Grenoble - A new adventure!

Now that it has been a week and almost a half since my heart-wrenching departure from Angers, I have decided that I should sit my lazy ass down and write to this blog. First of all, Grenoble is quite different from Angers. It is awfully weird to uproot myself to a new city where practically everyone in API (the abroad program I'm in) upon meeting me thinks I am new to France and thus forth wants to explain things I already know. Before I start rambling, I find it best that I start from my departure.

Leaving Angers was very difficult. I really fell in love with the city, the people, the atmosphere. It is a city very much like Fairbanks. A city, but not a big city. My host parents were fantastic in Angers. They taught me so much about French culture and I enjoyed our conversations, dinners, and memories. Some friends had come to say goodbye to me at the train station, making it harder times infinity to not be full of emotions. Angers is a beautiful city where I have beautiful memories and met beautiful people. Even when it rained it was always vibrant with the colorful buildings, tram, and trees.

Once I arrived in Grenoble, everything was a bit weird and I was feeling less emotional up until I was sort of comfy in my new room. Unpacking brought up so many items I bought in Angers, Ireland, London, and Paris. I thought of how far I've come in four months ... in life, spirituality, language, open-mindedness ... everything. I wondered if I would have ever managed such progress in my life without going abroad. It surely would have taken years to reach that moment otherwise. Though, I've always taken life rather slow in order to inspect and enjoy every moment. I view life kind of as a tall mountain with different environments, mysteries, trees, rocky slopes, and what-have-you. Some people like to scramble up the mountain, some like to take their time, some enjoy launching themselves from the jagged rocks via bungee cords ... some get lost. Either way, I don't think any way is a bad way to go up the mountain as everyone has their different methods of life. I just prefer to go slow, discover as I make my way up at a nice pace. Crawl under weird rocks where mysteries lie as I ponder them just because I can. Before abroad I was kind of stuck in a rut, confused about who I was, what I had been, and where I was going to go. Now I'm back on track, but a different path that it is a little deviated from what had been. Not that I necessarily fully understand who I am, what I was, and where I'm going as I find that will always be a part of the journey, it just feels a little more right than before.

The first few days in Grenoble were mildly irritating. I am sure it was thanks to changing cities, altitudes, and general atmosphere. There was the occasional moment where I was very homesick for Angers. Eventually, once I was situated with classes I became less irritated. Since I've only been here for a week, I still occasionally feel a bit discontented, but have mostly gotten over it.

Grenoble is beautiful as the Alps surround the city. Their trams are kind of ugly compared to the trams in Angers and the buildings are quite as bright and colorful. I've learned that Grenoble prides itself as being the city where the French Revolution started, so there is a lot of monuments, statues, and historical buildings that reflect that bit of history. It has snowed more here than it did in Angers, but the snow is mushy and wet ... Alaskans from the interior will recognize that as being the break-up period around end of March-April. My host family is very kind here. I wouldn't say they are better or worse than my first host. They've all been lovely people so far, Muriel and Phillipe, Catherine and Charles (generally I avoid name dropping in my blogs - for future reference). I think about how sad it was to leave my first host family and then realize that I will have to do the same for my current host ... and then again with my host in Japan.

To finish up, here are some things about France! This round it's mostly differences between Angers and Grenoble.

1. In France, for cities that have trams, you have to have a transport card thing that you must 'validate' when you get on. If you don't and the tram police (I don't know what they're really called) get on and scan your card to find that you didn't validate - bam! - you get to pay a fine! Grenoble has four tram lines, a fifth one in the making, and the validation booths are at the tram stops while in Angers there is just one tram line and the validation booths are in the actual tram.

2. Angers is apparently more 'bourgeoisie' than Grenoble. Many people here have explained to me that Angers is where all of the pretty things are and the rich lived there. Grenoble is more industrial, which would make sense as to how they could have possibly been where the French Revolution began (I guess there's some controversy to this, but the people of Grenoble are quite persistent about it).

3. Angers is way cleaner than Grenoble (and Paris ... and Dublin on New Year's).

4. You can buy codeine over the counter in France.

5. It is not really that cold in Grenoble (the coldest it's been is -6 C/21 F).

Until next time~!