The World Race

Like the Amazing Race you might ask?

Kinda but not quite. So much went on in April before I left for Australia and one of those included my being accepted for the World Race in January 2012. More specifically it's an 11 month missions trip to 11 different countries. Pretty insane hey? But I'm pretty darn pumped. It's with a non-profit, interdenominational, American organization called Adventures In Missions (AIM) and they send out groups on different routes in January, June, July, August, September and October. Each larger squad group is divided into smaller teams of 5 or 6 people who essentially become family over the course of the year.

I've spent almost a whole year already praying about if this was the right thing for me and clearly, I came to the conclusion that yes it was and thus I applied. Some people think I'm crazy and others are really encouraging but either way God is calling me and I am being obedient. You can click here to access my World Race blog if you want to read more about why I am choosing to go on this insane adventure and choosing to be the hands and feet of God.

The countries I will be visiting while on the January 2012 Race Route include:

Phillippines
China
India
Nepal
Swaziland
Mozambique
South Africa
Moldova
Romania
Haiti
Dominican Republic.

Some of the activities we could be doing include, but are not limited to, running day camps, doing construction, building relationships with orphans, praying for the sick at a hospital or teaching others about God. Either way each day will be focused on doing the work of God's Kindom.

In order to participate on the World Race I need to fundraise $15,500 PLUS the cost of my flight into our departure city, a round trip flight to training camp in October, medical insurance, gear and vaccinations. Right now that seems like a huge and daunting number but I have faith that God will provide. My first amount of $3,500 is due October 1, 2011 and then another $3,000 two months later.

If you are feeling called to give a tax-deductable, monetary donation in support of my trip please visit my blog and click on the "Support Me" link under my picture (on the left). This will bring you to a page where you can donate using a credit card. Financial donations can be given as a one time gift or as a monthly donations where you choose the start and end date. Additionally, you may make any cheques payable to Adventures In Missions, PO Box 534470, Atlanta, GA, 30353-4470.

**Please make sure to include my full name (Dania Spillett) in the memo line so the money is properly allocated to me**

If you are unable to make a financial donation and would still like to support me I would greatly appreciate prayer both for the fundraising proccess, for strength against spiritual attacks as I prepare for this adventure as well as prayer while my team and I are out on the field.

From here on out I will be using the personal blog site provided to me for the next year. I will only be updated this blog while out of the country and will be loading pictures and posts while on my journey, as well as before. SO, click on the link, FIND my blog, and on the left hand side you can ENTER your email address to SUBSCRIBE for my blog updates.

All my thanks!

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie...

Oi, oi, oi!

Yup, that's right. Australia has sucked me in. I meant to write a post before I left for Australia on April 28, 2011 but time just escaped me or was sucked away by work and studying for final exams. Which means.....I'm DONE!! My business degree that is. I'm finally a graduate. Now on to real life. But first a couple vacations, hence Australia.

It was a family trip that we planned to last 6.5 weeks and we were going to cover the entire East Coast of Australia as well as both islands of New Zealand. However, as most of you may not yet know, we opted to come back to Canada halfway through our trip because my aunt (who is fighting cancer) became extremely ill and the doctors didn't think there would be much time. Either way, here I am back in Edmonton with lots of awesome memories. To many to tell all through my blog so you'll have to hear most of them directly from me.

For now I'll delve into the highlights. We started in Sydney, Australia on April 29 and spend about 4 days there. A pretty metropolitan place that is kinda like a combination of Vancouver and Hawaii (or so my dad says since I've never been to Hawaii). Because it is their winter, Sydney was a little chillier than we had hoped but it had also snowed in Edmonton a bit before we left so anything above 10 degree C was a nice change.

Soon enough we headed up north to Cairns. We actually stayed in an apartment in Palm Cove (30 min north of Cairns) for almost 2 weeks which was gorgeous. I loved getting to make our own meals, eat out on the patio and walk to the gloriously large beach. No swimming though, unless it was in the designated areas, because of stingers (aka. jelly fish).

My biggest dream for Australia was to dive on the Great Barrier Reef. So thats what we did. Janelle (my sister) and I signed up for our PADI Open Water Course and did two classroom days and then spent 3 days living on a boat in the middle of the sea. Freaking amazing. I can't even express how awesome this was. Just imagine waking up at 6am to put on your gear and greet the underwater creatures good morning. The sun was just rising by the time we entered the water and after getting out we would rinse off, pull on some clothes and go for breakfast. What a way to wake up!! After almost every dive we would remove our gear and I would just stand on the back on the boat in awe of the incredible sight that surrounded me. Essentially our routine for the 3 days was: Dive. Eat. Dive. Eat. Dive. Eat. Dive. Sleep. Dive. PURE AWESOMENESS.

After that both the weather and the experience was hard to top. It rained a lot of the rest of our time but we did get to see some other sweet things such as the Daintree Rainforest, Cape Tribulation, Whitsunday Islands and Fraser Island - entirely made of sand and you have to 4x4 down the beach to get around. PLUS I got to squeeze in a visit with my good friend Vanessa in Airlie Beach.

We missed out on Uluru (Ayers Rock), Byron Bay, surfing lessons and Brisbane but the country is just too damn big and I already know I have to go back.

Until next time!

From A to K to Z

And by A-Z I mean Australia to Zanzibar; my summer travels that will span April 28-August 30, 2011. You'll find out what the K means as you read.

As I mentioned in my last post...a good 2 months ago...my family is headed to Australia and New Zealand for 6 weeks after school is over and I'm pretty darn excited. I've always wanted to swim in the Great Barrier Reef and I'm hoping to get my PADI diving certificate while I'm over there and maybe scale the Sydney Harbour Bridge while I'm at it. So far we just have our flights and hotel booked for the first couple nights and the rest will be an adventure of discovery!


You can tell I'm slightly crazy over travel considering my cousin asked me in October 2010 (while I was still in France) if I wanted to go with her to AFRICA in the summer of 2011 and I said, YES! Thats how far in advance I start planning trips...when I have yet to even be done with the last one. The plans for Africa were put on hold until I settled in with school and my Canadian lifestyle once again. And yes, after all the frustrations I mentioned in my last blog post, I have been able to make peace with Edmonton (at least for the time being).

