Day 2

So today was quite interesting, to say the least.

I slept for an amazing 14 hours last night after being awake for almost 30. Bernard left at about 7:30 to go to a dinner and left us home alone our first night in his apartment. This meant that we basically went to sleep right away.

Before I get on with what we did today I'd like to take a minute and add to yesterday's information. After walking out of the airport, we found out that Clermont-Ferrand is the home to the first place in the world to get a hard topped road (Blacktop to be exact). Michelin's Global Headquarters is here in Clermont-Ferrand and if it is at all possible I'm going to try and do my internship there. In addition, the tram system that they have here is one of the only trams in the world to have rubber tires, rightfully so since Michelin is here and everything... Ok on to today...

This morning we got up and had breakfast which was coffee and come cereal. I finished unpacking and we watched some rugby. Bernard's son, Pierre came over for lunch and found out that he actually plays rugby on a few of the local teams and in addition Bernard referees rugby games and is also an avid rugby player himself.

After lunch, les tomatoes foursee (stuffed tomatoes - A hallowed out tomato with seasoned beef inside, it was actually really good!) we finished watching the rugby match on TV. At about 1 o'clock we headed back into town to take Pierre back to his apartment. After getting out of the car with Pierre Bernard left to go handle some work things. I thought Pierre was going to show us around Clermont and give us the quick tour or something but what we did was headed to an Orange store (cell phone store) where we found out that all the contracts are for 12 or 24 months and I'd have to get a prepaid card. So after exiting the store, we headed down the street and got to Pierre's apartment, he went up the stairs and told us he'd might see us tomorrow... So now, Courtney's and my first day in France and we find ourselves in the middle of Clermont Ferrand without any idea where stuff is by ourselves. We were kind of surprised at this but then we got the hang of it, we strolled around the downtown area and saw all kinds of shops and stores. Clermont is a really beautiful downtown area that has a ton of people just walking around. There was bands playing in the streets and all sorts of commotion. We ended up at the new mall in downtown Clermont where I found a Best Buy type store, a place that felt like home, the store was packed and I ended up finding a cell phone section of the store. So me believing that my phone was unlocked I just asked for a prepaid SIM card for my phone. We got it and it only cost 30 Euros.. about 38 dollars. We tried to activate it in my phone but it didn't work... it said that the phone was not unlocked. Now when I bought the phone it was supposed to be unlocked but that is not the time or the place for that. So I ended up having to buy a phone but because I had already purchased a SIM card and activated it I had to buy a phone that was Unlocked. This was a little bit more expensive than if I had just bought the phone and a prepaid card together. But at the end the result was the same, I have a phone and a Number that people can reach me at. Ill give it to you guys at the end.

After leaving the electronics store we decided to try and make our way back to the house... we still were not sure of how to get there because of all the one way streets and such. We were going to try and take the bus, but then we realized we don't know what stop to go to or how much it costs, then we were going to take the tram but realized that it doesn't go by the apartment so we decided to just suck it up and walk. After heading in the wrong direction for about 10 minutes, we finally got our bearings straight and made it home.. about 25 minutes later to find that no one else was at the apartment yet. Bernard did show up about 15 minutes after we got there so things are all good.. either way we got a great view of the whole city and now I sort of know how to get back and forth. The next obstacle will be whether or not I can find my way to school Monday morning.

I guess tomorrow morning there is a really cool farmer's market nearby that I think we are going to take a short walk and go see. Bernard is leaving again tonight for some dinner and then he is helping Pierre finish moving tomorrow morning so we will be on our own again! haha.

It looks like it is going to be a really good trip, Bernard is really nice and he speaks perfect English and is fluent in Russian as well.

Well I think that is it for today.. I'll take some pictures of Clermont sometime soon and get those taken care of.

Until next time,

Au Revoir!

Jon

Oh.. my number is 06.42.07.06.98.