DEBRIEFING, REFLECTION

Twelve months ago, I was storing up on vitamins and sun, selecting the absolute minimum amount of clothes (40kg) to take with me which would fit in my suitcase, getting ready to jump into the European winter.

Today I feel more light-hearted, thinking that in a few days I’ll be slapped by the Australian sun again. Even though I’ve decided to not tan this year, firstly because I’m white as paper and it’s going to take too much effort to work up a good tan, secondly because I’m concerned about the harsh sun’s effects.

I’m happy to say, on the plane back I’ll be taking a 30kg suitcase, an 8kg backpack, my laptop bag and nothing else! I gave some of my heavy things to my parents when they came to visit in August and I’ve sent by post a 6kg box, but everything else I’m managing to take back :)

Leaving Grenoble wasn’t too sad. We had a big (100+ people) party at our apartment the night before I left, which was a total mess and I don’t envy my housemates which had to clean up the following day, after I escaped on the train for Milan, sharing the trip with a good friend. It was really nice that people came to say bye and that I had company on the last night. In the end I must say that I mostly enjoyed my friendships with a few Italians during my stay there, which unfortunately affected my French amelioration. As for the exams that I sat (the last one being right on my last day in Grenoble), they went very well, in fact I stupidly studied too much for them.

The train trip to Milan (5.5 hrs) was long but crossing the snowy Alps was really beautiful, and I began to say bye to the cold weather. I only had a couple of days to say bye to Milan, which was much much harder. The last night was classically spent out until past 6am, as a proper Milanese goodbye should be. The big post-Christmas sales were on of course, and I took advantage getting a couple of presents in the centre shops, which were literally filled with shoppers. Apparently from yesterday there is a 5 euro tax to drive into the Milan centre area (for non-gas cars), which is huge! Normally 90,000 cars drive into the centre daily. I imagine that’s going to cause considerable uproar, but honestly the traffic and pollution are getting quite dangerous so I guess it’s a good reform.

So after Milan I took another train to Conegliano, where I’m saying bye to my grandparents and a few family friends. I only have 3 days and Thursday the 19th I’m leaving Venice for Dubai, landing in Perth on the afternoon of the 20th. Nonna Gina is very sad... so she’s making sure to fill me up with food before I leave... so much so that last night I dreamt that I was on some Australian beach having the longest run of my life!

I’m looking forward to being active outdoors again. I’m also looking forward to going back to work in my parents’ gelato cafe, spending some time with them, drinking free coffee and selling ice-cream, which makes everyone happy :) Also I’ll have to find a house for Perth, I’ve started looking a bit online and I’ve found a flat on mounts bay road which is super close to uni, but it’s hard not being able to visit it and decide definitely!

HOW HAS THIS YEAR BEEN?
This year... has brought me back closer to my roots, has deepened my self-knowledge, has increased my self-confidence and independence, has made me more sure that I can solve unexpected difficulties, has opened my eyes to avoid excluding any possibility in the domains of friendships, love, travels, study and jobs. I’ve done things I didn’t think myself capable of. I’ve learnt a couple of crucial things about relationships. I’ve found myself 3 houses in 3 countries, and lived with 8 different housemates (if you don’t count my grandparents eheheh). I’ve discovered Couchsurfing and co-voiturage as cheaper ways of travelling. I’ve done I think 48 train trips and taken 18 planes. I’ve faced having to sleep in a train station, and missing a flight because of strikes. I lived in cities with two of the highest crime rates in Europe, and got nothing stolen. I’ve yelled and sworn at unfair bouncers. I’ve gotten a lot better at dancing salsa & bachata, and got to know more Latin music. I’ve spent a lot of time near mountains, which I don’t get to in Australia. I’ve managed to take extra weight on budget airlines! I’ve eaten in a wide variety of great restaurants (Spanish, German, Austrian, Italian, Greek, Argentinean, Eritrean, Peruvian, Colombian, French, Japanese, Chinese, Moroccan, New Fusion..!). I’ve done a cruise. I’ve improved three languages.

I’ve had a lot of fun... and I know I want to do this again (Central-South America in 2013), but the experience has also convinced me that it is time I return to Australia and settle down, at least for 12 months. ;) Although I haven’t terribly missed Australia, I’ve appreciated its singularities more by being away of course, and I’m happy to tell everyone I’d prefer a future (mostly) based there. I know I’ll be divided inside and I’ll have to make some compromises, but I value the quality of life down under, the people, the opportunities, the landscape. I feel myself closer to my parents after a year of being away from them.