During my last Reading Week I opted for the cheap idea and decided to fly to Vancouver on AirMiles to visit my cousin Jen and plan our trip to Africa. Jen is technically my cousin but basically we're like sisters. Our mom's were twin sisters and so we always found genetic rationale to prove that we were legitimate half-sisters. If you think about it, our mom's had identical DNA and we each have half our mom's DNA which means we share half of the same DNA, thus, half-sisters. Either way, I love it. And now, we've decided to embarq on this rediculously amazing journey to Africa together. How much better can it get?

The trip idea started since her late-husband was from Africa and his ashes are to be spread in Cape Town and Kreuger National Park (both in South Africa), but look to Jen and I to take a simple trip and take it as BIG as it can go....on a student's budget. Seems a little counter intuitive, I know. We decided to go for the cheapest flight possible (still too expensive) which has a 44 hour travel time to get us to Cape Town, South Africa AND we have a 12 hour layover in Doha, Qatar (where?!?). Needless to say it should be interesting. We're going to spend a couple weeks in South Africa, travelling from Cape Town to Johannesburg and then we plan to fly up to the United Republic of Tanzania for the last few weeks. In Tanzania we are going to relax on the beaches of Zanzibar (voted the most mythical place in the world) but before that, the crazy part...

We have put our deposits down with TK to hike up MOUNT KILIMANJARO (the highest free-standing mountain in the world) which summits at 5800m. Woohoo!! I am so incredibly excited for that but I have to say it's pretty difficult to start training when its still -20 Celcius outside.

I'm super pumped for such an incredible summer (even though it will be Winter on both continents) where I will be able to check so many things off my "Bucket List" and experience so many breathtaking moments and sights. It really is making it that much harder to get through the last 2 months of school but at the same time its pretty much the greatest reward for being a 2011 Bachelor of Commerce graduate! :D

Home?

I guess I've decided that I'm going to continue blogging since my travelling adventures will resume in May with a trip to Australia and New Zealand. However, I do have to warn you that things will probably be pretty bland throughout my school semester so I can't guarantee this will be an interesting read, especially compared to my fun filled weekends abroad.

After my ski-trip-filled-holidays things have kind of settled down in regards to my location as I'm stuck in E-town until at least the Family Day long weekend due to classes and my need to make some $$. I've been here for 5 days solid now -- which feels like ages to me -- and a full week of school under my belt. My course load is not too heavy (only 3 classes) so long as I passed all my classes in France (I'm still waiting to hear as grades are not due for the profs until Jan 28). I'm back to work as a server at Hudsons Bourbon Street to try and fund my August adventure. I'm keeping the location under wraps (for those who don't already know) until I'm sure about it because I think it might make me more bummed if I talk about it and get excited and then it doesn't work out for some reason.

Well...what do I have to say about being back in Edmonton? It's been mentally challenging -- I am definitely experiencing reverse culture shock even though it might not be outwardly obvious. Maybe I was expecting more comfort from seeing my friends and family than I actually feel but something still feels "off" for me. It's like everyone went about living their lives and not much changed but a whole lot in me changed, and being planted back in this monotonous seeming life is just kind of a let-down. I know I can't expect that I can travel to different countries, on weekends, for the rest of my life but it still feels strange. I am still enjoying being close to family and friends but that also means that I'm further away from other friends.

Another thing I already knew from my experience in Montreal, Panama and Bolivia, is that when you stay somewhere for either a long period of time (over a month) or when your life is affected significantly during the trip, you leave a piece of your heart behind. What you thought was your home (in my case, Edmonton) slowly becomes more simply a "home base" with numerous other places you can now call home. You leave your heart behind in the environment, in the culture of the country, in the language and in the relationships you built. All this just makes it that much harder once you've returned to the "home base."

On a lighter note, there are some things that I appreciate more now that I'm back in Canada -- things I had in France and am only working towards in Edmonton.

1) I find more peace in solitude. For those of you who know me, you know I'm an extrovert with a jam-packed social schedule. I realized I actually quite enjoyed the nights to myself in France when I was done working on homework and could just pour myself a glass of wine and read, watch tv or enjoy my dinner. Don't get my wrong, I quite enjoyed hanging out with friends in Grenoble and my busy weekends of travelling but the peace and quiet was nice every once in a while. BUT it is still a constant challenge for me to slow my life down, especially after being away for a semester, but I'm trying...always trying.

2) I have too much stuff. I kind of started learning this lesson a long time ago but it was more in the sense that I became grateful for the things that I have in comparison with those I met in both Bolivia and Panama. Ultimately, I think I still felt like I needed to have those things around me to feel comfortable. Living in France with not much to furnish my room really showed me that extra things I have don't keep me happy and don't add anything to my life. Don't get me wrong, you won't see me tossing my things and living with the bare minimum but the clutter in my life is actually getting to me now and is most definitely going to be reduced.

Just some of the stuff that has been on my mind as of late. Some of it still needs to be processed too so I'm sure you'll be hearing more in the coming months. Enjoy your weekend!

Mountains!

Since I've been home in Edmonton, Canada I decided it would be best to take advantage of the snow that has blanketed the mountains. SO, I headed on the Downhill Riders trip to Whitefish, Montana for New Years with my friend Robyn and 7 others. It was a gong-show busride for the 10 hrs or so it took to get there but we had a blast! We skiied 2 days of the 4 and enjoyed the challenge of the mountain and the powder that had fallen. The company was awesome along with the cheap alcohol and relaxation time.

After my quick escapade to the USA I was home for 2 days and my dad, sister (her boyfriend) and I hit the highway for our annual family ski trip. This years location of choice was Banff, Alberta and skiing at Sunshine. The snow kept falling so we had an amazing amount of powder which was just perfect for trying out my NEW snowboard that I got for Christmas! :D I got an Arbor Push board made of bamboo (which makes it super light) with Salomon boots and bindings. Needless to say I was excited to start riding!! I also loved that I finally got to see one of my good friends Steph because she has been living in Canmore, AB since finishing university. The weekend finished off with a quick stay in Calgary, AB with my cousins and their super adorably lovable daughter Ayla (13 months old).

There's no way I can say I didn't make the most of my Christmas holidays and even though it was busy I enjoyed every minute of it. Tonight I'm relaxing with a glass of wine and trying not to think about the inevitable start of school and classes which begin tomorrow. At least it's my final semester of my Bachelors Degree!

