Bonjour Grenoble!

My European adventure/study abroad experience began yesterday, the 27th of January 2010. I boarded a plane in SF heading to Frankfurt- which by the way I had 3 whole seats to myself so I was able to stretch out and get some shut eye before landing- so happy about that! From Frankfurt I boarded a plane to Lyon and my program director, Patrick, picked me up from the airport where we took a bus (about an hour ride) back to the train station in Grenoble then whistled down a taxi to take us the rest of the way and we made it to my apartment around 17h30. My roommate met us outside and helped us carry my bags up to our 4th floor apartment, no elevator might I add, but a good workout. Our apartment is in a residential area of Grenoble right across the street from the Stade des Alpes (futbol stadium) on rue Léon Jouhaux. There are 2 quaint bedrooms in the apartment, 1 bathroom, 1 WC, a kitchen, dining room and living room, all with views of the Alps as well as the 3 mountain ranges that surround Grenoble, Vercors, Chartreuse and Belledonne. We even have a patio, when it gets warmer, to sit outside and enjoy the wonderful view of the city.

Another awesome perk to my apartment is that I can make any call to the US free of charge! So I called my parents and Patrick to let them know I made it safely and that I already miss them. After relaxing, I started to unpack my bags into one of the closets in my room and let me tell you I was surprised everything fit, but yay for me I didn’t over pack! I’m glad I brought my own pillow with me though because the ones provided are the big, fluffy, square European pillows haha But I was surprised to find that even though my bed is almost to the floor and I feel like I am on a sleepover sleeping on the floor of someone else’s room, the mattress itself is pretty comfortable. The bed is not your typical American twin, it’s wider and shorter in length, but it’ll work just fine! I got a full 12 hours of sleep last night too- minus waking up at 12am wide awake and again at 5am. But overall I feel like I am adjusting to the time difference well. I don’t feel jet lagged or anything like that today and I was ready to start exploring and learning all about Grenoble! Today was my first official day in the city and I absolutely love it!

My day started out by making my way to meet Patrick at 10h30 at the CEA office in downtown. The bus station is about 2 blocks from our apartment on rue Jean d’Arc and the tram station (which I will be using to go to and from school every day) is about 4 blocks down. I hopped on bus #33 at the Madeleine stop and my journey began! I got off on the next stop to transfer to the tram line going towards the office of tourism, basically in the heart of downtown. Patrick warned me that I may get lost because the directions for the first time are a little bit confusing with switching from bus to tram A to tram B, etc. but at this point I was doing okay. I made it to the Museé d’Art and crossed over the Isère river and then the trouble began… I couldn’t find the CEA office! The directions told me to go right after crossing over the bridge and going down into this alley way of businesses and about 100 yards down would be the office. Well I walked and walked and walked and I didn’t feel like I was going the right way because I didn’t see the building, but luckily one of the local shop owners could tell I was looking for something because he told me he rarely sees anyone down this way unless they live around here, and was able to help me out. He asked what address I was looking for but I had no idea! I didn’t know the address of the office and I opened up my directions from Patrick and still didn’t see an address so the gentleman asked to see my directions because he had never heard of this business before lol now I’m thinking I made a wrong turn somewhere, but he read them all the way through and then looked at the top of the page to see 2 rue Saint Laurent…haha I was so embarrassed! The address was on my directions the whole time! To say the least I finally made it. To my surprise, if I would have kept walking down a little bit further, it would have been right there. Anyways, minus the 20 minute delay, I made it to orientation!

Patrick and I went over many different things I need to know about my school, the CUEF, my placement exam, my classes as well as the final steps I need to take for my visa to be legal here. Nothing exciting there. But after this was all taken care of, we went to lunch at this restaurant next to the Museé d’Art. The best part about this was during lunch because I look out the window and it’s SNOWING!! Snowflakes were falling from the sky and it was so magical and wonderful watching it snow! Although Grenoble is in the Alps, they rarely get snow, so this opportunity of seeing the snowflakes was breathtaking! After lunch, Patrick gave me a tour of the downtown area and gave me some great advice on where to shop to get good, cheap deals like the Monoprix (equivalent to Kmart or Wal Mart in the States) as well informed me of the many many years of history Grenoble has to offer. For instance, there are metal discs placed on the cobblestone that read “Cularo” which symbolizes where the wall of the Roman Empire used to stand as well as the name of Grenoble when the Roman’s were ruling this area.

