Feeling amazed and blessed

So, on Thursday I went to Le Source du Lison, Le Pont du Diable and Montmahoux. On Friday, I went to Switzerland. We visited La Vue des Alpes, Murten-a wall city, Neuchatel and Lac de Neuchatel, and Berne. The views are breathtaking. I still cannot believe that I am here. I feel so blessed that I have been able to stay with such nice families. I also love that I have a local guide 24/7 to show me the really cool stuff. Every time I see something beautiful (which is like everyday) I thank God that I made it here to experience another culture.

Here are my pics from the past two days.

From the Source du Lison. There was a lot of water because it had just rained the day before.

An awesome picture of trees that I took, yes I took this. Oh and if you didn't know already, if you click on the photos, you can see them in a larger view and scroll through the ones from a certain post.

The Billiard, which looks like billiards because the water eventually goes down into a hole, like the ball in a billiards game.

Le Pont du Diable, see the previous post for the legend. It was beautiful but this isn't the original bridge. The original was made of wood and probably deteriorated long ago.

Le Diable

The view from Montmahoux. I took a panorama pic but it's took big to fit on one page.

This is Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in France. Usually it's really hard to see it, but I got lucky. At first I thought it was clouds but then I saw the peak. I can now say I saw the Alps!!!!

The view again from Montmahoux.

The hill is used as a church sometimes, and missionaries put this cross here. I loved that it overlooked the countryside. So beautiful!

The Alps from Switzerland

This is a castle in Switzerland that Picasso once owned and lived in.

The Alps! It was a bit hazy because of the clouds but if you look really close you can see them!

The city of Neuchatel and Lac de Neuchatel

The Alps again in the distance

The city of Neuchatel again

Strawberry fields forever . . .

The clock and wall of Murten

The view of Lac Neuchatel from the wall at Murten

The Alps!!!

Berne, the capital of Switzerland means bear. So, they have a bear santuary in the middle of town. This was my favorite pic.

Not sure why, but the water in Berne was super blue, so beautiful!

Me, Maureen and Adélaide put our feet in the cold water. it felt so good because it was like 90°!!!

Berne and the blue water. I should also add that Berne is probably the only city with two layers of shops. You have the ground layer and then there are these cellar type things that open up and you can go underground. Pretty cool! I also bought some Swiss ice cream. So good! The Swiss aren't really known for their ice cream but any ice cream is good ice cream for me!

The Alps again

An old Roman castle in Luisanne (I think thats where it was). I tried to get a good pic so Dad could see the details in the stone.

This is a midget we met along the way at the Roman Theatre ruins. Actually, it's just Maureen, but she looks like an ant.

Pont du Diable

Today, I visited three interesting places, but only one that came with a cool legend. Here it goes:

There was a man, named Jean de Salins, who was really smart and honored, and wanted to build a beautiful bridge. He began to build it but every morning, part of his work had been destroyed. He didn't know why. So one night he decided to camp out by his bridge.

At exactly midnight, he saw a hooded figure go and destroy the bridge. Jean accosted the figure, and realized that it had two horns on its head, the Devil's mark. He asked him why he wouldn't let him build the bridge.

The Devil said "You have not yet made a deal with me." Jean asked what kind of deal it would be. The Devil told him, "I will let you built the bridge if you give me the first soul who walks across the bridge."

Jean at first refused. He would not be condemned for such an action. Then he realized that he would become the target of jokes in the city if he never got the bridge built. So, finally Jean agreed. He cut his finger and signed a contract in blood.

Jean was able to build and finish the bridge. It was the most beautiful bridge in all of France. The day of the inauguration came around. All the townspeople gathered to watch as Jean cut the ribbon to allow access to the bridge. The sheriff-type-person of the town asked Jean why he carried a large bag with him. Jean did not tell anybody.

Finally Jean cut the ribbon and told everybody to wait to cross the bridge. He took his bag, and pulled out a pig. He set the pig down on the bridge and shouted, "You are a pig, you Devil!" When the Devil swooped down to get the soul, he fell off the bridge and left a hole, where there is now a waterfall. And everybody lived happily ever after. The end.

Cool huh?

We also visited the Source de Lison (the Lison is a river) and Montmaroux. Here are my pics. It was soooooo beautiful today. So, if you get a postcard saying the weather is crummy, it was but not anymore! It was about 80° today! Yay for sunshine!!!!
I won't post any pics now because I want to go to bed. Pics will come tomorrow!

Just another day in the Emerald Isle

Have I said how green it is here? Well, it's very green, much like Ireland. It makes me think I am in a rainforest. Cool!

