Entry 12

Salut! So I'm thinking this is going to be my last blog entry because I'll be back in the states Sunday! It's bitter sweet. I miss everyone at home a lot, but my host family is amazing, I have made some great friends here, and France in general is such an incredible place. So I got over my sunburn from Cannes. Nothing else really went on last week. Emma, Casey, Matt, Kristen and I went to the fair one night. We went and had dinner then on the way to the fair we stopped at an ATM machine so I would have some money for the fair. I put in my card, put in my code, entered the amount of money I needed, and then the machine turned off. I was thinking to myself... "awesome.... really great.... what the heck! Turn back on!!". So I have no debit card now.... which I guess is good for my dad... but not so much for me. The fair was fun except we went on this ride that pretty much shook my brain until I thought I was going to have permanent brain damage. I'm sure that ride couldn't have been regulation. We left after that because we all had horrible headaches. Friday morning we got up really early and headed on a tour bus to St. Tropez. Our group was about 50 people. We stopped in this little town and went to a nougat factory. Nougat is a candy of the area. We watched a demonstration on how they make it and then of course bought a ton of candy for the bus. After that we went to St. Tropez. It was the prettiest area of the French coast I have seen so far. We walked along the beach and bought ice cream. Then we hiked up to this old castle on the top of the island. We also saw them filming some TV show there. It is a very cool city. Its small, but really wealthy and everything is very fancy. Then we got back on the tour bus and headed for Nice. We got there around dinner time. After dinner we bought some wine and went and sat on the beach for the rest of the night. Well, before that, we went to a bar which turned out the be a very gay bar... so because the guys were feeling uncomfortable we left and headed for the beach. On the beach we encountered this Tunisian man who could hardly walk. He really just wanted us to listen to the song he made up about how horrible France was and how amazing his country was. He sang to us that the beaches in France were crap because they were made of pebbles and if you wanted to see a real beach you needed to cross the ocean with him and go to his home. So that was sufficiently entertaining. The next day we woke up and headed straight for the beach. We stayed on the beach from 11am to 5pm. It was a gorgeous day. Emma and I went in the water for about point two seconds. It was the coldest water I have ever been in. Nice and tan for the evening... we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant. After dinner we had more gelato and walked around the old part of Nice. Sunday, we got up, had an amazing hotel breakfast, and headed for the tiny city of Eze. Eze is a really old city that sits perched on the top of this mountain that over looks the water. Not that many people live there and you have to hike up to it by foot because there isn't room for cars on the streets. We took a tour of the perfumery at the base of the city and saw where they make all sorts of french perfume and soap. Then we explored the city and walked around the exotic garden at the very top of the mountain. It was an amazing day and a great last trip in France. This week I have been just trying to enjoy Grenoble. I took my camera with me running because I want to remember my running path... I know that's kind of stupid, but its just so incredible here and I'm really going to miss it. Monday night my host parents had a bunch of their friends over. We had a really good dinner that started with champagne and ended with an amazing pear tart. It was really difficult to understand them because everyone was talking at once. Isabelle's best friend was in town visiting for the week. She was very nice to me and I had a good time talking to her. Wednesday night we went to El Tex Mex with everyone for our last group dinner. My host sister Daphne came with me. It was really fun and I think she had a great time. Everyone this summer is going to love her. Tonight API is having an gathering for the students and our families. Isabelle and I are going to go. Then tomorrow night my friends and i are all going out to a bar together one last time. Saturday morning I am leaving for Paris where I will spend one night and then Sunday get on the plane to come home! Its going to be hard saying goodbye to everyone, especially my host family, but I can't wait to see everyone in AMERICA! If anything exciting happens between now and then, I'll let you know.... if not.... Ciao!