Galettes des rois

Bonjour mes amis! The last couple of days have been busy, I finally started my French classes. It was an interesting crowd. Undergraduates and graduates are all placed together in those classes... we had a very dynamic group: three guys from India, two from Singapore, two from China, one from Norway, one from Sweden, one from Mexico, one from Trinidad and Tobago, and me, the lonely American (well, one of the guys from India lives in Maryland, but speaks Hindi... he's actually a roommate). We learned how to count to 50, how to pronounce the alphabet (so we can spell things to the French or whatnot), we also learned how to say our professions, how to say where you were from and where you live in Grenoble, and other little phrases. I'll definitely be hitting up the language lab once it opens... I'll be a frequent customer there! I wrote all my notes from the class in French (of course) and also phonetically so hopefully I'll be able to pronounce the words later. For instance, to say I live, you'd say J'habite... (insert address) It is actually pronounced like jah-beet. The "h" is never pronounced in French words, but when spelling, you pronounce the "h" like ahhshh. Very peculiar. My other class I had this week was the International Business Environment. It is really more focused on the European Union and its structure... it is really interesting because I didn't realize what I new Union they were... It started out with just 6 countries back in 1958ish (long story) and now it has 27 member states with 15 of them using the euro. Didn't know that either... and there actually is a country that is using the euro but isn't in the EU. And, I found it interesting that just last year 2 new countries, Romania and Bulgaria, were admitted to the EU. I also find it interesting that Morocco (yes, in Northern Africa) has been a hot topic because they are interested in joining the EU because of all the trade they do with EU countries, namely Spain. And, the EU is also considering having a single leader, just like the US. Currently, each country in the EU takes turn being the "leader" for a period of 6 months... bigger countries tend to get more turns. It's really controversial to be the country in control, because as the controller, you get to choose which topics to address during your "reign". I guess I never really thought about how young the united Europe is... Within the last 50 years it has literally grown from nothing to a major superpower... they are gradually moving towards being called "The European Union" rather than Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and so on as individual countries. I also found it interesting that the EU is very big on human rights, which is one of the main reasons why Turkey hasn't been admitted because it still practices the death penalty. It really is a unique perspective learning about Europe from a European's view... one professor is Irish and the other is British, so we've got both ends of the spectrum covered... and I am going to IRELAND tomorrow. So, I'll have lots of new pictures on Saturday! Oh yes, tonight we had a party at the office for all the CEA students. the Gallettes des rois is a French tradition for All Saint's Day. It's kind of like the King Cake where someone gets a baby and you're supposed to have good luck... in our cakes there were little ceramic figures and whoever got them is supposed to be the King/Queen for the day and the cakes come with a little crown for the "winner". It was fun.