Craziness

Tuesday was a crazy day. In class that day we had a big celebration where everyone brought something for breakfast. It was great because there were all sorts of options and I even got to have some sushi and bi bim bob that was just amazing. It was my Korean amie's birthday. We sang rounds of happy birthday in French, English, Chinese, and Korean. Russian or Japanese versions were either too hard or the song was non-existent.

During lunch I got a message from my American right hand man, it said that he was going to miss his flight back home for Christmas due to the train to Paris having issues. He wanted to see if I could help figure out what could be done. He managed to get it all worked out and now (I hope) he has made it back to the states.

That evening practically the entire class went out to Charley's for a huge birthday bash. There was much drinking and singing and generally silliness. Massive amounts of pictures were taken because nearly everyone had brought their camera. Overall it was one of the most unique yet awesome birthday parties I have ever been to. It was filled with priceless memories.

...

Yesterday I watched "Lord of the Flies" on campus. What a weird movie that was. Yet at least everyone agreed that it was tres bizarre. Afterwards while walking back from the movie two strange things happened. The first is that my roommate decided to punch me in the face for some reason. She can get too rambunctious at times and has a habit of punching that I'm still trying to figure out how to tone it down because it is just odd. Anyway this was completely boring compared to what happened a few seconds later...

We were walking on campus and there was a dark figure, all in black, super-tall standing on stilts. He turned our direction and revealed that he was wearing a mask, the kind that psychotic killers like to wear. He busted out 2 massive machetes from his cloak and proceeded to walk towards us, while threatening us with with his meat cleavers. At one point he broke into a jog as we wisely retreated into the other direction. I never realized that people on stilts could jog maybe only the ones brandishing stiletto have that ability. Eventually our mighty Russian was able to somehow convince the guy to retreat. We took the opportunity to take a less menacing route back home.

I'm sure if he was really dangerous we were probably not be around to tell the story. Who knows if the guy could sprint on stilts. I just hope that I don't have to run into him again. France is more strange then you could ever imagine at times.

Le Week-end

Last Night I was hanging out at one of the local pubs with some friends. It was night to just hang back ad enjoy the music with people. The DJ there was pretty chill and played certain reggae and reggae-eque beats. Eventually there was some dancing. It was just bound to happen.

...

Today my roomy ad I were supposed to go cross-country skiing. The problem was that we couldn't find the bus. Since it was Sunday it was pretty mush impossible to get and information about the bus as well. Instead we decided to hang out at a cafe for awhile. It was pretty amusing because after the cafe were returned home and sat at the table in the kitchen. It was basically an outing that we could have just experienced at home, oh well.

Tonight I bade a friend farewell as it was her last night in Chambery. It is somewhat sad to see her go because she has such a great presence. I hope that she continues to have great adventures in wherever her life takes her.

...

I thought I would add a random side note. I have recently determined that lentils are probably my favorite food. They are super cheap, and super healthy. The downside is that they aren't super fast to cook yet it doesn't require any effort to cook them. Overall I'd say lentils are always a good choice when I have no idea what to eat.

Goodnight

China

After a lot of time of thinking it over and picking through all the cons I have figured out my goal for next year. My plan for next year sometime after I finish my studies in France is to move to China. I think that Chinese would make the ideal 3rd language for me to focus on. It is challenging in one way but in other ways its actually pretty simple. For those of you who know anything about studying foreign languages, the best way to earn it is to dive yourself right in and be surrounded by it all the time.

Chinese is the language in the world spoken by more people that any other language. Albeit they are mostly in China that could change over the next few decades. China's economy is continuously bringing more money into the country and definitely holds a huge role in the role of the future of our world.

I worked out the options of have I'm going to fund this and determined that I can teach English since the language is on huge demand. I will have to further hone in on my English skills since sometimes grammar can be killer, yet with purpose the drive is there to get it done. As being a teacher there one can get housing and a salary. The salary won't be huge, yet it will be definitely livable with housing already covered.

It seems like the perfect challenge in the next stage of my life. As I continuously strive to see what I can do to help further improve myself and the world around me this option is the one that my heart pulls me towards. It is funny that amount of things that can change in a year. Last year at this time is when I came down to knowing that I would be going to France. Now I know I'm going to China. I can hardly imagine how many daily adventures will occur there. Right now I'm just trying to put together everything that I need to make this work. Anyone that has any insights feel free to let me know. Thanks!

This Week So Far

I have been increasingly trying to study more Chinese. I need to figure out a better system then the one that I'm using right now for time management because recently I have felt that I could definitely be getting more things done. This week has been hard to find a priority and stick with it kind of week. I think it is just a bit of near farewell sickness, well not sickness but something like that. My American comrade is going to be taking off back for the states next week and then he will only be back for a brief period before leaving again. It is strange to think that this semester is almost over.

...

The other day in class was quite amusing. We had a game of scrabble, perhaps the most amusing game of scrabble that I have ever played. Of course all the words were French words and it was just hilarious trying to make it work out. The two highlights of the game are as folows:

1) There was a very nice opening to create a word with the letter c right next to a triple word square as well as a double letter square. If the girl before me wasn't using that spot I was going for it for sure. So she decided to perfectly bypass these point scoring opportunities with a 3 letter word. Without hesitation, she eagerly spelled the word "ici" (here) in the spot and racked up 2 points.

2)The second highlight was the play that caused me to win the game. I capitalized on changing the word age to ages and creating the word ski as well on a double word box, I racked up (k is worth 10 points in French) 29 points that boosted me to take the lead. It was funny because the Asians were impressed and my American friend was upset for loosing the lead. All in all an amusing round of Scrabble.

...

Last night was some more salsa dancing. It was fun as usual yet not the usual night of salsa dancing. Watching my roommate learn from the instructor guy was pretty funny. We we wondering how long it would take the guy to realize that she doesn't speak French that well. My Canadian friend was really fun to dance with. She couldn't stop laughing while we dance. I think it was my sexy dance moves that caused all her amusement. At one point she was dancing alone on the dance floor and then did the splits. That cause a very high level of interest among the guys at the bar. Everyone was cheering. We were pretty tired so we decided to roll out a little earlier than originally planed.

...

Hike? Yes, that is what I did today. It has been rainy over the past few days but today it was really nice. As an American duo we set off towards the mountains. Our original goal was to try to reach a summit that we have not reached before. Yet the snow was was causing the hike to go much slower than expected so we made it to the Col and decided to turn back. Besides being tiring the hike was absolutely beautiful. We walked our way through a winter wonderland. The trees were all frosted with a heavy coat of snow and the overall felling of the forest was fairy-tale-like. No one had yet blazed a trail in the direction we were going so we trudged our way through the snow. It was snowy, serene, and spectacular. We made our way back to town just in time for night to arrive. Each hike I go on always has something different to offer. It is always a great experience.

Fête des Lumières

I spent Thursday and Friday evening practicing a lot of Chinese with my roommate. It was jam packed full of laughs. I have to say that one of the best parts about learning a languages is that it turns you into a kid again. You have a billion questions, you ask a billion questions and you repeat this process a billion times.

...

Last night I was at Lyon to whiteness the festival of lights. It is a big celebration in Lyon where they decorate the entire city with a more lights than you count. It is like taking Christmas decorations to a whole new level.

We arrived to Lyon by bus and all 100+ of us piled out of two buses. We walked to the train station decided to take the metro to the center of town. The train station in Lyon is pretty big and it is perhaps easier to get lost train the train station than the city itself.

Finally we made are way to the metro and I would have to say with perfect timing any later and we would not have fit into the metro. The transportation strikes miht be still lingering but the metro was absolutely nuts. Luckily we were the first stop on the line so the entire crowd tried to back itself inside the metro but not everyone could fit. Imagine that this is just the first stop.

So there we were, packed in there, on our way to the center of town. The first stop, packed with people, was not pleased to see the condition of the metro. Eventually our stop had arrived and we had to plow our way out the metro. I was wondering if body surfing would have been easier.

We arrived out side of the station and there was absolute darkness outside. It was so dark that I was wondering where we were... Aaawww just kidding. There were lights, and people everywhere. It was really neat to because it was like turning the city into a big Christmas village. Right in the center of town there was a huge ferris wheel. The statue in the center square was in cased in a huge snowglobe. Music and merriment and lights were the themes of the night.

Every direction you looked there was something interesting going on. It is really hard to manage a group of big people but eventually we made our way around and found some more people. People were hungry so we stopped to get some food. Eventually the group started walking around and made it towards the western side of the city. American crowd wanted to hang out in a smoky pub for awhile. I decided to take of with my Japanese and Korean amies and we just started wondering. Our first choice of a direction to go was a bust. Basically it was so crowded that the walking street was making zero progress towards reaching anywhere. We turned around and headed the other direction.

Eventually we hit the same problem going the other way as well but found the source of the problem, the line to the metro. It spilled out into the street and took up the entire street, halting most movement. We made our way around the crowd and just decided to shoot up the hill to get a look of the city.

Eventual we made our way to Fourvière Cathedral. The view of the city was really neat at night with seeing the streets with all the lights and seeing the ferris wheel. We spent some time on the top of the hill, enjoyed the view, and then made our way back down the hill. We enjoyed some hot wine from one of the many dealer that were spread throughout the city. It was like hot cider but even better!

