Ananas translates to Pineapple?

Hello world!

Life has been pretty busy! I finished Ice-Cream class last week! We made some pretty fun and tasty treats! Here's our buffet!

I also reached my goal of meeting French friends! They are so nice! I was visiting my friend down the street and when I passed them they STRONGLY insisted I join their barbecue. So, I went over and through my broken French and their jumbled English (much better than my French) we managed to have a great time! We sang a mixture of American and French classic songs on karaoke and they made me the typical "French" cocktails which were quite interesting... especially this odd anise-flavored liquor. There were at least 10 French students hanging out with me, and they told me they all go to optometry school together! They tried to guess my glasses prescription. It was hilarious. They also frequently would pour me a drink then take it from me and yell "You not 21! You can't drink!" then they'd give it back and laugh hysterically. According to them, they started drinking between the age of 12 and 14! That's my baby sister's age... i'd kill her! What crazy differences culture can make!  The next day we hung out again and they ordered pizza and Alex invited us all to his house to hangout. It was TOO fun and we all spent hours talking about differences in France v. America. It was cool that they thought America is just as cool as I think France is! We laughed at how banana translates to banane yet pineapple translates to ananas. The translations were fun to share. I learned more French that night than i've learned since arriving! They all really want to visit and know the sports team for every big US city. It was impressive! They also knew all of our popular music artists and they WORSHIP David Guetta. 

Just before a week of making friends and ice-cream, I went on a weekend excursion to Le Puy! I took a bus with three other students from my campus: Caroline, Hattie, and Julian- and my friend Mallory from the Providence Campus. It was nice to have a relaxing one day trip instead of the usual crazy jam-packed weekend. Le Puy is just a 45min bus ride from Yssingeaux, so we got to sleep in until 9am then head over for the day! 

It was a beautiful, blue-skied day! Here is the town from above in the famous Mary statue that I climbed! (there's pretty much some sort of scenic view or climb-able landmark in every city here!)

The town was busy and friendly! It was very "French" and we got to enjoy multiple markets all over town!

They also had a very nice cathedral that I visited. Here is a picture from its steps overlooking the town.

Here is the statue of Mary I climbed. I went all the way up to her crown!

Here I am joining a life-size painting on the side of a building in town!

As you can see, Le Puy was quite enjoyable! It was a perfect day mixed with culture, shopping, and excursions. It was nice to travel with the same group as my first trip since we hadn't traveled together in four weeks. It was great to see how everyone has adjusted to the French culture. We all had clearly mellowed out a lot since day one. We ended the day with crepes and stories and then returned to Yssingeaux. It was a very successful excursion! I even met a man from America who moved to France at my age. He came for a "visit" and has now lived in France for 32 years. We spoke of cultural differences and he said the people of France are somehow more "human." I totally understood what he meant by that. Sometimes I worry I'll suddenly decide not to come back and end up like that super cool man... in France... for 32 years. It sounds awesome to me! I'm loving how even the smallest moments make for such an awesome experience here!