Lac d'Annecy, Haute-Savoie, France

Home sweet home

It's almost been four years since I studied abroad in the French Alps, but the memories are still fresh in my mind. How can I forget waking up in a bed and breakfast every morning and stepping out the front door to face a massive mountain on one side and a picturesque lake on the other? I just remember feeling my pupils dilate every time I walked along the edge of the road towards the bus stop; there was just so much mountain and so much lake to take in. It was somehow all sensory overload for my New York state of mind. I spent my days in class, jogging along the mountains, swimming in the frigid lake, and tanning in the high altitude while catching up on my global health readings. I was so fortunate to be matched with a family that took pride in having a sit down dinner every night, growing their own vegetables, canning their own jam, and raising their own chickens. I miss the long dinners with homegrown salad, grilled fish from the lake, liver terrine with fresh eggs, petite Suisse with chestnut mousse, homemade multi-grain bread, olive oil ratatouille, and a never ending tub of cheeses. After my daily breakfast of baguette with jams and fresh fruit, I would wait for the elusive bus toward Talloires. The short commute to the priory, aka my Tufts abroad campus, was equally as serenely scenic. Of course it makes sense that when I'm living in a French bed and breakfast in the middle of nowhere that I have all my classes in an ancient monastery. Old provincial town life it really was.