We found a little area with music playing and afterwards an area and enjoyed watching the kids on the fast-swinging-spinning-ride. We walked around a bit more and enjoyed some more lights. We got to eat some really good chocolate that was just amazing. Wow, that chocolate was good.

Eventually we managed to wander our way back towards the bus. A long the way we ran into a street performance which was just weird. Many people wearing lampshades and lights. Some of them were playing music, others where howling, others were singing and dancing. Overall it was pretty strange to say the least. After we had or fill of weirdness we continued walking.

Finally we were back on the bus and rock out to some of my music on our ride back home. It was really fun night.

Goals

Recently I have been trying to get all of my goals laid out. It is going slower than I have wanted but I am more serious about goal setting than I have ever been in the past now so this time it working. I've researched some online about goal setting techniques and there is some good advice out there. Some of the best advice that I can remember is that all the goals, even though they are future in completion must be present goals. For example if you had a goal to make a million dollars you would would right that as you goal but rather be creative and think what you could do this very moment to step closer to that goal. Setting the goal as a process rather than a destination makes it more effective.

Anyway that has been one of the mini themes of my life for the past few days. Tonight was movie night on campus and I watched a bunch of Cannes Film Festival shorts. The theme behind all the movies was "at the cinema" or something close to that. The movies ranged from bizarre to all out hilarious. There was definitely a lot of creativity put into these movies.

Christmas Season Commences

On Saturday evening just after I finished dinner I was invited to another dinner by my roommate. I decided to go. I helped with some of the preparation for dinner. This involved various things like pinching raviolis or tearing up bits of cabbage. To begin with everyone else there was Chinese but afterwards some of their French friends showed up. The dinner was absolutely excellent.

All the food was just fantastic and actually had that good homemade feel to it. I ate more than enough and then some more. I eventually had to just refuse more food because I had way too much. It was not easy eating two dinners back to back.

After dinner well hung at and talked for awhile. I got invited to go on a hike the next day. None of the Chinese folks were interested in going but I sure was. So that's what I did, went on another hike.

The next day I met up and we had to pound on the door for about ten minutes to get our other friend to wake up. Eventually we were on our way towards the mountains. The hike was another brilliant day. There was a lot of ice and mud going up the trail but all around it was really beautiful.

At one point we saw a Chamoix, a mountain antelope that frequently hangs out in the Alps. By the time we made it to the top it was pretty cold and winding. A perfect place for lunch! So that's where we ate lunch. On top of the world.

Afterwards we slid our way down the mountain and made it mack to the car. On the ride home we stopped by a castle. The castle itself was pretty neat looking for the outside but we were unable to go inside. At least it was cool to know that there is a castle just 30km from Chambery. For the rest of the ride home I slept and drooled all over my sweatshirt. I guess I was pretty tired.

...

Yesterday I did a whole lot of laundry. I basically washed most of the clothes that I have. This involved me wearing my huge hiking backpack filled with laundry as well as my suitcase. For those of you that think laundry is expensive you have not lived in France. When I do laundry I never dry my clothes because it costs dollar for every 5-10 minutes. Or something like that, I don't remember exactly besides deciding that it was way to expensive.

Just to wash my clothes I forked over the equivalent to $16, I'd say I would have to triple this price if I paid for the driers as well. So I packed the heavy wet clothes back into my luggage and headed towards my destination, the cave.

That evening I spent some time with my super awesome Japanese friend we walked around the Chambery Christmas market that started this weekend. They basically set up a mini Christmas village right in the Center of town were you can shop for Christmas gifts. You can even visit Santa, or as the the French like to call him, Christmas Daddy.

Night at Chartreuse

On Thursday morning we all woke up after a makeshift sleep over that occurred the night before. It was the standard crew of another crazy American, the witty Russian and myself. We had some breakfast than entered the swiss-mobile to get taken up to where the hike would begin. Our Swiss friend was cool enough to agree to drive us there and then pick us up the next day, with out him the trip could not have occurred, Thanks again!

The drive to the mountain was ominous. It was super cloudy with a mix of threatening snow. The thermometer said it was 3 below freezing and that gave us a good laugh. After getting slightly lost trying to find the trail we had to ask for directions but soon we were back on the right track. By the time we were dropped off the clouds looked way more promising.

We started our way up the mountain and it was a workout from the very beginning. Carry a lot of gear up a mountain makes it a lot more challenging. By the time we hit snow we had to stop and consider where exactly we were going because it gets a lot harder to stay on trail once all the snow is gone. Yet eventually we made it all the way up to the Petit Som. The view from the top was absolutely amazing.

At this point we were far above the clouds and had a 360 degree view of the countryside. The clouds made it seem as if there could have been an ocean below us. It was really beautiful to see the Snow topped mountains in the distance along with the greener hills below. For a moment it was it seemed like everything just seemed to be floating on top of the clouds.

We had some dejeuner at the summit and then went down to find our home for the evening. Our home was a little shack at near the trail for the Grand Som. When we arrived it had a lock on the door, after a short pause in our heartbeats, it turned out that it was unlocked. We scoped it out and set up our tent inside it. This was going to be our home for the night.

It had a place for a campfire inside the cabin but there was no chimney. We were going to try it out. The next step was to find some fire-wood in the nearby forest. After a few hours of wood collecting we had a nice pile going. Enough to have several hours of fire.

We decided to scope out the trail for the Grand Som. After a bit of recon we determine that it would be doable but at the same time it was really steep so we would have to be extremely careful.

The evening was spent to watch the sunset. At one point while watching the sunset there was a strange noise that was coming down the hill. After expecting to discover some sort of mountain yeti it turned out to a person. It is amazing how well footsteps echo when you are in the mountains. The silence is just...silent; nothing can really describe the sound of nothing.

The sunset was really great to see leaving a golden glow on everything as the last light was peering over the horizon. After the sun was down the cold soon followed. It was time to get that fire going and eat dinner.

The fire wasn't easy to start. The wood was pretty damp so for a fair amount of time I spent just finding dry grass and bring it back to the fire. Eventually we got the thing going and had a nice little fire in our cabin. The problem was that event though there was some air holes for the smoke to go through we wound up smoking out the entire cabin.

Eventually we had to move the fire outside because there was no way to spend any long amount of time it the cabin. Another round of collecting grass occurred and eventually the fire outside was on its way as well. After awhile the smoked cleared from inside the cabin and it was soon bedtime.

We went to bed and the plan was to wake up between 3:30 and 4 to make it to the summit to watch the sunrise. Later that night it became colder and colder. A combination of wind and cloud-cover that rolled in told us that it would be way too dangerous to try the climb to see the sunrise. After throwing on a lot more clothing I was warm again and was able to sleep for a bit.

The next morning we woke up and had some breakfast and a fire going. It was really cloudy and foggy that morning and was mildly snowing off and on. The entire summit was wrapped in a cloud. I was disappointed because I thought that the chances for a good view were gone.

I was wrong.

Eventually some of the clouds lifted and the fog started disappearing. We packed all of our stuff up and brought along just what we thought we would need to make it to the summit. We started our hike up towards the misty cloud and once we broke through the ridge a vast vista of clear skies was showing its way through.

Hiking to the summit was just amazing. We roped ourselves together incase anyone slipped on the snow and marched our way towards the Grand Som. The clouds kept on clearing as we continued to make our way towards the top. Finally we arrived at the summit and it was just fantastic. The view of Mount Blanc was superb and overall it was a great sense of accomplishment.

We made it.

The climb down was quite rapid. It is always fun to see that you can cover the same distance going down a hill three to five times faster than going up it. In about no time at all we were back at the rendezvous point and took the time to just lie back and reflect on our adventure. What a great adventure it was.

A Happy Birthday

Right now I am really tired, really happy, and really old...haha well the last part is not true but it is always funny to have birthdays. I just came back from going camping in the Chartreuse mountains. It was a really cool (cold even) way to spend a birthday. We have been planning to summit the Grand Som of the Chartreuse for awhile now, and today it finally happened.

I'll right the rest of the story tomorrow but just wanted to say that overall I had a really great birthday. Many people thought it was really weird to go into the mountains for my birthday. Yet I think of it as something truly special. Pictures have been added.

Encore Croix du Nivolet

After class ended today I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. We are planning on going hiking and camping on either Thursday or Friday. Today was such a nice day that it kicked some of my mountain instincts in. Whenever it is exceptionally nice weather that means that a wave of rain or snow is about hit at some point. So I basically just grabbed my backpack and took off for the Cross du Nivolet. I left the house at around 2, which is very late for starting a hike considering that the sun sets at 5pm nowadays. Anyway I had the momentum going so there was no stopping me at that point. I left the house so quickly that I didn't bring any water, I knew of a little store along the way so I stopped by there to get some water before continuing.

I basically decided that I was going to roar my way up the mountain without too many stops. So I did. The 4 hour hike was done in under 2.5 hours. Overall it was a really nice hike but pretty exhausting as well. There were many people coming down the mountain when I was going up it. All of them were friendly though some of them looked skeptical that I was trying to do up the mountain so late. One woman asked if I had enough clothes and I said yes, because yes I had enough clothes.

