First day of (real) classes!

Today I had my first day of classes, walking half an hour in semidarkness in an electric storm to get to my 8am class. Although wet, I got there alright, and after two breaks throughout the day totaling 4.5 hours, I finished my day at 6.15pm.
We decided to try out the student service canteen style meals that go on every lunchtime, and were pleasantly surprised! It was 3euros for a piece of fruit, a dessert or a salad, and a main meal complete with carbohydrate, vegetables and meat. Today was fish and vegetables with mashed potatoes, which was really nice! I may be having a light dinner tonight though... I quite enjoyed the whole experience, right down to putting your empty tray on a conveyer belt at the end which disappears off into a hole in the wall!

France does not seem to have any normal refill in the ENTIRE country though, I have literally looked everywhere, but all that they have is weird square paper. So this is what all my notes are being written on for the rest of the year!

A night at the Bastille and a day at the market!

On Friday evening we took another trip up to the Bastille, once again the view was amazing, and it was very nice to see the city at when the sun is setting, and all the lights are coming on. There are a lot of postcards around with these exact pictures!

You can even see the moon in the sky, and the view was just as impressive in the dark!

We couldn't help but take pictures on the way up, and as you can see by what we're wearing it was a lovely warm night.

We had a great picnic up the very top, I'm amazed how many people we managed to arrange to meet at once! It wasn't so fun going down though, I'm glad that a couple of people brought torches.

Today I went to another market, I really love the markets here they are absolutely picturesque, I take a lot of pictures and the stall owners always think that I am about to buy something, but it is worth it because I love looking at all the delicious market foods!

I already have a fridge full of cheese, but I couldn't resist the delicious looking sundried tomatoes, and I bought a very decent amount for only 1 Euro!

Today I also had the chance to try some of the most delicious grapes I have ever eaten in my life. I bought a bag of Muscat grapes, for only 1.50 Euro per kg, I have been eating them all day! (these are more expensive, I found a much better deal!)

I'm already looking up other markets to go to again, I've found a nearby painting and sculpture market to go to next, so expect some nice photos from that one!

I found a photo of me from a night earlier in the week, we all went around to an apartment of some German friend's and all cooked dinner together, we made home made pasta with two types of sauce! I was helping with the sauce so I didn't have much to do with the pasta, but it was very impressive so I got a photo with it! The Germans said that they do it with their family a lot. Even though it wasn't exactly a typical French experience, I absolutely loved it! It was delicious. As you can see here they used a clotheshorse to dry the pasta, it was very effective.

We returned the favour by making them risotto later on in the week, although it wasn't so impressive looking.. so unfortunately you will not get to see that masterpiece!

Daily life and a museum!

I went to a French restaurant with two friends for lunch, and I decided to share an appetiser of mussels, even though I don't really like them. My mind has been forever changed! (at least for French mussels..) They were only about 2-3cm long, but they were delicious! There were literally hundreds of them, I only had half of the appetiser and was very full! That pot that is in the photo actually is full right to the bottom with them!

I have been doing without luxuries for a while, but my need for green tea became too great so I went out and bought a box.. Forgetting that I shouldve also bought a mug.. But necessity is the mother of invention! (or improvisation..) It was delicious.

We took a trip this week to a place that I have been told about Many times, but unfortunately have never had the pleasure of visiting.. until now! It was amazing, I feel as though New Zealand would benefit greatly from an IKEA. I bought a lovely mirror, and a rubbish bin that will be my washing basket *improvisation*, all for very cheap!

My residence has its own bar, run by the student organisation called Arcur, which we could sign up to for 15Euros to get discounts/free events on many things. Last night was a buffet and music event that was free for members, I quickly managed to get a photo on the stage before the bands started playing!

The main event was an amazing and energetic brass band, I've never seen anything like it! I think that brass instruments are a lot more popular here, I loved it.

It's great to have this here actually, because it's a long walk down (and especially up) from here, so its great to have somewhere to spend time with friends and then walk 50m back home after! Although I did venture into the city last night, and took this photo on my way home. It's the one good thing about living so high up, the view!

Yesterday I decided to give up baguette because I ate far too much of it. Today I went to a bakery and bought a baguette, and a Swedish pain au chocolat! All bakery food is so delicious here, and so cheap, it's no wonder that I'm addicted!

I'm sure people can understand my addiction when I have to walk past places like this every day..

Coming home back up the hill, we decided to go to the museum that is along the side of the hill halfway to the residence. It was really nice, a former monastery, complete with its own chapel and gardens. It's hard to believe that this is free entry, and only a 5min walk from where I live!

It is such a hot sunny day today too, so it was nice to see the gardens in the sunlight.

The chapel was incredible, for even small chapels the Europeans seem to put a huge amount of detail and expense into them!

Next week classes start properly, but I still have a lot of free days, so there will most likely be more updates on what I get up to before long!

A day at the market

I went to a Sunday market, as markets are one of the most amazing things that I love about France! At first I thought that it was just a second hand clothes market, which I wasn't so excited about, but then we got to the food section and it was so picturesque! Nothing like you would find in New Zealand!

You had to pick up a basket and go around collecting what you wanted, much nicer than throwing them all into plastic bags at New World!