So it’s definitely been a positive, learning year. It hasn’t felt like the stereotypical “Erasmus/exchange” experience – party every night, surrounded by drunk excited internationals who don’t pick up a book until exam week. It has included a lot of night life and talking to people from all parts of the planet, but has felt a lot like normal life as well. Situations that I know I won't come across in Perth (getting lost, planning a weekend get-away, sending postcards, speaking a foreign language etc) very quickly felt ordinary. Although just now looking over some of the year's photos... wow! :) I truly have some great memories.

Plans for the next few months...
1. Find a house in Perth
2. Make the most of the good weather with beach, bike and runs
3. Get back into Perth/UWA mode
4. Get back into Science mentality! (I've been studying subjects part of my Arts faculty this whole year)
5. Get back into the Perth salsa scene
6. Save money, possibly find a casual job in Perth.

The next trip to plan:
Central and South America, July 2013


Thankyou for reading... it's been a pleasure sharing some of my time with you :)
Ciao!!

Xmas and NYE

This is my 43rd blog post in 12 months.
My previous blog, which I'd kept three years ago during the three months I was in Europe, has 52 posts!

Truth is, this has felt less like an "advanture" than I'd imagined. I've done a lot more things, I've been more independent, but I guess I've also reached another level of maturity. But I'll keep reflections for the next, and last post.

What was a bit adventurous was dealing with the strikes in the French airports just during the week when I had to fly to Italy for Christmas. Seriously, THE NERVE of those people stopping THOUSANDS of travellers during the festive period... I hope their conscience is black and heavy as the black hole. Anyway, the night before I managed to leave it snowed a lot for the first time, and it was so beautiful to see everything white! Almost a shame to leave... I spent a sunny week in Conegliano with my grandparents, catching up with a couple of friends and studying a bit for exams. Christmas was extremely simple and a bit sad. It's weird actually how sunny and nice-weathered was December and is January too, in Northern Italy and even here in France. Hey, not complaining.

I then spent a week in beloved Milan, continuing my 3-week search for the perfect NYE shoes - which I ended up getting at the Rinascente, and God let me enjoy those expensive shoes until I die! But they are gorgeous :) I also relaxed going to the cinemas a few times, ate very well, and said hi to the Milanese night life I'll dearly miss.

It was heard to return to France actually. It's a totally different environment.. I feel like a bit of an outsider, and worst than that, I haven't tried to change that feeling. But these four months have past even more quickly than the rest this year, and in a week's time I will have left Grenoble :/

Right now I'm spending a few intense days studying... averaging 11 hours a day :( I have one exam left on Thursday 12th... and my plane from Venice-Dubai-Perth on the 19th. I should also prepare a pack to send home with things that won't fit in my suitcase...! I also have to think about finding a house in Perth, otherwise I might sleep under the big bridge near UWA when I move up - just 1 month after I arrive! If anybody wants to start searching for me, please feel free! :s

Before I return to studying, may I add that hunger really makes me a good cook! I just had gnocchi with zucchine, red capsicum and tomato sauce... topped with a little French cheese, may I say it was delicious :)

only one week of courses left...

Looking back at my last post (below), I felt very blessed.

I have accomplished all the 'goals' that I hoped to do, minus of course gone back to Conegliano for Christmas (flight on Dec. 18).

I think I successfully managed to count my trips during 2011 (up to today). If anything, I've underestimated the number of trains I've taken, but here are the stats:

planes taken: 14
trains taken: 44

Which, by the time I return home, should be 18 planes, and 47 trains.

So, the Christmas markets in Grenoble are gorgeous. The town is really well lit up with Christmas lights, and since it gets dark shortly after 5pm these days, you really absorb the spirit. Not only Grenoble, but I've been able to see lovely Christmas markets also in Marseille, Aix-en-Provence and Nice. I did these three diverse cities last week: Marseille and Aix with a dear friend, and Nice on my own, thanks to CouchSurfing! I was hosted by a really nice young couple (French + Spanish) and was lucky to arrive on the weekend of the opening of the Christmas village... Nice definately beat them all, the lights, the fake snow, the wooden huts, the Chrismas music, ice-skating ring, mulled wine, rides and more... the amosphere was absolutely magic.

I haven't done this much but here are some photos to get the idea across.











It's been 10 years since my last Christmas in the cold, and I must say since then I haven't felt the Christmas spirit in the Australian summer. So this period is really special for me, and I really look forward to spending it with my family in Conegliano and friends in Milan.

Speaking of which, I decided to be lazy about my NYE destination.

So in fact from December 18th to January 4th I'll be away from Grenoble... it's study period until my exams, which I'll finish on January 12th. Unfortunately the following day I'll have to rush off back to Italy to say goodbye to loved ones and get ready to head home to Australia.

