Woops! It's Been a While...

Bonjour tout le monde!

I apologize for how much time has passed, and please forgive me for any faults that might occur in this post.  Although I posted here two weeks ago, I haven't writing in English at all since, so I almost feel like my English grammar is a bit rusty.  Now that's a weird thought!  As many of you know, I like to write novels in my spare time just for fun, so I decided to start writing one in French.  I am here to learn the language after all, and the only way I can do that is if I practice.  But anyways, that's besides the point.

The past two weeks have been very typical, but very busy.  Classes have started to pick up, and I have les examens blancs next week.  Yikes!  Okay, so maybe it won't be that bad.  Here, my midterms count for absolutely nothing, and I only have to take them in my elective courses.  These exams are simply to see if I am progressing, and to see if I have been going to class.  And no, for all of you out there who think I've skipped, I haven't missed one!  Anyways, as long as I score above a 12, I should be good to go!  Here is a rough estimate how how the course grades translate from French number grades to American University letter grades:

16 - 20 ~ A+
15 ~ A
14 ~ A-
13 ~ B+
12 ~ B
11 ~ B-
10 ~ C+
9 ~ C
8 ~ C-
7 ~ D
6 or less ~ F

*All scores indicated above are given out of 20 points.  For example, on my last homework assignment, I was given a 14.5/20.

Now having given you that brief insight, I guess I'll start to talk about the past couple of weeks!  Be warned though, I'm only giving everyone a vague outline.  For more details regarding the historical aspects, I'll be writing another entry in French so look out!

Two weeks ago, I visited Les Caves de la Grande Chartreuse in Voiron.  And for those of you who think I went underground to explore caves, well, it wasn't quite that.  In fact, I got to visit the distillery where Chartreuse is made by the Monks who live in the mountains.  Chartreuse is a very strong, sweet liquor which is made from over 130 different types of flowers, and is the only liquor to naturally retain its green color.  Pretty neat, huh?  There are two main varieties of Chartreuse: yellow and green.  Green Chartreuse is typically stronger, while the yellow variety is sweeter and less intense. 

The "V" on this sign, which is located in front of a single, approximately 8ft tall barrel of Chartreuse, represents vert in French, which is of course the color green, and in this case the type of Chartreuse contained in the barrel.

Last week, I had the pleasure of seeing a Theatrical Dance performance entitled Wu-Wei.  This was actually quite an incredible story to watch, even though I couldn't really understand much of it.  A team of Chinese acrobats performed an artistic dance which re-enacted much of the history of China.  Seeing as I barely understood what they were saying in French, I can't really give an accurate description of how interesting this dance actually was.  Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pictures :(





And finally, this past weekend, I went to visit Annecy!  This time of year, Annecy was an incredible sight.  I can't say too much here, because this is going to be the main focus of my upcoming French blog entry.  I can tell that the city is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL, which you can see for yourself in the following pictures.

I don't know if I've ever seen a more beautiful lake.  Lac d'Annecy.

This is one of the many reasons why they call Annecy the Venice of France.

So I think that's all for today everyone, but expect more to come soon!

Bisous!

Mike

P.S.  A special shout-out to my mother, Denise, who's birthday was October 8th, and my sister Melissa, who's birthday is today, October 17th!  Bon anniversaire!