less on the money that was wasted. Destinations we hit included Annecy, Thonon les Bains, Chamonix (aka mont blanc), and Grenoble. All part of the Rhone-alps region of France. Annecy was a BEAUTIFUL city. I loved the way the city was designed and the backdrop of the Alps made it even more breathe taking. I was able to go to an old castle at the top of Annecy and enjoy some of the art works inside as well. I was even able to have lunch inside the castle (even though it was more of a picnic that I brought and snuck into the castle and enjoyed in a very large ball room with no guard...shhhhhhhh).

Chamonix was also a town with a spectacular view. It is situated right on the alps and from Annecy, it is a mostly uphill drive. I stayed at a hostel with a perfect view of what the city had to offer. I was lucky enough to get a room with my own bathroom and a balcony. The hostel would have been perfect if it wasn't for the lady at the reception who ripped me off. I specifically booked two beds on hostel.com for 45 euros and she insisted that i only booked for one person and that an extra person would be 55 euros. I gave in due to my lack of french skills and her hostile attitude. She also tried to charge me the full price on top of the deposit I paid online, but I basically wouldn't pay her until she subtracted that portion because even the paper she showed me said that it was a deposit for the room. All in all, I paid about 11 euros more than I should have. Quite unfortunate. 

After the night in Chamonix, I was hoping to get a chance to ride the gondola to the top of one of the mountains. Chamonix is so close to Italy that the gondola can actually take you to Italy and back if you want to pay for the price. Unfortunately, there were to many clouds that day and I was not going to pay 40 euros to look into a bunch of fog. I can do that back home when I am in Daly City. I did however buy some waterproof hiking boots in the city since I found a REALLY nice pair of rainproof orthopedic gore-tex hiking boots for 69 euros that were originally 160 euros. I think they might have been marked wrong because the salesman i tried to buy it from kept looking at the price tag like it was impossibly cheap. They were also the only pair there and were the perfect fit. It was wonderful since the whole weekend had been raining and my feet were wet and blistered from my crappy flats. Hint to other study abroad students: INVEST IN A GOOD PAIR OF RAINPROOF WALKING SHOES BEFORE YOU GET HERE. Unless you find a good deal or the exchange rates turn in our favor, you will get ripped off. 

Thonon les Bains was a bit of a dud for a city. I arrived on a Saturday afternoon and the town was completely dead. The only good part of the city was the view of the lake and the pizza. Grenoble, however, was a city I wish I could have spent more time in. The city itself isn't very attractive, however, they have a huge variety of Indian cuisine and a VERY VERY large mountain for you to climb and feel accomplished.

I was pretty much dead by the time I reached the top of the mountain and dreaded the journey down, but it is something I won't forget...ever. I guess it would be a "must see" in Grenoble. 

Overall, I don't regret this trip even though it was expensive. It was very last minute so I didn't expect to find any good deals. It was also a good experience driving on the French roads and learning how to navigate the country by car. A little stressful, very tiring, but also rewarding. The only real downer was the MEAN MEAN MEAN lady who ripped me off in Chamonix and the extremely expensive toll booths that were literally on every freeway we entered.  I'm happy to be back in my city of Lyon where all the public transportation is basically free after a small fee at the beginning of each month. The rain also kinda killed the mood, but I always found a way to laugh at something. I wasn't about to spend a small fortune and have a BAD time now was I. I wasn't going to let a little rain waste my time in France either. Now back to cooking all my own food and saving money for my next journey :)

  

pots pots pots

So tonight was a beautiful night. And as assumed by the title, it had something to do with pot. No, not the drug, the actual cooking pot from a kitchen. I made pot stickers! I was hoping my mom would make them for me before I left for Europe but as she was too busy, I was unable to get any. Fortunately, I love challenging myself with a recipe. I gathered my guts and my debit card and went to the asian grocery store to pick up the necessities. After mixing the meat and kneading the dough and filling the dumplings (about 1.5 hours) I finally had enough dumplings (about 40) to feed me, my landlord, and two friends. I still have enough filling left over to make about 60 more dumplings but I will have to make it when I'm not so exhausted. It will be good to have a few frozen for a quick meal. The pot stickers turned out just as they would at home. Spot on seasoned meat/veggie mixture in the filling (might increase the amount of veggies though), and a thick, slightly chewy skin with a crispy almost burnt bottom. Hot glistening perfection was the end result of hours of labor. 