So, on Monday, I went to school in the afternoon with Pauline. Her first class was English which was completely in English. I'm not sure that all the French students understood but I sure did. The teacher was very creative. She first talked about the stereotypes that Americans have of the French and that the French have of the Americans. It was pretty funny. Then she asked me questions about French culture and the French students were asked about American culture. I was asked things like "Who is the new president of France?" (Hollande) and "What do the French celebrate on July 14th?" (Bastille day). I regret to inform you that I got most of the questions wrong. :(  The French kids were asked thing like "Who was the first president of the US?" First they said George W Bush, they they said Kennedy. (So, the French are like in love with JFK. I said that in present tense because they still love him.) Then finally someone said George Washington. When I was telling Pauline's dad that, he thought the first president was Lincoln.

After English class, we had chemistry, where we did a very strange form of paper chromatography, and then biology, where I think I knew and understood more than the French kids.

The high school was pretty different. There were only about 15 people in each class and it is very fast paced.The kids were nice though, and weird.

After school, which was only a half day, Pauline's family drove me to Etournoz where I am now, at JJ Muller's house. Their house reminds me of my grandparents' house. It's very cozy and holds a lot of memories.

Yesterday, I went in to town with JJ, where we visited a fort above the city and got a spectacular view. You all should check out the history of Besançon. Very interesting.

Then we had lunch with a cousin, then went to the supermarket to get some veggies. It was very interesting there, but I will write about that later. Then the rain poured on us and then we went and picked up the other three kids from school. We went back home, played some card games, like ERS, spoons and President (which is much like liar's dice), and we also went on a walk. Then everyone left and I went to bed.

Today, I went to meet Pauline and her friend in the city for lunch. I am at a cool pasta place and they ate at a French version of McDonald's, called Quick. Then we met Mo, Matt and a bunch of other friend students. We walked around the town for a few hours. We kept asking to go to the grocery story, which they probably thought was really weird. We finally went in one. We bought erasable pens and a calligraphy pen. Now these pens are cool. They aren't like American pens. The other teens couldn't believe we didn't have them back home. They are so cool.

We went back home and ate dinner and played games. It was a relaxing evening. And I am so excited about my pens! I'm also excited because next Wednesday, we are going to Europa park whiwh is one of the largest theme parks in the world. I've decided that I will indeed go on big roller coasters (but not the Silver Star, NO WAY JOSE!) and I will throw most of my fears out the window. YOLO!
Here are some pics.

Chez Maréchal

Me in front of the Maréchals' house. Everybody here has roses which are soooo pretty.

This is a castle that we pass everyday, driving to Besançon. It's like an everyday thing for them; but I am still amazed by it every time we drive by.

This is Besançon, my home away from home.

This is Besançon's citadel. It is situated at the smallest part of the river, which loops around the city. This was a strategic position because one could control all that went in and out.

Mo, Matt and Hermance.

The emeraldness of the isle.

A mural type thing outside Besançon's cathedral.

All of us teens who hung out today. On the far left is Jauris (who has BEAUTIFUL eyes); then a girl who a talked to a lot but never got her name, then some more people I didn't meet, then me, Mo and Matt. On the bottom row is some girl, the Adelaide, then another girl I talked to, then a guy who was really nice and had a strange name I can' remember, qnd then another girl I never met. They all spoke very good English. Pauline and her friend Camille were with us but they only knew Adelaide, so they took the pics. Thanks!

And before I forget . . . 

    



The Slug Club (like in Harry Potter. . . Get it?)

de Malans

Well, it's day two here in Eastern France. The largest city is Besançon which I have already visited. I am in Malans right now but will be in Amancey and Etournoz (I think that's the spelling) soon. Here is what I have done so far.

The drive from Paris to Besançon was five hours, but we stopped at a historic site called Alasia. It was where the last fight between the Gauls and the Romans took place. I got to see the Roman ruins from the fortresses established there. It was pretty cool for someone interested in history like me.

The night I got here, we ate cantaloupe with forks and knives before dinner, which was normal. Weird. I also gave my dirty laundry to Pauline's mom who washed it then literally hung everything out on the clothes line outside, even my socks and undies. Weird.

The next day, Saturday, I went out with Pauline and her neighbor. We went to a cinema that shows old American movies. We watched The Year of the Dragon with Mickey Rourke. I had never seen it but it was good. Thankfully, it was in English with French subtitles. After that, we went to a brasserie, which is like a large café or a small restaurant. We only got drinks. After that, we went to get dinner. We walked a long ways, but they knew a little place that has vegetarian burgers, so we ate there. They asked me if I wanted a drink but we had just had drinks. Weird. I guess that's what French teens do.

