Officially on vacation!!!

Happy New Year!!! Bonne année!!! Feliz año nuevo!!!

I probably should have posted that about 3 weeks ago lol. Anyway, well today I had my last exam (which was crap by the way) and now I can finally breathe!!!

Alright, so a few things have happened since my last blog post. I went to the Fête des Lumières in Lyon. Fantastic! I enjoyed it more than last year:) and had great company. Let's see, I also turned 23! (getting old-ish lol). My holidays were great too! Christmas day in Annecy followed by a few days in Grenoble with some fellow Trinis (we also went skiing!), then back to Chambéry for one day, then New Years in Lyon. It snowed a few days before Christmas ... the snow then melted, no snow ... then boom! 30 cm snow of snow in one night, just in time for the rentrée (4th Jan)! I've since changed my footwear lol. January has been a lot less fun /à la limite assez stressant! because I was pretty busy with uni (project, business game and exams).

Anyway, the next thing on my agenda is ... Spain! Well, that's if the Préfecture gives me some sort of récépissé/carte de séjour in the next 10 days! Ahh, the usual ... sigh. *Patience, patience*

Here are some pics from December and January. Enjoy!

Christmas lunch in Annecy

Sign at the youth hostel in Grenoble. Interesting English lol

Téléphérique in Grenoble

Chamrousse ski station

Pics of Chambéry - nice day, beginning of January

Les Eléphants - in Chambéry of course!

And then it suddenly snowed! --> no class + no buses = I stayed home :-)

I've arrived at uni! Umm, perhaps I won't take that dangerous path/descent with all that snow!

Ski station? Nope, snow at the Université de Savoie
The library is in the background

Oh look! A snowman at uni!

Winter in Jacob Bellecombette

La Croix du Nivolet in the distance

The snow has finally melted. Today was foggy.
This is the same field that looked like a ski station.

Journées Européennes du Patrimoine 2009

Les Journées Européennes du Patrimoine or European Heritage Days were this weekend in France. This is an excellent opportunity to : visit places which are usually not open to the public; go on tours/guided visits; and choose from a wide variety of activities which are often free or at a reduced price.

I returned to Lyon this Saturday for this event and went on the following tours with a friend and her mom:

- Vieux Lyon : Renaissance et Traboules (10am to midday, €5)
- Vaulx-en-Velin : Usine de tissage de soie (3pm to 5pm, €2)

Here are some pics!!!

Place Bellecour, statue of Louis XIV
According to the tour guide, the queue du cheval is a good meeting place.

View of buildings around Place Bellecour

Le Rhône

City bicycles

Cathédrale Saint-Jean

Tax was determined by the number of windows you had.
Result = people got rid of some windows

La Maison du Charmarier, which was occupied by high churchmen
There is a well on the right of the photo.

A lion which was bought at an annual auction.
Apparently there are several other lion statues around Lyon (I've yet to see them!)
This one is outside the Musée des Miniatures.

Upward view from inside a traboule in Vieux Lyon
A traboule refers to a passage through buildings connecting different roads. They have been quite useful in the past (e.g. transporting silk, escaping an enemy during WWII, etc). Many traboules are private, but there are a few which are opened to the public during the day and closed at night. I don't think the residents would enjoy having people walking through their building 24/7!

Rue du Boeuf
Given the statue, perhaps there was a butcher at this location in the past?

La Tour Rose, from one of the traboules

View through the traboule with the Tour Rose (pink tower)

More sealed windows

Les Guignols

Another upward view from a traboule to give an idea of the space

Holes to allow air to circulate through the traboule

Horloge astromonique in the Saint-Jean Cathedral

Weaving factory in Vaulx-en-Velin

A one-day TCL transport ticket proved to be a wise purchase considering the amount of travelling done around Lyon! From the 8ème district to Bellecour, morning tour (from Bellecour to Vieux Lyon), lunch at Toutes les Couleurs (restaurant for vegetarian/organic food in Vieux Lyon), afternoon tour in Vaulx-en-Velin, return to Vieux Lyon to meet some people and chat a bit, then back to the 8ème for dinner, drinks alongside the Rhône river (by the péniches), followed by catching the last métro and returning to Chambéry by car.

I wanted to visit the Abbaye d'Hautecombe (in Savoie) today, but unfortunately didn't go because I got the cold (not swine flu!). Anyway, guess I'll do that another time. At least I was able to take advantage of one of the two days of the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine. :-)

Une année!

Today is exactly one year since I arrived in Chambéry last year! :-)

Wow, time flew fast!

