Bonjour from France!

Bonjour tout le monde!

I hope you all have been having wonderful summers! From what I’ve heard it seems like people have been hard at work rocking the cow across the world.

My summer started off with all the cool kids in the White Mountains/home where I spent two weeks working in a hut just down the ridge from Olivia. For my last day in the good old US of A, I chose to shun all responsibility and do a Presi traverse (like all the cool kids were doing this summer) with my brother.

Me and Peej atop Franklin. He taught me how to correctly take a selfie.

My first two weeks in France I spent on vacation with my family (14 of us, aahhh!) in Provence, which was mostly really hot (think 100 degrees every day). Despite the heat I did get out for some early morning runs because there were awesome trails that connected all the towns in the region. I got lost a lot, tried to avoid scorpions, and was often confused by poorly explained French trail marking systems.  

The view of the pool in Provence!

French trail markings. They are everywhere but you have no idea what they actually mean/ where they lead. 

The last six weeks of my summer were spent in Paris working on a project for Williams. I was studying maps as a means of personal and cultural expression, which meant I got to wander somewhat aimlessly about Paris handing out blank maps of the city to strangers. My wanderings yielded some incredible responses to my project, but also exciting discoveries like a garden where you could pick fruits and vegetables for free (!), and a fountain that dispensed potable seltzer water, also for free. This was a big deal, for those of you who know how much I like seltzer water. 

Bastille Day in Paris with jets flying over the Louvre

Outdoor film festival overlooking the city

My commute to and from the bookstore where I worked. Not too shabby!

While I was in Paris I also volunteered at a bookstore near Notre Dame. I spent many hours climbing up and down ladders to shelve books and telling Japanese tourists that the bookshop did not sell books in Japanese. As for the ski training, there was a lot of flat pavement pounding and track intervals going on. Luckily not far from my apartment there was an elevated park about 5km long that led straight to the largest park in Paris, which was more like a large forest where I frequently got lost. All in all, the theme of my summer was probably getting lost, whether on the trails of Provence, the streets of Paris, or any other part of France that I happened to visit. 

I was able to get out of Paris for a weekend and visit the wine country around Bordeaux

The view of Notre Dame from right near the bookshop

La Coulée Verte where I ran (almost) every day

While Paris was quite the adventure, I am very excited to be back in the mountains and to return to school. My first day of classes was today, so naturally I am procrastinating by writing this blog. Grenoble is, to be brief, “super cool” (add French accent for full effect).

Grenoble, the mountains, and the gondola!

Have fun in the Purple Valley this fall and keep me updated on major events, like the tag sale (which I am VERY sad to be missing) and the Big Splash, and I will see you all in QC!

Hannah, Benson, or whatever variation of Benson you prefer