Now making this many homemade dumplings is no small task, I had to recruit Tina and Elliot in order to finish making the pot stickers by dinner time. It was indeed harsh on them, especially since they are both sick, but they seemed to enjoy the food very much :). As they departed we said our goodbyes and had a few pictures.

BY THE WAY. Remember that post about how much I hated spiders? Well I hate them even more now. Why? Because one freaking bit me!

Its a little hard to see but it is definitely bigger and more painful than it looks. 

Today was also the massive once-a-year garage sale in Lyon. Hundreds of people line the streets to sell their non-valuables in hopes that it might be valuable to someone else. It was a jam packed event where everyone was trying to get a deal or give a deal. I was on a search for a decent pair of hiking boots since I am headed to Scandinavia soon, but to my dismay, they were all too big, too small, or too old. I did, however, find a nice pair of pants and a nice shirt dress and paid a total of 3,50 euros. I don't think it can get much cheaper than that.

ratatatatabouli

So, if you are my friend on facebook, you have probably seen some of my status updates on your news feed. You probably also know that I have been eating homemade tabouli salad for about 4 days now. I made enough to feed an army and thought I could down that thing within two days, but alas, I failed. Today, was my last and FINAL meal of tabouli salad. I can't say that I am sick of it but I am definitely tired of it. I won't be having it again for a while. It helps that I try to make something different every night to accompany it. Yesterday, I just happened to have all the vegetables I needed to make ratatouille and some left over parmesan cheese. Here is the before picture:  

It barely fit and I was afraid that I would have to use another pan aka another dish to wash. The bottom layer has some sauteed onion, garlic, and eggplant. Then there is a layer of fresh mushrooms, a layer of zucchini, and a layer of tomatoes on top. Each layer has a sprinkle of salt, black pepper, and parmesan cheese. Super simple dish but after an hour of baking, all the flavors come together wonderfully and you get a delicious soup at the bottom that is perfect with some crusty bread. Here is the after picture (i bit into it already because i forgot to take a picture, it looked too good):

I ate leftovers for lunch today with a fake vietnamese sandwhich. I guess its not really "fake" but it definitely wasn't authentic. I had a crap load of pickled carrots left over from the banh xeo and needed to use them. So I bought some pate (which is 75 cents for 2 squares in france) and mayo. I spread that on a baguette and put a massive amount of carrots and some cucumber on it. It was good but not "Vietnamese..yyy"

I have also been attending my first few political science classes at the university this week and I am COMPLETELY lost. But thankfully, French people are nice and willing to share notes. 

As stated in my earlier post, I am heading for Belgium and the Netherlands soon. I have decided that I am going to try COUCH SURFING! It sounds like a great way to meet people and discover the city more than I would by myself. Unfortunately, all the people I have contacted so far are no goes. But better luck tomorrow! Oh, no class on thursdays. boo yah. 

I will stay up later tonight and try to read more of the bible. I just finished Matthews and I wanted to read more, but I have had class every day at 8am for the past two weeks. Matthews was a really "hard to imagine" book for me. The idea that one of Jesus' own disciples turned him over for 30 silver coins is beyond me. Eternal salvation or 30 silver coins? HMMMMM. 

SIDE NOTE: if you come to france, stay away from the pain au chocolat au buerre or you will get fat and addicted, like i am right at this moment. I have eaten one everyday for breakfast for the past week. Yes i know, im bad. 

New Friends, New Spiders Too.

