At last the snow arrived, it wasn't much - not nearly as much as I had expected or was apparently normal, but it was snow nonetheless. Watching it snow was my favourite part of the experience, turning the world silent and covering everything gently. Unfortunately by the time we went outside it was turning to muddy slippery slush.
A layer of snow outside my classroom.
One of the best things I enjoyed about the IFALPES school was the effort they put into cultural events, getting students involved in holidays, foods and french culture. One day between classes they held a patisserie event at the school where after signing up we were able to have a special tasting. Chloe the school administrator was lovely (and also helped me immensely in getting my social security) so the event was improved by the fact that she was running it.
Chloe took us through each pastry and what they were and then we talked about what we liked about each one, and of course ate quite a few! The other upside was there was only seven of us doing it, and as two of them were my flatmates and two of them my good friends, it made for a great experience!
This leads me to my new flatmates (pictured above far right is Tania from Spain, and far left is Florine from the Netherlands) I was rather nervous about getting new flatmates after my month of having the place to myself, but I needn't have worried as they turned out to be the most lovely and fun flatmates I could ask for. We soon developed wine and cheese Fridays as we all had morning class that day, so after class we would walk to the local bakery for a baguette, the supermarket for a couple of bottles of nice red wine, and the Fromagerie for some cheeses from the Savoie region. The local cheese shop was lovely and friendly, and you could even see down into their back cellar where all the cheeses were kept!
Every week we tried a different cheese, getting to know the local ones quite well (I developed a taste for Beaufort and Comte especially) I can honestly say that my new flatmates (and consequently new friend group) and our cheese Fridays made my time in Annecy so much better and more memorable, not to mention I left with many new friends from different countries asking me to visit in the future!
My flatmates and I in our little kitchen.
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