a trip to ghost town

There’s a group of us assistants that have now formed some sort of crew, but we like to call it a possy. We are basically a few girls who follow around a guy called Patrick, because he is the know-all person of Grenoblois life. On Monday we took a coach to a mountainous town called Autrans, supposedly for some team building exercise. I’ve never been one to love a long coach journey, but this was just plain horrible! Winding around mountain upon mountain, climbing higher and higher above sea level made me want to throw up at every turn; it wasn’t pleasant. So, we arrived at the Auberge de Jeunesse - a few ‘chalets’ with various bunk-bed-filled rooms. We picked up our bed linen from huge baskets, and struggled to make our beds like we were back in year 7 on a trip to Osmington Bay.

Autrans was gorgeous though, huge mountains with clear ski routes that will soon be covered in snow, forests enclosing the cute stereotypically french chalets, and the ski lodge style bar that we managed to hunt down. However, the place was a ghost town! I assume it’s a seasonal town, so they must jump with joy when 250 odd eager french learning 20 somethings rock up on several coaches every October. The bar we hunted down was guarded by a scary French man with an even scarier rottweiler, but it was warm and had Gangnam Style on the tv. We rinsed them of €1.50 wine and fruity beer, and suddenly the lights dimmed and were replaced by year 6 disco lights, and a cringey DJ to go with it. I love France.



I met some more really cool people, and hadn’t really contemplated before now that there are people placed in cities other than Grenoble! As stupid as that may sound, I’ve kinda been in my own little bubble the past week and a half with my Grenoble crew, so it was weird to hear that people were in tiny towns near Annecy that I’d never even heard of! I’ve never been so grateful to have a school in the dead center of the city! Another realisation, was that I’ve never actually met an American person before. I think because I watch so much American trash brilliant TV, I assumed I’d spent hours with them. Wake up call: 90210 and Gossip Girl does not prepare you for the American lingo. I need to get a dictionary, and they need to stop calling a pavement a sidewalk. All the assistants are great though, and I’m glad I’ve met people that I feel so comfortable around already!