Grenoble and the 'summer camp' for us
I left Paris the 26 of septembre to take part in an obligatory teaching camp in Grenoble. I took a 3 hour TVG train ride(one of the fastest train companies there is) to the south east corner of France. (a heck of a lot different than traveling by train in west africa let me tell ya, they had a schedule!) I arrived in Grenoble at about 9pm and tried figuring out where on earth the youth hostel was and how to get there without paying a small fortune. Grenoble is a town like maidson, there are four universities there; great transportation and night life. I ended up taking the *tram* or trolley as we know it, to the hostel to find it completely booked. I had called the hostel 2 days prior to make a reseravation but the man on the phone had told me i couldnt book in advance and that probably there would be space when i arrived. With this in mind, i started laying into the man at the hostel with my primitive french. It worked though; i ended up with a classroom all to myself complete with my own bathroom and shower. (quite a luxury in the hostelling world)
The next day i went downtown Grenoble to the center of academia for the *internship.* It was arranged that all the foreign assistants in the Grenoble area would be thrown together for 3 days. We were taken by bus to a ski lodge outside of the city where in 1968 the cross country skiers at the olympics stayed and competed. It was truly beautiful up there and the international atmosphere wonderful. France has asked assistants from Italy; Russia; Spain; Mexico; England; USA; Germany; and others to help in there schools this year. There are 180 english assistants in the region of grenoble and there were about 250 people at this lodge from all over. The neat part was the only language we had in common was french. Many people did know some english but usually not enough to converse. I made fast friends in the those couple of days from Germany and England. There is even a girl here from spooner wisconsin! After 3 days about learning different teaching techniques; activities; and adminstrative junk i had to do to live here i was getting pretty nervous about teaching. But then i went to my town of UGINE.
The next day i went downtown Grenoble to the center of academia for the *internship.* It was arranged that all the foreign assistants in the Grenoble area would be thrown together for 3 days. We were taken by bus to a ski lodge outside of the city where in 1968 the cross country skiers at the olympics stayed and competed. It was truly beautiful up there and the international atmosphere wonderful. France has asked assistants from Italy; Russia; Spain; Mexico; England; USA; Germany; and others to help in there schools this year. There are 180 english assistants in the region of grenoble and there were about 250 people at this lodge from all over. The neat part was the only language we had in common was french. Many people did know some english but usually not enough to converse. I made fast friends in the those couple of days from Germany and England. There is even a girl here from spooner wisconsin! After 3 days about learning different teaching techniques; activities; and adminstrative junk i had to do to live here i was getting pretty nervous about teaching. But then i went to my town of UGINE.
posted by Tara at 1:39 AM
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