One thing about the hike was that going down the mountain was more difficult considering it was dark. I wasn't worried about the dark as much as wondering where the wolves like to live in the mountains near Chambery. I eventually made my way back down after taking a few wrong turns causing me to take a different way back then I came up. Apparently navigation is more difficult in the nighttime. Good thing that downhill was always downhill so I knew I would eventually get back.

The entire trip from my doorstep to the Croix and back again was around 5.5 hours. Which I will call my new record because I think I could do it faster if I did the entire hike during the day. By the time I returned I was REALLY hungry so I ate a huge dinner of chicken, bread, peanut butter, pasta and oranges. I need to remember to keep some cereal bars in my backpack.

Anyway that was my day not too bad for doing a full days hike and going to class in one day. I just hope now that this weather will hold up all week. If so, another fantastic hike will be on the way.

Ciao.

Respite, Reading, Rhetoric

I had to spend most of Sunday relaxing because I was pretty much exhausted from a combination of dancing, drinking, hiking, and still trying to maintain my 7am wakeup time. I needed to take a day off. Originally we were planning on going on another big hike that day but that didn't work out. The plan is to try again for it this weekend.

I'm currently reading the book "The Power of Now." It is a really fascinating book yet unfortunately it is so easy to grasp that it can be really difficult as well. It goes into stuff that covers basically holding the meditative mindset all the time. Yet it is loaded with a bunch of angles to say the same thing. The book is basically summarized by just reading the title. Anyway it is a great read for people who are open and ready for it, otherwise it will lose you completely.

Today I met up with an amie and we practiced a lot of french and some english and chinese as well. Overall I was a really good time and we almost talked for 4 hours. My mind is getting more used to juggling languages. Eventually I plan to not have too difficulty switching between them when I need to. I'm still debating some ideas in my head but I think I should be able to become a trilinguist if I I focus energy into it. We'll see.

My website ideas have been put on hold for a little while based on different revelations that I've had. That's all I can say at this point about the website because it is pretty much just a suspend idea for now. Anyway I've got a test tomorrow so I might need to call it an earlier night tonight. Goodnight!

Clubbing, Thanksgiving Dinner

Um yea. Friday night was pretty fun, pretty wild, with moments of hilarious. My Chinese buddy invited me to a party at his place. Everyone met up out side of his apparent and by chance my American home slice happened to wind up to arrive just at the right time to join the party as well. So we all had an enjoyable time of drinks and snacks. There was the was many campangs, campins and campays, or something like that, to say cheers in chinese, korean and japanese is very similar.

After a bit pushing the limits of "normal" social drinking it was time go out to the club. My amerikaner had to return chez-il so the discotheque group totaled to be 9 people, 2 dudes, 7 chicks and I was the only non-asian. By the time we reached the club it was already pumping. I got my free drink, culsec'd it and was ready for dancing.

I opened up the dancing in high force to start off with. The girls were soon placed in a wave of there own giggles, awe, this is awesome kind of atmosphere; I already reached that feeling in my mind earlier. It was an absolute blast, one of the girls was really good at dancing, some other were wild and crazy, others were awkward yet determined, who knows how one would describe myself. I made sure that, or at least tried to, have some dancing time with each of the girls in our group.

We took a few breaks from the dancing and stood in the fan every once and awhile. It was really hot in the club that night, so the fan was quite quite appreciated. Eventually some of the girls started getting exhausted. You know the standard procedure, if I am in the fully dancing zone people usually start dropping out before I do. I can't stop dancing sometimes, haha.

In the last hour something that I have never experienced before happened in a club. So basically all the go-go dancers turned into strippers. No expecting that one but yea there was girls dancing only in g-strings, well maybe high heels as well but I don't really remember. The girls reactions were priceless: this is so embarrassing, how awkward yet I like it! wow this is so cool! My reaction was a mix of all the others. France always seems to throw little surprises out there that I would have never imagined. A good chunk of the club stopped dancing just to watch the "show" I couldn't stop dancing. It was ummm quite the experience to say the least.

We eventually wound up leaving after some of the girls had some experience with the typical creepy drunk dudes and I had to do some occasional shielding. Some dudes out there can be complete idiots at times. Thats one of the downsides to clubs is that there is a certain scumminess to them, yet the music is always amazing, once you're in the zone it's fantastic.

It was a great night overall, really physically and mentally fatiguing but something that I can look back on and just start laughing.

...

The next day I visit my friend at the Japanese exposition. She was decked out in a kimono which was really cool. I watched a tea presentation which was strange yet interesting. There was also kendo (way of the sword) presentation an my friend said that she finally realized that they were shouting commands in japanese with french accents which was pretty silly.

Eventually I had to take off to get some wine for thanksgiving dinner. I got the wine and returned chez-moi. I really just felt like sleeping because I exhausted from the previous night. Yet I knew that I couldn't miss out on the dinner because I had a feeling it would be something truly special.

It was.

There were 10 of us crowded into a kitchen/dining room area. It was so tight that we always had to shift the tables around whenever anyone needed to stand up. The food was amazing. There was everything from actual from the U.S. stuffing to apricot glazed turkey. We all took turns saying things that we were thankful for in english and french, serious and silly. Oh and did I mention the hats. Yea we all had hats. The theme was pilgrims and indians and after a while the hats just seemed normal.

After the spectacular meal we after first desert, followed by second desert, followed by third desert, followed by forth desert. Wow, just wow, all the deserts were homemade masterpieces of creativity, love and all around tastiness.

After the dinner the was a bit of dancing and singing. Great times. Eventually it was time to roll out. I was surprised that when I got hoe it was near 1am. Time flies when living life at its best. I'm not forgetting this thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today I went on a hike, I'd guess you would call it a 2/3 american 1/3 russian kind of hike. Anyway the tree of us set out from les elephants to search for a cave on Doria mountain near Chambery. On the way to the hiking trail we decided to stop by the store and get rain ponchos in case we needed them.

Afterwards it was up the mountain we went in search of this cave. The hike started off in a dense fog. Right around went we arrived at the small village of Lovettaz. We broke through the fog to see a layer of clear sky between the fog and the clouds high above. When we were in the town a semi creepy yet cool event occurred. The fog rose up quickly in the sky and surrounded us once again. Eventually we made our way back out of the fog a second time but it was spectacular to see how quickly the fog could change.

Eventually we were close to the cave. The sound of the waterfall was nearby. We thought it would be really cool if the cave was behind the waterfall. Once we reached the area of where the trail lead to the cave. The trail went right behind the waterfall. Oh cool so its true! We busted out the rain ponchos in preparation to go behind the waterfall. Go rain poncho power!

So we approached the waterfall and soon realized that the cave wasn't behind the waterfall. The actually waterfall itself was coming right out of a cave and it looked like there was another cave right about it as well. The problem was that the trail was flooded over from the raging water. Pretty much all the snow had melted from the surrounding mountains and as a result the water was flowing with a lot of force.

We decide to drop down a bit to see if there was any way to approach the cave from the the other side. It turned out that it was not possible to reach the cave from any direction that we tried. Eventually we would up finding a crevasse in the side of the mountain so that was our "cave" experience for the day.

We later took. A 50 metre detour that turned out to take a pretty big chunk of time. It was worth it though. THe trail itself was pretty dangerous because, well, there wasn't actually any trail in some parts and we just had to climb it. The good thing is that we eventually made it to a summit. The view was absolutely amazing and it was a great feeling being at a mini tip of the world.

We then decided to make it all the way to the Col de Doria. This turned out to be an underwhelming fork in the road but just beyond it was a peaceful field where we ate lunch. While we ate lunch there was a dog with a bell on it's collar that was frolicking through the woods. It eventually made its way to run right past us.
We had some good laughs while we ate lunch and then started to make our way back down the mountain. It became nightfall before we made it back to town and there were many salamanders that we had to be careful not to step on. Once we made it back into town it was time to go back into combat mode (aka poncho time) because it started raining.

Finally after a long day I was thankful to be home. I am planing to have thanksgiving on Saturday but I was still thankful for today. Actually I try to think that everyday is like Thanksgiving, because each day has its own special moments to bring.

Wow, What a Day

Crazy, that is the word I would use to describe today.

...

So yesterday there was a big assemble for all the students to further debate were or not to go on strike. After several arguments, some of them getting heated. The decision was decided that something needed to be done tomorrow but also another assembly was needed on Wednesday.

After the meeting I went on another hike. It was only a mini one but I discovered yet another new place to hike. Chambery is absolutely packed with hiking trails shooting off into all directions. Latter, I met up with a Japanese friend and had a little English time with her because she was trying to catch up on some of her English. We talked about everything from television, to music, to Japan to America. It was overall really fun. A nice day but completely different from the next day.

...

Today. The day started off with going to campus and hearing from my Mexican friend that the majority of the buildings on campus were closed and blocked off. So it looks like the student greve has been set into motion. We had class still because the international classes and law classes still continue when ever there is a strike on campus.

For lunch I ate a good old American style pork and potatoes lunch and my friends house. Afterwards we went to see the greve. And oh what a greve it was. I arrived on the scene with my Russian comrade and we were greeting by a lot of noise, smoke and fire and the flashing lights of police cars.

There were hundreds off people gathered outside of the court house with a good chunk of them wielding signs of protest. There were many any people protesting today basically because the presidents reform plan for the country is packed with issues that the people are not happy with. There were everyone from railway workers, to lawyers, to students all rallying for a massive protest. Pretty soon the massive crowd of people took to the streets and started marching their way all over town. Stopping traffic and generally everything in their tracks.

