New Friends in New Places

Due the nature of "intensive language" courses, I switch classes every month. During October I was in a class with a lot of other students in my program, as well as a group of Japanese and Chinese students. Although I really enjoyed it, I realized I didn't "click" with the group. All of the students were very easy to get along with, but I didn't have a special connection with anyone. I didn't really make any new friends.

November brought me to a classroom of Brazilian students (we also have a student from India and one from Scotland). After the first day of my new class, I knew good things were going to happen. I do honestly love the French, but they are nice in a different way.  People from Latin-American cultures tend to be more outgoing and approachable. What resulted from this change was an increase in enjoyable french conversation, new friends, and happiness. :)

I was extremely happy when a classmate invited me to go with her and two other friends to a natural spa in the mountains! Not only was it a chance to get better acquainted with new people, but how could I say no to the words "spa" and "promotion" in the same sentence? Half price! So Sunday morning at 8am I met the three girls at the train station to pick up a rental car and begin the 3 hour drive through the mountains. 

Music blasting and heat turned up, we braved the winding mountain roads in our little car. I kid you not when I say it was the scariest experience of my life. I have always been a little bit of a nervous driver, but after I crashed my car this summer I've become a nervous passenger too. Hair-pin turns on a tiny mountain road without guard rails did not sit well with me. Not to mention we hit some treacherous snowy patches too. It was such a relief to pull into the spa parking lot and chow down on the food we brought. Have you heard of Speculoos? It is the most addicting thing I have ever eaten in my life! Imagine peanut butter, but instead of peanuts, it is made with a tasty vanilla wafers. Needless to say, that was most of my lunch ;).

Image credit to Google Images (No Trader Joe's in France ;) )

Now onto the best part: the spa! I have never been so relaxed in my entire life. We began our day of r&r with an hour in the Jacuzzi on the terrace. Just a quick jog barefoot through the snow and then into the cozy naturally warm water. It was wonderful to breathe in the frosty mountain air and enjoy the beautiful view while the tension in my muscles slowly melted away. We even had the opportunity to test out our french with some friendly Alpine natives.

The bottom floor had a huge variety of different relaxing activities. An indoor/outdoor pool provided plenty of space to swim around, and various little underwater benches with massaging jets to sit and admire the snow. There was a serious of 3 different pools, each with different themes and water temperatures to acclimate your body to a polar plunge! I only lasted a minute in the "Frigidaire", but it was enough to know I'm never going to be part of the polar bear club back home. My favorite spot, though, was a "musical grotto" that played music you could only hear when your ears were under water! The space was shallow enough to lay down and listen to the music while watching colorful lights ripple on the ceiling above. I'm not sure how long we stayed in the grotto, but I definitely fell asleep more than once. 

We were all sad to turn in our fuzzy spa robes and head back home, but it was definitely an amazing experience!