Chamonix

DAY EIGHTEEN:

We woke up and headed to the park for a yoga class! One of the girls in the program is a yoga instructor, and so we had a beginners yoga class right on the waters edge in the park to start the day. It was wonderful. Then we headed back to our rooms to grab food for breakfast and pack up. We had to check out of the hotel by 11, but we weren't leaving the city until 2, so we had to be ready to load our stuff onto the bus to have our hands free until we left. Once we'd done that, we grabbed lunch from the grocery store, and headed to the park for a picnic lunch! We enjoyed our picnic for a bit, followed by some wandering around the park. One of my friends decided she wanted to dip her feet in the canal, but underestimated the depth of the canal, and ended up in to her waist. Once we got her out, we managed to run into Martin, our bus driver, so she could run and grab clean and dry clothes before the bus ride. Then we met up and grabbed gelato at our favorite place before leaving! I had coconut, biscoff, and mango, and it was amazing.

Then we all climbed on the bus, and off we went! It was a long drive, and I honestly slept most of it. We pulled into Chamonix around 6pm, and explored the hotel. It was insane. Gorgeous views of the alps, huge rooms, everything you could possibly want, including a balcony looking out over the mountains, and functioning wifi (sort of).

Then we wandered into town, which is sort of a Park City vibe, very ski town ish.

We found a little Japanese ramen place for dinner, and since it was a bit cooler and warm food sounded great, that's what we had! It was phenomenal. Honestly one of the best things I've had on the entire trip (the irony being it was Japanese food in France).

Then we joined the group and met with one of the professor's cousins who happens to live in Chamonix for the summer (can you imagine just moving to the French Alps every summer? just for the fun of it?). She gave us some recommendations of what to see and do, and we talked about France and Italy and their health care a bit. we were taking this group phot in the field with a drone but everyone was getting attacked by giant bumble bees, so it ended up being a run-for-your-life-save-yourself kind of thing that just ended in laughter and chaos. That was pretty much it for the day, but it was a long day!

DAY NINETEEN:

This morning I woke up and joined the group for the run. It was incredibly beautiful, but it was also on pavement and it hurt. My shins were really acting up, and so I finally was about to call it quits when one of the other girls said she had to stop as well. We walked back to the hotel together, and the walk was covered in baby frogs! They were tiny and little and everywhere. It was a fun way to start the day off. Then we had actually good breakfast for once. The last few mornings the hotel hasn't had breakfast, but this morning I had a spinach and salmon quiche, and fresh fruit. It was fantastic.

After that, we had tickets up the gondola to the top of Mont Blanc! Earlier in the week, our professors had told us that we wouldn't be able to do this, as the gondola had broken and was out of commission. BUT, last night, they got news that it was up and working again! Some people were freaked out because of that, but I decided that it meant they had probably done safety checks in the past couple days, and therefore it was probably fine. The journey consists of 2 gondola rides, one up to the midpoint and then one up to the summit. The first ride was fine, despite a few times that the gondola rocked rather unexpectedly and everyone screamed. The second ride was almost straight uphill and it was rather frightening, but also thrilling. It was crazy and a bit terrifying.

It was really snowy and cold when we got out, and it was crazy! We were on top of the tallest peak in the Alps! We walked out and around the platform, and then got in this crazy little elevator to go even further up in the mountain to the tip top. There were more platforms to walk around, and this little glass room where you could step out and have the full view. It made my knees go a little weak to be out in it. Most definitely an experience that is unparalleled to any other. I kept wandering around the other platforms and seeing all the views, but it was getting stormy and cloudy, so the views weren't amazing. The opportunity was still incredible. (also, there are a TON of photos, sorry in advance)

It was also crazy to see how much the altitude affected me! I was super lightheaded the whole time, as well as with a crazy high pulse, and after a while, I started to get a dull headache. After looking at all the displays on mountain climbing and rock climbing in the Alps, we headed back down the top gondola. We got to the middle and walked around a bit. There was a group that had talked about hiking down from the middle section, and so I wanted to wait to see if they showed up or not. They eventually did, and at that point, my group decided they did want to hike down.

So off we went on what we thought was a 3-mile hike. Shortly after we left, the thunder began, and then came the rain. It started slowly but just kept picking up. Luckily I had a raincoat, and I had thought to pack my camera in a gallon zip-lock bag, so no harm done except being a bit wet. Then it started hailing. Imagine being pelted with ice the size of pebble ice from sonic. It was intense, and despite the trees in the area, there was really no help or cover. SO we just kept going and going and going. We kept catching glimpses of Chamonix down below us, but it never seemed to be getting any closer. When we finally made it down the mountain, it had been over two hours and almost 6 miles. But it's okay because I was hiking in the Alps! It was a once in a lifetime chance and it was amazing!