There was all sorts of action going on. Some people were carrying torches while others were wielding massive signs with political messages. There were also several "grevemobiles" with speakers on top either playing music or having people yell out things over a loudspeaker.

I have never seen anything like it. It is kind of like if you combine a parade with a bunch of football fans with a message to tell the government. The result: a lot of people making a huge statement.

The sounds in the air were filled with what could be confused with gun shorts but it was a continuing barrage of firecrackers. People were chanting, and yelling, singing and shouting. The sky was continuously filled with smoke from various torches and flares. Combined with the flashing lights from the police cars there was a tense atmosphere in the air.

There were all sorts of characters in the crowd ranging from families to, tipsy hippies, to businessmen. A few friends and myself were running around taking many many photographs of the entire occasion. At points we were wondering if there was going to be a riot because there the police locked themselves in the area of the castle with riot gear at there feet in case they needed it. The was definitely some really tense moments but overall the scene maintained a balance between not quite violent but not really peaceful at the same time. The kind of energy which is produced when a statement must be made.

Eventually the various sections of protesters started to branch out and go there own directions, but definitely there was an impact on the energy of the city. Myself and my American number one met up again and eventually we met up with our Brazilian and Mexican amies at a cafe and discussed the days events.

People eventually departed but on the way back it seemed that the general chaos of the day was not quite finished. We were walking back towards the elephants and there was a whole lot of firetrucks and pompiers running gathering about. We went to see what all the action was and it turned out that there was a fire in one of the that apartment complexes nearby. There were loads of firefighters gathering around and organizing for a plan of approach. We took some more pictures and went to checkout around back there firefighters in the back were all organizing to rescue a woman from the top level of the building.

The overall atmosphere of the firefights was not a sense of urgency but rather careful planning and strategic decision making. We talked to a police officer and he let us go in for a closer look. Overall it was all had a sense of surreality to it. The firefighters seemed to have most things under control and weren't too rushed about putting the fire out. They didn't seemed worried so I trust that they knew what they were doing.

We eventually left the scene and made our way back towards home. Once I arrived home the power on the entire block was out. Mme J was aggravated by the situation but I told her about the fire and she continued to figure out how to fix this problem with the lights. After many phone calls we found out the the problem with the electricity was being fixed. We also figured out that the firefighters were doing a practice run in the center city which is why they ultimately lacked a sense of urgency. Yet overall the practice run was pretty impressive.

Now I am just wondering what is next in the life of Chambery. Everyday is a new adventure and a new discovery.

Macumba

You know how I usually wake up at 7am, well today that's the time that I went to bed. Roll backed into town at 6:30 and then returned home to go to bed. Last night I took a trip with a bus load of the other international students to Club Macumba. It is a club that is right next to the border of Switzerland.

The bus ride over to the club was pretty amusing. It was essentially a party bus were people socialized and many people had a cup of wine or other beverage of choice. Terviseks! (Cheers! Estonian-style). I learned I got to know a German girl that I met before a little more on the ride over. At first she had that German kind of strictness feeling to her but after I got to know her some she was pretty cool. Eventually we made it to the club.

The club itself was huge. It had all sorts of rooms that made it more like 6 clubs. There was the standard awkward club activity and I was starting to wonder how many of the people dancing were actually having fun. Anyway I spent a lot of time dancing with my chinese, german and swiss friends. I spent the rest of the time making observation on general club life and had the occasional giggle over its silliness.

At one point I got to dance with a Brazilian friend of mine and she basically retaught be how to dance. Dancing with a girl that is 0% timid is really fun. The key to dancing is the more comfortable you become with it the better you get. If you worry what others think you won't be able to improve you dancing. Anyway she was really comfortable with dancing so we had a really good time dancing together. Who needs aerobics when you can just dance.

I later sat and watched some dancing competitions between people which was pretty amusing. La mode of dance now seems t be a jungle-like style, that's the only way I can think of describing it. I re-met with my German friend and "saved her" (in her words) from some French dude that coming on to her way to quickly for her liking. We danced together for a little longer and then had to return to the bus. The ride back home was filled with really crummy sleep. I groggily got off the bus and returned back chez moi.

I woke up at around 1pm. Mme J told me a story about the attorneys and judges that are on strike. Yea the attorneys and judges are on strike too. Anyway so there was a judge that was trying to protest in a restricted area in front of some governmental building. The Gendarme asked him to leave and threaten to ticket him. The judge replied giving a ticket for a court summons was pretty pointless considering he was the judge. I'm not sure what happened after that. Just an amusing story.

Afterwards Mme J, spiffy roommate and myself took a trip to the cabin. It was nice and snowy up there and the day was really beau. I got to see a nice snowy vista of the surrounding mountains. I continually threaten to dump my roomy in the snow and succeeded a few times. She was both not too happy and very happy about this, girls are weird like that.

Ce soir I got some more Chinese practice in. Chinese is super hard but I get better day by day.

Stike? Durango?! Ski Stuff!!!

So the students at Chambery may being going on strike, yes that's right students all across France on going on strike and Chambery might follow suite. The reason behind this is that traditionally, the university system in France is funded completely through the government yet this could change. The is a new plan to make enterprises start funding the Universities. The problem is that if Universities need to start negotiating contracts with enterprises for money it will break apart some of the equality that France so strongly strives for. The big time Campuses in big cities would get more funding, more marketing of junk to students and ultimately realize that they don't want to depend on these companies for money. Smaller campus like at Chambery would struggle more for money because a smaller campus has a smaller opportunity for cooperations to give money to the campus and market their stuff. All around a lose lose situation.

So, on Thursday I meant to go to the meeting for the greve (strike) but I got a little distracted. First I got trapped in the epic lunch line of doom which I wasn't expecting to be so big because I'm used to it getting like that 10 mins latter. Anyway I ate lunch with some acquaintances and they drank some free wine they were serving in the cafeteria. I was asked me where exactly was from. I told them I was from Durango. The response: oh so you know the other girl from Durango. What?! So out of all the billions of people in the world who is studying abroad from The Fort (Durango's college) is in Chambery as well.

Yea there is girl from Durango that lives in Chambery. About a half an hour later she happened to arrive at the table. So we got to know each other some and it turns out that she worked kitty corner to where I work. If I say this again later I won't be surprised: It's a small world after all.

By the time I showed up to the greve meeting it was over but mon ami americain told me that he spoke out at the meeting and offered support from the american contingent. There would probably be more news to come later about how this goes. I might not even have class, but the international section of schools typically keeps going when strikes happen.

Afterwards I got some laundry done and now my clothes have an air cave. Whether it be cave caves or wine cellers, the wine cellar/basement is called a cave in french and its name suits it well from my experience: musty, dark, where are the bats hiding?

...

I made a vision/affirmation board out of my desktop and it is pretty spiffy. Basically the theory is if you have goals create a poster to represent all of those goals so you have something to visually strive for when goal setting. It is still in the works but I've got one started. I'm stying playing with some ideas in my head for my future plans but have day is a step towards the right direction.

...

Today I went to the Bourse aux Ski to find some skiing stuff. I got boots, poles and skis with bindings for 53 euros. It is 8 euros over the maximum I had in mind but the cheaper stuff at the ski swap was already falling apart. Still though not too bad for equipping myself for the ski season. I like to think of it as a birthday present for my self and now I really want to go skiing. The ski places are starting to open up now, and this years seems to be like it will be a good snow year. It certainly is cold enough to be one. It is rumored that this region has the best skiing in the world. I'll be finding that out over the next few months.

Beaujolais

So last night was fantastic. I went to a big festival that occurs each year in France. The night started off with myself and a massive crowd of mostly Koreans and various other nationalities. While waiting for the bus I had to remember to no step in the crotte du chien that one of my friends stepped in earlier. Nothing like good old poo on the shoe to start off the night. For awhile I wonder if the bus was ever going to arrive. Since the public transportation system is on strike in France buses have turned into something not commonly seen in France, well sort of.

Finally the bus arrived and we were off towards some area north of Lyon. You know know that I think about it I'm really sure, exactly where we were going but I had a general idea. I sat next to my one of my friends from class and she taught me some Korean. Eventually we made it to our first destination and arrived at the restaurant where we were having our pre-party dinner.

The dinner itself was really tasting. Unfortunately for me my digestive system currently wasn't too happy so I had to bear through a kind of stomach ache for most of the dinner. Yet it wasn't crippling, just highly annoying. Eventually by the end of the meal it was mostly gone. Dinner consisted of a salad to start off with, then a sausage and potatoes main course. The food was really tasty in a French kind of way. A fine mix of creamy goodness with the sprinklings of herbal magnificence. For desert we were swept away into an dream filled with apricots, cream, and pastry magic. It was the best dessert that I had in a long time. We took a lot of pictures at the dinner and the Asians, especially the girls, especially the Japanese, were obsessed with always doing hand signs. This seems to be the standard procedure. They would do the "I love you" sign but would do it backwards, lol. It winds up with funny pictures which leaves one questioning whether people are flashing gang signs, obscene gestures, or just being silly. In the end it is just being silly.

