Sunday in Mulhouse

---

Hello again!

I've had a great first week in Mulhouse and everything is going well. I'm finally all settled into my apartment and getting more and more familiar with the city and how to get around.

Wednesday I met the running club I'm going to join. I think they meet every Tuesday and Thursday evening, so that will be nice to belong to a club for French people who run also. They were very nice and were so happy to meet me and welcome me to Illzach. I'm very excited! While I'm here in France I've decided I would like to participate in some 5K and 10K races. I found a 10K race in November and all runners receive a bottle of wine in addition to other goodies. Also, my goal for the Spring before I leave, is to run a half-marathon. There are a lot of them so hopefully I can train to run one before I leave! That would be so cool to do it here in France!

Thursday I went back to the high school and met the other secretary Caroline who had all my paperwork and told me what I needed to get my "titre de sejour" (so that I'll be official to live in France for 7 months) and any other questions I had. She speaks a little English and asked if I could correct her so she could improve. We've decided that I can speak French to her and she will speak English with me...then we both will improve!

I've bought some bread and a croissant from the boulangerie(bakery) I live above and it's really good. Supposedly their bakery is very popular in Mulhouse and people come from all over the area to buy their bread. It's always very busy there and sometimes there is even a line out the door. It smells really good every time I enter the back door to go up to my apartment!

Yesterday, Amy and I took the train up to Strasbourg for the day. The weather was really nice. We met her friend from England who is living and working there and she showed us around. Strasbourg is a really cool city and so pretty. It's a much bigger city than Mulhouse and a lot busier. I loved it and can't wait to go back. We walked through the town center and saw the big cathedrale (next time I'm there I'll have to go inside!) Then her friend took us to see the European Parliament, which was pretty cool. We walked though a park which was so peaceful and there was a mini-zoo with birds and monkeys!!! We had some sausage for dinner that was special to Alsace, too. I forget what it was called though. We got back on the train around 6 and headed back to Mulhouse.

This morning I met up with my friend, Andromeda, an American working at the university teaching English, and her French boyfriend, Ben, to run together down by her along the river. It was fun and we agreed to meet and run together at least once a week. She did a half-marathon in Germany last year so hopefully I can get her to do that again this year!

Well I think that's all I have to share for now...

See you later!

Kristen:)

---