I'm back...

to blogging and from Spain!

Valencia

Spain! I took a trip to España with my friend Mia and her cousin from Venezuela, Maria. Maria doesn't speak English or French so Mia translated for us and or/ we pointed and grunted to communicate. Our trip started off bumpy with a run in with the controllers (they are the people that check your ticket on the tram) in Grenoble. Mia and I had our passes, but Maria forgot hers, lucky for us the controllers decided they wouldn't give Maria a ticket if she bought one right there in from of them (1.40€ vs. 45€!!!!). Close call.

We ran into a few more problems printing our tickets for our bus and trains and being charged €40 each for not checking into our flight 4 hours ahead of time ( we were 3 hours 45 minutes ahead!!) This was Ryanair by the way. Watch out for them. They have a million sneaky charges. But after a bus, two trains, a plane, and a metro ride we made it to our super cool hostel. Purple Nest Backpackers Hostel (super clean bathrooms, super friendly, great wifi). We somehow got put in a room with 4 beds instead of with 10 which is what we reserved and paid for!  We got in too late to really do or see anything. Good thing we'll be back in a few days!

Now: Madrid!

Maria is excited to finally be in a country where she can understand. Now it's me that is helpless... Well not completely, Mia taught me a few useful phrases:
Yo quiero una cerveza, por favor - I would like a beer, please
Tengo hambre - I'm hungry
Estoy perdida - I'm lost 

New years eve in Madrid turned out to be a little more stressful than I thought it would be, but we still had a blast. The stressful part was finding a restaurant that was open, somewhat affordable, and not completely packed. In the end we only got ripped off a little. Armed with 12 grapes each and champagne we went to Puerta del Sol for the countdown. It is tradition to eat 12 grapes in the last 12 seconds before the new year and to make a wish on each one, We didn't know, but it also seemed to be tradition to wear a very colorful wig, preferably in a mohawk style.
On the metro ( which by the way, Madrid has one of the best metros I have seen. The trains and the stations are really clean. It doesn't smell like urine!! wow! and they are a million lines so you can literally take it anywhere in the city) on the way back to our hotel we got to witness a nice little fight. Mia was translating for me and apparently there was a Portuguese man and a Spanish man, and the Spanish man told the Portuguese that we were at his stop, which made the portuguese man angry because he said he knew where he which stop was his and didn't need anyone to tell him. They then exchanged some rude comment, which as funny as they were I'm not going to publish them here. Then they started to kick at one another, luckily we had reached our stop.

On the first day of 2011 we set out pretty early to see the sights. Little did we know everything would be closed! We saw all the good sights from the outside. Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, the cathedral, the royal palace, Retiro park are a few. 

Madrid Cathedral 

Royal Palace - Madrid

That night we found a much better restaurant to eat at and a super cool underground sangria/jazz lounge,Cuevas de Sesamo

Back to Valencia!

For our full day in Valencia we did as much as we possibly could and took advantage of things actually being open! We went to the Conjunto Catedralicio where they supposedly have the Holy Grail. We saw lots of cool old buildings ( Iglesia y Torre de Santa Catalina, La Lonja de la Seda, Ayuntamiento, and Correos), Mercado Central (the giant market with 160 booths),  and Plaza de Toros (their bull fight ring). We also went to Ciuttat de Lars Arts i de les Ciencies ( the city of arts and sciences) which houses the largest aquarium Europe and a super cool science museum.

National ceramic museum

Plaza de Toros

Conjunto Catedralicio

Ciuttat de Lars Arts i de les Ciencies

Ciuttat de Lars Arts i de les Ciencies

Ciuttat de Lars Arts i de les Ciencies

Ciuttat de Lars Arts i de les Ciencies

Ciuttat de Lars Arts i de les Ciencies

Mercado Central

After that we were all too exhausted and hungry to go to the beach, so ended our time in Spain with heaping plates of pasta.

Some of our thoughts:
We needed more time in Madrid
The metro in Madrid is very impressive- clean, fast, well mapped out
Don't assume people staying in your hostel room are German
Ryanir is a hassle and a jerk
After 5 days of mostly bread and cheese sandwiches we can't handle anymore
Don't trust security guards with directions- sometimes the drunks standing next to them are more reliable
We like being able to understand languages
Science is super cool


Adios sunny, warm Spain - bonjour grey, snowing France    

It has been...

... way too long since I last posted. I will try to give a brief update on what has happened in the last month.

My mom came to visit and we went to Paris and it was awesome. We had a fun vegan thanksgiving dinner with Dallas and Rebecca then watched the SAINTS GAME. WHO DAT?

snow + the Eiffel Tower

Taken by Alyce

It snowed. A lot.