P.S. This day last year was nice and sunny, and fortunately so since I had a particularly heavy suitcase, and some other luggage to tug around. Today it rained (and was cold!) but that was ok, because going to Lyon for a few days doesn't require travelling with a 32kg bag lol.

Summer recap

Yesterday was my last day of work. The two months went really quickly, and I actually feel a bit sad that it's come to an end. It was a great experience! Now in hindsight, I can safely say that I'm glad that British Airways cancelled my return tickets. Lol, in fact by not going home this vacation, I got valuable work experience in an international organisation, met new people, and of course improved my French. As for the ticket cancellation, that also worked out! A few weeks ago, British Airways refunded my mom the amount of the cancelled ticket.

Homesick? Nahh. It's a question people usually ask me and perhaps my response surprises them. It's been a little over 11 months since I've been here. Well, it's a bit hard to be homesick when you have a mom who sends daily emails to keep me up to date. Plus just being abroad is exciting in itself.

Current plans? None really lol... ok to be honest plans are a bit vague. Well a few days in Lyon from this weekend as usual, and then once I return to Savoie, I have quite a few things to sort out... such as cleaning my apartment, registering at the university, and visiting the Préfecture (not the most exciting activity on the list, but I can only hope that things go smoothly and quickly!).

Return to the Préfecture

My relaxing weekend in St Etienne was continued in Lyon, and then I returned to Chambéry today by bus since there weren't any Lyon-Chambéry trains when I left. Even the bus ride was relaxing lol.

Anyway, I returned to the Préfecture this afternoon, in spite of the depressing visit last time. I still don't have my university results for the second semester, so I carried my results for the first semester. This time I spoke to a different person, and the gist of the conversation was as follows:

1st worker: "Oh, you're Alicia ______, you were a lectrice d'anglais?"

Me: No, assistante d'anglais *I'm surprised that she knows who I am, since all I showed her was my official grade slip which had my name*

1st worker: "We received your file last week and haven't looked at it as yet."

Another pleasant worker passes by. I had spoken to her in the past, and she had assured me that I would get to extend my stay in France this summer.

Me: Ok, well I only have 8 days remaining [till my current récépissé expires] so je m'inquiète quoi. *together with a genuine semi-depressed facial expression caused by my frustration with the Préfecture*

2nd worker: I'll look at your file and send the récépissé to La Motte. *she then takes the copy of my 1st semester results, and heads off*

Me: *hoping for this to be true but not wanting to get excited too soon* Ok, merci. :-) Au revoir


I guess all I can do now is wait patiently!

Saint-Etienne

After visiting many of the main towns in the Rhône-Alpes region, I finally made it to Saint-Etienne! It's 45 minutes away from Lyon by train, and only cost a little under 10€ aller-retour Lyon Part-Dieu - St Etienne thanks to my TER Coup de Foudre reduction card for young people (aged 12-25).

Even though I didn't have much time to faire du tourisme - the weather wasn't the best either (it was windy and relatively cold) - I enjoyed my time there and liked the bit of the town I saw.

Cool train station : Gare de St-Etienne Chateaucreux

First view of Sainté from the train station

My weekend (well, actually 24 hours, Saturday-Sunday) with four Frenchies consisted of:

- TV shows online: The Simpsons - in French of course -, Southpark, The Inbetweeners, funny parody videos in French on Youtube, etc.,

- Games: billard at a pub in the town, and the Service Compris board game,

- Food: After a trip to the grocery, we spent the weekend eating pizza, homemade crêpes, snacks, etc.

Bref, I had a relaxing weekend :-)

Paperwork stress

So I got a summer job in Grenoble (adminstration/accounting, June-August), and I'm supposed to start next week. However, the Préfecture... well, in a few well-chosen words...ça fait chier! My récépissé expires in less than two weeks, and today when I went to the Préfecture they told me the new récépissé hasn't been done (although I was told by one of the employees that I would have received it this week!) and that I need to include my grade slip with my application for an extension... grades aren't out as yet! First they had asked me for an acceptance letter, then a pré-inscription 2009-2010, now my grades. It's hard not to imagine that someone might be trying to make things difficult for me, an étrangère with a full time summer job during the recession. Hopefully all this crap/paperwork galore! together with the limited time wouldn't result in a last minute return flight to Trinidad.

Anyway, I'm trying to de-stress. This weekend I'm off to Lyon/Saint-Etienne, so at least I have something to look forward to :-)

Summer job!

June has been a lot less boring that I had imagined!

