A Moment in the Mountains...

18 September 2012

After finishing my morning class today and finding out my afternoon vocabulary class was cancelled, I had a long Tuesday full of free time ahead of me, and I certainly was not going to waste it. I went home and thought about reading some books or watching some French films, and then it hit me...I have a free Tuesday, and I am in France. So I got up off my bottom, threw on some comfy hiking clothes, and head out for the hiking trail that leads up the Chartreuse mountains up to La Bastille. It wasn't a difficult hike, in fact it was a wide trail that zigzagged up the mountain, and the locals here use it for jogging, not hiking. But for me, coming from the Great Flatland of Illinois, I consider it hiking. =) I went up and up the mountain, snapping pictures with my camera, throwing out a few "Bonjour"s to the joggers, and I finally reached a small clearing near the top. I stopped, sat down, and looked out over the city and the other mountain ranges in the distance, and the only sound I could hear was the wind gusting through the trees. It was so peaceful...and it was possibly the best alone "me time" I could ever ask for. While I looked out into the distance, I was able to just shut out the little bits and pieces of the world that just get in the way of life: School, what to wear for the day, balancing money, making sure there's enough bread for my Nutella at home or making sure there's enough Nutella for my bread...I was able to just shut up for a second and really think about me. Who am I? Why am I here? What am I learning? How can I take this knowledge and become a better person? And most of all, I had time to just sit and realize how lucky I am to be here and have this opportunity of a lifetime. It has really changed me for the better, and I could not be happier! =)

Monks and Alcohol?

15 September 2012

Happy Saturday! Today the group made plans to take a bus trip up to a small town called Voiron, where we had plans to visit a distillery owned by the Chartreuse Monks, where they made liqueur called Chartreuse to support their monastery. This stuff was really cool...but we'll get to that in a minute!

I really enjoyed the town of Voiron. It almost reminded me of Florida in an odd way...the sun was shining, the streets were busy enough to enjoy the hustle and bustle, but not busy enough to stir up a headache. The streets were like mini outdoor malls, and on every corner there were small trees that blossomed vivid pink flowers, but these trees were also fountains! (The trees were probably fake, but whatever...) I stopped to stare at one for a good five minutes, I was so hypnotized by the beauty!

In the middle of the town there was also a huge chapel, and it was nothing like the little St. Johns in the middle of Johnsburg! This one was impressive! And I can only imagine how long it has been in this town, it was like a mini Notre Dame for Voiron!

After seeing some pretty fantastic sights in only the first ten minutes, we decided to go out to lunch. We went to a cute little restaurant right next to the chapel, and it was owned by a man whose son was the waiter. They were some of the nicest people I have ever met in such a long time. They teased us Americans and spoke in broken English, but in a poking-fun sort of way, so we played along and spoke to them in broke, southern-drawl French! My lunch was three little sausages, fries, a salad with dijon mustard dressing, and a small cup of lemon yogurt, which was probably the best yogurt I have ever tasted in my entire life. And the fries tasted really good when dipped in the yogurt like a frosty, don't judge me!

After enjoying lunch, we finally went to the Chartreuse distillery to take a tour and learn about the Monks. The tour was really interesting, and we saw how the alcohol was made. The next part was the greatest though. The tour guide brought us down to the cellar, the longest cellar in Europe, where there were barrels, upon barrels, upon barrels, of alcohol. And these babies were HUGE - twice as tall as me! And the line of them just kept going and going! And here I thought the fraternity across the street from my apartment back home had a lot of alcohol, this cellar would put them to shame!

Caution - Wet alcohol

After taking a tour of the distillery and the cellar, we went back upstairs and ended the tour with free samples of Chartreuse Yellow or Chartreuse Green. These drinks were yellow, and green! Talk about fun! I had a sample of the Chartreuse Green, and it was delicious. But...extremely strong. Extremely, strong. It was about 55% alcohol. With one sip I suddenly became vividly aware of my throat and nostrils. Burning, of course. That is one sip I will never forget!

Hiking in the Mountains

14 September 2012

Happy no-class-Friday! Most of us in our group don't have class on Friday, so we took advantage of it and decided to go hiking. We took a tram and a bus a little outside of Grenoble to a small town named Sassenage. The town was so cute...houses dotting the side of the Vercours mountain range, all of them painted a faint yellow with orange shingled roofs. The streets were quiet and lined with floral arrangements and fountains...it was like walking through a dream! But we had much more to look forward to. We finally found the hiking path, and up the mountain we went! We only had to hike for a few minutes before we found a gorgeous mountain spring, with a waterfall and everything! Naturally, we stopped to splash around in the water and scale the river rocks for a bit. Some of us went all-out and swam in the river, while others decided to play mermaid on the glistening, river-splashed rocks.

After enjoying the mountain spring and wishing we could find a serene spot like that every day, we continued our hike up the side of the mountain. It ended up getting pretty tough...this was a mountain after all, not some humble hill! The paths were small and steep, and sometimes the only thing keeping you from sliding down into the river was grabbing onto a root of a tree. As if that wasn't scary enough, we reached a bridge that was literally made of two metal beams and a pipe. Maybe it wasn't meant to be a bridge, but we made it one!

Up and up we went, until eventually we found some caves, which of course we explored. It was amazing in those caves...I could hear the wind from outside whistling in, and I could also see and hear a small stream rushing through the cave below. It was so amazing, I am still in disbelief. Hiking in the mountains, splashing in the springs, and trekking through caves! I will never forget this experience, and fortunately for me, there are still plenty of other mountains all around Grenoble to trek and explore, and oh lordy will I explore them! =)

After hiking, we went back into the small town and we discovered a gorgeous castle right in the middle of town. It was just like I imagined any castle to be...huge, gorgeous, pristine, with lion statues and triangle-trimmed bushes lining the path. I could practically see the horse-drawn carriages and ladies in their gowns from years and years ago, and here I am in the same spot with my Old Navy jeans and sweatshirt, taking pictures with my digital camera...it's amazing how time changes things!

In front of my castle!

We also found Pride Rock...