vichy!

i've had one week of class (already a quarter done!) and i'm having a pretty good time in vichy. the group of americans here in the dorms are pretty great, so even though every business in vichy holds hours that are impossible to understand and most everything is done by midnight, there haven't been many dull moments.

i have two classes every day, one from 8:45-12:00 and one from 2:00 to something like 3:30. the morning is an actual classroom setting, and the afternoon is more of an oral conversation workshop. it's not too rough, but it's extremely different from any french classes i've taken in the states. there are students from all over the world (only one other american in my class), so if you don't know how to say something you can't just sneak in an english translation. you actually have to describe it in french until they get it. but i feel like i'm already getting more comfortable speaking.

we did a little guided tour of vichy, which was a nice supplement to all of our wandering without really knowing what we were seeing. there are a couple famous natural springs in the city, and we tried water out of one of them. it was actually bubbly and salty and not very good, not really what i expected.

some state building by the dorms

the opera/casino

this imposing structure is the monoprix, the supermarket where everyone gets groceries. i imagine there have been other tenants before monoprix.

the school offered some sort of wine and cheese tasting event thursday, but we didn't want to pay the 5 euros it cost to attend. instead, we bought our own wine and cheese and had a tasting that i'm sure put the official one to shame. and at the very last minute, we decided to spend the weekend in geneva, switzerland. i'll post about that adventure soon.