Grenoble
Our first day at the local university started bright and early. We met on campus at 9:30am for a campus tour and orientation session. Forget what you know about orientations and tours, it doesn’t apply here. The orientation was roughly 35 minutes on the top floor of the un- air conditioned building, facing directly into the rising sun. It had to be over 90 degrees in the room and there was not a single fan in sight, expect of course the paper one provided in our orientation packet. We listened to three consecutive people mumble at the front of the room in voices so low it was impossible for anyone to truly understand what they were saying except the front row.
We were unceremoniously dismissed and walked downstairs for a campus tour. The guide refused to raise his voice and did a terrible job competing with the unending parade of lawn mowers (read: tractors) that rolled by. He wandered past buildings, stopping only occasionally to point something out. I think he intentionally tried to stop out of the shade, but I can’t be sure. About half way through the uninformative walk, my friends and I ducked away to have lunch before our classes started later that afternoon.
I had been placed in the B1/B2 class. It was meant to bridge the gap between the two language levels, but clearly did not function that way. I learned that French professors function very differently from American professors. They tend to explain nothing and let students wander blinding through tasks, truly trial by fire in the heat of the afternoon. I was shocked by how lax the class was. People spoke in English during the session and we discussed only simple tenses that any French student worth their salt should know. Myself and a few other UM students asked to be moved to a higher class, but were told to wait a few days to see how the course progressed.
It was also our first day in our Culture and Civilisation class. I was disappointed because I expected there to be a more intense discussion of French culture, but was met with only trivia questions.
In general, I was surprised the the University of Grenoble Alpes campus. It is supposed to be one of the most beautiful in France, but I thought it looked run down and badly looked after. Most of the grounds were not taken care of, walls lacked paint, plaster was cracked, there were water stains, and an entire section of one the buildings had been damaged by a large fire but remained unrepaired.
That night was our first storm in Grenoble. I thought it was extremely beautiful. I felt like I was in a romance novel as the rain drops hit my window panes and thunder crashed outside.
Mary-Est-En-France 