Lessons already?

Thus far I have learned three very important things before even setting foot on the plane:


1) There are tons of groundhogs in the French Alps.

Yes, it is true.
This is important only because one of our instructors talks about them ALL THE TIME. We talked about them at least once, usually more than once, every day during our 5 prep days (the last of which was today) for the trip and several times this semester in each of the two classes taught by this man.

Groundhogs = les marmottes
They are cute. Sorta.


2) When someone mentions actually using hiking boots on a trip, inquire about it.

Basically, I heard someone mention using hiking boots on this trip once before this week and thought that they only used them just because they had them. Wrong. We will actually be doing some climbing! Super fun but OH NOES! NO BOOTS!
I remedied that issue today and didn't buy boots (no time to break them in & they're insanely bulky) but hiking shoes.
They're lime green, kickass, and WAY cheaper than I expected (which always makes me happy).

They look like regular sneakers, but they're not!
I think they're pretty awesome! (And non-bulky!)

PS
There are a whole lot of options to choose from between hiking boots, hiking shoes, and hardcore, waterproof, reinforced sandal things that are pretty amazing as well. It gets confusing!


3) My French vocabulary is VERY general.

In other words, I know next-to-no vocabulary relating to the two things that I will probably talk about the most. Those things being horses/horse-related things (because of my internship) and Quidditch (because I love to play and talk about it and bringing it up at all creates the need to explain what the game is, the rules, and how it can possibly be played if one can't fly).

Luckily, I can solve this problem with a little effort:
-SS has kindly started teaching me all the horse-related words she knows in French as we talk about objects in her barn and has given me a bunch of websites and a couple magazines to read to learn more vocabulary.
-Re-reading the first few Harry Potters in French gives me all the vocabulary I should ever need to explain the basic aspects of the game.

Now I just need to remember all the words. :)

AND FINISH PACKING!
(Plus 12 hours for actual departure time!)