First (real) day of School

Wahoo! I was supposed to start my 2 week French course for English students on Jan 3^rd. It’s a course to prepare me for taking real university courses at the university. Some people from my res showed me where to take the bus to catch the tram, then the tram to the school. There are 6 or 7 tram stops on campus, just to tell you how huge it is. 60 000 students! 5000 exchange students. It’s crazy big! Technically it’s 6 universites on 1 campus. Right now, Im a student at Stendhal University (for languages), but starting on Jan 23, Ill be studying math at Joseph Fourier University (for sciences).

(Here's a shot of the tram)

Anways, after a half hour search around campus, I managed to find my class. I was only 1 of 4 though, so my first day of class was cancelled. haha. So I got a day to look around the campus and city. Here's the science library

It actually has study space, which is nice! A shot of the mountains. They completely surround the city, they're lovely!

This is my favourite road so far (rue des mathématiques).

I realized I hadn’t had a real meal since I left Toronto 2 days before, so I attempted to find a place to eat. This was surprisingly difficult. Apparently there are 29 cafeterias and  school restaurants throughout Grenoble. I was able to find one. Meals are really cheap! 3.05 euros, about $4 for a main dish, appetizer, and desert. I’ve been more brave here at introducing myself and meeting people. For lunch, I asked if I could sit with a girl whose from China, and had a nice visit. It’s neat meeting people from all over the world. Here’s lunch! I've never had brusslesprouts before... (and I doubt I will again..)

I walked downtown to explore it a bit more. It’s funny, no one walks anywhere here. If I ask for directions, they all say “oh, take this tram here, and then a bus there,” and when I  say I’ll just walk, they look at my like im nuts and tell me “Oh non! Its too far!” when its more than a 10 minute walk. Yet they’re all skinny! Its weird. 

Anyways, I found out that a church was right across from McDonalds (yay internet!), so I went and prayed for a while. He's helped me out a lot over the past few days. There have  been a lot of things that went "wrong" or just not the way I liked them, but there have been many more than have gone well. It's just that there have been so many things going on that it's been hard to keep things in perspective. But God's been giving me a tonne of little things to be thankful for, like all the people that have helped me out. It's been good.

I managed to find a grocery store! I found corn flakes and milk. Strange fact: milk here doesn't have to be refrigerated until opened. I have a feeling it's not actually milk. Oh. I forgot a bowl. And instead of using my "girl guide brain" and using my mug, I opted for my peanut butter lid. Note: Still no sign of peanut butter here, good thing Mom sent some with me!

I helped a girl in my res with her English homework that night, she’s really nice. I’m having trouble remembering names here because I haven’t heard of many of them before. Anyways, she helped me get internet in my room! Got to skype with my family and Frank. Thanks for all your support guys! Miss you lots.

The next day was my first real day of school, class from 8:30 to 12:30. My prof’s super nice. there are 4 Chinese students, 1 guys from Kazakhstan, and a girl studying math like me at Joseph Fourier University, from Germany. So nice small class. I find its more intense French than I did at Mac or at Ste. Anne. We started right away with a review le subjonctif  for grammar. The class is mostly oral though (which is my weak point), but that’s why Im here.

Got a tram card that day. This has made  HUGE difference. So now I have a student card, food card, transit card, and internet. Finally things are coming together. 

I had dinner with some of the Catholic students. They were great! Mostly engineers. That's the priest on the right with the glasses, he's quite young.

A bit of an issue, I misread the bus schedule for that night. Last bus was at 20h00, which is not 10PM. It’s 8PM. So I had an adventure! (Frank, you’ll be proud of my, I was “spontaneous’’!)  I walked up that mountain in heals! There's a view of the city from the top. Actually, one of the most proud moments of my life. Haha! 

And that's all for now! Bonne soirée !

Je suis en France!

Hey all!

I've made it to Grenoble! After a bit of an adjustment, things are going well. I figured a blog would be the best way to keep in touch with people while I'm away, so here's my attempt!

So much has happened in the past 3 days, I've learned more than I probably would in a month of classes, haha. I'll just touch on a few.

I flew out of Toronto on Jan 1st at 6:30 pm and was in London by 6:30 am England time (1:30 am Canadian). Then flew from there to Lyon by 10:30 am (4:30 am Canada). I was pretty tired, only slept a couple hours on the plane, but I had a lot of adrenaline to keep me going. Here's the family before I went through security.

After an hour bus ride from Lyon to Grenoble and a cab ride up the mountain, I arrived up at Le Rabot, my residence. The residences are spread out through the city. Mine's a half hour bus and tram trip to the school. But it's worth it for the view!

 Gotta say though, I didn't really think it was when I got there. It was pouring and I had to carry my 50 lb suitcase (literally...i just made the weight cut-off) up a huge set of stairs. In heals (come on, Im in France!).

My room is small, but I’m only paying 160 euros a month (about $250?), so I can’t complain. Okay…Im going to make one complaint.

But Im sure I’ll get used to it eventually.

The people in my res are really nice, I’ve met more people here in the first couple days than I did all of first term at my mac res, haha. They’ve been really great, definitely not the “snotty French" steryotype.

My French has been surprisingly okay, I’ve managed to understand people well enough, and communicate for the most part. I find it’s harder to understand people from France than Quebec, although I can’t quite distinguish the difference in accent.

The first day was honestly pretty overwhelming. Besides people in my res, there wasn’t much help as far as literature on where to find food, a bus pass, or internet. The secretary was very kind though and drove me down the mountain to the bank to open an account, so I could get a French credit card and get internet in my room. McDonalds was right next to it so I could use their free wifi to email home and chat with my family (thanks guys!). 

The downtown "centreville" area is GORGEOUS. All these fancy shops and architecture. It's just lovely! Ill get more pics soon.

I didn’t know where I was so I attempted to walk back at night. I completely lucked out, this nice couple called down the mini-bus as it was driving by and he let me on without paying. Most people are really helpful, it’s made this experience a lot better. So I ended back up at Le Rabot, and that was basically Day 1 in France! 

A bientot!