Mc. Do

From Grenoble Exchange

Despite selling themselves as the culinary capital of the world, the French have an inexplicable infatuation with the inescapable globalizing American restaurant Mc Donalds, or Mc. Do (pronounced "doe" like, "doe a deer, a female deer"). There is always a line there, frequently out the door. And you can find Mc. Do's partout. So I decided it was my duty to try this Mc. Do to properly understand French culinary tradition.

So Vanessa and I trekked our away across the town, through the blistering late fall winds of the Alps to reach our culinary destination. There, we encountered thralls of excited frenchmen, frenchwomen, and frenchchildren, patiently very waiting for their feast. Very very patiently. If Mc. Do has one thing going for it, it's fast. The French seemed to have take the fast out of fast food.

After waiting about 15 minutes to order, we received our food and sat ourselves in the luxurious chairs in their basement seating area. There, we consumed, what would be my first Big Mac I've had in probably, oh I don't know, a decade. It was decidely boring and came accompanied with a side of flacid, lukewarm fries, and a coke. The two burgers, two fries, and two cokes for Vanessa and I cost about 12 euros, which could get you two kebabs and fries and a drink, 3 plates of pasta, or 25 pounds of clementines at the supermarket.

It's probably abundantly clear that I was not impressed, and Vanessa even less. But we did as the French did, which makes you wonder, with such a strong culinary tradition, why do the French eat so much American crap?

Toussaint - Paris, Milan, Venice

From Grenoble Exchange

This is about 2 weeks late, but I suppose some account of events is better than nothing.

A little background information. Toussaint is a religious holiday in France, causing schools to close for the week. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure what specifically they were celebrating, but I'm not one to complain about a week off from school. With this extra time, Vanessa and I decided to visit Paris, Milan, and Venice.

Paris
Naturally, we visited all the major tourist spots - the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, l'arc de triomphe, etc. Paris definitely had the big city feel (duh...) which I really enjoyed but Vanessa found to be a little too much. We got lost more than a handful of times, and it rained the last two days we were there. One thing we stupidly didn't consider was that it things would be more expensive in Paris. If you ever find yourself planning to visit Paris, expect to pay 25-50% more than what you normally do. Despite the prices, we thoroughly enjoyed Paris.

Milan
Quick summary: cold, rainy, and really REALLY expensive stuff. Like ten thousand euro wallets and hundred thousand euro baby cribs expensive (how much money do you need to justify spending 100000 euros on something your baby's going to sleep in for a year?). I suppose it was nice to do some window shopping for things that we clearly could not afford, but you won't find me in Milan again unless my bank account suddenly multiplies by, oh I don't know, a million times. We did have some kick ass food in Milan though, including Milanese risotto and some bomb pizza.

Also, I have to say that the hostel we stayed at were amazing. Vanessa forgot her camera there when we moved out. We called the next day (when we were already in Venice), and they told us they found it and that we could pick it up. They could have easily said they found nothing and kept it for themselves or ebayed it, but they were honest, and we really appreciate that.

Venice
Another easy place to sum up: gorgeous. I know, it's a complete tourist trap. Everything caters to tourists, meaning it doesn't have much else and everything is expensive. The food was mediocre and a little on the pricey side, but just walking around was amazing. It is easily the most beautiful city I've seen. It isn't a terribly exciting location or known for it's amazing parties, it was simply beautiful. We also happened to be there Halloween night, so it was fun seeing little kids in costumes trick-or-treating (I have no idea what it's called in Italian). For some reason, they trick-or-treat at shops instead of at houses, not sure why.

Chambery et Annecy

So I think my favorite thing about France is the little towns that you can find all over France. One hour by train, two hours by bus outside of Grenoble, is Chambery. It's a cute little town where you can basically cover the entire centre-ville and all the tourist sites in about half a day. Nonetheless, we spent an entire day there. I think my favorite thing was the elephant fountain. (Pictures to come)Of course we had a delicious lunch avec les specialites savoyardes - meaning tartiflette! (Basically potatoes and bacon in cheese and cream)Yum!

We went to Annecy with the EAP program for Les Fetes des Alpages, the celebration where all the livestock come down from the mountains to the warm confines of the city. It was a very smelly day, but fun nonetheless. The weather was beautiful and we took a boat out around the lake at Annecy. Annecy itself was super cute. I love European style architecture - you can't find anything like it in the US. It had character.

Marseille et Cassis

We went to Marseille and a nearby town last weekend. Not much to say other than it was AWESOME. Friday, we hit up most of the tourist sites, which was fun and all. Then Saturday, we bussed it to Cassis where lies La Calanque, a natural cove. We swam in the Mediterranean with the fishies and just generally chilled on the beach. Good stuff.

Complaining

In general, I think it's pretty dumb to complain about any difficulties while traveling abroad, or as the case may be, studying abroad. You leave knowing that things are not the same as they are at home. In fact, that is exactly why you travel, because it is different. With that in mind, there are still some things that are difficult as hell to get used to.

1. Bathrooms - Call me a princess if you must, but I like toilet seats and tissue paper. Is that too much to ask? really? At the very best, bathrooms have toilets without toilet seats. At the very worst, they are just holes in the ground. And you know why they don't have toilet seats? Because it's pas hygiénique. You want to know what else is not hygienic? Falling into the toilet... Seriously, if you're coming to France, you'll want to do some wall sits and other assorted quad exercises before you leave. Those muscles will be getting a lot of work.