Arachnids. I'm not really sure why I hate them. They never did anything to me. They just look absolutely disgusting. I mean they have EIGHT legs. Out of all of the things that scare me the most, spiders must be number one on my list. Unfortunately, France is full of spiders. I am not talking about any old regular spider you find back home in the states. I'm talking about massive ones that look like they eat birds for lunch. I literally could not bring myself close to one of the spiders I have seen in fear that it will rip my feet off. Yes, they are that big. And I have a picture to prove it. 

I mean look at that thing!! Use the crushed can next to it as a comparison. I took this picture from a pretty far lengths away. My heart was racing as I did it too.

Moving on to a happier topic, this weekend was absolutely amazing. Elliot (dude from Davis also studying abroad in Lyon) and I went to see our first football (aka soccer) match in Lyon. Football in Lyon is no joke. Apparently our soccer team is the best in France and very highly ranked compared to other teams. The support for these guys is insane. Its nothing like a 49ers game or a Giants game back home. Literally half of Lyon shows up for these things. The stadium holds 40,000 people and the attendance was about 39,500. It was literally a struggle just to get to the game, pick up our tickets, and find our seats. Crazyness. Elliot and I also felt compelled to buy scarfs and show our support. 18 euros bye bye. The game ended up as a tie, but it was very fun and the atmosphere was great. They were singing lyonnaise songs and throwing thousands of pounds of homemade confetti everywhere. 

Afterwards, we went to grab some dinner and met up with our friends Kirsten and Patrick. We then decided that we were going to go and hang out until the metro reopened at 6am. At first we hit a couple of bars and had a few drinks (I spilled my 6.50 euro sex on the quai after drinking about half). It was a little boring and I even fell asleep for ten minutes at one bar (it was like 3 am by this time). Eventually we walked in a big circle and went back to where we started because most of the bars had closed. We sat on a stair case near the opera house and decided to take some pictures:

We were just talking and having a good time when a few other international students started talking to us. They were from Toronto, Manchester, and Romania. They were fantastic company and we ended up hanging out with them until the metro reopened. There were a few other people who tried to talk to us but were extremely drunk and awkward. I was straight up kissed on the cheek by one guy and was really pissed for a good 5 minutes. It wasn't a small peck bisou french greeting kiss. It was a straight up full lipped sloppy one. Well afterwards, we walked around and tried to get into some clubs but were denied because there were far too many boys in our group (the amount of ladies usually have to equal the number of guys). One of the clubs turned out to be a gay club so we gave up on the club scene after that. But what to do with 3 hours left? Obviously, the majority wanted to get some alcohol. We went on a tiny search party for a shop that would still be open that could get us some of the goods. They boys ended up getting about 6 large cans of 11.7% alcohol BEER. Yeah, thats a crazy strong beer. And surprisingly, they all finished it. All in all, I had a very fun night. My first bar hopping experience and also my first full night out in the town. 

I also went to a parade in downtown Lyon on Sunday. I'm not sure what the parade is for but each participating group is supposed to represent something and this parade happens once every two years. The big theme colors of this parade were pink and white. There were instruments, dancing, and singing. Some pictures for you :)

Oh, and look what I got!! I know you be jealous.

My landlord also sneakily bought a rice pot for me to use! He is the epitome of awesomeness.

banh what?? BANH XEO!!

So everyone here basically knows I've been craving some sort of Asian food since i arrived in Europe. Since i could not rely on the Asian restaurants here, i decided to make my own. FINALLY, something thats good and satisfies all my cravings. Savory (with a hint of coconut) meaty goodness was in my tummy last night.

It took my friend Nate and me a good hour or so to prepare all the chopping and mixing but i think it was really worth it in the end. Super tasty. So basically, banh xeo is the Vietnamese version of a French crepe if ya'll don't know what it is. The crepe is made with rice flour, regular flour, scallions, and tumeric. Tumeric is what gives the crepe the eggy yellow color. Apparently, tumeric is very healthy for you and can help with memory and Alzheimers. You first mix all the ingredients together with coconut cream and a little bit of water until it is easy to swirl around a pan. Start with sautéing some shallots and garlic is some cooking oil. Then you add seasoned shrimp and pork pieces and just let that heat through. Then you put a ladle full of the crepe mixture and you spread it out and put a cover on that to let it cook for a good two minutes. Next, you add bean sprouts and let those cook. Fold it in half and VOILA, you have just made Vietnamese food. Of course, the meal would not be complete with all the fresh veggie sides and the nuoc mam sauce for dipping. I also made a crap load of pickled carrots and I'm not entirely sure what i should do with them. Perhaps i will make some vietnamese sandwhiches with a fresh baguette and some pate and grilled pork meat.