The afternoon was pretty chill after that until I had to head for class. It was kind of a joke, and really only the second time we've had class. But it was so good! We talked about handling setbacks in my MBH class, and then in HBC we just talked about how this class is even being offered/taught. Turns out it's all online. Which is mostly really annoying, but oh well. I grabbed some fruit, cheese, and rice cakes for dinner, and then just worked on school for a bit. Took a few quizzes, did some reading, dealt with online classes, all that jazz. I hung out with some friends, and as we were heading off to bed, someone had the brilliant idea to watch a movie. So now its almost midnight, and I'm watching She's the Man and life is good!

DAY TWENTY:

Officially over halfway! This is good and exciting, and also a bit hard to believe. It seems like we've been out forever, and I've been away from home for forever, but it hasn't even been a month.

I chose to sleep in a bit this morning after last night's late night, but I was still up by 7 to facetime the family and take a shower. After another amazing breakfast, my friends and I headed out to catch the train to the Mer de Glace, a giant glacier up in the mountains with ice caves! It was about a 25-minute train ride in this adorable little red train.

We started talking to a guy on the way up, he was Scottish and was on his way to hike the glacier after his plans to ice climb Mont Blanc got canceled due to bad weather. He was super fun, and I just love talking to people in situations like that and seeing what they're doing and where they're from.
Once we got to the top, we caught a gondola down into the valley where the glacier was! It was a quick but steep gondola ride, but it was fun. Then it was 480 stairs down to the opening of the glacier. Let me tell you, after hiking down a mountain yesterday, the 480 stairs hurt. Every single one of them.

There were also cool signs along the way down showing where the glacier was in past years. This was cool and also frightening, the glacier has been shrinking so much in the recent years.  But the steps were worth it because the cave was really cool! We loved walking around in it and taking photos. It was smaller than I expected, but it was still really amazing. It had a felt/carpet flooring so it wasn't slick inside, but it was still wet and freezing cold. There are photos hanging everywhere showing what the glacier looked like years ago, complete with original ice climbers and such. It was a really cool exhibit! There were also some cool ice carvings, such as a giant bear and ice thrones. The lighting was really cool with the flash on my camera, so I was able to get a lot of fun pictures. We all also licked the wall of the glacier, so now I can check licking-the-wall-of-a-glacier-in-France of my bucket list.

Then it was the climb back up the stairs, which hurt more than going down them, and the gondola back up! We enjoyed the view at the top for a bit, wandered through an exhibit on crystals that form in areas such as the Alps, and wandered through the gift shop (everywhere we go, I can't help but think of the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop that Banksy did). Then a train ride back down the mountain!

One of the girls and one of the guys and I wandered off from the group in search of a true French Fondue lunch. We found a cute little restaurant in the old town with outdoor seating and enjoyed every bite of that cheese. It had a flavor that I didn't totally enjoy, but there was something about dipping bread, potatoes, and meat into a pot of cheese on a street in France that was just perfect. It was just so fun, and an experience that I'm really glad I didn't miss out on!

After that, I worked on homework for a bit in my room. The whole group met up for dinner, in a local burger place a couple minutes walk from our hotel. It was so good, but also different than an American burger. Also, the french fries had the texture of potato chips. I'm not really sure how that happened, but it was like eating fry-shaped potato chips. It was all so good, so I had no complaints there.
Then we had a quick class session for MBH. We talked about the locus of control and the idea that healthy people control what they can. You have to take responsibility in your life for the things that are within your control if you want to maintain your mental and physical health. It was a really interesting topic to discuss, and I'm looking forward to looking more into it and seeing what else there is to learn about it.
I wandered around outside and through the town after class. Everything except the restaurants closes by 8 here (and most places so far in Europe), and so it was really just me wandering the streets, but there was an outdoor concert going on in the middle of the square. It was in French, but when music is good, it doesn't matter what language it is in, it's still enjoyable. I headed back to the hotel, and my group of friends tossed around the idea of watching a movie, but no one could make a decision, so we all just ended up doing our own thing, which means I might be able to actually go to bed at a reasonable time tonight!

Overall, Chamonix has been my favorite place so far (although Maastricht is right up there with it). The hotel breakfast, the pouring rain, the mountain air and trees, the laid-back schedule (the functioning wifi). It has been a bit of a respite in the middle of this chaotic journey and I am extremely grateful for it! I also really want to come back. It's such an adventurous place, and there is so much to do outdoors. I really hope to come back someday and spend some time here adventuring, and then some time in Annecy relaxing afterward!