The month started off well! Last Monday (the 1st), a friend from uni emailed me an ad for a job in Grenoble :-). I spent the day researching the company online, editing my CV and writing a lettre de motivation. On Tuesday I emailed my application, and was contacted on Wednesday by the company. I had an interview on Thursday; it went well (an hour long! en français for a job that requires fluent English) and I was told that I would find out the decision in a week's time since there was still another candidate to be interviewed.

Well, after a week of waiting and hoping for the best, I finally received a phone call today... I got the job!!! Woo hoo!!! I start work on the 22nd of June. I'll be taking the train to Grenoble on a daily basis since that's cheaper than renting an apartment in Grenoble for the summer.

Other events so far have included:
- a punctured bicycle tyre ... sigh, I've no idea where that thumb tack came from! Fortunately it's a 40 minute walk (and not longer!!) from my apartment to the Vélostation where I rented the bike (located at the train station in Chambéry). I will carry the bike there soon enough. Hope they don't take out of my deposit!

- several trips to the Préfecture (I need to extend my stay. My visit to the Préfecture today was the most productive/enlightening (lol) so far, and now I only need to submit my documents to the mairie!)

- numerous trips to the university (It took a few visits there before I got an acceptance letter for the Préfecture, then being told by the Préfecture that that letter might not work and I need a pré-inscription, so I had to go back to uni today to get an attestation de pré-inscription (even though registration begins in July). Ahh, France and paperwork! Anyway, the lady at the scolarité was really helpful. I also went to the CLOUS today to get more info concerning my accommodation in a résidence universitaire from September.

- visits to the bank, lots of TV viewing :-), reading, and a weekend trip to Lyon.

Tomorrow I hope to go to the mairie and the CLOUS to submit the relevant documents. I hope I'll have another good day like I did today!

Last week at uni

Final exams, dinner with the M1 MI, visit to Lac du Bourget, and acceptance to the university residence ... these events sum of the final week of uni.

On Monday I bought a fan! A much needed investment since any temperature over 30°C is too hot!

On Tuesday, I had two final exams: Spanish and Accounting (in English). They were fine overall. Compared to my exam experience last semester, there was less "culture shock", since this time we had to put our bags in front of the room. This makes a lot of sense for the obvious reasons, but strangely enough this procedure only took place for the Accounting exam.

Wednesday was a bit boring. No Internet for most of the day *gasp*. I spent the free time doing some cleaning/sleeping/watching TV/ and I made a quick visit to the uni to check my email (lol, I can't help it!).

On Thursday, the majority of my classmates had the soutenance for their thesis. I didn't do a thesis this year, so my vacation/boredom (lol) really started on Tuesday after my exams. Anyway, there was a last get-together with all the International Management students at Le Savoyard restaurant in Chambéry. The dinner was nice and of course it was great being with the students who were present. It's hard to believe that some of us may never see each other again... Hopefully we'll stay in touch!!!

Friday was a day of exercise (2 hours of cycling)! I cycled to Lac du Bourget from Chambéry with one of my classmates and then at the lake we met up with another classmate. It was prety windy at the lake, so we only spent an hour there (not bathing), before returning to Chambéry.

Today I received an acceptance letter from the CROUS, stating that I can stay in a university residence next year, provided that I hand in some documents in the next three weeks. After that, I went to Lyon (ma ville préférée?!)! I really enjoy exploring the city, and it's usually a lot more fun on foot! I walked from Gare Part-Dieu, to Bellecour, to La Croix-Rousse, and back!

I'm still anxious/frustrated over finding a job, so I think I'll be putting up flyers for English lessons! Hopefully this will prove to be a successful endeavour :-)

Parc de la tête d'or

Last Wednesday I visited the Parc de la tête d'or in Lyon!

The day's highlights included:

• There were a lot of primary school children. I guess they were on a school outing, and as can be expected, there were children who were not behaving as the teachers would have liked. I heard the following several times: "Alicia, tu te calmes maintenant!" Lol, no no, that was not directed to me, but rather to a little girl.

• I walked for hours, and still didn't see all of the park.

• It's absolutely gorgeous there!

• It was a hot day, about 31°C! A bit like being at the beach too, since some women clad in bikinis took advantage of the sun to tan.

• I spent some time studying for a Spanish exam while I was in the park. A guy decided to bypass an empty bench to come and sit on my bench. He then ate his sandwich, proceeded to talk while I tried to study, and then when he realised that I'm from the Caribbean, started talking about Martinique and Guadeloupe. I said, yes, the Caribbean. He then proceeded to tell me, yes, he has been to La Réunion, and then he said something about Tahiti. Lol, I didn't bother to correct his geography. (Sigh, not all islands are situated in the Caribbean!)

