Friday 28 September 2012

Dungeons and toaster ovens

Salut!

So my week has been relatively uneventful. Just school and hanging out with some people. Kind of boring actually. So this entry will probably be short ( I make no promises).

Class is class is class. Some of them are kind of boring, others interesting, the usual. I'm actually taking a fairly heavy workload for international students, so hopefully it all works out in the end. 

I found a pretty tasty take-out sushi place in Grenoble that's pretty cheap too. So that went down.

Two new people moved into my building, one from Belgium, the other Germany. They seem nice.

I finally figured out why the power kept going off in my room. The toaster oven. Every time I plugged it in, goodbye electricity (even though it's a French toaster oven that came with the room, so one would think it wouldn't do such a thing). So I guess I'm going to buy a converter or something that will lower the voltage flow....if that's possible. 

Oh and I burnt my finger pretty badly on said toaster oven. It's all blistery and swollen. I feel like a career criminal who burns off their finger prints so they can't be identified by the cops.

Last night (thursday 28th), I went with some friends to a discothèque called "La veille Manoir" (the old Manor). It was pretty fun, a lot of good music, a lot of people, no ventilation at all! It was honestly hard to breathe, it was so hot and hazy. The coolest thing though, was the sitting area. It was designed to look like a dungeon. Chains and all! I only got 3 hours of sleep that night as the tram stopped running and all my friends came to my place as we waited for the first tram of the morning (5 am).

Today I did laundry! It was about time too, I was getting down to my last pair of underwear.

Fun Facts/ tidbits/ etc... :

-OMG as I type this there is a wasp in my room!!!!! Waaaahhhhhhhh

-While clubs do have designated "smoking areas"they're just one side of a room, so the whole club smells like smoke anyway.

-Apparently if you so much as smile at a guy it means "come talk to me/ I wanna dance with you". This isn't really a joke. Because people don't really smile at strangers here (on the street, etc.), smiling at someone means you're interested. This has gotten me into some pickles.


Monday 24 September 2012

Geneva Fail = Annecy Win

So my friends Cara (United States), Krista (Canada) and Camila (Brazil) and I all decided to go to Geneva for the weekend. A rather last minute decision, but all booked our train tickets and rooms at a hostel. Bright and early on Saturday morning we all met at the train station, well all of us but Krista, who slept through her alarm.

As the three of us got on to the train we wondered what the weekend would bring, and if Krista (who had yet to get a cell phone) would try to get on to a later train. After around 2 hours or so we arrived in Geneva. It was raining and gray and all gloomy. Perfect. After a decent amount of time walking in the rain we found our hostel and dropped off our bags. Time for lunch!


So here's a little tidbit of information about Switzerland: it's really expensive. Everything costs a lot more than they do in France (even with the exchange of currency into Swiss Francs). Out of general curiosity we went into a McDonalds, and it was 8 francs for a Big Mac. Not a Big Mac meal, just the hamburger! That's around $10 Canadian!!! WTF??? We settled on the plat du jour from a Italian restaurant (moderately priced).

After that we ventured to the United Nations building. It was pretty cool, but besides that and the Tamil Tigers protest going on outside, not too much to do. We then walked around the lake to "old town"Geneva. The older section of town is quite pretty with some old buildings and a great view of the rest of the town. We actually went inside a church that Calvin used to preach in (that was pretty interesting). Another highligth was the wall dedicated to all the Protestant martyrs (Thomas Cromwell was on it among others). After spending some hours wandering we made our way back to the hostel. As I checked my facebook using their wifi we realised Krista HAD come to Geneva and was wondering waiting for us to contact her via internet. oops.

We met up and went for dinner. In the end we figured "screw it" and had a fairly expensive dinner of fondue (when in Switzerland!). While incredibly delishes, it was legitimately only cheese and bread, my stomach sort of regretted the decision afterwards. After that we decided that we had had enough of Geneva and that the next day we would exchange our train tickets and head to Annecy, France.

The next morning, after a pretty good breakfast courtesy of the hostel, we took to the streets of Geneva in an attempt to buy cute little Swiss chocolates. Mission accomplished, they didn't even make it back to France. We then took the train to Annecy. Not after much difficulty though in trying to exchange our tickets (why is nothing ever easy?). 

Once we arrived in Annecy, we knew we had made the right decision. Annecy is BEAUTIFUL! It's known as the Venice of France because it has a river that runs through it and does indeed look very Venice-like. It is clearly a huge tourist attraction as there are many adorable shops, cafes and restaurants everywhere. It's also a very historic town and has 3 castles in it! I can not stress how gorgeous it was, and how you must go there!! It has castles, mountains, beaches and a lake. I mean c'mon!

While walking around, I had the well-balanced lunch of salted caramel gelato. Then we rented out a paddle boat and toured a bit around the lake. For dinner we went to a little crepe shop and I had a savoury crepe with bechamel sauce, ham and mushrooms. We would have stayed longer were it not for our train.