Canadaland

To be honest, as soon as I arrived in Canada I forgot about my blog. It seems that the busyness of my life before I left was just put on hold and ready to bombard me as soon as I got home again. But it has been fun too.

In the end, Jess and I never made it to Marrakech which was (more than) thoroughly dissapointing for me. I was soooo excited to check out the "riads", maybe go to a spa, go 4x4ing, take a camel ride and be in a warm climate before heading back to frigid Canada. We left Grenoble, France at 5am on Friday December 17, 2010 after an evening of celebrating. Unfortunately, we missed our flight at 7am due to circumstances that were out of our control but also due to the lack of organization and communication on the part of the airport storage staff. We then decided to shell out the extra 200 euro to pay for a new flight to Morocco later that evening. We waited around the airport in Lyon all day and evening because our flight was delayed and eventually cancelled and not because of the weather (like many other flights) but because there was no crew to fly our plane. This left us a bit in despair seeing as all the hotels around the airport were now booked and no taxis were willing to drive into town because of the "horrific weather" (a little snow) that they were experiencing.Luckily Jess and I were able to book a hotel in Lyon on an airport computer and caught the last Rhone Express train to town. We had to stay at a hotel for 3 nights, basically waiting until our flight home to Canada was to depart on Tuesday December 21, 2010. We decided just to relax, watch movies, re-packing, eat macaroons and pain au chocolat and try to dissolve our bitterness over Morocco.

The weather was not letting up and we had read on Facebook that many of our other classmates were stuck in Lyon or in other parts of Europe during their attempts to get home for the holidays. London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle were essentially closed due to large snowfall and the airports unpreparedness for handling this type of weather. The other regional airports such as Frankfurt and Lyon were having issues flying since the snow would fall, melt (because weather sat around zero degrees) and then would freeze again and all the runways could not be cleared or it was not safe to fly. Needless to say, Jess and I started getting concerned about making it to Frankfurt on Tuesday (the first leg of our flight home). In the end we switched that flight to Monday and spend a solid 22 hours in the Frankfurt airport, overnight, until our flight to Calgary left the next afternoon.

If you look close this picture is of the departure monitors in Frankfurt and you can see that over 90% of the flights the day we left Europe were cancelled.

Either way both us and our luggage made it home to Canada, eventually, and after some stressing and large amounts of frustration. I've got to say though that when I took my first breath as I walked off the plane in Canada, the air was so cold I started coughing because my lungs couldn't take it. Not a pleasant welcome.

Best part about being home was that I got to see my friends and family and that I was home for Christmas, especially when I knew there were so many people that were still stuck in airports and didn't make it home for the holidays.

My Lists

Okay so I lied. One more blog post before I head to Morocco and then onto Canada. If you rememeber, way at the start of my blog in my "Aurevoir" post I wrote a list of things I was looking forward to experiencing in France and things I thought I would miss from Canada. Turns out that the things I thought I would miss were not all as big of a deal as I thought so I figured the list needed a little revamping before I went home based on the actual results of my trip. I also decided to write my new list of things that I am most definitely going to miss from France now that I've lived here for 4 months. Here goes.

Things I Actually Missed from Canada

1) My friends
2) My family
3) Hugs
4) My car (especially for groceries)
5) My own bed (my mattress here is absolute crap)
6) My full closet selection (although I quickly broadened my selection here and am now dealing with the concequences while trying to pack)
7) Simple health coverage/my massage therapist
8) People who removed the snow from the streets right after a dump
9) Church and worship with others
10) Having a couch
11) Effective heating
12) Carpet in my room
13) A showerhead you don't need to hold onto
14) Alberta beef/steak
15) Thanksgiving and Halloween
16) Having a washing machine in my house
17) Being able to eat at a restaurant anytime of day, not just from 1-3pm and 7-midnight
18) The gym and working out
19) Starbucks/regular sized coffees
20) Having a backyard

Things I Will Miss from France

1) My friends
2) 2 Euro wine
3) Pain au Chocolat
4) Living in the mountains
5) Walking to school
6) Cheap shoes
7) Gelato
8) Travelling to other countries on the weekends
9) Living by a crystal blue (most of the time) river
10) Speaking French
11) Palmiers (a pastry of course)
12) Fresh bread
13) Christmas market
14) Skiing in the Alps 30 minutes away
15) 12 above weather in December
16) My small class that became my large family
17) Widespread rugby
18) Swiss chocolate being so close

Bittersweet

Here's a little snapshot of where I'm at now. I have:

ONE full day remaining until final exam week starts (with 4 exams to write).
FIVE days until final exams are over.
FIVE and a half days until Jess and I leave for Marrakech, Morocco and most of my friends leave Grenoble.
TEN days (or just over) until I land at the Edmonton International Airport.

Every day that passes seems to be bittersweet. I'm looking forward to going home and seeing my friends and family again but everytime I think about it I am countered with the thought of leaving France and all of the friends I've made who have become my 'away from home' family. I hate the thought that I might not see some of them ever again. I'm sad that the time and effort I've put into these relationships might be 'all for not' if we struggle to keep in contact, but at the same time I'm excited to have new friends across the world, whom I can visit, as well as new travel opportunities.

I'm a little bit scared to return to Canada. Scared that it will feel different, for the adjustments I know I will need to make and scared that I will feel like I left part of myself or my heart in Grenoble. Even a little bit scared that I will settle back into my 'normal life' far too easily and not let myself be challenged by the things I've learned and what I've experienced.

No matter the mish-mash of things that I'm feeling I am certainly going to try to enjoy my last few days in Grenoble and in Europe in whatever way I even can. I write this with a sense of frustration because I wish to be living this week to the fullest and doing everything I enjoy however, the need to study for finals is a huge hinderance on my ability to follow through. Unfortunately, that means that my next 4 days will be spent in little contact with others, cooped up in my apartment, trying to pack as much knowledge in as my brain can currently handle. It also means that you should consider this my last blog post until I land on Canadian soil, or at least until I return to Grenoble (for 6 hours) after Morocco and before my departure from Europe.

Oh and with all this stuff going on its even more exciting when the thought comes to mind that there's actually only 2 weeks left until Christmas!! (just a little bit excited)

Until next time.

Ski Day!