Our next step was to head to were the party was. Where that was, like I said I'm not exactly sure but the bus dropped us off in a town were we were left in the freezing cold air. We did what any reasonably person would do, find the campfires-wheel-barrels and get warm. I took a side tour to find a toilet of sorts and wound up discovering which what I thought was a laser show. I turned out to be just lasers and smoke but there was a mini laser show a little latter on.

Eventually the parade started coming our way and I grouped up with some friends and joined in the parade. I got handed a torch. Sweet! Basically the parade consisted of a bunch of people marching and dancing with torches. Our destination: free wine! and lots of it. We marched and danced our way all the way to the party and counted off the new year to a new wine season.

This was followed by a fireworks show, laser show, and best of all free wine for everyone. Tchin tchin! Cheers! The was much wine drinking and dancing afterwards. I got the dancing going with a group of 8 amies or so and it was a bast as always. Of course many pictures because the Asians seemed to be more hardcore about taking group photos then other cultures that I've met. The pictures were hilarious because it would usually start out with a group. Of us and then there would just be random French guys that would join into the picture. The French guys really like talking with the girls because the were clearly étrangers. Some of these guys where a bit more sketchy than others but I think the sketchy one eventually got weeded out. The were a lot of old men that would love to go up to go up to the girls and give them the French cheek kisses. It was pretty hilarious.

Eventually we had to return to the bus after enough (more than even) dancing, wine drinking, and pictures. I see if at some point I can get some of these pictures because I pretty much focused on being in the pictures rather than taking them. I sat next to a Japaneses friend on the way back and we wound up falling asleep for the bus ride back. Dancing and wine drinking does get tiring after all.

On the walk back home I got to try some chunk of a baguette freshly made. I've determined that no baguette beats 4am real French baguette. Anyway the night was absolutely superb. A night to remember.

Thoughts, Notepads

Yesterday was a really neat day. It put my mind into some new perspectives that I have never thought about before. Yet my mind is still wondering about certain things. Chambery like many cities has several beggars that come and go and several that are just standard. Sometimes I run into them on a daily basis. On one hand my heart is split on this issue. I can either give them money or not. I have decided to not give them money but I needed to know why. I have determined that the more of them that you give money the more of the habit you produce. A better option would be to give them food if you want to give them anything. At least you know that they the choice is now in their hands to eat it or not. Anyway it is a strange concept to think about but I ran into one yesterday that really made me think about it. There must be a better way than just begging for money.

Afterwards I wandered my way into a free art exposition. When I entered the exposition they asked if I spoke English I said oui and continued in French. Sometimes people try to force me into English when I don't speak perfect French but now I just plow past that and continue in French because that's is why I'm here.

After I looked at all the pictures I got a chance to talk to the artist and photographer, a mother son team. It turned out that this time the son actually didn't speak very much French so English was the better option. They were from Romania and I got to hear some interesting perspectives on life, love and war and things in between. It was a nice conversation overall and lasted for at least and hour. Overall it was a great experience and it was nice to listen to the perspective of the world from a Romanian point of view. He also commented that I had a good energy which was neat because people haven't typically said that to me in the past.

Today I have continued my new daily routine of more massive walks. It have me some more time to think, which I have had plenty of time to do so far. Yet I need to put more actions into these thoughts because there is only so much, and so much more than we realize, that thinking can produce. I'm starting a checklist of things that I need to get done each day and getting those things done. I general I have started writing down thoughts that I come up with on an daily (hourly?) basis and it is helping keeping me more organized. I would recommend that to always carry a pen and notepad around. Why I never started this earlier, who knows. It is simple, and simply worth it.

Croix du Nivolet

Today was, really awesome. Myself and mon camarade americain, set off to conquer the Croix du Nivolet. Basically we hiked from Chambery, les elephants, all the way up the mountain nearby. It took a little while to f ind the railhead but once we found it the journey was afoot. We passed by everything from donkeys to men with rifles. We endured everything : rain, snow, fog, mud.

At one point we ran into a waterfall that was very cool. Yet the coolest part (one of them) was right before the summit we had to run the gauntlet of a metal set of cables and stairs that brought us up the super-slippery cliff. If we slipped it would have been sure death, but don't worry there was no reason to slip so we decided that wasn't option. Basically imagine that you are hiking in the rain/snow and then have to climb a metal latter. Exciting! It was pretty awesome but unfortunately not awesomely pretty. The fog left the affect where you could not see more than 40 feet ahead of you. The good part is that you could not tell how far the cliff was because you could only see the first 40 feet of it.

Just before we reached the summit we ran into a French dude who was quite friendly. He offered that we descend the mountain together in a different direction than we came up. It sounded fun enough. He lead us though the snow and fog down a different direction of the mountain. We half descended half slid our way down the mountain; I wished that I had skies at points. There was discussion of everything from politics to learning somethings about nature. It was surprising how much or little time went by during the hike.

Afterwards we returned to his place and had some hot chocolate. We sat around and talked and his Senegalese roommate joined in and talked with us as well. One thing I think that is always neat is how the people I meet in France are always really friendly. People just have a nice vibe to them. What's cool about some of the apartments in Chambery is that they are old and have a kind of castle feel to them. They are different from a lot of things that you find in the states.

After I returned chez-moi I bombarded myself with more Chinese and struggled to learn more, eventually fatiguing myself to sleepiness. My roommate and I discussed all sorts of weird things in chinese and French and Chinese. I eventually just needed to go to sleep, I decided to write in my blog first ;)

Well good night. The sleepiness is quite strong now.

p.s. I added some more photos but would also highly recommend seeing some my friend Brian's newly added photos. His pictures have a professional touch and can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bcrigby/

Yesteday Equals Awesome

So Yesterday was amazing. After lunch I met up with a Canadian girl and showed her some stuff in town. I think that being a town guide is something that is not really my specialty but thankfully I eventually got us to discover the maison de Jean Jacques Rousseau. Which is something not to many people find in Chambery so I thought it would be interesting.

Next,we went to a cafe and talked about various things. I wound up bombarding her with some of my new random ideas and such which seems to be one of my current themes whenever I have any one on one time with anyone. She seemed curious so I told her about the meditations too which was somewhat hard to explain in French. At one point she asked me if I was a Sagittarius and I said yes. Although I have never put too much effort into studying astrology I have done some research and it is actually pretty interesting at times.

Later she showed me the Library because I actually never took the time to go there. I was like a kid in a candy store. It is funny because even though I don't like reading I love learning new things or things that I am interested in. So that library was packed of cool things that were all in French. I think I'll be going there more often now.

Afterwards I returned home and my roommate and I took off to meet up with our cool mutual friend and Chinese dude. He cooked us dinner. His roommate came back and she joined us for dinner. The food he made was fantastic, one of the best meals I've had since I've been here. He is thinking about potentially starting cooking school perhaps as soon as next year. After dinner we enjoyed a bottle of wine and went out to go dancing.

The bars and pubs we went weren't too great eventually we made our way over to the discotheque. I was a bit reluctant because it is super expensive but I didn't show it because I thought if they are willing to pay I guess just go for it. It started off slowly and my roommate asked me why I wasn't dancing. Well the truth was literally nobody was and I didn't feel it yet.

Well... this night turned out to be perhaps one of the most fun times I have ever had at a club. My coloc (roomy) is super comfortable with dancing with me so we could dance anything from super silly, to rock star, to semi-freakish. Anyway it was amazingly awesome to hilarious to way too much fun. At one point there was a live band with some dancing girls that were giving out some free fedoras. So well all banked ourselves some fedoras and rocked out in a rain of confetti. I wound up getting a tee-shirt as well.

Overall it was a lot of fun; one of those days comes around every few days - I'm trying to define the meaning of "carpe diem" - my days recently have been anywhere from great to better than great. Anyway try thoughts meditations, or at least look into the "law of attraction" it is an interesting philosophy that I have recently adapted and combined with meditations, it pays off more and more on a daily basis.

Cheers, blessings, dasvidanya!

Movies, Kisses, Hikes

On Tuesday my spunky fantastic roommate came back from her trip around France. I think I surprised her a little bit at the train station because she asked me to meet her there but I didn't guarantee that I would. Anyway she was more than happy to see me and told me about some of her adventures.

On Wednesday, also know as the busy day, I went to class and such and afterwards decided that I must get some laundry done. So now all my whites are hanging in the cave. I only hope that batman doesn't mind.

Wednesday night I went to movie night which featured a movie from Hong Kong. It was myself and three asian girls (friends/roommate) that watched the film as well as various french folk. This resulted in conversations in mostly french as well as a crazy mix of engljapochoreanese. It was funny because one of my friends actually won the ticket drawing at the beginning but she lost her ticket. We didn't find the ticket until after they already did a new drawing and someone else won instead. The movie itself was kind of stupid kind of intriguing. It seems like most movies they host for movie night have the theme of being really weird.

Afterwards we all walked home. I gave the girls the double cheek kiss goodbye. I think the asian girls really get a kick out of the cheek kisses because I have never seen any of the asian males do it. It always seems to be something grand and exciting and fun. I also think that they don't really get it, or maybe I don't get it but the sometimes the asian girls point to two different people and say kiss. It's an act non a command, by french standards its a handshake of sorts. When I think about it, it's actually pretty amusing around. I could go into more stories about it but perhaps I'll save that for later.

