Week Two

Last weekend we went to a beautiful hotel up in the Swiss Alps called Les Bains D'Ovronnaz. It had two heated outdoor pools that had an amazing view! Here is what it looked like from the pool.





Here is the view from our hotel room.



And the following are just pictures from our little hike in the mountains. It was a beautiful, sunny, fall day, I feel like these pictures don't do it justice, but they give you a glimpse.





The food here has been amazing. The family I am living with is French, so I am learning about the French style of eating. They seem to be really into the courses of a meal. We have a stater type dish, the main dish then the cheese platter and dessert. After every lunch and dinner we have dessert! Dessert is simple like bananas with sugar or some type of fruit, but usually we have these delicious little yogurts that are rich and creamy custards or mousses. Their cheese is amazing! It melts and browns so much better than American cheeses. It is all so fresh too, considering that France and Italy are just a few hours away.

The markets are amazing. They have tons of fresh produce, and a bunch of everything. They had a stand with 25 different kinds of mushrooms, and then another stand with 30 different cheeses and a butcher with all these fresh portions of meat and a bakery with all different kinds of freshly baked bread. I haven't seen a single bag of pre-baked pre-sliced bread.

Overall I feel like everything here is the same, just slightly different. The lights don't turn on with a switch, but rather a button. The toilets don't have a handle to flush but also have a button, and they use a lot of water! Also the locks on inside doors are just like the old fashioned ones in Cinderella. The kind that you can see through the key hole and you have a cute little key. The fridge is small, but not as small as I thought it would be. It is probably about 16 cubit feet. Oh, also it has been interesting adjusting to everything being expressed in the metric system and in Celsius. Good thing I am an engineer and have used those units in my science classes.

Driving, I am still adjusting to driving. They have small roads with sharp turns and sight distance issues. And on a one lane road the two lanes traveling in opposite directions are separated by a dashed white line rather than the dashed yellow line. I haven't driven on the wrong side of the road, but I have been tempted on occasion to just switch to the other lane, but luckily I remember in time that the other lane is for the other direction of traffic. One funny thing is that the sign on the road that indicates the freeway looks like a picnic bench to me. Overall I have done fine getting around, which I think is impressive considering I cannot read the signs.