It's on my bucket list to ski in both the French and Swiss Alps and on Saturday I was finally able to cross one of those off my list :)

I found out mid week that a couple people from my class were planning to head to Deux Alps to ski/ride for the day and I jumped on that like a fat kid on cake (or like Dania on a pain au chocolat). I brought most of my ski stuff to France since it was always my intention to make it to a mountain before I left and just had to borrow snow pants from someone. Luckily that worked itself out quite easily. Unfortunately, I came for the wrong school semester to ski because the ski season really only started last week and its still "low season." But either way I was determined to get out on the slopes even with my impending final exams and papers.

It had been snowing/raining for the last week solid and I completely lucked out because Saturday was just gorgeous weather and the sun was shining ALL day. No snow to blind us but super fresh powder from all the snow that had fallen the night and days before. Many of my classmates had never actually skiied before, or at least not much, so I ended up skiing by myself for the morning. This was perfectly fine by me and I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. Put the earphones in, gloves on and I was set to discover the French Alps.

Well the sad thing was that since it is still "low season" only 1/4 to a 1/3 of the lifts and runs were open since most of the snow had yet to settle and avalanche warnings were high. The guy at the rental shop (yes I had to rent gear which was a frustrating change from using my own) had actually given me freestyle skis accidently so I just stuck with them and decided it would be interesting to try them out. Different skis, powder and high altitudes led to a fun but challenging day of skiing. Not only that but after hitting up numerous black runs, which took me a while to get through, I discovered that the European rating system is different than Canada and the black runs I was taking were actually considered double blacks in Canada and the red runs here are what we consider 'black diamonds'. Plus, I was soon informed that the altitude was much higher than Canadian mountains and we got up to about 3000m above sea level. Boy, did that ever make me feel better about my skiing. For the morning I had just determined I had just gotten super out of shape since last season or that the freestyle skis were so much harder to use since it was taking so much more energy to ski the slopes than usual.

Ultimately the day was awesome; hanging out with friends, eating tasty, wood oven pizza, skiing in powder and discovering a new mountain. My only regret is that I wish I was here to experience the Alps to their fullest, for the whole winter. I guess the Rocky Mountains will have to do until the next European adventure!

Paris, Je T'aime

Good news. Remember when I said in my last post that I was quite saddened knowing I wouldn't be travelling again until after finals? Well that didn't last long and I was actually able to skip town again this past weekend and head for the marvellous city of Par-ee (Paris for you English speakers who didn't catch on)!

I definitely lucked out on this trip. I spent only a couple days lamenting on my lack of future travels when I got an invitation from my friend Charlie to see the Australia vs. France international rugby game on Saturday November 27. That fact in itself had me quite excited and it just topped it with a cherry when I found out that the game was at the Stade de France in Paris. Yes....I was a happy camper. Then Jess decided she was going to come along to explore the city for the weekend also! So we did what we've done best and got online to check out the train schedule and book hostels. We managed to snag on right by the Montmarte area just down from the Sacre Coeur basilica.

Since we had both already visited Paris on touristy trips (4 years ago for me) we decided to spend another long-weekend just relaxing and wandering...boy do I enjoy brief moments of that lifestyle in the midst of the rushed craziness of my usual life. We arrived Thursday evening and searched out the nearest Starbucks. Vitally important since we are so lacking in Grenoble. We then spent the night wandering around by the Moulin Rouge and checked out maybe going to a show....89 Euro?? Didn't happen. The cold was a bit of a shock since we'd been enjoying the mild temperatures of Grenoble, and walking around all day outside just aplifies the "chilled to the bone" feeling, so it was time for the ski jacket, toque and definitely shoes with socks!

Friday we hit up Starbucks again for a "Latte Caramel Noisette" (their Christmas special we don't have in Canada) and headed to Centre Pompidou. We voted against seeing the museums and instead just enjoyed the "modern art" architechture and went out in search of another Starbucks. We checked out the Sorbonne (only from the ouside due to security) and walked around the Latin Quarter in the afternoon looking in quaint bookshops and some jewlery stores. It was then that it started to SNOW....we were quite excited since this was the first snow of the season and we're in the romantic city of Paris....lacking men of course but that's okay. Our evening finished with a giant Indian meal and relaxation at a "tea house" near our hostel.

How did we start Saturday you might ask? Take a guess. Starbucks. I'm tellin ya, you gotta take what you can get while it's around because deprivation sets in fast when small cups of instant coffee are the only thing around. We met Charlie there since he had to come on a later train and took the afternoon to see the Tour Eiffel and walk along the Seine river, enjoying the fall colours and the sun that decided to finally peek through the clouds. We ended up at the Champs d'Elysee where we got to experience something Canada is missing. A Christmas Market! They have little log cabins set up along the avenue selling crafts, scarves, waffles, crepes as well as food stands with giant woks of tartiflette, paella, hot wine, etc. It was a feast for my eyes and my stomach! All the trees were lit up with Chrsitmas lights and there was a ferris wheel, merry-go round and slides that were entertaining the children. It was picturesque and even better when Jess and I went back Sunday to see it in the dark. Saturday night we headed to Charlie's hostel for dinner, beer and cards and off we went to the RUGBY GAME! We had managed to claim the last 2 scarves for that rugby match earlier in the day and were pretty excited to show our colours while cheering on the Aussie team. Of course they whopped France's ass 61-16 final score. Definitely tops as one of the most awesome moments in my life. To end the day, Charlie and I met up with Jess and two girls we met at our hostel (one from Germany and one from Australia) and checked out an absynthe bar that had a definite punk atmosphere.

Sunday was our last day in Paris and we decided to get some much needed rest....which really, was a stupid plan because you never really get a good sleep in a hostel. Either way, we stayed in bed until 10, had a lunch from the grocery store and spent the rest of the day just going back to buy some things we wanted and chilling at...Starbucks. Like I mentioned previously, we also went back to see the Champs Elysee all lit up at night and headed to the train station for a 1st class trip home (they were all out of the other seats....we're too poor for that usually haha).

Needless to say the weekend was an absolute blast and I got lots of fresh air, no matter how cold it was. I quite enjoyed getting my full caffeine fix (as you can see based on the 5 or more visits) and spending time with friends. A la prochaine fois!

Chartreuse Anyone?

