Chatting and birthday plans.

 I have been in such turmoil about my birthday. I don’t know what it is but I have never liked my birthdays. I love planning and celebrating others birthdays but when it come to my own I just feel confused. I get so nervous. Especially if there is a chance that my waiter is going to sing to me.

It is weird knowing that you are not going to be around your family for your birthday. Especially when I have been with them for the last 20 years on birthdays. But this year I turn 21. I will be celebrating it in my new place, with my friends. This year I will become an adult.

I am both nervous and excited about turning 21. I know that it is just another birthday, marking the day I get older, but I feel like this birthday is more of a milestone than those before. All these new things will be open to me. And I don’t just mean bars and clubs. I mean that now if feels like I have crossed the line dividing youth and adulthood. What does being an “adult” constitute? Do I know need to stop watching Glee and start a 401k?

But Tuesday should be fun. I am going out to a local bar with a group of friends for some happy hour drinks. And I will be buying my own bottle of French wine to take home. It will be a fun night I think.

Today was a good day of speaking to the new students who are going to Grenoble this year. I am so excited for them. They are about to have a good time, and I wish I were able to join them. But it was nice to relieve some of the special memories with Bradley and see the students sigh in relief.

I need to go and vacuum/do the dishes because Natalie is coming to visit me!! She is coming to go to a concert with our friend but she is going to spend the night and we will watch movies and eat brownies before I leave tomorrow to celebrate my brother’s accomplishment of becoming an Eagle Scout.

Here's to the freakin' weekend! I'll toast to that!

In 3 weeks I will be home.

Not sure how I feel about that...

This weekend was great. I laid in the sun under the trees then I dressed up and went out dancing. There was dancing while we drank berry infused wine, there was dancing in allies, there was dancing across the bridges. When I finally fell asleep I slept like a baby, with blisters in my feet.

St. Pierre de Chartreuse

Last Saturday we went to Church Saint-Hugues-de-Chartreuse which holds the stunning paintings of Arcabas. It was a modern twist on stories of the Ten Commandments, and beautiful portraits of the Bible. It raised a lot of eyebrows when it was first shown, but now it is regarded as a precious gem of the French Alpes.

After our tour of the church our small group went to St Pierre de Chartreuse, Musée Chartreuse, and the Monastère. They were fascinating. When we got to the Monastère we climbed to the top of the hill, overlooking the small village, and sat there. We sat there, in silence, and lost track of time. The stillness of that place made me fill completely at peace.

I love these mountains so much.

Voiron.

Last Friday, we went on a quick tour of the Chartreuse factory museum. Our guide was charasmatic, we watched a short 3-D video, and we sampled some of the strong stuff. We tried green, yellow, and raspberry. The green is the strongest (and the worst).  Not bad for a free tour. 

Mushroom hunting.

When your host dad asks you if you want to go mushroom hunting on a crisp, weekend morning, it is best to say yes to this strange invitation. So I put on my tennis shoes and loaded into the van with my host family and the dog and we drove to Lake Belladonne, where we walked around in the forest looking for the strange and delicious fungi. I found four of the ten!

When it started to get muggy and warm, we returned home to whip us a creamy, perfumed sauce to pour on our pasta. It was a delicious lunch.

French lesson: Hunting for mushrooms is completely normal in France. Even the teenagers do it, without complaint. Love it!