20 Feb 2009 8.40pm Grenoble

It is almost the end of the winter break week and today it is official, I have been in Grenoble for 20 days. It is significant for me, probably the longest 20 days in my life. My mom had concluded that I felt so bad here because I am alone. I could not agree more on this point. Remember that when I just arrived in Singapore, I did not complain so much. Of course RIB was a much better place to stay and I was practically moved from “countryside” to a modern world. And now I could not say it was completely the reverse but more or less so. Here the toast is to my courageous and heroic act of surviving in this small town in this Frenchy world.

I have finished my French intensive class for the semester and I myself was sure that I have improved a lot. Of course not to say I can perfectly understand what people on the streets or in school are talking about now, but at least I am able to make a better guess.  I am still reading English books and watching English movies -- that’s the only comforts that I am getting from my miserable life now. Yesterday I saw something like a meteor in the sky while I was walking on my way back from grocery shopping. I immediately made a wish upon the moving shining object and the wish was to speak fluent French. Pathetic.

A lot of people would spend their week-end on the mountains skiing because the school had organized such event. However it turned out to be very not funny when today the organizers had made an announcement on the white board for room distribution that 4 people regardless of gender will be staying in one room and “YOU CAN MAKE LOVE” but “WE WON’T PROVIDE CONDOMS”. It looked utterly childish to me but Chris had given the comment that “they are engineers.”

I went to IKEA again this afternoon and on my way back, I passed by this supermarket named “casino”. There were plenty of things inside and I found a lot of Asian products there such as NISSON cup noodles and soya sauce. Of course, these things cost insanely a lot in Europe. It is like cheese and wine in Singapore. As a result, I bought a bottle of wine instead. Should best utilize my money here.