Mia and my first snowman!

I finished my classes!

Went to Lyon with some friends for the Fête des Lumières which was somewhat disappointing but had a few cool parts. 

My friend Adam, from New Orleans, came to visit! We went snowboarding at Alpe-D'Huez.  

View from the hotel

No big deal

Adam and me

on the way down the mountain

The mountain is one of the most popular stages of the Tour de France. It has something like 21 switchbacks (hairpins?). I don't know how they do it.
Snowboarding was a lot harder than I expected. The day we got there I stayed on the bunny slope and bruised my butt a good deal. At the end of the day going straight really, really fast was my specialty. Only slowing down gave me trouble.
The second day I decided slowing down would come with time and I should try harder slopes. When I started going too fast, I decided the best way to stop was just to take myself out. So, that day I became the best at falling. It had snowed the night before and was still snowing that day, so it was like falling on pillows. Or at least that's how it felt until the next day when I was in so much pain I could only assume I had gotten hit by a bus and had amnesia and forgot about it.
Honestly, I am still a little sore right now.
Adam and I had the most incredible fondu meal. Melted cheese, bread, potatoes? Good.
Adam's flight got cancelled so he stayed in Grenoble for two extra nights and got to watch me get a nice lil' fever and stop moving completely. No worries. I am much better now.

My residence is really quiet now ( which I am enjoying). I think there are only 3 people in my hall. Those of us from too far away to easily get home and who aren't currently traveling.

Rebecca is coming tomorrow night and staying until the 28th. Hallelujah for Christmas with friends!

keep your fingers crossed for a white Christmas

Back to ❏ one

When I got back from my trip to Amsterdam and Paris someone had stolen the wheels off my bike! ARGH! Now it is back in my room, motionless.

Once again with no wheels

Last week there were a lot of students protesting the change of retirement age. There were a few days where we would have to circle the buildings of school looking for a door that wasn't blocked.

one of the graffitied buildings on campus

Photos by Catherine Plourde

Lately it has been raining everyday, but I snapped this picture when it was still sunny. I can't wait for it to stop raining so we can see the mountains again!

Grenoble Paris Amsterdam Paris Grenoble

Whew. This strike that's going on is really making things difficult! My train to Paris was canceled so I had to go to the train station, get on any train headed in the right direction and find a seat that wasn't already taken. Successfully managed to do it. 
Danielle vs. SNCF 1-0 

Arrived at Ygael's ( for those reading who do not know Ygael, he was one of my couchsurfers in New Orleans and became a good friend of ours) he lives in a suburb of Paris called Charenton-le-Pont, but you can see the 12 th arrondisement from his window. Soon after I arrived I was reunited with my Bff, Rebecca! The three of us had went to an awesome falafel restaurant, L'as du Falafel. As we ate we walked almost the entire length of Paris. We saw many of the main monuments, and we actually went into the Arcs de Triumph. Inside, there are old pictures of it, close ups of all the carvings, miniature models, etc. And then you can walk around on top of it and have a terrific view of the city. Paris is more beautiful than I expected it to be. All the lights and huge, beautiful, old buildings. Wow.

Monday I met Rebecca at her apartment and we went to the Eiffel Tower. 

cartwheels in front of the TE

We had planned on going to the top, but when we got there the line was far too long, and we really weren't in the mood for lines that day. Then we got gelato at Amorino. I got strawberry, raspberry, mango Rebecca got chocolate, coffee, vanilla. They were all amazing. 

After gelato we were going to go to the modern arts museum but that line was really long as well, so instead we went to the bookstore and got postcards. We went back to Rebecca's where she pretended to do school work for a little while. When Ygael got out of class we met him and two of his friends at a bar on the west side of Paris. 

Tuesday: met Rebecca at her place so we could go to the bus station together. I am writing this on the bus and I am a bit nervous about leaving France. I was told by a few people that if I leave France I won't be able to come back because I don't have my carte de sejour which is like having residency. But then I talked to some other people and they said I shouldn't have a problem. So here I am. On my way to Amsterdam! By the end of this post you will know whether or not I had trouble getting back into the country. Fingers crossed. Knock on wood. Wish upon a star.
Rub Buddha's belly.

