Life
as an English assistant is pretty rewarding.
After only 4 weeks of classes we had 2 weeks of vacation at the end of
October and the beginning of November.
This meant two weeks off to finally let my life settle down a bit,
considering the previous month had been completely hectic but incredibly
exciting as well. As a travel buff, I
was expecting to be able to travel all around Europe during this break (London,
the Netherlands, maybe even a little Switzerland since it’s nearby). However, since we hadn’t received our first
paychecks yet and I was nearing broke, there weren’t many options in my mind
for exciting places to travel to—or so I thought.
One
small lesson learned very quickly: some of the best experiences come about
because of who you know and the connections you make (it’s worth getting off
the couch sometimes). I’m incredibly
lucky to have already made friends with some cool people through my roommate Héléna. Her friend Victoria was nice enough to invite
me and Iris to spend a long weekend in her family’s chalet in a quaint alpine
town of 350 called Névache, just on the border of Italy. A €50 weekend including scenic mountain views
in a quaint French town with the likelihood of crossing the border to Italy for
some authentic pizza? Umm, yes,
please. Also what better way to extend
my birthday celebrations?
Having been raised a flatlander, mountains still don’t cease to amaze me, even though I live among them every week. We left Friday evening from Lyon, once Victoria, Gladys and Helena got out of class, and drove for about 3-3.5 hours until we reached our mountainous destination.
Unfortunately
though, since we drove through the night, all we could see were small town
lights speckled across the darkness of mountain valleys and cliffs. The following morning we were greeted with
this extraordinary view that was worth any wait:
My
first thoughts were: This is a postcard, this isn’t real life. I just wanted to sit there with a cup of
coffee and ponder over life. What a
beautiful place.
Fortunately
there was nothing concrete on the trip’s agenda except relaxing, watching
movies, eating junk food, eating delicious raclette, walking around the
magnificent surroundings and enjoying each other’s company.
This
is what our chalet looked like:
Saturday
morning we had breakfast (probably the best baguettes I’ve had in France so
far, thanks Névache) and took the car to get a better view from a higher
perspective.
 |
| An epic pose by Victoria's dog, F'djouley |
After
a nice long walk we went back to the town and then our chalet to relax, watch a
movie and eat some raclette.
Raclette
is a type of cheese that is eaten mostly around Christmas time. When you make ‘raclette’ you melt the cheese
in your own individual pan (see above) and either add some potatoes and other
vegetables directly in the pan or spread the cheese on a delicious concoction of
potatoes, ham, pickles, onions, etc. on your plate. Raclette is a Swiss cheese and the tradition
comes from Switzerland, but many people (especially from countries around
Switzerland) enjoy raclette like this as well.
In Frankfurt last year for example, I was lucky enough to have it for
the first time with some delicious mulled wine.
It’s such a treat and so easy to do.
Day
2:
Waking
up in Nevache was always welcomed by a gorgeous view. The second day was no exception. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any
prettier, it snowed. The first snow of
the season! Yes, snow in October. Only in the mountains.
With the snow came a frigid temperature. -5 degrees Celsius, or 20 Fahrenheit.
Of
course we had to make the most of the snow and our time there, so we went for a
short walk before turning back to warm up.
Day
3: Our big hiking day
On
our last full day in Nevache we took a couple hour-long hike to Victoria’s
family’s chapel and back. You could
definitely tell we were in the mountains because the air was fresh and there
wasn’t as much oxygen in the air as there is at lower altitudes. I felt like such a rugged mountain woman.
As
night fell on Nevache and our stomachs were getting hungry for dinner, we
hopped in the car and drove down the windy mountain rounds across the border
into Italy for some authentic Italian pizza.
We left the next morning and headed back to Lyon, the mountains disappearing behind us.