Just a quick post compared to the others but I wanted to mention a neat place to check out if you ever come to the Rhone-Alps area of France. After finishing two major group presentations last week, Jess, myself and Charlie (a friend from the UK) headed to Voiron, France on Wednesday November 24th. We did not pick this small town at random, rather it is home to the Chartreuse caves, unique to France and to this area specifically. So alcohol, plus the cheap train tickets of only 5 euro, were essentially what drew us to Voiron for the afternoon.

Voiron was only a 15 minute train ride from Grenoble but there was not much to look at while there, other than the Chartreuse caves. After some cafe au lait at a local shop to kill the time (since things are closed from 12-2pm) we headed down the road to the caves. Luckily, entrance was free (important for us poor students) and we enjoyed our tour, which ended with a free tasting!

Chartreuse is a liqueur made by the Cartheusian Monks since the 1740's. To create the flavour, alcohol is mixed with 130 different herbal extracts and aged for years. It ranges in alcohol content from 40-55%. Most people don't realize there are so many types of Chartreuse as restaurants and bars in Canada tend to only stock the green (55%) version and it's quite expensive at that. During the tasting we had the chance to try the green and yellow Chartreuses along with Genepi (a liquor featuring local mountain flora). In addition, there is Chartreuse VEP which is aged longer in oak casks, Liqueur du 9eme Centenaire and Chartreuse 1605. Lastly there is the Elixir Vegetal de la Grand-Chartreuse which is the original version/discovery of Chartreuse. Historically it was thought to lengthen people's lives but now you can actually find it at the pharmacy and mix a drop or two with water or sugar in order to help with digestion.

I ended up learning a lot and enjoyed the day of relaxing away from school and homework in general. We picked up some regional wine on the way home to finish off the evening with a hot dinner and glass of red. Always makes my day. Okay so I guess this wasn't such a quick post after all...

Inbetween

After a marvellous long weekend things headed downhill for a bit. I had woken up on the Saturday morning Jess and I left for Annecy with a sore neck. This had happened before and was only because I had slept funny...the kink worked itself out by the end of the day. But that was not the case this time. In fact, by the end of the day, the pain had moved into my left shoulder and I had a hard time sleeping that night because it was becoming so painful. This pain continued throughout Sunday and Monday where I got extremely fed up and went to buy some strange muscle relaxant from the pharmacist and hoped the misery would soon be over.

By Monday the pain had not dissipated, the relaxants hadn't helped and by the end of the night the pain was in my mid back as well (on the left side). I had determined I would call the doctor in the morning. I had been trying to avoid having to visit a health practicioner because I really didn't want to have to deal with emergency health insurance while travelling but there's only so much pain one can handle. And it's a good thing I called the doctor because by Tuesday evening the pain had spread around my side and into my chest, surrounding my lungs, and making it very painful to breathe. Let me tell you that it is one of the scariest things to feel like the breath is being taken right out of you and I was preparing myself to have to go to the hospital. I couldn't even lie in bed without being in distress and had to pace my room for an hour an a half before I could even try to sleep. At this point it was painful to laugh, cough, walk and now breathe. It had gone too far.

I made it to the doctor the next morning. It was a little different from Canada in that when I called the doctor I reached him personally, not a receptionist. When I arrived at the office I just sat down and waited until the doctor came and got me himself. He brought me into his office which was a wooden desk with papers all around and I sat down and explained what was wrong. Then he took me behind a curtain in the same room to an examination chair to check my breathing/pain, etc. At the end of the visit he gave me the perscriptions (as doctors normally do) but then gave me a bill which I pain in cash and he put into his desk drawer. So strange. At least I knew the forms were legit and I would get reimbursed, somehow, but it was definitely a different doctor experience.

Ultimately, the doctor didn't really know what was wrong so he just perscribed me with some drugs he hoped would help. I actually had to ask about potentially seeing a physio or massage therapist or a chiropractor. He said to try the drugs and if they didn't work by Friday to come back and he would refer me to see someone. They ended up helping and now the pain is gone from my back but I can still feel residue in my shoulder in neck. At this point (20 days left) I will just wait until I get back to Canada and see my massage therapist so I don't have to worry about reimbursement for emergency treatment here in France.

Annecy

After Venice I only had to make it through 3 days of classes before it was the Armistice Day long weekend. It was so strange to experience this holidays without seeing every second person walking around wearing a poppy on their jacket. However, I remembered the soldiers just the same and enjoyed the time away from school. Jess and I didn't have another major trip planned since travel was expensive at this time due to the long weekend, but we had decided to do some local exploration and check out the town of Annecy, France only an hour train ride north-east of Grenoble. It has been under either Swiss or French control for the last 100 years so has much influence from both cultures.

Annecy already had the reputation of being a beautiful town and oh did it ever live up to those expectations. First, the weather a balmy 16 degrees on Saturday November 13 and the sun was shining on us all day, reflecting off the turquoise-blue Lac d'Annecy and the snow capped mountains. We were able to walk around without our jackets off and bask in the sun's rays as we walked along the side of the lake watching the rowers, kayakers, playful children and just enjoying the amazing day we were given.

Our day mostly consisted of wandering around and exploring but we did discover a gelato shop with at least 30 different flavours to choose from, some tasty cookies, the old part of town and Le Chateau at the top of the hill (which ended up just being a museum inside that was not as interesting as we had expected).

I was glad we were able to get away for even just the day but it was kind of depressing when we returned to Grenoble since I realized I had no other trips planned until after finals, which was over a month away. In retrospect I lucked out because it didn't stay that way for long. But thats for another post, another day!

Venezia!

Somehow I manage to stay a month behind in my posts but I promise you I will be caught up by the end of this coming weekend.

And so the story continues. After returning from Monaco I spent only 10 days swamped in midterms and group presentations/reports before Jess and I whisked ourselves away to Venice, Italy on Thursday November 4, 2010. We had both visited Italy on previous trips to Europe but my cities travelled were limited to Rome, Pisa, Florence, Naples, Sorrento and Capri so Venice was one I wasn't going to miss out on a second time around. Not only that but we managed to get our flight tickets for only 100 euro round trip and a hotel reservation for a hostel price of 20 euro a night! We definitely scored a deal. However, we spent the whole week leading up to this trip not only anxious about our school work but anxious about another French strike. Seemingly, Air France (our airline of choice) was planning a strike of their airport staff for the day we were planning to leave as well as the day after. To top it off, French transport unions had decided to strike the 3 days after which included the day of our flight home to Grenoble. Well weren't Jess and I just soooo pleased.

