I'm a Big Kid Now

This morning my alarm went off at 4:04! Yup, you heard correctly. I was up and getting ready before most of you reading this (in the US) had even gone to bed. Crazy to think about, huh? The reason you ask, why I would get up at such an ungodly hour, would be because I had at meeting in Briare. I had to catch the 5am train and of course walk to the train station because the buses don’t run that early. I was then meeting my boss at the metro stop where he would then drive us the two hours to Briare. This would be the first time I was going to see the facility in Braire. Luckily, my boss let me sleep in the car on the way there! Because we got there early, we stopped at a little café and had coffees. If you know me, I don’t drink coffee, because quite frankly, I don’t like the taste. I decided to cave today because I knew I had a long day ahead of me. I mean it wasn’t even 9am and I had already been up for nearly five hours!

We finally arrived and the meeting began with of course, another round of coffees. I felt bad not taking one because the secretary made me one so I reluctantly drank it. After that, I was peppy and ready to go (I really didn't need the second coffee). One person gave a presentation and then after him it was my turn. I was a little nervous to present what I had prepared so far, but there was really nothing to worry about. Everything went smoothly and afterwards we all discussed the future of the catalogue and everyone’s expectations and envisions of the final product. By this time it was already noon. Noon has become my favorite time of day, because that means lunch!

The four of us got in the car and drove to a restaurant down the road. It was a cute little place we were then served a six, yes six, course meal! They gave us a pre-appetizer to our duck salad appetizer, which was then followed by a nice array of veal and mashed potatoes, a pre-dessert, then apple crumble and lemon sorbet for dessert (at least this was what I chose to order). Our lunch was accompanied by a bottle of red wine too! After dessert we had yet another coffee and little cookies. I went from never drinking coffee, to drinking three in one day! By this time, my boss told me I would have to drive home because he might not make it. We were all stuffed and the best part was the company paid for lunch :). It was so awesome. I felt like such a grown up!!

After lunch, we toured the factory where we were showed how the rubber comes to be, well rubber parts. We saw the whole process and was able to watch some of the slabs be extruded from the machine and cut into certain sizes. We then saw another machine that punched out circular shapes from another slab of rubber. I was very engaged and even asked questions! We got to take some of the waste pieces too. I now have a souvenir from work.

Once we toured the factory, we got back in the car and headed home. We did have to make a pit stop though because part of the bummer of my boss’ car was flapping in the wind. We stopped at a gas station and got duct tape and he taped his car back together. He told me, “this is the American way!” I said that it was stylish and we continued on our way home. I really like my boss and his sense of humor. Altogether it was a very successful day and I got to eat a very gourmet lunch paid by the company. I just still can’t get over it!!

Spring Break in the Alpes

Last Saturday, March 3^rd, I headed to Les Deux Alpes, France with seven other friends. We were going to be skiing in the Alpes for our “Spring Break.” We took the train from Paris to Grenoble and then took a bus to Les Deux Alpes. Stephan met us there with his car because he was in Lyon for a skating competition. We all arrived at our apartment, which was awesome to say the least. There were three bedrooms, a living room with a couch and trundle, a dining room, and a fully equipped kitchen. It even had a dishwasher! We were so excited to finally be in the Alpes and the apartment made it that much better. Because we got there so late, we headed to bed and would get up early Sunday morning for our first day of skiing!

We chose Les Deux Alpes because the apartment we found came with a 6 day all inclusive ski pass for everyone. It was a great deal. Due to the location of the town, situated in the valley between two Alpes, there were tons of different slopes to do. Les Deux Alpes started at 1650m and went all the way to 3600m. You could go all the way to the top and ski down! It was so awesome to be that high up and you could see all the peaks of the other mountains as well as being at eye level or above the clouds!

On Sunday we went to the grocery store while it was still open and then headed out to the slopes. We all had to rent skis and Stephan and Grace rented snowboards. I went skiing the first day, but seeing as I have not been skiing since I was 10, it took me a little while to get used to it. After sliding down half the slope on my back with my skis pointed in two different directions, I decided to call it a day and moved onto snowboarding for the rest of the week. We all ate lunch at the lodge halfway up the mountain. Again, the view was breathtaking.

For the rest of the week I snowboarded with Grace. We had a lot of fun and definitely a lot of laughs. We were pretty sore by the end, but it was definitely worth it. One of the kids on the trip had a hi-tech video camera and caught some awesome footage of us skiing, snowboarding, and wiping out.  The weather was also fantastic while we were there and we had great conditions every day. It was the first full week of sun I have had since being in France I think!

Every night we made dinner at home and the usually had enough left over for lunch the next day which worked out perfectly. We made chili, steaks, wild rice and chicken soup, and the Swedes made a traditional Swedish meal one night. On Friday night, our last night, we all went out to dinner at a local restaurant and had fondue. It was delicious. Some nights we went out to the bar, and others we stayed in and watched movies. One night a couple of us went ice skating.

Altogether the trip was a relaxing week filled with skiing, snowboarding, drinking, and just hanging out with friends. I couldn’t have asked for a better “Spring Break.”