The Beginning of Karen's Blogging

Well, I've never really blogged before, but all my friends were doing it, so I thought I'd join in! I'll just go ahead and start from this week. I'll consider it my New Year's resolution!

This week we started our 3 school session. The sessions here go by months. At the beginning of each month, you take a placement test and get placed in the appropriate level. Well, somehow, I was placed in the first level in November, the third level in December, and level six this month. I questioned the jump the first time, and this time I laughed at it. Don't misread, it's not because I've learned so much French and am excelling so far! Anyway, I tried three days of classes and decided this type of challenge (imagine taking French 4 when you only know how to say "Bonjour") is not my learning style. So tomorrow, I will move two levels down and see how that works out for me.

Last weekend, Rob and I took a fun trip to Lyon. It is the second largest city in France (second to Paris, of course), and is only about an hour and a half away from us by train. Rob and I left early in the morning to catch the train, and arrived in Lyon around 10:30am. We visited a beautiful Basilica that was at the highest point in Lyon. It had a panoramic view of the city and beautiful carvings and stained glass windows (sorry, we left our camera at home, so no pics!). We then ate our lunch that we brought from home, by the Rhone river. We walked through a Saturday market and bought some beignets (French donuts, which, contrary to popular belief, are actually not very prevalent at all around here!). Then, the sun came out and warmed us up so much that we even took off our jackets and gloves. We found a little outdoor ice skating rink, and had fun sliding all over the ice. It was nice to not have to think about school or work, or moving or anything for a little while (we even turned off our cell phone the whole day!). Then we walked around some shops and we even found a big mall where we went shopping and even found a GAP. But it was a bit pricey here.

After that we went to a movie theatre where we watched an American movie called "The Holiday" that we had found was playing in "version original" (English with French subtitles). We loved being able to see a movie in English, and it was actually a really funny movie too. After that we found a yummy Mexican restaurant (none of those in Chambery yet) and ordered guacamole, tacos and chimichangas. But right then, we realized that our last train back to Chambery was going to leave in thirty minutes and we were quite far from the train station. So, we asked for to go boxes (not common here, but they had them!), and sprinted to the bus and to the station, and made it with about 1 minute to spare. We walked home from the Chambery station in the rain, and then watched the end of a soccer match on TV. It was a nice and relaxing day that we really needed before classes started again! Pictures to come soon!