I'm avoiding thinking about my return too much for the moment because I know it'll be extremely sad to leave. I have made a small number of incredibly deep bonds here and I'll be heartbroken to leave.
Then again... I'm happy to return to real life and find a place I can call home. Literally actually, because I need to find a house to rent for next year. After the three I've found this year, hopefully it won't be too hard, though I'm getting scared about Perth rent rates :/
I can't wait to see my dog Skipper, the one gorgeous little thing I've truly missed about Australia. And to work at my parents' cafe again, spending time with them in a pleasant and productive way... eating gelato... the beach... gorgeous UWA...

sigh :(

Things I'm looking forward to :

http://web.mac.com/otgrenoble/MARCHE_DE_NOEL_2007/le_march%C3%A9.html

and watching some nice Italian films this week for the Italian Film Festival.

And eating the chocolate I bought at today's Chocolate fair.

And going to Aix les Bains on Tuesday to go to the thermal bathss.

And going to Marseille and Aix-en-Provence a week later.

And going to Nice a few days after that.

And returning to Conegliano for Christmas.

And deciding where to spend New Year's Eve.

amoureuse

This funny thing happened yesterday.

I assisted a course I've never been to before, because it's given by a professor I really like and admire, and thought I might as well learn something new as I had enough time.
The course is given in English, and is mostly for international students.
It was so... strange... to hear so much English. It felt wrong to speak English. The first few notes I took from his lecturing, my mind automatically translated them to French, because it was easier. Not to mention hearing myself speak English, it's now bizarre.
Funnily, it's not strange at all to write in English - I do that occasionally chatting to people from Oz, and of course blogging (even though Etienne, probably my best Grenoblois follower, kindly reminded me that I've been neglecting this activity!)

What's been happening? This month I'm more grounded in Grenoble.
With the exception of the weekend I spent in Switzerland to catch up with Alizee. It was lovely, we spent a day in Lausanne and admired the renownedly gorgeous lake and came across cute markets, then returned in Geneva. There we stayed with her cousin, who treated us to a lovely dinner of raclette, red wine and ice cream. We discovered Geneva's most Latin American salsa bar that night, and watched a movie on our return. The following day we had a big breakfast at a special bakery and tried all sorts of breads with butter/jam/nutella. We explored the centre of Geneva a bit, admiring the huge water jet in the lake and the cathedral, and before we knew it, it was Sunday evening.

The workload here has not been to heavy, but I'm starting to really revise now in my free hours, spending more time at the library with a bunch of other Italians. I'm enjoying all my courses.

It's getting cold!! I don't like it at all.. but at least it's still sunny. That being said, we're drawing up an autumn which has been really gorgeous a bit everywhere that I've been, Grenoble included of course. Unfortunately, the heating in our (old) apartment is not working at the moment, so I bought a heater for my room, but the rest of the house is still quite cold.

All good with the house, apparently we can have two parties in the same night, as I discovered last week - I "attended" the first party, from about 9pm to 2.30am, then as I almost was diving under my sheets, I hear the second party of friends coming over, who stayed a couple of hours more. Weird! :)

It's lunch time... belly says bye!

holidays!

It is undeniable that this semester I feel much less “grounded” in Grenoble than I did last semester in Milan. I guess in the end it is a more foreign country, but I’ve also travelled a bit more than I did last semester. October was an interesting month, during which I attended university only 8 days.

I took a couple of days off to see Nancy and Strasbourg, which was worth it as they were fascinating cities and I went with a very interesting, clever and ambitious girl from the Chec Republic, and we had interesting Couch Surfing experiences. I also appreciated being at the house of the European Council and Parliament, and the Human Rights building; unfortunately, we didn’t realise we should have booked a visit ahead, and we didn’t really get to see much of the insides. Another (stupid) highlight was walking to Germany! Having never crossed an international border by foot, it was worth the rushed walk to Khel which nearly made us miss our (6-hour) train back to Grenoble ;)

Being (already!!) half way through the university semester, we had about 9 days off at the end of October. I took advantage of a rare opportunity of going on a 7-day cruise: from Italy to Greece and Croatia. Well... this was a dream come true, and a very affordable one considering the last-minute buy and the off-peak season. The ship was 4 stars, and included numerous restaurants and bars (both club and live music), a theatre with nightly entertainment, a gym, a spa and a few pools, a casino, etc etc. The food, all included in the price, was amazing, a true highlight. Breakfast until 11.30, lunch from 12.00 to 14.00, pizza and afternoon tea from 16.00 to 19.00, dinner from 8.45 and even a midnight snack! It seems like their goal was to ensure that every guest put on at least one or two kilos during the week. Dinner alone consisted of: entree, soup, first and second courses, salad, cheeses, and dessert (a-la-carte).

