New Discoveries

I've been hearing a lot of feedback about this blog, which is cool. Most of it good but some of you bums are complaining that it's too long. Sorry for boring you with my genius. I know for most of you its hard to keep up without a picture every other page. I'm kidding but honestly those will probably be the longest two entries I have. I had to give you the back story. It's like the first hour of inception, I'm throwing a lot at you early but don't worry it'll all make sense in the end, or not, whatever.

Anyway let me fill you in on the happenings since our last adventure. Last sunday (Super Bowl Sunday) was easily one of the longest days of my life. The day began at the beautiful time of 4 A.M. local time so we could get on the team bus to Cannes. The trip is about 5 or 6 hours, I'm not really sure as I did what I usually do on long trips and fell asleep for most of it. The game was not what we wanted as a team. We lost and were actually shut out, it was a tough day to say the least. We'll get that straightened out and return to the winner's circle. If you didn't notice the name of this entry is new discoveries and this the part where I actually address that. After the game on the bus trip back home my teammates told me about the usual post game ritual of drinking on the bus. For you slow ones I don't mean gatorade, something with a little more kick. Post game on the bus is pretty much a little party, everyone has some wine or beer and we just sit back and drink. Not necessarily the healthiest option but it makes the bus trip back a hell of a lot more bearable. Unfortunately, since we lost the party lost a bit of it's luster and once again I spent most of my time sleeping but I enjoyed a couple sips of wine when I awoke from my slumber. Next bus trip, I fully expect things to get a little weird because we'll be riding back to Chambery victorious.

Sticking with this theme of new discoveries and alcohol is pretty fitting for my adventure this past week. On Tuesday Kevin and I ventured to the nearby town of Annecy. Simply put it's awesome and might be one of my favorite places I've ever been. (Pictures here ---> mmalachi.tumblr.com) While walking around Annecy Kevin and I decided to stop in at a little street cafe and have a beer. First off, there's no open container law so we sit outside at one of the curbside tables. I'm sitting there deliberating about what to get when Kevin asks me what I want. I'm pretty well versed with my beers so I'm trying to decide if I want a lager, an ale, stout, etc. I figured I'm just going to make it easy and ask Kevin what he's going to get. This is when I find out about the heavenly concoction known as a Monaco. It's a lager , lemon flavored soda (or lemonade as it's called here, that took some getting used to), and grenadine mixed together. I instantly fell in love the second it hit my tongue. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the taste of beer but it's a nice little switch up that I know even my uncouth non-beer drinking friends will enjoy. However, the best moment was when the check came I told Kevin I'd pay it. The surprise on my face when I saw the bill was 5 € euros (about $7 dollars) was obviously evident as both the waiter and Kevin laughed. I swear I thought they only charged us for one by accident but I wasn't about to tell them. I paid the bill and Kevin began to explain to me that in France beer and wine are dirt cheap. I'm not talking about that crap they give us back in the states for the same price either. Good quality beer and wine is not expensive here at all. Kevin said the two canadian players that were on the team had the same reaction I did when they saw the prices too. I began to explain how different that is from what I'm used to he almost fell out when I told him about how much more the same thing would cost back in the US. At the dinner table, Kevin and I filled Catherine, Killian, and Pierre on our adventure in Annecy. Of course, our conversation about the difference in prices of beer in France and the US came up and this is when I heard the news that almost made me hit the floor. Pierre confirmed everything Kevin told me earlier and even added that 50 bottles of heineken at the grocery store wouldn't be more than twenty something euros. Tears of joy instantly streamed down my face. Not really, but it sounded good and I promised this one would be shorter so I'm going to start wrapping up.

On top of the no open container law I also found out from my buddy the other American on the team, Caleb, that you can pee at your discretion in France. In the street, on buildings, anywhere in public as long as you have your back turned. I don't know about the rest of you but that's pretty awesome and I am definitely going to engage in this act very soon. Last two things I'm going to mention are that my position coach Phillip is definitely the man. He tells all the DL that for each sack we get during the game he'll give us a bottle of champagne. Want to talk about a serious motivating factor, thats it. I would slide in a joke about Coach Fitz and Coach Long using this same technique at NU, but I know that'll never fly. Last thing is that My Aigles teammates have started to read my blog too. That ruins my plans to rip on them all behind their backs. I'm j/k they're all great guys and a fun group to be around even with the huge language barrier.

Now I must bid you all adieu, I'm off to enjoy to my first night on the town. WHOOOOO!!!!!!