BORDEAUX

Hey everyone! I am having an absolute blast in Bordeaux. I'm surfing a couch here at a really nice apartment with Jérome, Vincent, and Fabrice my hosts. So far we've had international dinners every nite with excellent, excellent wine, I made paprikas last nite and everyone thought it was really good, and I've had the chance to tour the town with one of my hosts who pointed out all the little details in the history and the architecture of the town that i would have never seen otherwise.
I think that's all for now, haha. I'll talk details when I post pix later.
Much love!

AHA! Photo time

So I finally found a computer that will take my memory card; photos will start in Lourdes with the Pic du Jer that I climbed with all my gear:

Here's me at the top:

Here I am very tired and out of water:
But it was worth it for the view!

This is the famous pain au chocolat that I wouldn't stop talking about to my family:

On to Cauterets!:

Pretty darn high up there:

But with miles and miles of berry bushes; rasberries, blackberries, blueberries....

And cool glacial lakes:

And this was the trail:

Hey y'all. I'm in Pau right now, headin' to Bayonne tomorrow afternoon. So far so good. I went to a concert last nite, I might go to another one tonite. 'Met some cool kids at the hostel im staying at. The museums were all free today, so that was cool. Nothing too spectacular, onward I go. I wish people were more generous with their couches! After bayonne i'm going to Bordeaux, then paris, then back to Joigny. send me some love via comments!

Hello from Cauterets

Hey everyone!! I'm on my third day in Cauterets which has been just super. The only public internet in the town is unfortunately in the back of a pizzeria haha, so I cant post photos just yet. However I can tell you that ive been doing about 6 hours of hiking in the mountains every day. Woo! the fresh air, the mist, the mountains, the lakes. Wow, it's just beautiful. Im pretty close to the spanish border and way way up in the mountains. Anyway, Ill be making my way back to Joigny starting the 17, hopefully making several stops in towns along the way with people willing to offer their couches. I can't wait to show u guys all the pictures I've taken, and i cant wait till i have my own internet so i can take my time on these posts and be a little more thorough.
Peace love and all that jazz

Lourdes

I'll keep this short because I'm on borrowed internet, but the couch surfing has begun :) I'm staying in Lourdes for 1 or 2 nights in a nice apartment in the town center with a nice french girl. In other news i climbed a mountain today (Pic du Jer) and i saw the famous grotto! fun fun
i'll show pictures later

Arrivé

Hello all! I thought i'd give you all a brief update. I'm doing very well. Ann has been a blessing. I went to the school today and met with the staff and dropped off my things in the apartment. I walked around the center of Joigny and Ann gave me a nice tour of the town. I've got to share the view from the apartment window with you:

That's all for the moment. Love you all!

Bags are packed (kinda) and ready to go

Aaaalrighty muffins and other pastries. I'm pretty much geared up and ready to go.
I'll be leaving tomorrow (oh crap!) (Sunday), and I'll be doing a whirlwind tour of Ireland and England. Basically, I have a layover in Dublin, I'm stopping for brunch in Birmingham, then I'll spend the night in London. Woo! The following day (Tuesday) I'll be taking a train under the English channel to Paris, then off to meet up with one of the teachers at the school I'll be working at, Ann, who has really been a tremendous help answering questions and serving as a liaison for the town and the school. Thanks Ann!

After I set foot in Joigny and drop off one of my bags, I have to decide whether to go with plan A and train to Lourdes to start on a Pyrenees adventure, or to go with plan B and go to Angers for a bit. Anyway, I'm leaning toward plan A right now.

It's been a fun week wrapping things up with the fambly, but not without complications. We've been visiting Auntie Diane in the hospital while she recovers from her back surgery...it seems like every day she gets a little bit better, but she's definitely in my thoughts.

There was also a little excitement today when I was cooking dinner for everyone. My grandma fell while she was at the gas pump and scraped her knee and hit her head pretty bad. They took her to the hospital to double check and make sure everything was okay, and it seems like everything is. Thank goodness!!

I'm gonna post a couple pictures (taken with my new camera, woo!!) of the pizza party we had the other night, just celebrating being all together :)

Mom really likes zucchini:


Liz examines the cherry tomatoes for quality control:


Me, chop chop choppin':


Dad, very seriously arranging toppings:


One of the finished products...I wasn't fast enough to take a picture of the other one:


Great success!


A toast to pizza!


Mmmmm...dessert


After too much dessert I become...Vampire!


That's all for now. 'Hope you liked the pictures. Next time I post I'll be transatlantic :)

Test/First Post

Hello hello hello! Dear friends and family,I am starting this blog so I can keep in touch with all of you and share my pictures/current goings-on with you as I spend my school year in France :)
With this blog I can answer questions, provide details, and interact with all of you in an open forum; I think it will work out better than sending out newsletter e-mails or posting notes on fecebook. If you want, you can subscribe to this blog, and you will get an e-mail every time I update/put up a new post.

I don't know how much I've gone into detail with everyone about where I've been assigned and what exactly I'm doing, so I'll try and clear that up a little bit. I was chosen by the French Ministry of Education to serve as a Foreign Language Teaching Assistant in a French high school from the beginning of October to the beginning of May. The school I'm teaching at is the Lycée Louis Davier in the town of Joigny.

Since Joigny (jw-anne-yee) is a small town, and I had no idea where it was in France, I'm gonna post some maps to help you visualize where it is.

So this is Frogland (France). Yup, Paris is in Red. If you look at the orange region that is South and a bit East of the Parisian region, the one with Dijon as its capital, that region is called Bourgogne (Burgundy) and it's the region I'll be teaching in. Let's zoom in on Bourgogne.

There it is. As you can see, Bourgogne is divided up into four sections called départements: la Nièvre in the West, la Saône-et-Loire in the South, la Côte-d'Or in the East, and l'Yonne in the North. Joigny is in l'Yonne. It is located between the two cities listed on the map, Auxerre and Sens. Auxerre is the capital of l'Yonne.
I would go into more detail, but I haven't been there yet, and I'd rather tell you more once I get there. To give you a sense of how far away from Paris it is, it take about an hour and a half to go from Paris to Joigny by train.

I'm leaving on Sunday and I'll be doing a little hiking/traveling before I start work. I'll keep you posted.

So far, I'm just crossing things off my list, trying to do my favorite things that I can only do in the states (Like go to Waffle House, or get free coffee refills, or buy groceries whenever I want, drive a car, etc etc.)

Leave comments, concerns and questions!!