In the end things worked out fine and although there was only one Air France rep working the counter at the airport, it wasn't very busy anyways so we made it through and the planes still flew the skies. Luckily, the French transport unions actually shortened, or limited, their strike the following days so we were able to make it home (barely) but that's another story for later.

Jess and I quite enjoyed our 5 day weekend in Venice. It was a bit warmer than in Grenoble (12 degrees) but the sun was nowhere to be found. I heard later on that intense fog is pretty typical of Venice for that time of year but it did add a mysterious feel to the city on water. We voted against doing the super touristy things so Jess and I spent lots of our time just wandering around, shopping, and eating gelato and pizza. Of course we visited the Piazza San Marco and the Ponte Rialto but our favourite turned out to be the island of Murano or the "glass island." It was so easy to spend a whole day there just admiring the hand blown glass art and far to easy to spend our money on unique glass jewelery.

We had a project to submit online while we were in Venice so it was the first time we took our laptops on a trip and I would never do it again. Travelling on weekends has acted as our relaxation time and escape from the craziness that school brings and bringing our laptops and having access to email just didn't provide us with that same freedom. However, homework did NOT stop us from enjoying wine in our hotel room and picking up a delicious pizza (flat crust with roasted red peppers, eggplant, zucchini and cheese) to-go from the local Restaurante Palladio up the road...YUM, YUM!

We managed to avoid rain all weekend except it caught up to us our last night there. We were quite a sight running around the main island with our shoes soaked and broken umbrella in hand trying to find our way and duck into stores whenever possible to stay some kind of dry. After a tasty meal we decided to check out a live show about Venezia at the Teatro San Gallo. It was actually very interesting to learn all about the history of the city and how they became known for the strange masks and stories, although it would have been better had we seen it at the start of the weekend and knew more about the things we saw along the way. Either way, our last night was a good one and we tried to head to bed by 10pm since we had to get up at 4am the next morning to head to the airport....early morning flights were only our choice because we still had class to attend that day.

The airport story (long story short): Jess and I were informed only a day before our flight that there were no busses that actually ran to the airport early enough to get us there for our flight at 630am (since we were staying in Malcontenta which is outside of Venice). Thus, we had to figure something else out and were advised that the best idea would be to bus to one of the train stations and catch a taxi from there to the airport, which was still going to cost us 30 euro. We weren't happy about that but we were informed that there would be taxis at the train station at that hour and they were more reliable then hoping the busses would run on time. Boy was THAT a wrong assumption! We made it to the train station on time only to find out there were no taxis. After some waiting, panicking, then imagining of the worst case scenario and the amount of cash we might have had to dish out to get home for classes, a taxi waiting for a reservation at a hotel across the street called in another taxi for us. By this point we were running out of time and had about 45 mintues before our flight was going to leave. I feared for my life as we flew down the dark, slippery roads at 110 km/hr in a 70 zone but the amazing driver got us to the airport in 7 minutes (a supposed 15 minute drive). We made it through check-in in time but boarding had started and finished while we waited through the security line up. We heard "Spillett and Steingard" paged not one but three times before we cut in line and sprinted to our gate, panting and getting a dirty look from the gate attendant.

Of course we made it home safe and sound and off to class that afternoon but boy were we already worn out from the day by the time 7am rolled around and we had classes until 8pm that night. No....we didn't end up making it and skipped the last hour and a half of marketing. You try paying attention to a class you've already taken after that kind of day!

Bond. James Bond.

Well you can't say I didn't pre-warn you. This is basically where my blogging abilities have fallen off the bandwagon seeing as its been over a month since my last post. So much has happened since then it seems. Either way when I mentioned in my last post that I was getting really busy with school work, I was probably being too modest. Basically I got smoked with group projects, reports and presentations (at least 2 a week). This would have been more manageable had I not planned another weekend trip for October with my Dad and a trip to Venice at the start of November....more about those will follow.

Essentially I found out that not only is this semester the hardest of my whole degree program at GGSB but, the emphasis on being a Grand Ecole is actually more than I thought. It seems as though this gives the school much more status than I realized and thus, much more work. Anyone who wants to work in government/politics in Europe really needs to have graduated from a Grand Ecole and its definitely considered more prestigious than the Universities around Grenoble. This really didn't matter too much to me, considering I was barely aware, but it's nice to have that advantage on my resume if I ever decide to work in Europe.

My dad arrived in Grenoble on Wednesday Oct 13 and we left on Thursday Oct 21 for Monaco. This trip almost didn't happen. One, I was swamped with work and a midterm and project deadline got moved to the week after we were planning to escape to the South of France. Also, the French had continued to strike, interfering with life as I knew it, and were blocking off the gazole/diesel distribution channels throughout France. This might have been alright aside from the fact that my dad and I had decided to rent a car and were going to drive to Monaco. Thus, we were never really certain what was going to happen the day we were planning to leave; all we knew was a rental car would be waiting but we had no idea how full the tank of gas would be and if we would be able to fill up when necessary. Ultimately everything was fine and we had no problem finding diesel when we needed it. Definitely lucked out.

Monaco was incredible! Due to my mad navigating skills, we made it safe and sound to Monaco, more specifically, the Fairmont Monte Carlo. Yes....my father spoiled me and it was awesome! I was so happy to have a large and comfortable bed along with new sheets everyday. Also, there was the most amazing rooftop restaurant/lounge/champagne bar overlooking the Mediterranean that was breathtaking both at night and during the day. The moon reflecting off the sea was a beautiful sight and the warm air was a nice change from the chilly and rainy temperatures we had been getting in Grenoble the week before. In fact, the warmth was so unexpected I didn't have the proper clothes and ended up rolling up my jeans as makeshift capris. Glad we brought our bathingsuits since on Friday October 22 we spent the afternoon sun bathing, eating gelato and swimming in the sea. LOVED IT.

