Corréze

Sorry for the lengthy delay in blog updates, but here it is. For those of you who didn't know, I spent my last week of February vacation in Corréze, visiting Laura's grandparents. Corréze is about 4 1/2 hours south-west of Lyon, located in France's massive central. Laura's grandparents live just outside of the town Tulles, in the french countryside. Before going on this trip I had absolutely no idea what to expect, I knew we'd be in the country and that we would be doing some day trips to other regions in the south, but that pretty much summed up my knowledge on the subject. Little did I know that Corréze was going to be nothing of what I expected, it was going to exceed expectations. Call me crazy but I feel my trip to Corréze is most easily compared to three layer dip, each layer exposing something new and unexpected.

It's hard to believe, but Laura's grandparents quaint country home has been in the family for over 5 generations. It is a peaceful country paradise, the noisiest neighbours being the donkey's next door. The small country oasis sits on a quiet road over looking the family's "garden", but the word garden is a bit of an understatement. The Salesses's "garden" is made up of a couple of acres of land consisting of a forest, a plain, a river, a tennis court and last but not least a vegetable garden. My favourtie part of the house from an architectual point of view had to be the fireplace. It's mantle was quite a distance from the ground and underneath it were two benches facing each other and the actual fireplace, a typical regional fireplace. A cozy place to curl up and read a book on a chilly night.

Life in the countryside was very relaxing, making it a perfect place to spend the last week of vacation. It was easy to get up and go to bed with the sun, if you got up early enough you could even catch the cheese truck. Some days Jean-Jacques and I would even go fishing, spending all day along the river banks waiting patiently for the whopping 20cm trout to come along. The rain outside wasn't worrisome because we knew that upon return there would be a hearty lunch waiting for us at the house, Jacqueline, Laura's grandmother always made sure that we were more than well fed. Her meals were what most people picture as a stereotypical french dinner, long, big and delicious.

During the middle of our week in Corrèze Jean-Jacques, Linda, Laura and I headed south, to a region of small towns built into cliffs, river valleys and sunshine for a day of exploring. Our first stop was Font de Gaumes caverns. Who would have thought that just outside of your average french town you could find maze like caverns that go on for miles, with prehistoric paintings of bison, deer and mammoths dating back 16,000 years ago. When I made refrence to the three layer dip, this was what I was talking about. It was mind-boggling, unexpected and completely fascinating to see almost perfectly preserved paintings. You had to look closely at times, because there were places where the paint stopped but the picture continued, using the caves natural shape to complete the drawing. Our fourty-five minute tour ended up feeling like fifteen minutes. I would definitely have to put this on the list of top 3 things I have ever seen. If you're ever in the area it is a MUST do. A simply unforgetable experience. This part of the trip also made me realize how much I was forgetting my english. There were two older Americans in our tour group and as they didn't speak any french I volunteered to act as there translator. It didn't work out so well, I tried but was literally at a loss for words.

After the prehistoric paintings, we headed to a medieval castle that sits a top a large hill, overlooking

the entire river valley. A logical place to build a castle, not only could you see for miles on end, but you

also had the protection of a river almost completely surrounding your castle (not to mention the nice

weather). The castle was huge, it would make a great place for a game of hide and seek but for the time

that I was there, I made sure not to get lost from the group. The trebuchet marks on the outer castle walls

made you feel like you were part of a castle siege, you could feel the history seeping out of every stone in every wall.

Corrèze was an awesome and an unforgetable trip. A great place to spend a final week of vacation

before heading back to school.

Upon Return from the Austrian Alpes

What a week! An amazing adventure and an unforgetable experience. Over the past week in the charming area of Austria composed of three ski villages, Faschina, Damuls and Mellau, I have learned a couple of things:

1. German is one of the funnest languages ever. A language I will definitely be learning.

2. Apfel Strudel is truly to die for.

3.Standing at the highest point of the mountain to which a chair lift can take you, it is impossible to get a picture of the entire surrounding mountain range (which is stunning), you might as well take a video.

4. I will definitely be returning to Austria, sooner rather than later.

Through out the whole week I have got to ski the slopes of the Austrian Alpes and spend time with five different families. One of these families, les Gratiens, also have exchange students, two to be exact. A boy from India, Yosh and a girl from Toronto, Sally.

The six hour trip to Faschina, where our hotel was situated, was made a whole lot better by the fact we drove through Switzerland. A country known for it's chocolate and after tasting some I can definitely understand why. The beautiful scenery driving through the Alpes was also a huge bonus.

The first day of skiing, Sunday, was a little shakey. It was very hard to see thanks to the falling snow and thick fog, all the runs were ungroomed and there were pile ups of snow, who's size and placing varied, too much to be dubbed moguls, this making it difficult to ski. It was tough for this three time a year downhiller, but hey, things could be worse. I just had to shake it off. An after ski sauna, a hearty Austrian meal and a good sleep definitely helped.

The next four days were way too much fun. Sally, the other Canadian exchange student and I started ski school (ski schule) and the sun decided to shine on the freshly groomed runs, lightly dusted with perfect powder. Within these four days I also had my first encounter with apfel strudel, a dessert straight from heaven. I would go as far as saying don't bother coming to the Austrian Alpes if you aren't going to try apfel strudel, it's an experience in itself.

Ski school was one of the highlights of the trip, I had a great instructor (with, in my opinion, the coolest last name), Christian, drum role please, Klocker. He was a really good teacher and definitely helped me improve my skiing. To add to this, the snow, for the first 2 days was perfect. I can't think of any other way to describe it than powdered sugar, it was flawless. Not to mention the stunning 360 degree scenery, Austria is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

At lunch and at dinner I got to enjoy a taste of Austrian food, such as wienerschnitzel, sausage, goulash and other delicious soups. Not forgetting the drinks, one in particular, Almdudler. A species of carbonated drink, with a base that is, well unclear.

And now for a little after ski adventure. One night, after a long day of skiing, the girls, Laura, Colline, Laurienne, Sally and I set out for Faschina, a five minute walk from our hotel, with a hand full of luges. After a couple rides down the bottom of the slope that entered the town, we decided to step it up a notch. We knew that the tow rope at the top of the run lead back to our hotel. So, from there we decided to climb up the ski run, find the tow rope and sled down our hotel. Something easier said than done. With a blanket of fog and an ice covered slope, we proceeded to climb, a climb which felt like it would never end. At the top we found that the tow rope path was completely iced over and steep, which made it too hard to break and too dangerous to sled. But we weren't going to give up. We then decided to sled down the side of the path, which consisted of two feet of uncompact snow. By the time we reached the bottom, we were soaking and covered with snow but besides that laughing and having too much fun.

The last two days of skiing, thursday and friday, were interesting. The sun had been out all week, therefore the temperature rose during the day and fell during the evening. Creating two types of snow, ice and soup. It wasn't the nicest to ski in but what can you do. To make things even more interesting, we had to change ski instructor's the last day of ski school (thursday). We left Christian to switch to Gerhard, who only spoke German and thought that we clearly understood everything he said. I can say it was a fun day of skiing, but I didn't learn much. On the contrary I really got to see how much German I had learned over the week.

The last day of skiing, friday, I spent with my host family. I used a lot of the day to take pictures, something I couldn't do during ski school and of course to eat one last apfel strudel.

And so it goes, the next I waved good bye to Austria as the snow capped mountains disapeared from sight. I was happy to be heading back to France, but sad to be leaving Austria. Like I said before, a country that I will definitely be returning to. So, for now..

Auf Wiedersehen,

Cathryn