Ok, time for some pics!!


And to end, here's a video of an elephant (same one from the pic above) playing with sand:

Updates from an unemployed student

I will surely miss collecting a salary at the end of the month! But besides that, I just like to have things to do, be occupied! Where's that new job already? :-)

Otherwise, things are fine. I feel as though I'm on vacation, minus the part about having "shopping money" lol. I took my usual trip to Lyon this weekend *yay*, which included visits to a hairdresser in Villeurbanne (too expensive, I won't be going back lol), Le Citron (the staff there are really nice, and the music is good too), the cinema (UGC Part Dieu to see "Good Morning England" - very funny movie, even dubbed over in French), etc.

Back in La Motte, I've continued studying for my two exams and reading a chick lit book in Spanish (El Club de las chicas temerarias). Today I went to the food market in Chambéry for the first time. Cheaper veggies, good quality, hence no complaints!

Now all I need is un emploi !

1st Paris trip

I finally went to Paris for the first time! The SNCF had a lovely deal that I just couldn't resist. Thanks to my SNCF 12-25 card I was able to go to Paris from Friday morning and return to Chambéry on Monday (midday), all for the low price of 57€!!! My weekend was quite busy, and went like this:

Friday

• Bus at 5:35 a.m. from La Motte-Servolex to Chambéry
• Arrival at Gare Chambéry Challes-les-Eaux 15 minutes later
• Patiently waited for my TGV Chambéry-Paris Gare de Lyon: departure 6:22am
• Paris!!! A friend from Trinidad came to meet me at the train station.
• After two RER trains and a tram, we arrived at his place in the 14th arrondissement.
• Breakfast: eggs, grated emmental cheese and a yummy spicy sauce!
• My friend had to work, so I was soon on my own, left to explore Paris.
• I met up with another friend from Trinidad for lunch close to Boulevard Saint-Michel. Among the many touts trying to get us into their restaurants, she and I decided on a Greek restaurant. I had a tasty salad, salmon/potatoes/rice (didn't too fancy the seasoning), and a Greek dessert. We also got a free glass of sangria each.
  
• She was leaving for Belgium that same day! I accompanied her to the bus station after we had lunch.
• I then made my way back to Saint-Michel.

• Visited the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris.

• Walked around a little bit until I reached the Hotêl de Ville.
• Walked back to Boulevard Saint-Michel, looked around a bookshop there, then looked at clothes in Etam to pass the time.
• A little while after my friend (who met me at the train station that morning, who I stayed by) met back up with me since he had finished working.
• We went to the Louvre: saw Mona Lisa (I thought it would have been bigger though), giant paintings, etc.
• Back to the apartment. It was too late to go out for dinner, but we didn't starve! : store-bought gazpacho with homemade Trini macaroni pie.
• Bonne nuit!

Saturday

• I woke up around 10:30 a.m.
  
• I took a bus at around 11:45 a.m. then dropped out to visit the Luxumbourg gardens. The weather wasn't at its best though --> light rain.

• I then kept walking until I reached Châtelet.
  
• More walking... including past a store with disgusting dead creatures (e.g. a giantttttt spider, rats,...)

• Visited Centre Georges Pompidou. Ok, well I went into the bookshop there, then looked at the lovely exhibits (e.g. cool furniture, a pyramid shaped metal thingy with holes for storing oranges!, etc.) which didn't require an entrance fee.

• Hunger! lol --> 4€99 for a vegetarian pizza at an Italian place outside Les Halles.
  
• Quick tour of the Eglise Saint-Eustache.

• I then spent hoursssss (a little less than 4 hours!!) in Les Halles. I did some shopping (3 tops at H&M), but mainly spent forever (not fun!) looking for a pair of comfortable ballerina shoes, which I didn't find!
  
• Gave up the search for the shoes, left Les Halles and headed to Pigalle.
• Lots of sex shops in the red-light district of Pigalle. Saw the Moulin Rouge.

• I then walked up to Montmartre. Lots of stairs = exercise.

• Visited the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur. It was after 6pm and mass was taking place, while all of us tourists walked around visiting the basilica at the same time. :S

• Walked around Montmartre.
• I was going to take a photo of a mime, but he smiled and pointed toward a basket on the ground. Pay to take a photo? Hmm, nah.
• Strawberry yogurt on a cone! Yummy!
• Back down the hill, where I finally got a pair of ballerina shoes. They aren't particularly comfortable though, so I think I'll have to stop buying shoes in France! Can't find my size here, which falls somewhere between 39 and 40.
• Métro to Opéra.