In the end the weekend gave my dad and I lots of time to relax, aside from the fact that I had to study for a French and Business Law midterm during the evenings. We got to see the famous Monte Carlo Casino where the James Bond Casino Royale was filmed although it was 15 euro to even get entrance and 25 euro minimum bet so we didn't bother gambling there. In fact, our hotel was backing right onto the side of the casino. I also received some eye candy in the form of beautiful cars; Aston Martins, Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris....and I was in heaven :D In addition, we ate dinner over the marina, checked out the mini carnival between Monte Carlo and Monaco City, tried to make our way into Monaco City and spent some time walking the beach. On the Saturday we took the car for another adventure and went to visit Cannes, the location of the famous, international film festival. The weather was still gorgeous for this daytrip and so we enjoyed walking along the Boulevard de la Croisette and taking a train ride for a historical and celebrity tour of the city.

By Sunday we had savoured the time we had by the sea and had to make our way back to Grenoble. Of course, the ugly, rainy weather welcomed us home to the start of a week of insanity for me and my dad's last week in Grenoble.

Amsterdam

As I mentioned in my last post, Jess and I spent Thanksgiving weekend in Amsterdam. It was a little sad not getting to have the traditional turkey and mashed potato meal, like we usually do in Canada, and not getting to be with our families but we still had a good time.

Once again I was pleased to get my Starbucks fix (although $8 for a grande size) and stock up on Swiss chocolate since we had to train to Geneva in order to fly to Amsterdam. We got a chance to check out the Heineken Brewery/museum, Anne Frank House, coffee shops, the red light district and just wander around taking in the architecture and sights. We enjoyed numerous Dutch meals/pastries and finally got to have some strawberries (been craving them for a while).

I think I'm in denial that its fall. In Grenoble the weather had been sitting around 21 degrees since I arrived and the last two times that I've gone away for the weekend I've experienced temperatures closer to 10 degrees. And of course, each time I am under dressed since I was planning for warmer weather. Needless to say, I bought both a jacket and some winter boots in Amsterdam. No, it wasn't that cold but at least now I'm more prepared for when fall/winter actually does come. Because its more humid here than in Edmonton you feel the cold faster than you do back home too.

Now that I'm back in Grenoble for the next little while, it's time to focus on school. I've actually become very overwhelmed by my classes and not just because I've been leaving town frequently. Within the next 3 weeks I have 5 group presentations/reports to finish and 2 midterms to study for. GEM faculty says employers are looking for graduates that can work in groups but I think they took that to a little bit of an extreme when planning the curriculum!

If you want to read about my classes and assignments, Jess (another exchange student) wrote a blog all about it so you can check that out instead of me just repeating it all. Also note that 2 of these classes have regular and necessary textbook reading to keep up with and 2 of the classes usually have weekly or bi-weekly homework assignments as well. YAY!

Needless to say...I have lots of work to do. Hopefully I can just buckle down and focus even though my dad is visiting for the next two weeks. I think I'll have mad co-ordinating skills after all this group project/meeting planning when every class has a different group mixture.

Thanksgiving

Okay, okay so I know that's not until next weekend (at least for us Canadians) but seeing as I will be in Amsterdam, Netherlands without computer access I will write about it now. For some reason thankfulness has been on my mind lately too. Maybe it has something to do with the amazing experiences I am having or the incredible scenery around here....or maybe just the fact that I've had lots of reflection time either on the tram, trains, busses, planes or walking. Also, I had my first option class yesterday and I'm taking International Humanitarian & Development Intervention. We talked about countries in need of aid and UN assistance and that also got me thinking on the things I take for granted, either here in France or in Canada. Or maybe God was just trying to get me to realize how lucky I am. Most likely a mixture of all those things.

Either way, during my time living in France I've gone through some periods of missing the comforts of home and sometimes missing the predictability of my life in Canada (although that part doesn't usually last for long). Because I've been fighting a brutal cold this last week it seems my desire for those things was recently heightened. However, as I was walking home from a marvellous shopping trip this afternoon, I flipped a switch in my thinking and started considering all the things I love about being here. Don't get me wrong...thats not a rare occurance as I am so enjoying my time here.

I know this list could really go on forever but these were some of my more recent considerations.

I am thankful that:

-I live at the base of the French Alps near a river full of clean glacier water with a gorgeous view to be had, everyday
- It's October 2 and I was able to wear a tank top, shorts and sandals today (even though the lady at the grocery store asked me why I wasn't cold dressed like that--which makes me consider that this is normal weather for them)
- I have hot water to shower with and a warm apartment
- I have a computer to keep in contact with friends and family
- I have friends in places all over the world
- I have the ability to travel freely, without persecution, all over Europe
- I can afford to buy food to feed myself
- I feel am living in a generally safe place where I have no fear of being shot or attacked on my way to school and to the store
- Although I may be fighting off illness, I am not in an area suffering from malaria, malnutrition, exposure and dysentry
- My walls are thin and I often wake up to screaming kids or loud footsteps but I am not waking up to bombs and gunfire
- I learned French when I grew up and can now get along on a daily basis in a language other than my mothertounge
- I got to enjoy Haagen-Dazs icecream AND a dark chocolate-banana crepe with Jess this afternoon
- There is an English speaking church in Grenoble
- I am privy to an education
- I am loved

As I walked contemplating all these things I really was overwhelmed at how much God has blessed me.

As it comes close to Thanksgiving, try to consider not only the things directly around you for which you are thankful but the things you might take for granted, which people in under-developed/war-torn countries are likely missing. Now consider how lucky and blessed you really are.

Dania

Oktoberfest

I'm not going spill all the juicy details and stories on my blog so if you guys are still interested in hearing more about my trip to Oktoberfest you'll just have to ask once I get home to Canada. For now, I just have a few things to share...including the fact that going to Oktoberfest 2010 in Munich was probably one of the most memorable experiences of my life!

It was super nice the whole drive to Germany and as soon as we arrived at our super cute hotel in Talhausen (25 min outside Munich because prices were crazy $$ in the city) it started pouring. That didn't dampen our moods though as we were determined. I love German food so we had an authentic meal at our hotel and hitched a ride to Freising to the train station in order to get ourselves to Munich for the evening (Fri, Sept 24).

Because it was raining it was easy to find a spot at a beer tent at Oktoberfest. Just meant we had to keep our jackets and hoods up since there was no cover. And so the litres came....just kidding. Only two each, that night.

Woke up crazy early Saturday morning (5am) to be at Oktoberfest in line for a tent at 7:30am. Loved the breakfast of bratwurst on a bun and soooo loved my Chai latte from Starbucks that morning even though I paid almost $7CAN for it. We got into the tent fast enough (luckily) and the beer started flowing at 9am. We were back at our hotel and crashed in bed by 10:30pm and everything that happened in between...those are stories for in person HAHA. No, the rain never let up so that was part of it but 5L of beer in 7 hours or so will also help to do one in.

