It has been a month since my last entry, and a busy month indeed. Marc and I have the honor and privilege of training with the French Foreign Legion during our weeklong “vacation.” This is an experience I won’t soon forget. The Legion is comprised of French officers, but the soldiers and NCOs are all of foreign nationality. I bounced back and forth between shadowing the Lieutenant out of St. Cyr, and living the life of a young legionnaire (private equivalent in the Army). The French idea of officership is quite different from ours. Many still hold onto the vestiges of [View Full Entry]

---

---

If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn’t cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn’t tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you’d seen. The truth is, you wouldn’t remember that movie a week late, except you’d feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo. But we spend years actually living [View Full Entry]

---

---

Weekend in Geneva was fantastic. The beautiful autumn weather has arrived. Below is an op/ed I wrote for the hometown newspaper. ----- The elderly French woman looked at me, before saying a word to the class, and asked to the sole American in the cosmopolitan class of students, what is your country's health-care system? This was the day after yet another proclamation about the state of our nation's health-care system that made international headlines. She wanted to try to make sense of our health-care "crisis." So do I. I had many opinions I wanted to share, but chose my word [View Full Entry]

---

---

How quickly summer is fading to fall here in Lyon. I ride to school with a sweater on, but usually in the afternoon it is warm enough for just a T-shirt, but I fear those days are soon to be over. I had the pleasure of watching the US Open over some good cold beer and very good French wine with my host Dad here. The time difference made for some late nights, but my very enthusiastic tennis loving host Dad has tennis club membership, and full access to their TV with the Tennis Channel, and fully stocked bar, so we [View Full Entry]

---

---

Week one is down and things are rolling. It has been a beautiful week discovering new places, people, dishes, and running routes. My host family continues to go above and beyond to borrow a very West Pointish phrase. I have officially found my favorite Lyonnais meal, quenelles. My host mother made this dish for Friday’s dinner. It was a splendid evening, with lots of conversation, wine, cheese, and all things French (that implies talk of politics and religion). I have found a new motivation to learn to cook well, so when I return home, this is the first [url=http://www.cookitsimply.com/r [View Full Entry]

---

---

Lots of movement in the last couple of weeks. Just to give everyone an immediate update, I am safe and sound in my new home in Lyon. The family is great so I think this shall be a wonderful stay. During my first night out with the siblings of the family (all ranging in the twentys) we went to a small cinema and saw Woody Allen’s newest film “Whatever Works.” It was very funny, but in English with french subtitles, which was actually good for me to pick up some new vocab. What was even better was sitting around for about [View Full Entry]

---

---

One of my many wonderful mentors at West Point, Captain Galui, reminded me I haven’t been so hot on updating this blog, so this one is dedicated to him. Our instruction ended Thursday, and I’m a little sad to be done, but looking forward to the next chapter of my life as well. The school threw us a cocktail (photos to come later) and presented us some medals and certificates, and of course, some champagne. It wouldn’t have been French without a little alcohol. I’m headed back to West Point tomorrow, hard to believe I’ll be a cow (cadet slang for [View Full Entry]

---

---

I've been a little slow on updating this blog (apologies for you who are still reading). I'm attaching some opinion pieces I've written for the Herald Standard, a local newspaper in Uniontown, PA. They haven't been published yet in the paper but the editor there is taking a look at them. They encapsulate some of the thoughts flying through my crazed mind the last few days. The language training in Rochefort has been excellent. There are 8 cadets here (including myself) as well as numerous international officers from Vietnam, Georgia, China, Tajikistan, Malaysia, Cambodia..etc. We have usua [View Full Entry]

---

---

I'll have a more information filled update later. This entry is going to be pictures I haven't yet posted. Spent the weekend in Bordeaux seeing the sites and sipping the wine...I'm still learning on the vin. My french classes start tomorrow, should be an interesting time. Hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend. [View Full Entry]

---

---

I had two days between my time in Germany and my next duty station on the West Coast of France, and what better place to spend two days than Paris? It just so happened to be Bastille Day as well, so the timing could not have been better. French pride soared as her military and civil service units marched by in a very impressive parade. I was a little worried that L’Armee De Terre had pulled all its units from whatever fight the French are in to march through the streets of Paris. There was an abundance of tanks, wheeled vehicles, [View Full Entry]

---

---