Grenoble: The First Days

From our first tour around Grenoble

I left Sweden Thursday morning and made it to Grenoble that night. It was a full day of travel (bus, train, airplane, airplane, metro, train). Exhausting, but I'm so happy to finally be here. I was sad to leave my friends and the gorgeous country of Sweden, but I've quickly discovering how fantastic Grenoble is.

The first day us students were taken on a walking tour of town by our leaders. We ate lunch together and then after a visit to our school campus, we got to meet our host families! I'm with an amazingly welcoming and fantastic family that lives right in the center of town. My hosts are named Pascal and Colette. My first night here we had a great dinner and I got to meet the whole family. Two of their four children were visiting for the weekend, so it was especially lively. We ended our night watching French dubbed NCIS in the salon.

For Thea- they gave me my espresso in a glass!

 Yesterday they took me on a walk around the apartment to show me all the markets, squares, shops, and any point of interest. When we entered one of the covered markets, it was like a vocabulary test. They would ask me if I knew the names of fruits, vegetables, meats, and really any product. If not, I was trying to learn quickly. Halfway through our walk their daughter met us and took me around even more to show me things she likes and shops she thought would be more up my alley. After seeing almost all of town, we sat down for a full lunch. I felt bad, but I had to leave early near the end to go meet my school group for a hike. We hiked up to the Bastille together and took in the amazing views of Grenoble and the surrounding areas. When I returned from the hike outing, everyone got ready and we headed to a chateau for a soirée. The parents here host danceish parties for the youngins. To keep them in a nice environment while having fun I would assume. It was super nice and the food was awesome. If there's anything I can say with certainty it's that I will be well fed these next five months. It was all high school aged kids, but I hung out with the older children and tried my hardest to understand them over the very very loud music in English. Quite the challenge and I left completely exhausted.

At a stop on the way to the top of the Bastille

And then today. I had a very lovely Sunday, relaxing and seeing more of town. I walked around myself a little this morning and then after a very long lunch my host dad took me to the Musée de Grenoble. We spent a very long time walking around the museum and he showed me every painting that he liked and knew so much about the museum. He's fun to walk around with- always pointing out historical things or giving me points of reference to use to find the house again. And now I'm back. Relaxing a bit before dinner. 

Grenoble and the river Isère