La Braderie

Ok so this last weekend in Chambery was pretty fun. On Friday night I was invited to go out to a bar with some French people that I had met this past week. We met at the "Cardinal" an Irish style pub that sits right next to Chambery's main cathedral. It was good to get to hang out with some french people and I felt pretty confident in my french speaking as well.


So I slept in on Saturday morning and
basically did nothing all day which was was pretty lame so at around 3 pm I decided to go out and take a walk as well as to take some pictures. I discovered some new parts of Chambery and found a really cool park that memorializes the Chamberiennes who died in WWII. At the end of my walk I found myself caught in a thunderstorm and so as I sloshed back to my dorm, in shorts and flip-flops of all things, I was drenched by the downpour.

So that night, at midnight, the "Grande Braderie" commenced. A braderie is a flea market type of thing and this one took over the entire downtown. I have literally never seen that many people selling or buying things in my whole life. It took forever to get anywhere because the streets were jam-packed with people. In any case I bought these two bikes pictured here. One is for me and the other is for my friend Patrick with whom I am going to be making a biking tour of the Loire Valley chateaux at the end of October. I will be making another post about that as soon as our our plans are all finalized.

Hey Everyone!

Well here is my first post on this new blog. I thought it would be easier to have a blog and update it regularly with bits and pieces of my life here as well as some pictures than to try and send mass emails. Right now I am sitting in my room at my desk. It is 7:20 in the morning and I accidentally woke up an hour earlier for classes than I had originally planned...kind of missing that extra hour of sleep. It is very cloudy outside which has been very common recently but the weather has been pleasant as of late, sunny with temperatures in the mid to high 60's. Classes are proving to be difficult but I am sure that I will get accustomed to them within a few weeks. Learning everything in French is definitely a challenge but being immersed in a sink-or-swim situation like this is going to be a good thing. Lately I have enjoyed making meals for myself. When I first got here it was more of a challenge. I have never had to cook for just a single person before so it has been a learning experience but as of this week I was fed up with eating pasta every night (the easy way out) so I bought a bunch of vegetables at the store and some meat and stuff and started making some much better meals. I have been eating omelets, stir fry with pork and rice, and soups so I feel like I am growing in my culinary abilities. My friend Patrick and I are currently planning for a trip during our vacation the last week of October. We are planning a biking tour of the Loire Valley to see many of the famous castles as well as a visit to Normandy where we will see Mont St. Michel, the D-Day beaches, and the Bayeux tapestry among other things.
Well there you have a slice out of my life. I will keep you posted on everything that is happening over here so keep an eye out.

Aaron