Got into Amsterdam and headed to our hostel to meet up with Rebecca's other friends and put our things away. The hostel is 4 stories with an 18 bed dorm and an 8 bed dorm on each floor. We all stayed in 18 bed dorms but I got split up from the group since I reserved my bed later. The hostel is located right around the action. It is about 3 blocks from the red- light district. Which, for what it is, is interesting and a must see for the city. The first night we just wondered around a lot. 
Wednesday our main goal was to go to the Van Gogh museum. Even though it is pretty far from our hostel and slightly raining, we decided to walk so we could see the city; which is awesome!! I hadn't realized how many canals are In the city! There are old house boats lining every canal and there are definitely more bikes than there are cars. I am beyond jealous of their amazing bike lanes! 

Van Gogh was really interesting. We saw lots of pieces that I would have never pegged as his. His style is far more broad that I thought. 


Thursday Rebecca and the three other girls took a boat tour and one of her other friends (Ross ) and I rented bikes and took the ferry to north Amsterdam where we rode for a few miles through the country. It was mostly fields with sheep, cows, goats, and ponies. Every house we passed had a small mote around it.

sheep sheep sheep

bike path

morning commute

 We saw a windmill and a man checking his mail who was seriously wearing wooden clogs! That night we went to a fair and rode the ferris wheel and had a great view of the city. 


Friday: I am currently sitting in the hostel waiting to leave for the bus station. Everyone else had buses leaving earlier. In the day so I have been wondering the streets and eating French fries with ketchup, mayonnaise, and onions... Apparently that's how they do it here.

Made it safely back to France! All the warnings I had about leaving France were wrong. Not one person checked my passport, and even if someone had, I still don't think I would have had any trouble  
I arrived in Paris at the ungodly hour of 6am and immediately fell asleep in Rebecca's bed. That day we had a lovely picnic in a park.

 And that night I went out with Ygael and his two friends from Tennessee who are also studying abroad in Copenhagen and Aix-en-Provence. 

Now I am on my way back to Grenoble after a bit of confusion with time. What I mean is I forgot about/ didn't know about day lit savings time. I was far too early for my train. 
Danielle vs. TGV 2-0           

awesome, ouch, and delicious

Tuesday I finished my bicycle!

isn't she b-e-a-utiful?

Wednesday I fell off my bicycle!

battle wounds

I was on my way to class when a small staircase snuck up on me. After front flipping over my bike and having it land on top of me I didn't think I was hurt much. And I'm not. The cuts on my hands are the worst part. No stitches or anything, just keeping it bandaged for a while. Small scrape on my knee and bumped my chin. Right after I flipped three boys who saw it ran to help, then we were joined by two more people who provided tissues. They took  me to wash my hands and find some temporary bandaids before I went to the health center. I didn't make it to class.

Today I went into town with Mia to go to the bank and to the pharmacy to pick up some bandages we also went to the boulangerie. We decided to treat ourselves to our first, real, French pastries 

mmmmm...

It was a downhill battle, then everything went uphill from there

one of the larger, clearer trails

Today I went on a hike with friend Mia and Rachel. We hadn't really mapped out which mountain we were going to climb, so the day started out (at 7:15!!) as an adventure. When we picked a mountain and found the trail we didn't have any expectation of how long we wanted to hike.
The day was overcast and foggy. When we left our apartments we could hardly see the mountains. The scenery would have been better had it been clearer, but it was still beautiful. The climb up was a mix of tiny paved roads, large clear trails, and super-skinny paths.

breakfast

foggy view (part way up)

There were also things to see close up:

FRENCH SLUGZZ

We walked about 3 hours up and when the trail we were following was almost completely grown over we decided it was time to turn around. Our stomachs agreed. We walked down a bit and found a nice tree in a field to eat lunch under.

Lunch spot view

Now it's time for a bit of homework and SAINTS game!

GO SAINTS!

 Thursday I went on a train tour of Grenoble with two friends,

The train we rode 

Mia and Alex

I can't get over the snowy mountains

I opened a French bank account on Friday! Which just means no crazy ATM fees! woohoo!

Saturday was pretty laid back until the night time when I went a party with a bunch of Spaniards from my hall. The party was hosted by Spanish people as well, so everyone there was at least bilingual and no one was sure which language to speak. 

Even though I stayed out late Saturday night I woke up early Today to go to the marchè (out door market) with Mia. 

Marchè

Seriously awesome. Fresh fruits and veggies, cheese, wine, meats, dairy, everything you could every want. The produce is a lot cheaper here than at the grocery store. It is also convenient it is on Sunday because most everything in France closes on Sundays.

It was a beautiful day, so after we stocked up on fruits and veggies, we enjoyed our baguettes and croissants with tea and coffee

yum yum yuum

Then we did some homework in the sunshine, I cleaned my room, did laundry, cooked a nice dinner, and ended the day with a win from Les Saints!

good weekend.