A Letter From Grenoble, France

Greetings from Grenoble!We’ve been here for exactly one month, and many of us have already forgotten what autumn in Exeter looks like. On a typical day here, it’s sunny and 75 degrees Fahrenheit (or 23 degrees Celsius, which we’ve grown into). The peanut butter and bagel breakfasts from Elm have been replaced by toasted baguettes and chocolat chaud (hot chocolate). We each live with host families either in the center of the city, or somewhere nearby tucked away in the Alps. It’s easy to be swept away by the allure of the French culture, but of course, we miss Exeter too (sort of).We go to the Université Inter-Ages du Dauphiné, which is a university for continuing education. For a few of us, it’s only a short walk away; but for the rest of us, our daily morning commute to the UIAD involves taking a tram or a bus. We have five classes together, specifically designed to be taught Harkness style: French Literature, Modern Culture & Life, French Language, Art History and History & Geography. However, instead of changing classrooms, the teachers come to our classroom. Unfortunately, the Wi-fi is very limited, so we rarely integrate technology into our courses. But the biggest change is the vending machines outside our class; one serves coffee and tea, and the other serves food, which includes petite madeleines (soft mini cakes), chocolate Kinder bars and Kit Kats. We have classes every day, but our schedule changes each day: Monday through Friday, except Thursday, we have classes from 8:30-12:15, with each class lasting 1 ½ hours. Monday and Tuesday afternoons are spent at a local high school, ITEC Boisfleury, where we teach English classes to students who are either in their senior year or older. Usually they ask us questions about college (université, as they call it), which remind us to schedule much-needed Skype calls with our College Counselors and advisors.So far we’ve had most of our Wednesday afternoons off, but some of us have taken up sports, such as volleyball and track, at ITEC. We have class on Friday afternoons, and on Thursdays we have class in the morning and then go on excursions with our art history teacher to museums and historical sites from a five minute walk away to as far as a 1.5 hour TGV train ride to Lyon, the second-largest city in France. So far, we’ve visited a walnut-harvesting museum, a Chartreuse liquor distillery, more cathedrals than we can remember and a monastery where talking was prohibited.While it may seem as though we have a lot of time on our hands, it’s mostly so we can spend time with our host families in attempt at becoming ‘cultured.’ Most of us have host siblings that are close to our age, so our nights are spent hanging out around the house watching YouTube videos and French television shows or exchanging music on Spotify.Those of us who have host families who own houses in “la campagne” (the countryside), or in the mountains, spend our weekends on lakes and in cabins. A few of us have also been lucky enough to take day trips to the beaches off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.But even if we end up staying in Grenoble during the weekend, there are plenty of adventures to be made in the city that are just as fun--there’s paragliding, bungee jumping and mountain climbing at the Bastille. Unfortunately, our insurance policy doesn’t allow us to attempt these “extreme” sports, but there are still interesting activities to do indoors. For example, the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle in Grenoble offers an interesting exhibit nearly every weekend. From art galleries to informational sessions on mushrooms, the museum hosts a crazy amount of events and gatherings which are free to the general public. Just a short tram ride away from downtown is Galerie Hébert, where local artists like Andrew Painter and Pierre Gangloff update their exhibits weekly with fresh paintings from their studios.However, ten weeks is hardly enough time to stop by every art museum in the city, especially when there are also events like music festivals and rugby games to keep us busy on the weekends. Some of us were lucky enough to get tickets to the highly anticipated Grenoble vs. Aviron Bayonnais game. Unfortunately, because we’ll be spending this following weekend in Aix-en-Provence (a three hour drive from Grenoble), we’ll most likely miss the renowned “Rocktambule,” a music festival featuring some of the country’s most acclaimed indie-pop-electro groups. Ah, c’est dommage (what a shame).And be warned: when you go to Grenoble, you must choose between your willpower and your stomach, because if you walk ten steps in any direction, you will come across a bakery, café or a pastry shop, and you can’t go wrong with any of them. Everything is baked daily with fresh, natural ingredients. Some of us have been trying to find the perfect pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant), which are sold everywhere. Though we haven’t tried all of them just yet so we’ll have to get back to you about that. For lunch, the boulangeries (bakeries) have baguette sandwiches, quiches and pizzas.While we’re only a month into our trip, it’s begun to feel routine to go about our day thinking in French and saying “Pardon” or “Désolé” instead of “Sorry” when we bump into people. And of course, there are still new adventures coming up.In addition to Aix-en-Provence, we’ll be traveling to Geneva, Switzerland and Paris within the next few weeks, and who knows what else our teachers and host families have planned for us. In the meantime, we have homework to do and food to eat, so as the French say, À tout à l’heure!