Oh, and that last picture is a picture of fried bananas and coconut ice cream. I put some sesame seeds in the batter to get that toasty nutty flavor going. Sinfully tasty. Yeah i know, ya'll be jealous of the good food I just ate last night ;)

I think I might be making french toast today. nomnomnomnom.

BAH. I start school on Monday. I don't know whether I am more nervous or excited. But I am excited to go to my first French soccer game here. Football (French word for soccer) is supposedly a huge thing here so I am going to pay fifteen euros just to see what all this fuss is about.

*as a side note, you guys can expect to see pictures of Brussels, Antwerp, Brugges, and Amsterdam by the end of October. I just booked my flights!! And I will be spending my birthday is Amsterdam. Is there a better place?? I don't think so.

Settling In

So I believe I am officially settled into my apartment in Lyon. I don't really have to think where I'm going anymore. I just go. It's a wonderful feeling to be able to conquer a new city like that. Now I just have to learn how to speak French perfectly and I will be all good.

Good news: I was actually able to drink two cocktails today and not feel sick. I think this is the first time I have been able to drink and feel happy afterwards. I ordered a white russian and a sex on the quai (sex on the train platform) and they were both delicious. Especially the sex on the quai. It tasted like a pomelo drink. It was 2 for 1 cocktail day so I decided why not. Good company and good alcohol. Plus, I'm legal here!! I did end up taking a nap on a friends bed for a while though before I decided to head home.

Anywho, I have been itching to cook for the past couple of weeks and I finally had an opportunity to invite my friends over to my new apartment and have a dinner with them. The menu included scalloped potatoes gratin, eggplant parmigiana with a tomato and olive based sauce, buttered garlic/shallot greenbeans, baguette, some wine, and a tiramisu for dinner. The tiramisu didn't come out as light and airy as I had hopes but I did not have access to an electric whip and had to whisk everything by hand. That was quite a work out. Dinner lasted about 5 hours (thats what I love most about France, you can take as long as you want and talk about whatever you want with some good friends at the dinner table or at a cafe). Heres a few pictures of the food:

OH! forgot to mention how fantastic my landlord is. He is this nice man in his mid-thirties and he is just the most hospitable landlord I have ever met. He always does things for me that i don't expect. He refills the fruit bowls all the time and expects me to eat them. He has a coffee machine and is always stocked so that I can make my friends and me some coffee whenever I want. He has beer in the fridge for when there is company even though he doesn't drink. He buys pizza and leaves me some in the fridge just in case I am hungry. There is nothing I don't love about this guy. ANDD he is always out so I can just relax and chill in the apartment without intruding his personal space. I thought it would be a bit sketchy at first but I am truly happy where I am. I have to thank God for that since I have been praying that everything will go smoothly and no problems will come up. Oh, and the key to the apartment is pretty legit. Its a real old school key:

I have also discovered that the French do not use dryers for their clothes and their washing machines are very small. I have to do two loads for a small bag of laundry. I suppose it is better this way so i don't feel bad about wasting water and energy when I separate my whites and my colors. It did take two days for my clothes to dry though:

Well, I am off to read the bible. Until next time. 

Side note: I hope the stupid mosquito that was in my room last night died from drinking too much of my blood. These bites are killing me.

Also got was approached by another guy yesterday. This one was not so good looking and more annoying than the last. I was going to pick up my friend Elliot and as I'm walking, he approaches me and starts asking me a million questions. Then I say I have to go and he says to see your friends? At this point i just tell him i am going to see my boyfriend. He says when I'm done with my boyfriend, he would love to take me out to Lunch. What the heck right? French men are just odd.

