Blogs from Grenoble, Rhône-Alpes, France, Europe - page 2

Hello everyone! Here is Grenoble it has been rainy for the past couple days, which is a first because usually it is nice and sunny! This weekend has been pretty quiet for me, I went out with some friends on Friday night and on Saturday I went skating with some other exchange people which was fun. Courses are going well; I have a midterm in my economics class in a couple of weeks so I will have to work hard for that. I also have a couple of presentations due this month, so you see November is going to be a busy month! I will now fill you in on what has been going on the last half of October. I told you that I was going on a weekend trip in the mountains with a ... read more

Hello Everyone! I am writing this to you from my little room at Grenoble. I have been here for less than two weeks, and already it feels like my home. When I arrived in Grenoble with my Belgium family I was blown away by just how beautiful it was. The whole city is surrounded by mountains, all different shapes soaring towards the sky. City center is amazing as well. Most of it is just for pedestrians to walk, all the buildings are old, and there are lots of green places and parks as well as fountains. Not to mention all the restaurants and shopping there is! My University is part of a campus where two other universities make their home as well. It is a huge campus, filled with very different and sometimes bizarre buildings. I ... read more

Le Tour? What, was that yesterday? Shoot! Forgot all about it... Just Kidding. What a day! It will be very hard to capture the thrill of the day's events but I will try...We left the house early - 8am. It was just over an hour to Grenoble on the highways but once we got off the main highways and on the mountain roads the driving was slower (switch-backs) so it took over an hour to get to where we finally stopped and parked the car. By the way, we passed HUNDREDS of cyclists making their way by bike to watch the tour! We missed a critical turn going up the mountain and kept following the lineup of cars. But we did eventually find a place to park 3/4 of the way up this mountain (which turned ... read more

Wow, a great couple of days there in Grenoble. The city itself wasn’t all that special, but the mountains surrounding the city are awesome. Yesterday I had the pleasure of hiking to the highest peak around the city and I think it was really the highlight of the trip for me so far. I love doing athletic things and I love being in Nature. I really should make an effort to go hiking or camping more often. Open invitation for anybody who wants to come with me. The hike was actually less challenging than I was expecting. I think I overestimated how fatigued my legs would be and underestimated how good of shape I’m in. I was definitely going at quite a faster pace than the signpost estimations, and that included stopping to take pictures. At ... read more

Thursday, June 18th About an hour To the north of Grenoble, just past the Chambery, is a small city near the Swiss border called Annecy. It's only 30 minutes from Geneva, and it sits on the edge of a mountain lake with very clear water. Annecy is like a little Venice or Amsterdam, complete with its own set of canals, a medieval prison, and a castle on the hill overlooking the town. Pedestrian bridges are sprinkled throughout the quaint streets and flowers sprout from the windows of the buildings and the sides of the bridges. As soon as we arrived we headed for the main canal to find some lunch. The main canal which is lined with shops and restaurants and is an easy place to take a stroll or enjoy a leisurely lunch which is ... read more