Oh hai castle!
My god was the train packed! Cara and I were forced to sit in between six 16 year olds from the Czech Republic. They were very loud and very excited to be talking to two 20 year olds from North America. Many pictures were taken and they tried to teach us words in Czech. It was funny and awkward, but they were very nice (even if they did try to get us to say dirty things in Czech-we figured it out pretty fast).

As I arrived home I was relieved to find that my internet hotspot was back up! Thank god! I procrastinated a bit then went to bed. While Geneva was sort of underwhelming, Annecy definitely made up for it.



Fun Facts/ random musings:
-"Ahoy" means hi in Czech. "Ano" means yes.

- The Swiss must be the most punctual people on earth. There are clock/watch stores everywhere! They're like our Tim Hortons!

-Is the cow the national animal of Switzerland? They have cow stuffies and stuff everywhere as well.

-Honestly, go to Geneva for the afternoon, no longer. It's kind of a boring city. We hit all the tourist attractions in 4 hours.


Sunday 23 September 2012

First week of School

Hello,

Sorry it's been a week since my last post, my internet connection isn't totally stable and I've been super busy going to classes. So I'll do another day by day week summary:

*Important to know: International students at this point aren't registered for courses, we just go to which ever ones we like for 2 weeks then decide after. Although a good concept, it's really annoying in practice.

Mon 17th- First day of classes! So I was totally 20 minutes late for my first class. I had the time written down wrong and was forced to do the walk of shame to my seat in the big lecture hall. It was a sociology of family course and thankfully I understood what the prof was saying. I also went to a cinema class later that night. BORING! I shall not return.

Tues 18th- My friend Estelle and I went to a sociology of media class. Although interesting, the prof mumbled like mad and told us we have to write some really vague personal journal. I'm still going to register for it though, because it matches with a course back home. Afterward we went to a french class designed solely for international students (so easy!). I then went to a history class about the Enlightenment. Super embarrassing moment when the prof deduced that Estelle and I were international students, hesitated before giving us the textbook and said "You two sure you're coming back next week?" Oh that many shades of red my face became! We weren't planning on going back anyway, but still, seriously? In front of the entire class? Later that night I went to this history class about "modern" France taught in english by this American guy (Praise!). He was really funny and it was nice to actually fully understand a lecture.

Wed 19th- 8:30 am grammar class! Yippie! I also went to a history of greek religion class. I listened for the first 20 minutes, then doodled on my paper for the next 2 hours. Will not return. Later that night I wrote some stupid hour and a half french placement exam. 

Thurs 20th- Woke up early and went to 2 markets with my friend Cara. One, we have lovingly named "Sketch market" as I believe all the vendors got their merchandise after it fell off a truck. The other a super cute food market! Later that day---Completely unknowingly, I signed up for a history of Grenoble class that goes on field trips!!! We actually go to museums and stuff during the 2 hour class! Some friends that I have met and I decided to make a "family dinner" at one of the residences that night. It took a while, but in the end we made pasta and melted fondue cheese on top of bread (kind of like poor student's stromboli).

Fri 21st- NO FRIDAY CLASSES SUCKAS! I helped my friend do laundry, bought a shirt, had a gelato and went out for dinner. I had my first steak tatare in ages (delish!) while everyone else ordered actual steak. I also ordered a pear white wine as it was the cheapest and I couldn't tell which wines were pinot grigio and which were chardonnay. I then went home and packed for the weekend (more to come upon next posting).



Interesting Facts/ general annoyances/ awesome things:

-There are 2 types of men in Grenoble (or possibly all of France). Those who do not wear deodorant and those who bathe in cologne.

-There are coffee vending machine here! Sure it's not the best coffee/ latte ever, but for 50 centimes (0.5 euros) c'est géniale!

-The power in my room went out for 2 days and I was forced to get things done by the light of my one small scented candle. Next time on Survivor 1800s!

-The heel of my boot broke off, so I bought super glue at Sketch Market. Sadly, the tube exploded and I got some on my fingers. I spent the next day trying to rub it all off. 

-I have met 2 different African men (on separate occasions) who initially told me they were from Norway, then laughed when I believed them. I mean they could be!!! Are there practically no black people in Norway?? I'm clearly not in on the joke.

Monday 17 September 2012

Lac Lafrey


Some of my housemates had heard of an organized trip to go to Lac Lafrey (a lake about an hour outside of Grenoble) this Sunday past. Since I hadn’t spent much time with my housemates, I decided to tag along. So my housemates Joana, Julia, Andrew, myself, and some of their friends made our way to the train/bus station.

After about an hour-long bus ride we arrived at the lake and the very small town right beside it. The lake was really pretty! It reminded me a lot of the lakes up north in cottage country. It was also a very hot day, but the lake (which comes from the higher mountains) was freezing. I didn’t go in past my knees.

After a couple of hours we decide to make our way back to the bus stop. The last two buses were at 5:30 and 6:30. I was stressing that we try for the 5:30, just incase something should go wrong. Boy was I right in thinking so. I really like my housemates, but punctuality is not their forte.

