Yesterday I was reminded of one of the reasons I wanted to come to France. I had an amazing day with great friends and saw one of the most beautiful areas I have ever seen.

When the program I am studying with mentioned a trip to Chamonix, France, I didn't realize the extent to which I needed to attend. It seemed expensive and I wasn't sure about it, but my roommates and friends convinced me that it was beautiful and would be worth the cost. So, I agreed to go. All I knew was that there was a mountain and it was pretty. Alas, I hopped on the bus to ride the 1.5 hours to Chamonix and Le Mont-Blanc.

Turns out, it is the tallest mountain in all of Europe, topping out at 3842 meters. Never in my life did I think I would do this, but I rode to the top. It took two trolley-like rides up a zip-line in a car holding somewhere around 40 people. This definitely pushed my phobias to their limits, but I told myself I HAD to do this. At the top, the temperature dropped around 25 degrees and the air was very thin, making the task of breathing somewhat difficult, but my friends were right. It was definitely worth it.

After returning home, I went out with some friends to the "vielle ville" to enjoy some drinks. Lene and I decided to walk to town, as we have many times in the past, but remember, we are in a foreign country. Instead of taking the way we know, we thought we would be innovative and try a new route. This resulted in our having to scale the side of a very grassy/ prairie-like hill to reach the highway. In dresses. It was a success, but I can only imagine what all of the car drivers were thinking seeing two young women climbing a hill in dress clothes. As most of our 'innovative ideas' go, this was also a bad one, leading to nowhere, requiring us to scale back down the hill. Not our best moment, but we justified it by saying we needed to see more of Annecy. So we took the scenic route to town :)

Another week of class is about to start and I am preparing. I am using the internet connection at McDonald's today, which is less than prime, so I can't upload photos. I tried, for a couple hours, to no avail. On the brightside, during my much overstayed welcome using their wifi, I did learn that McDonald's in France sells Heineken. Hmm. They may be ahead of the US with that idea....

I PROMISE to do it tomorrow, as I have many to share with you. You can see them on facebook as well.

Lene, Olga, Clara and I downtown

View from up the mountain. All of those spots you see are crazy people hiking and doing like mountain rock climbing with ice chips and stuff. Nuts.

Lene, Fabrisio and Me at the top of the mountain. Could hardly breath up here and freezing cold!!



Thats Chamonix down there! 4000 meters!

3 weeks to go!
Au Revoir!