I am Grenoble Girl officially in: Grenoble.
After a tense 7 hour journey navigating a beefy ski bag, backpack, laptop case, shoe bag and petit owl bag on and off 2 trains and around Paris, I made it to Chambéry station at 15:35 local time, Monday the 24th of September. Crawling along the ground with my load towing behind, I headed for the mirage of a letting agency, where I was greeted by Francois's assistant:
"Oh, you've just arrived," she said.
Handing over copious amounts of cash/ liquide as they say here (ironic, as money does seem to run through your fingers in France), Francois laid down the essential ground rule here: no parties.
"But, that won't be a problem with you, as you'll be an assistant. Not like these young students that like to be silly and go wild." ... I am only 21!
Francois kindly offered to drive me and my bags to the apartment. On arrival, we discovered the lift was, of course, broken. And even better, my floor is the 3rd 1 of the building. 'Sharing' the load of the ski case (I admit to maybe letting Francois bare the brunt of the weight) we Ross from Friends' style 'pivoted!' all the way up.
Here I met my flatmates. I mustn't get too attached because 2 are leaving this weekend, to be replaced by a German boy and Italian girl. But for now, they are all so very nice and French. And the French guy gave me a lovely tour of the apartment, pointing out the handiness of the contraption that boils your water so you don't have to wait for it to warm on the hob. I didn't have the heart to tell him I've seen a kettle before...
So this is my room:
Yesterday, I got all my bits and pieces done: I opened a French bank account, went to the tourism office, did a food shop, and queued an hour and a 1/2 to get a French mobile phone. I don't know why I waited so long, I think I must have forgotten to whip my invisibility cloak off or something... And I had a general look around the town:
I feel very lucky to be living in such a picturesque part of France.
Oh! And here's my cheeky new phone. Snazaroo.
Today, I navigated several buses to go to a more rural part of town. And there I found....
France's biggest natural lake!!!
...in the rain though.
And now here I sit warming up and writing to you all in my pj bottoms with a cup of tea made using water boiled in that new-fangled invention in the kitchen, with a GRAND chocolat sablé that I picked up on my wet way home.
Continuing on the line of food... for thought and lessons learned on my first few days in Chambéry:
- Chambéry's closest ski mountains will be at least an hour and a half away, making my well thought out profile picture kind of void :(
- Pedestrian crossings here are so wide with the only reasoning I can think of owing to the fact that NO-ONE will stop to let you cross a road here. Therefore, you have an extra second of space to make a run for it before a car gets you on the way across (don't worry mum, I am extra careful!)
- Bus drivers will let you get on the bus and not tell you that said bus doesn't go to the lake like you asked, and drop you off as far as they go. However, bus driver will also get out in the rain and check you know where you're going and present you with a timetable, making you like him again.
Well, that's all for now everyone! Tune in for more excitement soon as I visit the school for the first time and get lost a little bit more.
Missing you all already.
Gros bisous
Grenoble Girl
