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 !

A new month... new ups and downs

Some recent happenings:

Number one on the list (as in the number one surprise/shocker!) Well, I found out that BA cancelled my return ticket (since I didn't take a connecting flight in September). Actually I didn't take the flight on purpose because my visa was not yet valid to enter France, so I ended up overnighting in England and going to France the next day. Anyway, I've found out that there is absolutely nothing I can do about the situation (hmm, about 600€ down the drain?), and if I want to go home for the summer I'll have to buy a new ticket... great :S ... Apparently, had I informed the airline that I wouldn't be taking the flight, this drama would have been avoided. *makes note for future reference*

I bought a new computer/netbook :-) Sooo cute, so girly, and great price/quality and amazing battery life (up to 9 hours!) ! The new ASUS Eee Pc (1000HE model).

Almost all of my language assistant buddies have already returned home. Sniff sniff! Fortunately, before they left (last one leaves tomorrow!) we enjoyed a fondue dinner in Grenoble (at a themed restaurant), a relaxing afternoon at Lac du Bourget soaking in the sun, and a couple café outings in Chambéry.

I had a seriously weird experience one morning when cycling to uni. I fell asleep for a few seconds when waiting by a traffic light (Fortunately I was in the cycle lane, so no real danger). I then continued cycling, but because of a headache and some "not-feeling-all-here", "losing-consciousness" and "ahh-i-need-to-get-off-this-bike-as-soon-as-possible" sensations, I ended up attaching my bike to a bike post in Chambéry (of which at least 5 minutes were spent just holding on to another bike post to physically support myself and figure out what was going on, and trying not to pass out). I then covered my head with my hoodie and walked slowly to a bus stop, where I took a bus to uni. *moral of the story... a few hours sleep, followed by a very light breakfast, followed by intense cycling so as not to be late for class ... not good!)

Last week I had dinner with three of the English teachers from the collèges at a cool Moroccan restaurant in Aix-les-Bains. The evening with them and the food were great! I had saumon piment doux, which was served with couscous.

Uni is almost finished! I've got classes till Thursday midday, then a week off :-), then two exams during the last week of May.

I've been searching for a job. Really hope I get something soon!!

I received a lovely letter, as well as a lovely "present", from the CAF :-) At last!

The one sink in my apartment is finally unclogged!! After some weeks of frustration with a sink that drained incredibly slowly, a store-bought product did the trick a couple days ago! Guess I didn't need a plumber after all :-)

While I'm not much of a reader, I've been reading "a lot" lately. Books in English too, yay! lol

I received a nice Fedex package from my mom today! A pair of jeans that fit :-)