But keep reading, because my day doesn’t end there! I made it out to the supermarché, s’appelle the Géant, today and boy was this experience one I’ll remember. This store is like a Super WalMart, but full of people and traffic jams of grocery carts. But to make things a little more chaotic, this African American man is walking down the same aisle I was in listening to his iPod and totally jamming out to his music, I could even hear him singing softly to himself and dancing to the beat. He was in his own world, let’s put it that way. But as I’m turning the corner of the aisle, I hear rap music starting to play and I turn around to see this man plugging his iPod into the speakerphones behind a counter of Indian food being sold!! Not only that but he starts blasting out the lyrics and dancing like he was at a night club! He didn’t have a uniform on, but I assume he worked there because all of the other employees around him were laughing and going along with it. But it just made my day that much better because of this man!

As far as food goes, I was disappointed that I couldn’t find any lactose free milk, but this might mean that I have to suck it up and try soy milk :/ we’ll see how that one pans out. I also didn’t find any gluten free products, but I still have yet to venture into an organic type grocery store around town so I’ll let you know if I do! But for now, I can only buy as much as I can carry back with me on the tram, so I have to shop light and really only buy food for 2-3 days, maybe less, at a time. But in a way I like that better because I can chose what I want to eat and not have to worry about changing my mind 4 days later and also the food doesn’t go bad. That is a huge one because food here is not cheap. Frosted Flakes were around $10 US..that’s insane!!

From the Géant, I was able to hop right on the tram and go down one stop to my apartment’s tram stop. This was my first time taking the tram home because this morning I took the bus. But I felt confident enough that I knew where I was headed. So I make it to rue Leon Jouhaux and start getting my keys out to the apartment that I thought was ours. I start putting the key in the door and it’s too big, so I tried my other smaller key and that didn’t work either. But thankfully a woman is coming home and she told me that I have to enter the door code. I was given a code yesterday so I assumed that was what it was for, so I get in and walk all the way up the 4th floor and the apartment door didn’t say ‘Rochette’. I thought to myself, “this is weird..everything looks like my apartment from when you walk in and see the mailboxes to walking up the flights of stairs, but my apartment is nowhere to be found.” AH! So I look out one of the windows in the stairwell and see the petit Casino on the corner and knew that my building wasn’t this close to the store and you can all start laughing now because, yes, I walked into the wrong apartment building!! Haha

Minus this little detail, my night got better when I finally got to meet everyone else in the CEA program this semester. Every Thursday, we all meet from about 6-8pm in the CEA office and hang out, get to know each other better, plan our weekend adventures, drink wine or cider and have some appetizers. This semester as a group, Patrick has given us a drawing to work on together in the theme of Grenoble. So far we have the words ‘Grenoble’ with a picture of the Alps, the Isere river, and dog poop (which is everywhere in the city…you really have to be careful about where you’re walking). Coming next week, we’re working on drawing a bridge and the Bastille. Basically, this drawing will be ours for the semester and we can draw whatever we want on it as long as it reminds us of Grenoble. I also got to try French cider tonight. It is alcoholic, but only 5% or so. It was really good and gluten free! Overall it was fun just sitting there, feeling comfortable and knowing everyone is in the same boat as me, away from home trying to make the most of it. I’m very excited that the majority of the people want to travel and many of the same locations I have on my list. We’re starting to figure out our action plan, so we can see and experience as much as we can in the little time we have!

At this point in time, I am loving every minute of Grenoble and can’t wait to learn and explore this area. I feel very at home and welcomed and I know that in this type of environment I’m going to flourish! Tomorrow, we’re going to try to go up to the Bastille if the sun’s out and we’ll be exploring Grenoble’s museums. Check back soon for another update (hopefully not as long..sorry)!

Au Revoir!