We missed the 5:30 bus because they didn’t want to leave just yet and were being really slow about getting ready. No problem, we can take the last bus at 6:30. Ha. Ha. Ha. The 6:30 bus does show up on time, but only stops to tell us that its already full and we can’t get on. “Have fun being stuck here overnight!”

My one housemate thinks we should all charge on to the bus so they either have to take us with them or call the police. Yeaaaaahhhhh, not happening. I don’t want to get a fine, or worse, get arrested or something. My other housemate, Julia, and her friend Stephanie (both of whom are German) decide to hail down a car. Within five minutes a car has pulled over and the three of us get in. Yes ladies and gentleman, I, Cayda Rubin, hitchhiked back to Grenoble. It all happened so fast.

Although the guy who picked us up was also a university student in Grenoble, and was super nice, the whole experience was sketchy and too risky for me to ever want to do it again. Julia and I rewarded our act of desperation and sketchiness with a sugar crepe.

Fun Facts/ Just incase you wanted to know:
 -My other housemates managed to hitchhike home as well, albeit hours after us

-I was 15 min late for my first class in France and it was kind of awkward.

-Bottle openers here are expensive. I can’t find one for less than 20 Euros. Until then, I guess only screw-top wine.

Saturday 15 September 2012

Tequila, kisses, horses and bread


FRIDAY--Friday night has come and we decided that it would be fitting to go out to a Pub Crawl we had all heard about. After having a quick dinner at one of the places on campus, we all made our way to O Callaghans, an Irish pub and the first stop on the pub-crawl.

Turns out, there wasn’t really a bar-hopping thing organized, so we spent the first couple of hours there just hanging around. A pint of cider (Magners = delish) and 3 tequila shots later, we were all in pretty good shape.

Weirdest thing though, the washroom was unisex, so guys are totally using the urinal while the girls wait in line. Awkward. Where do you look????? After a couple of hours we decided to go to a dance bar called Bukana. Much rejoicing when we realized the tequila shots was only 1.50 Euros. After dancing to the many Brazilian songs they kept playing we went home.

However, while waiting for the tram, some really drunk French guy went nuts, took off his shirt and started trying to start a fight with other French people. We all brushed it off until he started punching the plastic bus stop walls and everyone at the stop scattered.  Luckily he left and we all returned before missing the tram.

SATURDAY—I was invited by some friends to go hiking up one of the mountain trails, so I ventured on the tram to meet everyone for 10 am. There was a surprisingly awesome turnout, over 20 people (all friends of friends etc…) I can now say I’ve met people from Taiwan, Japan and Luxembourg!

The trail was fun but super long. It took us just over 4 hours and we didn’t really know where we were going. Luckily, in the end, we figured it out. To get to the trail we had to walk through a really quaint village called Champagnier, many horses and farms. Once we finally got higher up the mountain we had a lovely view of the country on one side, and the more modern view of a large industrial factory on the other. Very Hamilton-ish (my sentiment levels were about to burst).

Fun Facts/ General annoyances/ random musings:

-So the double cheek kiss thing is weird. I know most Europeans do it, but I mean I meet someone for the first time and they just go for it. At least buy me dinner first.

-Bread here is dirt cheap. I bought a whole baguette for 0.70 euros.

-Alcohol here is equally cheap as hell. You really have no excuse to not get drunk.

-It’s official: People of all backgrounds and languages don’t “get” my name. I may as well be called jfsjkfhinkrfdng

Friday 14 September 2012

Finally, a first post

Hello everyone,

Sorry this post has taken so long, I had a lot of stuff to do in a very little amount of time. It's probably for the best anyway, if I had been able to post anytime sooner it would have probably been an angry one.


So to save on time, I'll summarize the events of the past few days.


Sept 9th-arrival: Went to move into apartment at 7:30 pm. Landlord not there. Dad and I sat outside and ate pizza for 2 hours. Not amused.


Sept 10th: Went on a walking tour, met some Canadians and Germans. No longer alone!


Sept 11th: It's weird to be in a place where the whole 9/11 events don't seem huge. It wasn't mentioned anywhere, but back home it's the only thing talked about on the news. Went to NoName Bar- had a tequila beer (verdict= meh)


Sept 12th: Courses here are SUPER confusing. There is absolutely no uniformity. Waited in line for 2 hours to get my student card. Opened a bank account. Walking tour of Grenoble.


Sept 13th: Went to Ikea with Dad and finally got  cellphone! Went to concert on campus. It was pretty cool, first some folksy band, then rapper, then dub step.


Sept 14th: Mainly been on my computer at school as I still don't have internet access back at home.


That's pretty much the main stuff. I'll try to post more often so to include more funny and intricate stuff.


Fun Facts:  

-Can't find bagels in France! (Insert sound of my heart breaking)
-They take 2 hour lunch breaks and close down everything
-There is no such thing as too much paperwork
-You might as well take up smoking before you come. Everyone here smokes, a lot. I'm positive I will die of second hand smoke before the year ends.