ESC: Tacos? Not really.

 "One of the great pleasures I enjoy as I travel throughout the world is the opportunity to meet and greet our missionaries."     

                            - M. Russell Ballard                                   

Cobblestone Alleys

Ethan arrived on Friday from Lithuania around 6am, but he couldn't check into his room until 11am. He dropped off his stuff at my place around 7am and we took an early morning walk through Clermont. It was incredible how the town came to life in only an hour. Lots of people use the bus to get around so foot traffic was heavy. There are interesting sites around town including an entirely black cathedral and a large plaza appropriately decorated with a statue of a French general on a horse (Ethan and I even spotted a board game shop...). Nothing is really open until 10am though so we didn't have much to do. I promise to do a proper tour in future with pictures (and descriptions Grandma!).

It looks like the weather is going to get
chilly for my first week of school

Front Entrance to ESC Clermont

Marshmallow Spaghetti Challenge

Since Clermont is such a small school (approx. 2,000 students), our class is divided into two sections. We spent Monday and Tuesday getting to know everyone in our class section. Our section was broken down into smaller groups that we did a few get-to-know-you activities with. Starting on the left: Jean-Luc-France; Daniela-Mexico; Maysara-Egypt; Huagshi-China; Xining-China.

Lunch with my peeps

We went to a small restaurant for lunch in between classes and it was about $8 which I think is a good deal. 

French Taco

The "French Taco" was a meal suggested by one of my housemates when I asked him about French fast food. As you can see, it looks much more like a burrito and it tasted amazing! Ingredients were shawarma meat, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. It's probably not very healthy, but it was delicious and filling. Other versions I've seen have French fries, corn, and even cordon bleu 😄

I have also seen "tacos ouverts" which is a normal "open" taco.

Kinder Schoko Bons

At institute, Lucie gave me a handful of Schoko Bons which is chocolate with wafers in it. She has somehow deduced my appreciation of chocolate and regularly supplies me. I also met the sister missionaries that are serving in the ward and spoke some terrible French to them. One is from France and the other is from South Joran UT. I don't know if I am quite the fan of meeting missionaries as Ballard, but it is always fun to meet new people and make connections. My walk to the church building is about 40min so I'm thinking about buying a scooter to cut down on my travel time. 

Walk to school

beurre de cacahuète

Of course, I had to try this peanut butter as soon as I saw it. I've heard that Skippy is around somewhere, but I haven't seen it yet. Nevertheless, I gave this one a try and it wasn't half bad. I checked to make sure it at least has the correct ingredients unlike the peanut butter I bought in Argentina that turned out to be only peanuts...

Cake Preparation for Adèle's Birthday

Joyeux Anniversaire!

I caught on to the French birthday song pretty quick, but Adèle kept looking at me to see if I knew the song 😒 We had a what Claudio claimed to be an Albanian Sponge Cake (he's half Albanian). He gets an A for flavor, but presentation needed a little work (perhaps some whipped cream and fresh raspberries). I got Adèle a birthday card and a small flower bulb that hadn't bloomed yet. I like flower bulbs as a gift instead of flowers because they last a lot longer and the receiver gets to watch the gift grow with time (like the relationship will hopefully do).

Snowy Walk to School

It did end up snowing by the end of the week and getting cold. Despite the cold front, I've have been taking full advantage of the sweater weather. My Oregon sweaters have sat in the closet through two Utah winters and want to be worn.

Basement Steps

I found my way into the basement today. I don't know when this house was built, but it has an actual stone foundation and steel bars on the windows. I think it might have been used as a prison at once. The steel bars are the only thing between the cold are outside and the basement which explains why the floor is freezing.

A very pointy table.

No matter where I try to sit, I end up with an apex to the chest 😐