Grenoble
This morning heat poured in from my window, the canicule commenced. I swallowed my overly hot coffee as quickly as possible and had a quick peach before hitting the road. Today, the tram were running on the wrong track due to the construction, but I got to the university without much of an issue.
Today in grammar we went over our reading comprehension test. I definitely misunderstood some things, but it was good to figure out and go over as a class. Joyce and I presented our slam poem and we got some good laughs. It was a relief to get it over with. Our subject for the last week of class is the refugee crisis. We’re reading stories about refugees around the world and the conditions they’re living in.
Out art class took a trip to the middles ages museum to see a temporary exhibit on comics. The artist being featured created several volumes of water colors and graphic novels in the mountains near Grenoble. They were gorgeous. It was neat being able to see work that was completed nearby by a local individual.
We had to head back across town to the university for Ryan’s class. Today’s topic was the differentiation in language between plurals and singulars.
After class I headed out to do some homework at a local coffee shop with Clarissa, Roy, and Daniel. Despite the venue’s claim that they had clime (air conditioning), it had to be over 80 in the shop. We all sat there sweating as we talked and did our work. Because the end of the semester is approaching we are all rushing to finish final projects and papers for Ryan’s class. It is a huge hassle. I wish I could spend more time enjoying the town and less trying to do work.
After going home for the night I started a load of laundry and my homework. I realized I should probably add a note so I don’t forget. Here, many families are really protective of the washers and dryers. They don’t usually allow their host students to use them. Most students here have there laundry done twice a week by their host parents and returned to them after being pressed. I am the only one in the program who is allowed to do their own laundry. Isn’t that strange?
Dinner was interesting tonight. We had seasoned chicken with a side of a fried vegetable that I haven’t seen before. It’s a product from northern France, apparently. For dessert we had little flans. I was happy to see that there were little jokes on the top of the lids, similarly to the little caramel candies sold here. During the meal we talked about the weather in Michigan, the geography of the state, and the host students they had had from there. I also got to hear their thoughts on Canadian accents. Apparently, even the French find them hard to understand.
Mary-Est-En-France 