Sorry about the confusion, not sure what happened, its probably this supid french keyboard. Ill start dragging my laptop to university soon, so itll be ok then. Enjoy.

Ok, so I’ve decided it’s probably best to write out the entries in advance and then save them to my pen drive and just take that to the internet café for now. Once I get my class schedule I can probably take my computer to school and use it there. Yay, my host brother, Guillaume (say it G-ey (like key with a soft G) ome) just said hi. He kinda stays in his room and chills on his computers as far as I’ve been able to tell. So far things have been really good. The CEA on-site director is wonderful. Il s’appelle Patrick Foley and he’s really friendly, really patient, and really knowledgeable; all of which certainly help me while I’m here. The other students run the range of personalities, but I have a feeling I know who I’ll be close to.
Yesterday night we all just hung out with a student who was here last semester, she was helping Patrick, and she had a lot of cool street-smart stuff to tell us about the whole city. Then today we had a meeting and a french lunch, which is the big meal of the day, where Patrick tried to teach us a lot about French etiquette and such. It was really interesting. Lots of tradition in France though it depends on your family. Then we had free time. Aileen, Phil, Brandi et moi went to a street faire. It was kinda cool to see all the stalls and people. We tried to speak french the entire time and I feel a lot more prepared for the test tomorrow. I still have a hard time understanding some people, but I’m picking it up ridiculously fast! I already am able to have actual miniature conversations about my day and such with my host family, though the big test is tonight when I eat dinner with them for the first time.

My room door is rather interesting, with some chinese characters and a marajuana leaf… it’s their oldest son’s old room, so I just won’t ask… he works at a bar downtown now and doesn’t live at home. I’m living in an apartment complex about a 10 ou 15 minute bus ride outside of le centre ville, which is the old part of town with a lot of the shops and such. It’s actually more like 25 mintues to the university by tram, the bus may be faster. Those are the two modes de transportation around la ville. Both are very easy to figure out and les grenoblois are incredibly helpful, friendly people. Phil – another CEA student – lives only about a 4 minute walk through a beautiful parc away from me, so it’s nice that we can travel a lot together, we try and talk in french but sometimes you just really need to lapse back into english. We also enjoy “franglais” which is a fabulous combination of the languages. As I’m reading back through this, I believe I’m writing in franglais… good for me, maybe not so good for you?

Time is really different here, not just actual time (la France est 6h ahead of Ohio), but… how do I explain myself? People eat a small breakfast at like 7 or 8 in the morning and then have about a two hour lunch from 12 – 2. Cafes aren’t open for lunch any other time. They look at you as if you’re insane if you come before 12 or after 2 for lunch. And people really do take the full two hours. Meals aren’t just pour nourriture, they’re for comraderie and relaxation. It’s actually kinda cool. Food really is an art here. The earliest anyone really eats dinner is at like 7:30 or so. Any earlier than that is pretty much unheard of, at least so far. Tonight ma mere is making dinner and we’re eating a 20h (8pm). Even after a full day of walking and trams and such, I’m not going to be hungry until then… the food is delicieux and very filling.

My room is small, but after visiting Aileen’s dorm room today, I feel totally lucky. My room is about the same size as hers, but I have a really really nice family and an entire apartment downstairs for me as well. Family stays are definitely the way to go. Speaking of which… I’m going to go aider ma mere make dinner. Keep the comments and e-mails coming, they really mean a ton to me!!! And paper mail is wicked cool too… (even though I haven’t gotten any yet). And if there was a french word ou deux in this entry that you didn’t understand let me know and I’d be happy to explain! You can learn french with me!! A bientot – Dana