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Bon, here I am. Arrived on Sunday morning early, and got a coach from the airport into the city proper. Before the coach had even left the airport, the girl sitting in front of me turned around and asked me if I'm english. Turns out she is doing the same language course (the passerelle), we are in the same accommodation for the time being, next door to each other, and we'll both be in the geography department when term starts, taking some of the same units. Her name is Jen.
The accommodation is shit - I have learned the French for toilet seat, on account of the fact that there aren't any in our residence! Well, there's one, on a roof, but not attached to a toilet. I bought my own on Monday and now take it with me each time I go, likewise the toilet paper. The rooms aren't too bad, but there's only one power point, and if you plug a kettle into it your whole room loses all electricity. The kitchen is laughable - there's three hot plates and a sink. No fridge, no kettle (I bought my own, this is how I know about losing the electricity) and no oven or microwave. So future students, be warned. However, it's dry, clean-ish in places, and warm enough so I feel I can't really complain.
School started on Monday morning at 0800 - we have four hours of class a day, normally starting at 0830. There's nine in our class, so it's a small, friendly group. The teacher is very good as well. We are two English, two Brazilian, one German, one Swede, one Cypriot, one Thai, and one Dutch. Our common language is French, of course, so all our lessons are in French (completely) and we speak together in French all the time. Even when it's just Jen and I, we now speak more French than English.
Food is also interesting - there's a cafeteria (Diderot) open at lunch time, and it serves what can loosely be described as food. There is no vegetarian option, it's very institutional, and you more or less get what you're given. However, the portions are generous and it's well balanced, if unexciting. More advice for future students: learn not to be a fussy eater!
Last night there was a soiree for the international students, and my final piece of advice to future students is DON'T GO!!! We went, but after half an hour or so, Jen, Fredrik, Stefan and I snuck out and went into the town centre to share a bottle of wine. That was much more fun. I'll post photos when I have better internet access and Stefan has emailed me the ones he took.
Oh, and Jen has decided to find me a new boyfriend. You can interpret that just how you want to.
Weather in Grenoble