Today, I was thinking we would go to church but I found out that there is a shortage of French priests here, so they don't go to mass every week. Instead we went to a town called Ornans. A famous painter named Gustave Courbet lived there and painted the town. It was beautiful. There were rocks coming out of the hills that looked like citadels. We also went to the Courbet museum. There is a huge river that runs through the city. The floors in the museum are glass so that one can see the river below them.

So yesterday, Pauline and her brother were showing me some card games. I asked if I could teach them how to play ERS. When I was shuffling the cards and doing the bridge thing, Aimé and Pauline were in awe. They had never seen anyone shuffle cards like that and they spent the next ten minutes trying to do it. Today between dinner and dessert, they all were trying to do it. Only Aimé was successful. It was so funny. Then after dinner, we played ERS with their dad and he was laughing like a girl. Oh, good times, good times. Probably would have been less funny in English!

Here are some pics of the last few days.

Mo and I at Alasia.

A reconstruction of the Roman defense mechanisms at their fortresses.

The actual Roman ruins.

The statue of Vercingetorix, the famous Gaul leader.

L'église St. Laurent Ornans

The view from Chateau d'Ornans mais il n'y a pas de chateau!

Me at Chateau d'Ornans

The river Loue

Un pont (a bridge) sur La Loue

Les Maréchals: Odile (Pauline's mom), Jean-Luc (Pauline's dad), Aimé (10 year old brother who is like any other American ten year old), and Pauline.

The view from a lookout point on a road "pour ta jeep."

The forests look like rain forests. It is so green here. There is moss everywhere and everything grows.

Well, thats all for now folks! Talk to ya later, unless of course you don't answer the telephone, EHEM...Ben...cough cough...Dad...ehem...achoo...Mrs. Gus!

It's nine o'clock on a saturday...

Ok, actually it is Friday but I do love Billy Joel. And the regular crowd is shuffling in.

Matt, Maureen and I are waiting in the lobby for M. Muller to come and get us. His target time is 9:30 but there is a metro strike so the traffic is like quadrupled.

Just wanted to say hi to everyone! I'm having so much fun and we are so ready to go to the countryside and escape the hustle and bustle of the city. I was told that I get to go to school with Pauline, my pen pal, on Saturday I think. (yes they go to school on Saturday and school is still in session.) Then I'm not sure what else I will do.

UPDATE: never mind. I am going to school with Pauline on Monday.

I'm excited to be around people who don't speak English. Paris has definitely built up my confidence in speaking French.

That's all for now. And by the way, these keyboards are really funky. If I type normally, it looks like this: Hello ;y nq;z is qnjolennq; instead of Hello my name is anjolenna. But I'm getting used to it. Bye for now!

A busy day again

So on Wednesday, we went to the Musee d'Orsay. Pictures weren't allowed. :(
Then we went to the opera house and Meghan and I went inside a cute little sweet shop and I bought cookies for M. Muller. He is the one who planned out my stay for the extra two weeks. While inside, I needed a lot of help from one of the workers. He asked me where I was from and I told him the United States. Then he told me "Tu parle bien francais," which means that he thought I spoke french well!!!! After that, we went to the perfume museum where I bought a tiny bottle of authentic french perfume. After that we had some free time, then went to dinner, then took a boat ride along the Seine at sunset. It was amazing!!!!!

Here are some photos from the day.

Sacre Coeur from a clock at Musee d'Orsay.

The cute sweet shop we visited.

The opera house.

A neat church we visited. It was called St. Madeleine.

The west side of Paris from the boat.

The "most beautiful bridge in Paris" at sunset.

The outside of Musee d'Orsay.

From the top of the world

We went to the Eiffel Tower today, or yesterday, I suppose, its actually Wednesday morning as I write this.. IT WAS AMAZING! We also saw Pere Lachaise cemetery and the red light district. and yes, we were set free right in front of Moulin Rouge! After dinner, which was veggies and rice again, we went up to Montmartre to see Sacre Coeur. It was incroyable!

Here are some photos!

At the bottom of the top of the world!

At the top of the world!

I think I'm almost 281 meters tall!

This is for my sister Myardi! RIP James Douglas Morrison.

Me and Maureen at the wind thing outside Moulin Rouge!

Sacre Coeur. Sorry, no pics inside.

We have been riding the Metro a lot. Look mom, no hands!!!

Im Here!!!

at montparnasse

at notre dame

at the louvre

at the louvre

The keyboard is really weird but Im alright. Bisoux a Paris!