L'eau du neige.

Et Voila! I am here.

I have finally arrived to Grenoble, after a long, long trek. Honestly, I don’t want to bore you with all of the details of my travels. It was long and uneventful, aside from the cliché baby screaming in my ear for the entire duration of the flight. Let’s just say I’m glad it’s over! On with the info.

I can truly say that my family is absolutely nowhere near what I expected. The mother is wheel-chair bound; the entire right side of her body is under-developed, and paralyzed. She is sweet, but sassy. Her husband is hilarious, probably my favorite – however he is not around often. He was the one that picked me up from the shuttle, and he entertained me with a little car tour of the town. They have 3 children, 2 of which have moved out, and then a 19 year old who lives with his girlfriend, in his their house. Yeah, that kind of creeped me out. Also, there is another student who lives next to me, named Michael. He goes to the business school so I will never see him, but he’s polite and helpful. To put it curtly, it’s just an awkward living situation.

I woke up this morning to the mother and father literally screaming at each other, but when I walked into the living room they immediately stopped, smiled, and we sat and had breakfast and courteous conversation. A very odd interaction. After that I took the tram (which I will be taking every day to school) to a meeting point, and I met my fellow classmates and my program director. They are WONDERFUL, and I am enjoying each of them already. I have especially clicked with two girls, Kristin and Finayon. We only speak French together, and it’s really helping me to become comfortable with my surroundings. We went shopping this afternoon and explored the town a bit, and in awhile we will be meeting up with some of our other classmates to have dinner and such. I am extremely excited because Kristin is a believer, to whom I can have accountability and fellowship with. Also, we are working on finding a church and/or bible study downtown. It’s amazing how God answers prayer!

As for random information... It is divinely beautiful here; we are nestled between three Alp regions. Tomorrow I will be going up the mountain for a picnic/scavenger hunt, so you will be getting pictures soon. The water is the purest I have ever tasted, even from the tap. There is no need to buy bottled water!

I think that’s it on my end! You are all in my thoughts and prayers…and you better believe I’m already missing you! Be sure to keep me updated on your lives, I love getting emails!

Avec tout mon coeur,

Chels

P.S. That's a picture of Kristin, Finayon and myself today downtown while we were shopping.