There were a lot more than just fruit and vegetables.. Olives in open air bowls..

And a massive collection of cured meats, especially salami. I actually have my own salami, I bought it at a supermarket though but it was a bit weird as it was just in a packet un-refrigerated.. I put it in the fridge when I got home!

Afterwards we went for a lovely drink in the sun, it has been 25+ deg here for the last few days, a nice change from winter in NZ!

The Bastille at the top of a very big hill

Finally I have managed to get my room in a state for people to see it! So here it is, there is also a washbasin and a wardrobe that aren't in the picture. The mini fridge is to the right.

Today we went to the Bastille, the big fortress on the hill above the place where I live. It was used in wars to protect this part of France from other invading countries, with massive stone walls and a complex cave system.

There were photo opportunities all the way up!

The view from the top was amazing, I took so many pictures! It turns out that Grenoble is really quite a big city.

It was a long and tiring walk up, and such a warm day, but the views were definitely worth it, and there was a restaurant and a cafe at the top which provided some much needed refreshment!

I decided to get a waffle with caramel and 'chantilly', because it sounded like an exotic flavour! Turns out that it was just whipped cream.. oh well it was delicious anyway!

The caves were all dug out by soldiers, and were very spacious, I cant imagine how much work that would've taken them!

They also went deep underground, coming out again at the bottom of the fortress. There are lights in them now, but I have no idea how they navigated through them when there was no electricity to run off!

We decided to take the 'bubbles' that I have previously spoken about back down to the bottom of the hill, it was great to be able to see my room from that perspective, and realised that you cant actually see as much as I thought! (I'm not quite sure which ones mine, somewhere on the second floor from the top)

And as I started to walk home back up the hill, we saw some architecture that was typical of France, looking really nice in the dusk sunlight (I may have done a small amount of colour editing!).

Classes are starting!

I had my first class in the big auditorium today, it is huge and quite a bit nicer than Dunedin's, but there is only one of them and I don't think I'll be spending much time in it unfortunately.

Getting used to the city

I have managed to take a photo from the centre of town of where I am staying, and have taken the liberty to circle it so no-one can miss it! I think it was an old prison. It doesn't look like it from this photo, but it is actually a 20min walk up a hill to get there! Although there is a bus, which might be good once it starts becoming snowy.

This is me at the entrance, slightly flushed after all that walking!

Once you walk a bit further, you start getting to the (decorative?) towers, it is all quite scenic, especially with such a lovely view down below.

This is another photo I took of the town while I was walking down the hill, I really love walking past this view every day.

These are called the 'bubbles' (they probably have a proper French name), they start in the town and go right up to the very top of the hill above the place that I stay, you can see the building in my first photo. Unfortunately the wires go right over my room, and passengers seem to find it more interesting to stare through the windows of my room instead of looking down at the view! I'm sure I'll get used to it, though it's quite funny to see them trailing up and down every day. This photo was not actually taken from my room, they are a LOT closer when looking out my window! Also, the mountains are already beginning to get snow (you can see a bit in the picture) so I hope that it doesn't get too cold here too soon!

And a nice looking grocery store I saw while waiting for the tram today, I love their displays of fruit and vegetables! I am going to the market on Sunday and I am so excited! Expect a lot of (hopefully) amazing pictures from there!

First few days in France

Next I flew over Bangkok, we had the option of getting off or staying on, as it was only stopping for an hour. I decided to get off, as I didn't want another 10hrs in that plane without some sort of a break! I was night time the whole time there, but still very hot.

Dubai was next, and more exciting as it was daytime (5am), so I managed to get a good picture of the city, with the massive buildings in the background.

Then Finally a 7hr flight to Paris, with some lovely European countryside to see out my window, complete with snow topped mountains!

Once I finally got to Paris, I spent a stressful hour or so in 25+deg heat lugging my bag to Joyce's friends apartment where I was staying, and then Joyce and I went for a walk along the Seine, starting at the Notre Dame.

We then went out to an Italian restaurant for dinner (I was a bit worse for wear by this stage having hardly slept for a couple of days) but it was great to have a nice dinner out after all of that plane food!

After a 3hr train ride to get to the city which will be my home for the next few months, Grenoble, I finally made it up the hill to my residence, this is the lovely view that you get on the way up.

Grenoble is a city set in the mountains, as you can sort of see in that picture, it is surrounded by tall mountains that will be covered in snow in winter! An interesting fact though, it is actually the flattest city in Europe! I don't think that they counted my residence as part of the city in this instance.. (photos to come!)

My friend from Otago and I went on a shopping trip to buy food yesterday, we couldn't believe how cheap some things were!

4 Euro for ALL of those croissants and pain au chocolats!! We were tempted, but didn't quite have the capacity to do them all justice!

My university is very nice, it is quite new, and very highly ranked, apparently quite a feat for such a new school which is great.

A lot of windows and great facilities, I will try and get some pictures of the inside (if I don't look too weird doing it!)

The city of Grenoble has many new, and much more old buildings, with a great transport system of 30 metre long trams that slide noiselessly around the city, which we haven't quite worked out how to pay for yet and probably never will, so they are effectively free!
Classes start next week, so just exploring until then, pictures of my room to come once I have got it looking presentable!