The destinations were we stopped: Mykonos, Athens, Corfu (Greece), Dubrovnik (Croatia) and Venice. Mykonos was the typical Greek island village, consisting of solely white houses with flat roofs. Athens, a little too cemented and civilised than I’d hoped, but the temples in the Acropolis were of course charming; we also visited the Modern Museum, recently voted the world’s best museum. Corfu, where I’d been over ten years ago, was... ok; the centre was full of shops, quite small. Dubrovnik was a total surprise, a really unique place for the town centre is enclosed by the walls of an ancient fortress. Furthermore, it is on a rocky coast, which slightly elevates it and the locals have taken advantage of the rocks to place little bars and cafes right on the shore.

I disembarked the ship in Venice, stopping by in Conegliano for a few nights to see Nonna Gina, which made her very happy, as well as my auntie and my friend Silvia.

Tomorrow I’m heading back to France, and this weekend I’ll be visited by Alizee, a French friend from UWA currently in the Netherlands for her own exchange (she’s already come to see me in Barcelona!). We’ll probably also spend a day visiting Switzerland (Geneva and/or Lausanne).

time flying

Life has been getting better at Grenoble. Admittedly, I have had a few small issues connecting with people here, as the students I've met and hung out with have actually been of my age, or thereabouts. For the past few years I've tended to be close to people a few years older than me, and in Milan particularly so, hence now it's taken me a while to adjust to being around younger people. It's really really hard to connect with the boys especially. But I figure I'm never going to connect with everyone, I just have to find a handful of people I really get on with. And I think that's very manageable :)

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to a hiking weekend organised by the uni's Sporting Association, to a mountain nearby. It was definately a great experience: Saturday we did a huge hike from 9am to 6pm (although fairly slowlly and with numerous stops), then had dinner followed by drinks and games, and another more tranquil hike on Sunday. It was a great way to get to know other French students, there were around 50 of us sleeping in a hostel accommodation.

I've been going to a couple of salsa places and had a few good dances, which has kept me happy. Found out that in December there is a big Bachata festival in Paris one weekend, very very tempted to go.

I've dropped my workload to 24 ECTS instead of 28. Still quite manageable, but my two-hour-a-day timetable is pretty annoying.

Speaking of uni, honestly I didn't expect to feel so so ignorant when surrounded by political sciences students. Wow. They know a lot more than me about what's going on around the world politically. Yesterday a French guy told me about Berlusconi's (groan!) latest moment of brilliance. Yes, let's change the name of the PDL (his party) to "Forza Gnocca". Ma vaffanccccccccccc.....!!!!!

What I'm loving is that it's become part of my almost daily routine to switch between the four languages I "speak" during the one day, often even by lunchtime. I wake up and often speak Italian on Skype, go to uni for a course in French or Spanish, speak French with most people, speak Italian with other Italian students and this Mexican guy trying to learn it, with whom I also speak Spanish. Refreshing, fun, but sometimes confusing!

Today I'm going to Milan for a long weekend. Taking the one hour plane trip which cost me 50 E (return) instead of the train, which is 120 E for 5.5 hours of travelling (one way)! I'm catching up with a few good friends from last semester and going to see Bruno Mars in concert (only 35 E)! Should be great =]

Other plans... next week, shortly after getting back from Milan, I'm taking a trip to Nancy and Strasbourg (France) to see Laure, a nice French girl I met in Milan. I've always been curious to see Strasbourg so I'm really looking forward to it.

Towards the end of the month we have 11 days of holidays. I have a brilliant travel option half in mind, but more on that when it's confirmed :)

Following that, the first weekend of November I'm getting a visit from Alizee (whose birthday is today!! joyeux anniversaire ma chere), currently studying in Utrecht. We're hoping to spend a day in Genevra also.

Also very happy at home. I'm getting on very well with Claire, I feel like I can talk and joke with her about almost anything. One day we went for a 3-hr hike together and yesterday we even did our nails together (omg!! :p). The boys are fine... boys are boys... they're good for a laugh. The house is a social meeting point. We often invite our friends over for pre drinks, and last night we had a party which saw 60-70 people. Man I still haven't published photos of the apartment (maybe I'm trying to show you how messy it normally is?), but it's quite ideal to host social gatherings in the large living room. Only thing is, the rooms can't be locked so we have to be fairly careful with out precious stuff, hiding it just to be sure. We're also lucky with neighbours. The only other apartment on our floor is of 3 male students. Underneath, we have a studio of lawyers which is empty past 7pm. The family who lives above us can't actually hear much of the noise at all (4m ceilings!), except if people are noisy going up and down the stairs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuQyQTD3bw0

That is all for now, I have a plane to cath! A toute :)