Today I wound up going on a spectacular hike. Know I have been doing some pretty nice hikes over the past few days but this one topped all of them. I think the biggest factor was that the weather was absolutely spectacular. I went in new a direction and it brought me up a mountain that overlooked Chambery. Overall the view was gorgeous because usually the is a certain fog in Chambery which didn't exist at all today. This hike put those other hikes to shame scenery-wise.

This Morning

This morning has had a pretty rough start. I woke up this morning at 6:44 and checked my email. A find of mine told me that something bad happened in Finland. Later I instantly checked the news. I cried a little even yet so realized that I needed to do something else. People are dieing every day based on different acts of hate. Things like this should signal to the rest of us that we truly need to start being more kind and caring to other people. One of the issues with modern society is that the stress levels have developed to become huge for a lot of people. In extreme cases this can lead to violence.

I think that if people start practicing the small steps to take the time to actually put in a huge effort to continue tho think positive it spread to other people. It doesn't mean not to block out negative feelings but more to find the cause of those feelings and the realize what needs to be done. If people start taking personal responsibility to be better people then that is what they will become, better people. It takes just a few little things to make people give up too easily. Yet with persistence things can and will get better.

Back to School

Class started again today. The odd thing about class is that it seems to be going so slow right now. Sometimes some of the exercises are really helpful but other times they can tend to drag. I've started re managing my time in class when I feel it is need ed. For example, every Monday we have these listening exercises were afterwards we go back and correct them. I've determined that the correction after the fact is pretty pointless because it goes back to correct something that I heard 20 or 30 minutes ago. Seeing the correct version with out hearing it isn't going to do me much good. I use that time to look up a few words in the dictionary.

After class today I had lunch with some Chinese friends. The annoying part was that they were being a real pain and refusing to talk in French. So for most of the time I was just sitting there occasionally trying to force them to go into French again. Eventually I got them to talk and it was good. At first they said it was girl stuff and they couldn't talk to me about it. I knew that this is pretty ridiculous because I'm not sure exactly what defines something as "girl stuff" but I know that, not that I'd want to, I could talk (and have talked)about issues ranging from periods and mammograms all the way to abortions and rape. I guess it depends on how quickly people trust each other to talk. Anyway I eventually got them talking in French and we talked about various thing about why men and women clash so much. I was just glad that we were finally talking in French.

Later today I ran some errands. I'm trying right now to come up with ideas for cheap foods that are also healthy. So if anyone can tall me anything that can help out that would be greatly appreciated.

Tonight I tried to open up my computer so I could try to figure out how and if I can add more RAM. After opening it up I only speculated what exactly I was looking at and have a hunch on where the RAM was. Yet without not knowing too much about computers, especially laptops I'm not really sure where to go. I've only ever dealt with a desktop's RAM and that was way easier. I wish there was just something somewhere in the computer that would at least say RAM. Oh well.

I forgot to mention but the other day when I went on a walk I returned to the cemetery. For All Saints Day people load up the graves with a lot of flowers. That place was more at peace then it was before. I'll add a picture to flickr. I guess I should get to bed soon, I was up, unplanned, at 5:30 this morning and its starting to really hit me.

Bonne nuit.

Christmas Plans and Waking Up

Today I was supposed to have dinner this evening but it got canceled. Instead I have been trying to get plane tickets to visit my grandparents for Christmas. There are some strange credit card issues but I will try again tomorrow with a French credit card, that should do the trick.

I went on another walk and came up with idea to build my website. I have big plan right now and I will start plan going once I have the basic plan in fairly solid. It will take a lot of work to get the website going but in the long run I think it will be well worth it. Once I have the ideas solid I will let you guys know.

One of my current plans is to get up each day at 7am Monday-Sunday. This is only a half-hour/hour earlier than normal but eventually I can start pushing this earlier; once I'm ready I will wake up earlier. It is something that most (all) of the improvement gurus I have come across advocate strongly. If you think about it, lets say you wake up between 2 to 3 hours earlier each day and form this habit. You basically have added around an extra day to your week, every week. As long as you body healthily adjusts to this new routine it is well worth it. Gaining over 5o days in you life each year. Imagine all the stuff you could do if you had 50 extra days each year. I just wanted to throw that out there for you guys to think about.

Cheers!

How ya do'in?

OK so not real big hike today. Just a quick trip to town that later brought me back home. I'm slowing trying to come up with some plans to get some good plans going for what I will be doing here for the next few months. I will still need to find a job of sorts but I'm also brainstorming ideas for my online business. I'm not sure what the business is yet but something that will undoubtedly relate something with languages or travel, or connecting people, or helping people. I just need to write all the ideas down so I can get them organized.

This evening I spent some time talking to a friend of mine. I was able to get a lot of French cranked out and she helped me with a lot of French that hopefully. It was really good because I was able to talk about some of my ideas and I was forced to do it all in French. We both had hot chocolate and later went to a Kebab place. It was 99.9% French except when I taught her how to say "Whatz 'appenin," as well as "How are you doing?" "How ya do'in?" "How YOU do'in?" and explained the difference.

Overall a good night. Good night!

Excellence

Last Night was nice. I had dinner with a bunch of friends at a friend's place. It was an American-Mexican-French-Swiss-German kind of dinner, you know the standard deal. Anyway, the dinner was a really good. After the dinner the was a mini concert of a bassoon duo that was really great. Afterwards I think we were bored (although I am never truly bored) because we played everything from patty cake, to lets see who can hold their breath the longest (I won), to some random slapping leg game (hard to explain), to telephone in French or German or Spanish, to the mild version of suck and blow (which was absolutely hilarious). Overall a nice night with some good food, good silliness, good music.

Today I went on another hike. I hiked all the way to another town nearby Chambery. It kind of caught me by surprise because I thought I was hiking up a mountain and then all of a sudden, surprise, another town! Hiking seems to be the theme of this week.

I basically, have spent the past few days with overwhelming force on hikes and at the same time listening to podcasts, mostly by Steve Pavlina, Robin Sharma, and a bit of ChinesePod. I have determined that slowly but surely I'm striving for excellence in my life. This might sound pretty silly but I have not really thought too much about it before this year. The thing that I have realized is that many people go through life paycheck to paycheck because that's simply what they have settled for. After a while this gets boring yet they stick to it for some odd reason. The thing is when there's a will there's a way. It may sound cliché but it is true. If you think you can be doing something better, than do something better! It is harder work in the end but far more rewarding. I thought it would be better if I announce it here because it makes it more official the more people that know. It is more of a statement, a goal that has potential supporters if needed.

Anyway, basically my current project will stick with me for the rest of my life, that is for sure. After I realized that not only learn something new each day but improve myself as a result, it seems like the only way to live life. Although this vacation did not work out for me going to far away from Chambery, I have learned a lot in the past few days. Something that is truly priceless. The biggest thing to work on right now is to put knowledge into action. That has always been one of my weak points but eventually I foresee it as being one of my biggest strengths.

Oh yea by the way, if you haven't ever looked into meditation or tried it, you are missing out on one of the most valuable things that we as humans can do. So do it and don't give up, once you even just slightly get it there's no going back. It is probably the most useful things anyone could ever do for mental heath. If anyone is curious just ask me.

Well, anyway I blogged today in my more journal style but it seemed the only way to go. Probably way more interesting too!

Walking and Dancing

On Tuesday I spent a lot time downloading some podcasts. Podcasts are some what like a radio talk program except they are mp3s. Nowadays you can find all sorts of podcasts online for free. The good thing about podcasts is that you can things that your interested in and download them. They ranging in all sorts of categories you can think of; anything from self improvement to learning a new language.

That evening there was a little party at a friends house. He lives way too far away so everyone just wound up staying there. It was pretty chill, a laid back gathering of people. And apparently I have perhaps a minor talent in giving messages, who knew.

Yesterday I spent most of the day either walking or dancing. This was pretty exhausting day so I woke up about an hour ago, its 3pm now. I walked everywhere from the super marche, to the sorting goods store, to the bank. Afterwards I just walked right out of the city and found a random and awesome hike that went over the hill and trough the woods and even to a grandfather's house. I met a a friendly man from the region and we exchanged a few words.

Basically after hiking forever I realized what he told me was indeed true. That I would hike and come back on the same trail that I was on. I thought that this hiking trail actually had a destination. Silly me, It actually turned out to be endless, at least as far as I could tell. By the time I got back home it was already dark out.

I had some dinner, took a shower, attempted a meditation and woke up 10 minutes past the time I was supposed to meet up down town. I rushed out of the house and finally made it, a little groggy.

We eventually went to the dance place in town. I danced so hard that I ruined my shirt with sweat. This left my shirt in a nasty and unappealing to my appearance. I decided to pop a mentos, figuratively, (if you have no idea what I'm talking about then you need to watch a mentos commercial) and I soaked the entire shirt in the bathroom sink, voila! the shirt was uniform again albeit a little wet.

I then continued some dancing and eventually we change locations to the actual club, club. Which I like to think as a cross between a swamp of drunken idiots and and a place where one can dance to their full potential or any range of that combination.

Anyway it was a lot of fun. I still have a lot to work on with my dancing. Right now mostly the ability to boost the groups energy. I can out dance most people, the only limiting factor is maintaining that balance between getting too sweaty and not. It is actually a big challenge, yesterday seemed to be exceptionally hot.