2. Internet - It's slow. And it's not everywhere. I'm at a large research university with tens of thousands of students in a capital city of a first world country, and they couldn't figure out how to get internet to the dorms? Really?

3. Dorms - As mentioned above, there's no internet, the bathrooms are a hole in the ground. The dining hall isn't open for breakfast or dinner (Yah, what the hell is the point of a dining hall that doesn't serve dinner?). But if you think that's bad, oh it gets worse. My dorm is up a freaking mountain. I know there are those of you who lived in Foothill in Berkeley who are thinking, "oh, what's he complaining about? We lived up a hill too, and we managed just fine." Well, you have no idea. First, this hill isn't next to campus. The base of the hill is about 30 minutes from campus by tram. Then the hike up the hill takes over 20 minutes going up. And it's steep. There is a bus, but it only runes between 7-9am, 12-1, and 4-8pm. Want to go out at night? Better bring your walking shoes. Have a class that ends at 7:30pm (which there are tons of, by the way)? Guess you're shit out of luck. Oh, and the bus also doesn't run on weekends.

4. Schedules - This is what really has been annoying. When someone posts their schedule saying they will be there from 8h00-12 h00 and 14h00-17h00 (notice the two hour lunch break... très français) I think it's fair to expect them to be there at 14h00. And I understand, things happen, and sometimes that croque monsieur takes a little longer to eat than normal, so extend that two hour lunch break to 2 hours and 15 minutes. That's fine. I'm not a drill sergeant. But when I wait half an hour for your ass to show up when your OWN SIGN THAT YOU MADE says you'll be there, you better be there. I'm here to give you money for my rent! I'm giving you money and you're not here to take it!!! Oh, and that important university official who you need to talk to for your classes... yah, she's not there. Oh, yah, her sign says she's supposed to be here. But no, she's not here. How about we make an appointment? 10h00 tomorrow? Sounds good. What happens when you show up at 10h00 tomorrow? You guessed it! NO ONE'S THERE! So you sit there wasting another hour of your life until the incredibly important person shows up. Oh, don't worry about it, my time and life isn't important. Go sip your café crème while my life wastes away in front of our eyes.

Ok, I'm done ranting for now. Everything considered, I'm still having a pretty damn good time here. Just wanted to complain a little. It's therapeutic sometimes.

Les chinois

It's interesting. For the first time in my life, being Asian does not equal being in the majority. Growing up in the Bay Area then going to college at UCLA, I have always been surrounded by other Asians. Now I am somewhat unique. Despite that fact, more people in Europe have conversed with me in Chinese than on a day to day basis in America. Just off the top of my head:

1. After landing in Geneva and waiting for my baggage, a random woman asks me in Chinese where I am going and we proceed to have a short conversation.
2. While walking around Grenoble, a beggar woman says "ni hao" to us.
3. While hiking in the mountains, this random guy stops to ask us where we are from. We are talking in English when he suddenly mentions, in Chinese, that he is a Chinese teacher ... in France and do we speak Chinese.
4. At the kebab place,the worker attempts to speak Chinese (note he is not Asian). He can say "ni hao" and "shieh shieh" and "tzi jian". He also flirts with Asian girls.
5. At the University while waiting in line to get my food card, a girl comes up to me and immediately asks me, in Chinese, about how to get the card.
6. After class one day, an Asian girl comes up to me and starts talking in Chinese, until I politely mention that I actually didn't come from China, instead America.

For the first time, people are assuming my native language is Chinese. It's funny to me, but other Asians can tell as soon as I start speaking that I do not come from China, although I can usually adequately respond in Chinese. But it is still weird that people will randomly say "ni hao" to me and they always assume I understand.

Bob's Kebabs and Lightning Storms

 
I am addicted to kebabs. Completely addicted. Like stick me in rehab addicted. I think we've had kebabs every night for probably five nights in a row ... in addition to dinner. Basically, kebabs are the perfect midnight snack. Well, not quite midnight ... cause that's bedtime. =) I'm like a grandma now. By the way, a kebab is pita bread filled with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and pork. The pork is shaved off this gigantic hunk of meat that is rotating around on a stick (kind of like a rotisserie chicken turned ninety degrees). And it is pure deliciousness. Our goal is to find the best kebab place. So far we have two clear favorites: Le Syfax and this random shack on the way to someone's apartment. I never quite got the name of the place, but we were very pleasantly surprised when we tasted it - maybe the best place yet.

The weather here is ADD. It was pretty stormy for the past couple days. It rained on and off during the night for the past week and it was pouring all day yesterday. In addition to the rain there was thunder and lightning. Living in California for most of my life, this is drastically different. Everyone on our program was so surprised to see so much rain and lightning. On the other hand, Lauranne, the French graduate student who was there to help us acclimate, took everything in stride and just said ca va - this is what the weather is like usually. And today was sunny. Sunny and hot. Although I am looking forward to the rain. I love the rain and being outside in the rain. We frolicked in the rain yesterday. The lightning is amazing. The sky will just light up and the all you can see is a brilliant blue for a second. It's gorgeous.