Grenoble to Paris…..(July 26, 2008)
I am so proud of myself! This morning I awoke at 5 a.m., hauled all my luggage (with a broken wheel) down four flights of stairs and a quarter mile to the tram stop, and arrived at the train station around 6:45. I am now on the TGV bound for Paris. The train left at 7:25 and is due to arrive in Paris at 10:27. We are zooming past the rolling farmlands, and it is beautiful!
Last night the girls and I went out for dinner at La Belle Étoile for couscous. We went right at 7, so were the only ones in the restaurant and got excellent service and delicious Tunisian food. Then we went for ice cream/coffee (dessert) in Place Grenette.
Lastly, we went to an Internet Café to let our families know that the CUEF had already terminated our internet passwords at the university, so we would not be checking in as often. As Allison said, Université Stendhal picked a fine time to be efficient! Too bad for the ones who aren’t leaving until Sunday or Monday!
Three weeks ago when I rolled into Grenoble on a bus, I had no clue what to expect. Vincent (from CUEF) put William and me on the tram with a map and told us what stop to get off. The next morning William and I scrutinized the map as we tried to find Stendhal (one of the four universities on the campus). I remember commenting “We may be lost today, but by the end of the week we’ll know what we’re doing!” It’s true…we now know all of the tram routes and shortcuts through buildings and patios. It’s amazing how well you get to know a city when you have to rely on your feet and public transportation! That is one thing I really miss about Europe when I go back to Texas. I love a pedestrian lifestyle.
There seems to be a very large number of handicapped people living in Grenoble. The city is very accessible for them. The university even has a dormitory that caters to them, and the trams have no steps to navigate….the tram is exactly even with the platform, so they can just roll their wheel chairs on or off for easy access.
Our last day of class was rather anticlimactic. We had the pétanque tournament/barbecue on Thursday night, so were up rather late. We all thought we would starve before they finally fed us. Their idea of a barbecue was a few chips, merguez (spicy) sausage hotdogs, and deliciously seasoned lamb chops. We had fruit for dessert, and assorted beverages. Since we were out at the barbecue so late, I had to skip my first class (sorry, Whitney, I know I am a disappointment to you) to do my laundry. When we arrived at Stendhal at 10, they CUEF office had our certificates ready, along with croissants and coffee/juice. We had all just eaten breakfast, but forced ourselves to eat another croissant. We filled out our evaluations and then found out that our 10:30 class had been canceled because the teacher was sick. I was really sad, because I liked that class a lot, and that is the one we skipped on Thursday to go to the Tour de France. I’ll have to e-mail the prof to say good-bye and thank her for the three good days of information that I received from her!
Kristen set up a Facebook group for our gang: Les copains de CUEF, so we can all stay in touch in cyberspace after saying goodbye. How the world has changed with the Internet! I wrote a 2-page letter to Bryant, and realized that I had not handwritten a letter like that forever! Everything now is e-mail, text messages, or at most short handwritten notes! Vive la différence!
I am so proud of myself! This morning I awoke at 5 a.m., hauled all my luggage (with a broken wheel) down four flights of stairs and a quarter mile to the tram stop, and arrived at the train station around 6:45. I am now on the TGV bound for Paris. The train left at 7:25 and is due to arrive in Paris at 10:27. We are zooming past the rolling farmlands, and it is beautiful!
Last night the girls and I went out for dinner at La Belle Étoile for couscous. We went right at 7, so were the only ones in the restaurant and got excellent service and delicious Tunisian food. Then we went for ice cream/coffee (dessert) in Place Grenette.
Lastly, we went to an Internet Café to let our families know that the CUEF had already terminated our internet passwords at the university, so we would not be checking in as often. As Allison said, Université Stendhal picked a fine time to be efficient! Too bad for the ones who aren’t leaving until Sunday or Monday!
Three weeks ago when I rolled into Grenoble on a bus, I had no clue what to expect. Vincent (from CUEF) put William and me on the tram with a map and told us what stop to get off. The next morning William and I scrutinized the map as we tried to find Stendhal (one of the four universities on the campus). I remember commenting “We may be lost today, but by the end of the week we’ll know what we’re doing!” It’s true…we now know all of the tram routes and shortcuts through buildings and patios. It’s amazing how well you get to know a city when you have to rely on your feet and public transportation! That is one thing I really miss about Europe when I go back to Texas. I love a pedestrian lifestyle.
There seems to be a very large number of handicapped people living in Grenoble. The city is very accessible for them. The university even has a dormitory that caters to them, and the trams have no steps to navigate….the tram is exactly even with the platform, so they can just roll their wheel chairs on or off for easy access.
Our last day of class was rather anticlimactic. We had the pétanque tournament/barbecue on Thursday night, so were up rather late. We all thought we would starve before they finally fed us. Their idea of a barbecue was a few chips, merguez (spicy) sausage hotdogs, and deliciously seasoned lamb chops. We had fruit for dessert, and assorted beverages. Since we were out at the barbecue so late, I had to skip my first class (sorry, Whitney, I know I am a disappointment to you) to do my laundry. When we arrived at Stendhal at 10, they CUEF office had our certificates ready, along with croissants and coffee/juice. We had all just eaten breakfast, but forced ourselves to eat another croissant. We filled out our evaluations and then found out that our 10:30 class had been canceled because the teacher was sick. I was really sad, because I liked that class a lot, and that is the one we skipped on Thursday to go to the Tour de France. I’ll have to e-mail the prof to say good-bye and thank her for the three good days of information that I received from her!
Kristen set up a Facebook group for our gang: Les copains de CUEF, so we can all stay in touch in cyberspace after saying goodbye. How the world has changed with the Internet! I wrote a 2-page letter to Bryant, and realized that I had not handwritten a letter like that forever! Everything now is e-mail, text messages, or at most short handwritten notes! Vive la différence!
Just in case you'd like to know what it's like on the TGV at 180+ miles per hour....check out this video!
No comments:
Post a Comment