Our First Week!

Sorry for the delay!! It feels like we're going and going every minute. Today we didn't have class; so, we slept in, then went into town for a few photo ops. Let me tell you, the chocolate eclairs are to die for. Be jealous.

The city of Clermont-Ferrand is gorgeous. You might wonder why the huge cathedral is black. The region we're staying in is built on a series of extinct (hopefully) volcanoes, so a lot of buildings in the town center are made of volcanic stone. A lot of people thought Clermont was cursed for a long time because the church was black. We thought that was funny. Black or tan, the city is very beautiful and picturesque - not like anything we see in the US.

We are staying in the dorms on the Isima campus. The Universite Blaise Pascal is comprised of a bunch of different little colleges, but Isima is the engineering and computer science school (aren't we smart?! haha) Our rooms are tiny, but not too bad. We each have a sink, but the toilets and showers (les toilettes et douches) are down the hall. We've learned that taking showers at night = hot water. In the morning, well, it's risky.

Our legs (and butts) hurt! We both stay on the fourth floor - the highest floor in the dorms - which is really the fifth floor in America, and there are no elevators, naturally. The French students here are VERY nice. They picked us up at the train station and brought us here in their cars. We meet them multiple times a day to eat lunch or just to hang out. Speaking of lunch, the food is amazing! We'd both get fat if it weren't for all the walking. And hills. And stairs. But we're not complaining! Class isn't too far away. We go to French class in the mornings from 10 to noon. Then, we go to either French History or Economics in the afternoons from 1:30 to 4. Our teachers all speak English well. I (Kely) am getting much better at speaking French...and practice a lot. Danielle is learning a lot too! But she doesn't practice quite as much.

We have to toss in here a little something about Jilly Bean (Danielle's sister)! She graduated from Owasso High yesterday and is on her way to becoming a SOONER!! Jill, we're so excited to spend the next few years with you and are sad we missed the big day. You know we love you a whole bunch, and we'll both bring you presents. :-)

This is long enough for now. We'll definitely try to post more often in the next few weeks, due to popular demand. We're getting the hang of things around here, so it'll be easier to. We miss you all, but we're having a blast here in France!