So This Is Why.

Its been a week full of epiphanys. I realized that I really can't live off of bread everyday. There was a time when i thought I could, but France has proven me wrong. I am literally SICK of bread at the moment. I still eat it though because it is the cheapest thing and I haven't had time to go grocery shopping yet. I'm still going to all the super markets around the city just to see which ones have which items for cheapest. Oh, another epiphany. I realized that not everyone goes around shopping for deals like I do. When i buy something, i make sure i have the cheapest price in the city, whether it is convenient or not. I get around for free on my metro student card anyways so why not? Others just pop into any store and buy whatever they want for however much it costs. Its a little crazy. I wish they would give me that money so i could just shop for them and keep the leftovers.

Okay, and i really miss California though i dont feel the need to go back. California has a PLETHORA of GOOD ethnic food and you can always find something if you're craving it. But you never really realize until you leave and you realize that chinese and mexican food ISN'T around every corner. bummer. The food here is good, don't get me wrong, i just wish there was a little more variety from time to time. Not to mention the lack of Asian spices in the ethnic foods aisle. I guess i won't be cooking like mama here.

Next topic. In my opinion, Europeans are skinnier for one reason, and one reason only. They have massive amounts of stair cases anywhere you go. I don't have any friends who live on the bottom floor. We all live on either the 3rd, 4th, or 5th. Its a little cruel but its great for my butt and my legs. I have been eating massive amounts of cheese too and you think it would get me fatter, but the stair cases counter balance the effects. And it isn't really possible to avoid these staircases. They just about run this town. This is the staircase just to get to my apartment: (we had to move a ton of luggage up this...)

No elevator by the way. France is not very handicap friendly. Oh not to mention i live about 2.5 miles away from my school and its up a petite mountain. Too big to be a hill, so small to be a real mountain. Its called the Croix-Rousse and it's right in between the two rivers running through Lyon. 

The bar scene here is really fun too. It's full of students and fun music. Everyone just hangs around and has a good time. A lot of international kids. Not just French. Last night I met a German, Romanian, and a Norwish (is that what a guy from Norway is called?). We had a lot of fun but my night was cut early because i had an 8am morning class and the metro stops running around 12:30am in Lyon during the summer. It was either leave or walk 2.5 miles up a hill in heels.

If there was one thing i really liked though, it would be the cafes. You can literally sit at a cafe with a friend on the terrace and just sit there for hours talking about whatever comes to mind. Its great because the waiters never rush you and only give you the check when you're ready to leave. The cafe au lait here is my favorite thing to get. The milk in it is delicious. There was a few days where i would just buy a liter of milk and finish it within an hour. It tastes almost like smooth butter going down your throat even though its the reduced fat milk. The cows here are pumping good. Oh another weird thing. France uses an UHT pasteurization method so there is literally no live bacteria in their milk. This means they can store it at room temperature on the shelves (if it isn't opened) for months at a time. crazyness!! Heres some of my friends:

I really love these guys. They make studying abroad a lot easier and much more enjoyable. Each one is hilarious in their own way and make me feel like i still have a little bit of California. A majority of them are either vegetarians or more vegetarian than carnivores. At first it was killing me but then i realized that meat here is super expensive so i might cut back on it anyways. It's not like America where you can pop into a Safeway for a labor day weekend sale and come out with 100 pounds of meat for the same price as 100 pounds of veggies. The vegetables here at the open markets are super fresh and cheap anyways so i don't really mind. The variety is always changing so i will always have a new recipe in mind.

One more thing. French smoke everywhere, all the freaking time. I was walking through a children's playground and this lady was playing with her kid with a cigarette in her mouth. At the restaurants, a man was smoking at the dinner table while his baby in the carriage was sleeping next to him. Its madness. 

BOBA MILK TEA AND RICE AND POTSTICKERS- first thing im gonna eat back home.