Eventually the music stopped and my friends were in dire need to finally get home so we left. I got home at 4:30 or so and finally got some well needed sleep.

Today

Today was random yet awesome day. I woke up today and decided that I needed to take my meditations to the next level. I decided to throw a pillow over the phone so it wouldn't by chance buzz while I started, just afterwards I got my first message of the day. I was convenient because I knew that it was coming. Afterwards I tried this new meditation and instantly was stoked for the day. I then arranged for me and a certain future actress to meet up later that night.

I was pretty hungry and had no food in the house so I went to the store to get some breakfast. I ate down by the river and some man told me not to litter. I actually had no idea what he said but I knew what he meant.

My phone was ridiculously busy with text messages and calls today. I heard from my super cool roommate that it was raining in Paris, I told her that museums are always good for rainy days. Anyway, I wound up ending the day in 7 euros in phone charges from various calls and text messages. That almost tripled the total for me being here so far. Yet then again it was not a normal day.

Later I got a call from my American bud asking if I wanted to go on a hike with him and his suave swiss roommate right that instant. I was just thinking if I should call him and then decided that I would just let him call me, so he did. I said yes and a little later I changed plans from walking to the story to going for a hike.

The hike was absolutely beautiful. It was up a mountain that overlooks Chambery and You could she Chambery and Mount Blanc in the background. At the summit of the hike we found a cave. It went back pretty far and deep but we didn't have a flashlight so we didn't go too far. It was still cool though.

Once we returned from the hike it turned out that we had in issue with a lost cellphone. It wasn't my because I had yet to reach my 7 euros of calls and such. So we drove around a little while because we think that the phone was left on the roof accidentally and fell off somewhere.

While searching for the phone we ran into two women whose car broke down. They had a problem with the radiator connection to the engine and as the result there was some slight overheatage. Another guy joined in to help out and he was able to tow the car to an area where we could leave it.

Afterwards we all had some wine and crackers at the womens' house and talked for a while whit the husband of one of them. It was a very neat house that was like a French cabin in the mountains.

Eventually we returned and I tried calling my mom at the call center downtown because it is her birthday today. She was out having lunch but it was determined that I could call again later using skype.

Afterwards I spent some time talking with my Estonian friend while I enjoyed one of the many Kebab places in town. It was really great to talk to her because she is really easy to talk to and has the right kind of energy. I talked to her about some recent stuff that I have discovered in my self search, most people haven't heard this stuff but she was really interested in it. It was funny because it turns out that we both happen to be in Albertville on the same day, we just missed each other.

Anyway I finally returned home and got to wish my mom a Happy Birthday. Overall the day was really great and I'm thinking that more days like this could happen in the future. I just need to figure out how to keep the phone bill lower. There were also some other weird thought to actually happening connections that happened today but I can't really remember any of them. I think it is kind of fun because it a weird way, it makes sense.

Albertville

Albertville, I nice little town located as a gateway towards the direction of Mt. Blanc. didn't get to see too much of the town itself but enough to get the feel of it. Today Mme J and myself visited Albertville to visit see some conventions dealing with worldly things. Mme J is really into conventions and stuff so invited me to come see some stuff in Albertville. WE would up seeing a slide show of a couple of guys who Traveled around the Greenland Region and took some really cool photos.

We also saw a presentation on the path of Saint Jacques de Compostelle. Basically it is a series of paths that run from France into the Cathedral de Santigo, España. It is a legendary pathway that people have been fallow for centuries in search of spiritual enlightenment. It seemed pretty interesting and one of those things that is a definite maybe for being a future plan. Who wouldn't want to walk the 1600km (1000 miles) from Chambery to the west coast of Spain?

I've determined that Mme J likes flashing her brights at people way too much. Pretty much whenever she doesn't approve of something she does it. Sometimes she does it for reasons unknown to me. All I know is that any time I have been in the car she has flashed her brights at people. I'd say it happened at least 5 times tonight. Pretty silly.

This Week

So you want to know how the week has been going. Well it has been going along pretty good. I can say that anything super fantastic beyond the normal fantastic has been happening but then again each day has its own kind of fantastic.

On Tuesday, I spent a lot of time trying to get stuff done for the trip for Barcelona done. As of know the plan has basically flopped but it is not so bad because I'm thinking it was not the right timing. I spent a lot of time researching stuff and now have some insight on options for future travels. I've spent a lot more time trying to figure out social networking ever since I decided I was going to try to eliminate my shyness. I found a site that might seem stupid or dangerous to some you but I think it has a lot of potential and will turn into something huge over the next few years. If your interested: couchsurfing.com, it is a way to travel without spending any money on hotels.

On Wednesday night I went to see the movie Grindhouse on campus. My adventurous roommate wanted to see it to. I warned her it was going to be psychotic (I actually know how to say psychotic [or something close] in Chinese). Well it turned out to be just that. Actually the movie ranged from complete gross out, to disturbing, to absolutely hilarious. It was so bad that it was good if that makes sense. I wouldn't recommend it in general unless you are prepared for ridiculous violence mixed in with humor.

Afterwards we went pub hopping and I did a little bit of dancing. Some girls were entertained but I never really met them. I met a girl from Minnesota and talked to her a bunch. I still have to spend some time with the Tennessee girls, well at least one of them, I still haven't really gotten to know her.

On Thursday at lunch I spent some time trying to teach some Japanese girls some English. It went pretty well I guess but I don't know how many more times I want to spend the energy doing so, I rather try to learn Japanese : ().

Afterwards I happen to run into my roommate downtown who was heading towards the Gare, witch happen to be the same place I was going. She was glad to see me because she forgot to write down a phone number that she might need in Paris and I just happened to be there.

Today I had a French test in class, it wasn't too bad (I think). My biggest problem was I didn't know what a bank teller was called so I had to refer to him as "worker of the bank" which is a bit awkward. I was cracking up on the inside today when there was a group of Koreans said bonjour to me, I responded with hello in Korean and they were surprised and then followed it by a more formal form of hello and they all went "ooooohhh" as if I just did something really impressive. I'm not sure how to spell it but roughly: "onion-essay-oh."

I also learned some Japanese today yet forgot most of it. It is funny because it seems that that some of the first things people teach me when I am learning something new are some things that are impractical yet funny. For example one of the only things I remember how to say from learning Japanese today is: "I like breasts." I'm not sure how this came about but it did.

As far as life in general the guitar thing has been a bit on hold, I have also been slacking some on meditations but have been doing some research and I seeing what I can do to week them for my own liking better. In general I have been doing a lot of research on self improvement and slowly implement it here and there. One thing that I like about living in France, combined with having the internet as my resource, and mediations is I can't really think of a time when I have been bored in in several weeks. There is literally always something to do. I like this a lot better than for now than when I was back studying chemistry, things seem to be working out a lot better. Even when they don't work out it just opens opportunities for more things.

Eventually I need to get some income coming in again because I need to save up for my next big adventure. Right now I have a few thoughts floating around in my head but I need to further develop my ideas so I can figure out what exactly I will be doing. Anyway this post is becoming huge so I will end it here.

Ciao

Chartreuse and Chilly Lake

On Saturday I took a big hike along with other people from the University up the Chartreuse Mountain range. There were about 25 of us total and it was an international crowd. I met a friendly girl from Estonia and proclaimed that she will become a famous actress some day. I'm not sure about the experience but she's got all the potential she needs, her presence had a certain magic to it.

The hike itself was foggy, windy, a little snowy yet overall well worth it. We hiked for around 9 hours with various breaks for water, food and such. The fog was a bummer because I imagine that the view would have been absolutely breathtaking. There was a big monastery located on the lower side of the mountains. It looked like it could hold a few hundred people, rumor has it that there are 15 dudes there. I also met some Finnish girls but they seemed a little aloof, I'll probably run into them again at some other point and maybe have a better chance to connect.

Today I went to the Lac with a roommate and I thought it was going to be really nice. The sun was great but the wind was too chilly to really enjoy the lake. We wound up huddling next to a build to be shielded from the wind. I let her listen to some of my music selection, which she enjoyed and I continued to learn some more Chinese.

Overall, learning Chinese is going pretty slow, mostly because it is pretty unstructured and I have no visuals for help. It is all call, response, and confusion. Eventually I think I will be able to get some basics down. I think sentence formation is relatively easy, just the sounds are really hard to produce and remember.

Next week the Vancances de Toussaint commence. The current plan is myself and my American comrade to visit the coast of southern France and northern Spain. Tomorrow I have to figure out what we are actually doing so we can see if it is even plausible. I also have a potential option to going to Paris and the nearby region.

Hike and Chinese

Today I went for a hike around the area that was behind campus. I found a church and decided to check out the grave yard that was just nearby. I could only spend so long in the grave yard because it was giving me some bad vibes. Since I started the meditations I have been more in tune with good and bad vibes and something about that graveyard didn't float right. Eventually I had to just leave, so I did.

Afterwards I found a little hiking area through the forest. I met lady on the other side and I guess she was trying to figure out a better way to see the waterfall but I didn't really know what she was talking about at the time. I turned around and went back a different direction and voila, a waterfall. I further explored the area and it had the feeling that fall was definitely here.