• Then I searched for the Grands Boulevards stop where my friend said to meet him and his friend from Spain who had arrived in Paris earlier that day. With the one way streets it was a bit confusing to find the stop, but we eventually met up.
• The three of us had dinner at the Restaurant Chartier. We had to wait about half an hour in a line before we got in.

• The food... not particularly fantastic, but I must say that the building was nice. I paid 2€20 for a supposedly fantastic egg and mayonnaise entrée. Lol, it was exactly that! A single boiled egg, cut in half, topped with regular good-tasting mayonnaise... however I did get it with a bit of lettuce (a bonus I guess lol). Fish (like the whole fish! uhh, with eyes and bones...) with potatoes. The wine was fine.

• We then went walking a bit, and looked at the Louvre at night, with the pyramid lit up.
• It was raining and the Spanish guy was ill, so we decided to call it a night and head back to the apartment.

Sunday

• I slept well and woke up late once again.
• I went with my Trinidadian friend to the market, which was right around the corner. It was cool.

• Once we went back to the apartment I took a nap.
• That afternoon, the three of us left the apartment to visit Paris a bit.
• First we passed by Les Invalides.

• Then we walked along the fancy bridge (lots of gold), Pont Alexandre III which crosses the river Seine.

• Walked past the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais.

• Then we walked along the Avenue des Champs-Elysées.
• I was a bit hungry so bought a chocolate (Nutella) crêpe. Delicious!
• Further along the Champs-Elysées, we stopped at Pomme de Pain for hot chocolate and a free? granola bar (in my case), and coffee. We sat outside in the terrace. It was cool, especially since the sun came out, hooray!!! Unfortunately, we had to try to avoid pigeon droppings. It was funny though! Those pigeons, those pigeons, lol.
  
• The Trini guy then left to go back to the apartment to cook dinner for a get-together later that evening.
  
• The Spanish guy and I continued along the Champs-Elysées. We had planned to spend 5 minutes in FNAC, lol, but that turned out to a bit longer. Then we visited the Virgin Megastore since I was looking for Spanish DVDs.
• We then continued along the Avenue and looked at the Arc de Triomphe.

• Métro to the Eiffel Tower.
• We walked to the Eiffel Tower, where the Spanish guy (a professional photographer) took photos of me, yay! It would have been a lovely day to go up the tower, but since we had planned to meet up with some other people at the apartment for dinner we decided to leave. I could have stayed, but I think that it wouldn't have been fun walking up the Eiffel Tower alone.

• When we arrived at the apartment, three of the guests were already there. More arrived a bit later.
  
• It was a nice, enjoyable evening, spent eating Trini food (roti, channa, mango, pumpkin, and well meat for the non-vegetarians) and French dessert, talking about Trinidad, France, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Morocco, Spain, dancing styles in the different countries (along with youtube videos lol), etc. There were 8 of us there that evening.
• A little before midnight, the 5 dinner guests left.

Monday

• The three of us then embarked on cleaning the apartment. I did a little bit of sweeping, nothing stressful lol.
• Talking, Spanish TV online and a bit of reading later (A year in the merde, borrowed from my Trini host), and I called it a night (or morning lol, since I went to sleep around 2 a.m.).

• I got up around 6 a.m., said goodbye and left the apartment a little before 7 a.m. to head to Gare de Lyon.
• A tram and two trains later, I was at Gare de Lyon, and I was quite early too (I arrived at around 7:45 for my 8:22 a.m. train).
• My train Paris Gare de Lyon - Lyon Part-Dieu, arrived in Lyon two hours later, then I took the Lyon-Chambéry train at 10:38 a.m.
• When I arrived in Chambéry a little after midday, I took a bus to La Motte-Servolex, returned to my apartment, dropped off my stuff, took a shower, then hurried to one of my collèges to teach for two hours! Yes, I was tired, but I survived the afternoon! After that I hurried to my university in vain since the class was cancelled.
• I felt a bit "spaced out"/disoriented later that evening. I guess it was because of all the rushing.

Paris was great, however, I doubt I would like to live there. Too many people lol! Really high rent! I was actually happy to come back to my little town lol. Among the French cities I have visited so far, my favourite is Lyon! :-) Anyway, Paris is a lovely place and I do indeed hope to visit there again!