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).