Sunday morning we got up, not at all hungover due to the 10:30pm bedtime, and made our way back to Switzerland with a quick stop in Munich to see the Olympic Park and the new soccer stadium.

Switzerland

AND I'm back.

Holy smokes, what a week. Well....weekend mostly.

It started Thursday afternoon as Jess and I were finishing up International Marketing class. We had our backpacks packed and everything ready to go for our long weekend in Switzerland/Germany. We were enjoying break and talking to others about our upcoming trip when someone blurts out, "Don't you know the French transit is on strike again today?" Needless to say, NO, we did not know that. Its never written anywhere when these days are going to happen yet somehow, other people are in the know and I am not. We decided to check the train anyways at 1:30pm and no, it was no longer scheduled. Here we go again I thought...

Luckily the busses were still running to the Geneve (Geneva to English speaking people) airport so we paid our extra $50 for the inconvenience and hopped on that one leaving only 30 minutes later. Unfortunately that meant missing our planned train connection. Thank goodness for flexible tickets because it let us just hop on the next train from Geneve to Zurich with the same ticket we had previously purchased. From there it was Zurich to Zug where we met up with Marc, a friend of mine who lives in Switzerland but had come to work in Canada for the last year or two (where we met).

Although we arrived in Switzerland at night it was already amazing. We had dinner on a patio of an Italian restaurant right off the Lake of Zug and then headed to Lucerne to a lounge called "Suite" on the roof of a hotel. Here we experienced a breathtaking view of the mountains, the Lake of Lucerne and all the city lights. Luckily, we planned to come back Monday for more exploring, after our weekend in Germany.

The drive through Switzerland (and even 20 minutes in Austria) was incredible. It was a marvellous 25 degrees, although we were in a car, and the mountains were looking glorious while the lakes reflected the clear blue of the sky. The stereotypical green pastures, with cows everywhere, was exactly how I pictured. I decided this would be the place to paraglide if I get the chance to go back. We even drove past the country of Liechtenstein during our drive!

For ease of reading I'll write about Oktoberfest in the next post. We arrived home from Germany Sunday (Sept 26) evening, enjoyed a warm meal in the midst of crappy weather and headed to bed. Marc had to work Monday so Jess and I headed by train to explore Lucerne. we wandered around, marvelled at the view, climbed up some of the towers, crossed the famous Chapel bridge and munched on some Swiss goodies. Yes, there was some shopping in there too.

After a far to early start on Tuesday morning Jess and I finally made it back in Grenoble at 12:45pm for a class that started at 1:15. And so started another week of classes.

Party Time

I have to say I told you so. I told you I fail at keeping journals and thus am also failing at updating this blog AND I bet it's just going to get worse as the semester wears on. Either way, here I am again backtracking on the last week or more.

I spent most of last week settling in to life in Grenoble after all the random travelling thus far. Grocery shopping, getting internet at home, doing laundry and catching up on the things I hadn't accomplished during the first week which Jess and I spent in Spain instead. We also had more orientation sessions to attend and had to get our supplies for school. Unfortunately I learned that France does not like to use regular, lined, looseleaf paper. Nope. Instead, they use some weird graph paper type thing and their paper sizes and binders are all longer than ours in Canada. I accepted this eventually and went searching for a clipboard to carry notes back and forth to school. Nope. Couldn't find one of those either. An agenda with a monthly calendar also? Nope. And yes, randomly, peanut butter? Nope again.

Anyways, it was clearly a discovering week, discovering all the things France doesn't have that made me miss Canada just a little bit more. In the end the week was not a bust as we spent Wednesday (Sept 15) on a team building adventure where we hiked up the the Bastille on the mountain and got to play a variety of sports, eat baguettes and pain au chocolat, explore tunnels and just enjoy the 26 degrees it was that afternoon.

Let me tell you that the French like to party. It all started Wednesday evening. Yes, school was in session for some people but there was a party in one of the residences for the Mexican Independence Day from 9pm til oh, 5am...however, I decided to be lame and hit the hay that night since the sun at the team building event about drained my energy. Probably the best plan since you couldn't move within the room and I heard the police ended up at the residence to break it up anyways.

Then came Thursday. Jess and I decided we needed to integrate ourselves more with all the other students at GEM so we signed up for the Bureau des Estudiants' (BDE - Student Union type thing) Integration Weekend or Week End de Integration (WEI) as the French would say. We were to leave for an unknown location in the south of France, on the Mediterranean, on Friday at 1:30am in the morning. Well I figured I'd sleep til then, get up and catch the bus and fall asleep again til we got there in the morning. Boy was I wrong. We soon found out we were supposed to meet at 7:30 for dinner and then at 10:30pm for the pre-bus party at someone's apartment. Let's just say everyone was pretty drunk by the time it was 1:30 and time for us to board the bus. Did the party stop? Hell no, this is France. And it continued all the way until 6am, about an hour before we arrived and the point when everyone decided it was finally time to put down the microphones and sleep for a bit.

I eventually found out we ended up in Canet du Plage, France which was very near to the border of Spain. Needless to say the weekend was awesome even though it proceeded to rain most of the time. Some of the activities included hanging at the beach, paintball, bumper cars, human slingshot, mini rodeo, foam party, random drink parties, inflatable slip n slide, etc. Some sleep was had and also a lot of fun. The 6 hour drive took us home Sunday afternoon and I prepared to start classes for the semester on Monday morning! Yup...that's the boring part of this all. Haha.

The only thing about Integration Weekend that I would mention to future students of GEM is that it seemed to be mostly French students who went. As a result, not much "integration" actually happens unless you are willing walk up to a random stranger and strike up a conversation in French. They do appreciate the effort though but sometimes the conversations are short-lived.

So...I'm headed off to Switzerland tomorrow with Jess to meet up with a friend and head to Oktoberfest but when I get back I'll share a bit of my first week of school experiences as well as some of this upcoming trip.

PS- I just sucked it up and bought a replacement camera today so there should be more pictures to come on Facebook. And one of these days I'll add some to the blog so your eyes don't start to cross from all the reading.

A la prochaine (no I can't figure out accents either on here for the French words)!