When I returned to the house I spent some time with a roommate and a friend and I tried to learn some more Chinese. I've determined that Chinese is a dangerous language to try to learn. At one point I tried to say one thing a wound up saying one of the most vulgar thing that you can say in Chinese which consists of just two simple and very common sounds. Later I tried to say: "I can't cook" instead I said "I don't eat shit." Just a simple change of the sound and you change the entire meaning of the phrase.

So that pretty much sums up my day.

International Dinners

On Tuesday evening I went out to eat dinner at a Chinese restaurant with some friends of mine. One of them used to work at this place so she was able to get us a deal. Still expensive for my budget but It was the first time I went out to a restaurant to eat with friends you it was worth it. One problem was that the girls always wanted to talk in Chinese which is one step above impossible for me to understand at this point (although I can understand about a handful of words). The easiest way to switch Chinese into french is start parroting the Chinese, which is always silly.

It was fun and I had a really go time. I think I learned a few things about Chinese culture too (maybe). The food was similar to the Chinese food in style the us but had some different twists to it, French twists. For desert, we had gelato, gelato gelato. It was fresh made and absolutely fantastic.

Last night was the international dinner, which was pot luck style so everyone brought something different. So there were dishes from all around the world. I decided to make
Paistettua Perunaa Ja Makkaraa, a Finnish dish that is basically potatoes, onions, and sausage. Considering that I haven't really make it before I think it wasn't have bad. I made a lot less than I was planning because it shrunk a lot and the frying pan was only so big. It was about enough for a meal for one person and gone in about 10 minutes after I placed it in the mix.

The dinner was hosted a a club so after the dinner was done it turned into something more clubby. Beers were only 2 euros and the first one was free. So there was some drinking and later dancing. I actually think I was the first one to dance on the hexagon (a mini stage in the middle of the club), heh. I got so Italian girls to join in with me and it was all fun.

I met a lot of people last night and there was a lot of pictures taken, except I didn't have my camera so I will try to see if at some point I can round up some pictures. So for now, sorry guys, butI've got nothing for you except a pretty picture of some peppers at the Chambery Market.

Aix Les Bains

Today I took a little adventure with my roommate (Brandon told me to stop using the term 'roommate' because I have too many but I'm going to use it anyway :P) to Aix Le Bains, a city close to Chambery. Basically the entire time was spent walking and talking but over it was a nice day. The Promenade next to the lake is a very beautiful walk. I'm sure there is a lot more to discover in the city but I am satisfied with what was accomplished. It is nice to get roommates out of the house because at times it seems like all anyone ever does is just spend a lot of time in their room. I blame the internet.

Rugby

France lost the Rugby match last night. The good part is that I had a lot of fun with my roommate watching it. We went to centre ville to try to find a good place to watch it. We settled on watching outside of the Irish Pub by La Cathédrale

The place was pretty crowded and originally we thought that we would have to stand throughout the entire game; fortunately some girls got too cold and abdicated their table. So we were able to sit while watching the game which was pretty convenient. It was amusing to watch and joy in with the French cheers, there were a fair amount of England supporters present as well.

Allez Les Bleus! Allez Les Bleus!

It was really nice to spend some time with my roomate considering his class schedule is insane. He has 30 something hours of class each week and homework on to of that. Oh yea, he has a 4 hour exam every Saturday!

Today I took the bus to the lake and did a bit of relaxing followed by a spontaneous long walk. Recently it has been really cloudy so it is really nice when a sunny day rolls around.

New Roomate

Today wound up being really spiffy. I wound up eating a homemade Chinese lunch at a friends house were she cooked us lunch. It was really good and she said that next week her boyfriend can make a meal for people and apparently he is a even better cook.

Afterwards we played some Durak in the dorms. A little later I just hung around for a bit and watched the time go by at the laundromat.

The best part of today was finally meeting my new roommate. We pretty much just met up in the hallway and talked for hours about pretty much useless stuff (from my point of view) but a lot of French practice. Eventually another roommate showed up and we all sat around and talked some more.

What I like best about my new roommate is that she has an excellent energy to her. Her will to learn French is intense and I see great potential in her ability to progress. She's fantastic and pretty hilarious. Based on some of her confusion I came up with a quote of something she said not the same way she said it but I arranged it to work:

"Je suis moi-même; donc, je suis célibataire."

"I am myself; therefore, I am single."

The premise behind this quote is that if you are single you are yourself, otherwise if you are in a relation you loose some of yourself to that other person and thus can't truly be yourself. In other words if you fall in love with someone you are no longer yourself because you become a person in love.

Anyway, you probably had to be there to find the same level of amusement with this statement as we did. One thing that I have learned form trying to learn French is that you can really communicate a lot even if the language is hard to pull off. The most important part about communication is humor, once you can get a good hold on humor to can bypass a lot of language barriers.

Salsa

Yesterday was actually pretty busy. I had classes for a good chunk of the day and then latter that evening I went to see a movie. I had no idea what I was in for when I went to go see the movie. It was a real energy drainer, left be feeling a bit sick afterwards. Without any details lets just say it was a graphic move about illegally preformed abortions.

Yet later that evening was a lot of fun because I finally got to go salsa dancing. I went with a few friends and met some other people as well. Overall it was a lot of fun and I finally was able go dancing (did I already mention that). My friends' emotions ranged from general awe and hysterics and overall it was a really good time. There is this place in town that does salsa dancing every Wednesday so I might wind up going there often.

New Roomates

So I'm not really sure how many people can fit in this house or where exactly people come from but right now there is 5 people living here, (I think) not to mention the cats. I don't think it will be too bad because I live in the penthouse sweet. Basically, I'm thinking that everyone else is living on the second floor, because there is still one more room in the house that I'm not sure what it is but it must be a bedroom. I'm the only one that is on the top floor. Although, I guess, it is possible for another person to live in the room across from mine. Yet that room is tiny, is currently being used for storage, and doesn't really have too much appeal to it because it is so small.

So even though there are a lot of people here right now, (frankly I'm not sure where the room for everybody comes from) I think it will still work out fine and dandy. It is kind of nice having more people around because it means more chances for interactions. If I feel like retreating to my room I can. The entire upstairs is my domain, along with a few bugs that live in the attic. Since I am one floor about all the other rooms, the bathroom, and the shower; I can have my own party upstairs without the hustle-bustle of the second floor.

Anyway I guess the point of the post was to just announce that I now have 2 more house mates. The more the merrier.

By the way if my English is slowly degrading I blame it on the French. By trying to think and French I've started to re-organize the way a arrange my thoughts. Donc, my English might change a little bit as a side effect.

Torino

Torino was fun. The bus ride over there was pretty fun but I was able to sit in the front of the bus with a full window view in front. I even got to wear a seat belt! Right now I can't really think of anything spectacular that Torino had to offer. It was nice to have some Italian scenery for a change. You gotta love the Italians with the full buongiorno! with hands failing and such.

Afterwards we stopped in another town in Italia called Susa. We were able to sample some local alcohol at a reception waiting for us at a liquor store. Afterwards we toured around the town and found an old Roman section which was pretty neat.

Overall I would say that it was a really nice day spent hanging out with friends. This post is vague but I guess I am just tiered and can't really think.

Today I went on a really long walk up the hill to overlook some of Chambery.

Tomorrow my parents visit one more time, I might write a better post later but this was all I could muster for tonight. Goodnight!

p.s. - I added some more photos, one of them happens to be my favorite picture taken yet.

Guitar

So today I finally got my guitar not so working. Well it works but it still needs a lot of work. It is going to be a bit difficult to play because the action is so crazy. Tuning right now is extra annoying use to my d an g string requiring pliers. Eventually, when it stays in tune it all will be better. You can see a pic of awesome stringing action in my picture pile (note: the picture is quite underwhelming.

Pub and Rest

Last night was fun. Even though I was sick, I hung out with some new friends at a pub and we all practiced french. Out of all the people there my french needed the most work but I still was able to understand a good chunk of what is being said. The more french I hear, the more french I'll know, and the more french I'll be (wwhhaaa!!!).

One thing I realized is that I need more practice on the whole kiss greeting thing. I have no idea about any of the rules about it but I guess that makes it all the more amusing. In time I'll figure it out but until then I just go with the flow.

Today I pretty much spent the entire day either sleeping or not. I'm trying to get rested up so I won't have to deal with this cold anymore. I still need to get strings for my guitar, the day I planned on getting them was the day I was really sick. For now I am managing with the four strings that are still hanging in there. Maybe I get the strings tomorrow. Anyway its time to take a "shower" (bath?) well whatever it is it is happening, right, now.

Je suis malade

So recently I have been really sick. Well maybe not really sick but decently so. The past few nights I have been having horrible nights of sleep. I hope that tonight is way better and I think it will be considering that I am getting better now. Tonight I am meeting up with some friends, and undoubtedly get some more French practice going. That past few days of class have been kind of rough considering that I have been sick, but overall every is doing good.

I'm really glad to have tomorrow off so I can get some rest. I'm hoping that since I'm sick now, I won't be sick later. Well, at least that's the plan.

This Saturday I am taking a trip to Turino along with 50 of my favorite allies, well maybe not my favorite allies but a group of students such as myself. It will be a good chance to practice some of my Italian.