Hiking Today (make sure to read the entry below this too)

Here's me, Phil, and Sunny on the way up. We still look like happy, rested campers at this point.

Here's the view from the top. This is a really good picture of how Grenoble is in a valley, a real ring of mountains. It was also nice and clear today... so I think we say the outline of Mont Blanc (which is the highest point in Euope) but in this picture it would be behind me.



Here's Aileen at the bottom of the stairs. Sorry the picture is so dark, but let's just say that at an average descending stair rate it took us between 5 and 7 minutes to get to the bottom. At least we didn't have to go up them. And I think Aileen's face says it all.






Wow, so I’ve been here a week, and yet it feels like a lifetime. Four months is either gonna seem like an eternity and a half, or I’ll get into a schedule soon and things will roll along quickly. I also still have this head cold, so I’m a little pessimistic. I went home early and got lots of sleep because this morning we went for a hike in the mountains. It’s not technically the Alps, is the Chartreuse, but that’s like a sub range of the Alps, so for coolness’ sake let’s just say I went hiking in the Alps. We went up to the Bastille, an old fort overlooking the city and then continued up to some old ruins and a monument for World War II vets, the city was apparently liberated in 1944, really close to the end of the war. The views were amazing, the day was perfect, if not a bit humid, the sky was clear and it was really nice to just hang out and talk with Aileen, Phil, and Sunny. Up and down took us three and a half hours and it definitely showed me that I’m not in quite as good of shape as I had thought. It was pretty steep, but there were a lot of stairs. At the end my legs were actually involuntarily shaking, so it felt really nice to sit and eat at a café… a little splurge since they’re kind of expensive. I definitely want to hike some more, get in awesome shape, and get to know the other students. Then we went over to the National French Bouldering Competition. They have fake “boulders” set up and different courses and the competitors have a certain amount of time to get up. It was pretty amazing actually. Then it got stormy, rain comes on pretty quickly and without much warning, because the mountains block a good deal of your view and the clouds just come over really fast and dump. Tonight we’re going out to a Latin dance club. A German girl in the dorms is celebrating her 21st birthday and wanted to go to this club, and Aileen is actually a choreographer and has been teaching me and Phil some moves, so it should be a good time. Really tired, so I’m gonna take a nap before we head out. Keep the comments coming! Enjoy the pictures.

That's bouldering. I'd kill for arms and shoulders like that.

Oh... and another thing I learned about French language; everyone knows that yes in French is "oui" (pronounced "we") but did you know that if you're really familiar with the person or it's your peer, their version of "yeah" is pronounced "way". The more you know... *insert star*

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