A normal day...

My dad has been reeding my blog and is happy that I'm having a good time mountain biking, going to markets and so on. But he has expressed some concern regarding the total lack of study-related activities mentioned in the blog. Therefor this post will be dedicated to a more normal day.

07h15: On my way to school

Starting early. It's getting pretty dark here now… No time for nice breakfast photos with the sun rising in the background. This morning was dark, wet, not really cold, even though that would have been more suitable for this post…

The buss ride to uni isn't worth a picture, it's just crowded and noisy. About half the crowd are teenagers rolling cigarettes for when they get of the bus. So many people smoking here! Next up is my desk, ready for first lecture of the day. Note the big pile of paper. They don't believe in books here, they like making copies.  Both of the PowerPoint presentations and self-written compendiums.

08h00: First course
No SIT coffee deal in France 

So after 1h45min of frantic note-taking, mixing french, norwegian and english. I'm finished with my first course of the day! As I'm following some 5th year courses and some 4th year courses, my schedule is kind of weird, so no courses until 15h15.  My parents will be glad to know that I spent the hours in between at the library. The view there was much the same as the photo above, but no coffee. Not allowed….

11h45-13h15: lunch-break

I do like the long lunch break… Did my first packed lunch today, cous-cous. I've found the student's fridge and microwave. Will definitely try to do that again, the food at the Restaurant Universitaire isn't too bad, but they do serve fries quite often…

After lunch I had another session at the library before, at 15h15, my Méthodes Numeriques pour l'Automatique started. This is one of the more confusing courses, and the professor doesn't even believe  in print-outs, this class is all about taking notes! 

Last course of the day at 17h15 is french, nice and relaxed. Repetition of passé composé is always nice.

Finish around 18h45 so that we don't have to wait 20 min for the next buss and arrive home around 19h30. And this is where I'm at now :)

writing a blogpost..

So there you go, there is actually some studying going on in between all the fun stuff!

À Bientôt!

Happy days!

So, didn't get around to writing a mid-week post, but it's been a pretty sweet week! I've managed to squeeze in four trips with my bike since my last post and I'm pretty happy about that. But before I go on showing more scenic photos, here's a little glimpse of my everyday life. Or not everyday, this  is a day I started late.

Quiet morning

By now it's getting pretty dark in the mornings. It kind of looks like fall outside, the leaves are changing colour and so on, but it doesn't really feel like fall yet. First of all, it's too hot! It can be a bit crisp in the mornings, but nothing worse than an average summer day back home. Second, not enough rain! I'm not saying I miss it, just that this doesn't feel like fall… But I'm enjoying it!

Finished early on Friday,
decided  biking would be a good idea

Saturday started of with a bit of yoga, all this biking does make your muscles kind of tight. Followed up  by a trip to "Le Marché". Must be one of my favourite things in France, so much better than the supermarket.

Market in Valence

Getting fresh baguettes, or as in this case flutes, from the Boulanger is also pretty high on the list. Returned chez moi with, hopefully, all the fruits and vegetables I will need for the week to come, along with fresh bread, honey, cheese (not so fresh, might actually have been a bit mouldy!) and semi-dry dates (seriously good).

After market snack

Saturday afternoon  I headed for Grenoble to do some biking and meet up with some friends. Had my first flat, actually had a nail though the tire. A bit of a hassle there, luckily I did have an extra tube and pump etc. As my tires are normally tubeless I now need to do some serious googeling to figure out how to fix this. However, the tube has been working fine the whole weekend. Also had my first Raclette saturday, I don't know who came up with that, but it is great!! 

Sunday morning, early-ish start

Had a really nice ride today with Fred and Lou(?), a girl Fred met biking. He said she was pretty good, "Elle roule bien". Turns out she is a world champion in mountain bike orienteering…  Think she could go just as fast uphill as downhill if she wanted. My legs are gonna be so sore tomorrow...

Can't have a post without a pretty view

But I've had a great week! And I've managed to write a post about it as well. Yeey!

À Bientôt!

 

 

Starting to get the hang of things

So, starting to get used to being in France, going to a french university and in general blend in with all the french people. This unfortunately means that I tend to down prioritise the blog, but I honesty think that is a good sign!

More VTT - Getting hooked

So after the success of Saturday I decided to go try a longer trip on Sunday. Including some wrong turns here and there, quite a few actually (it's such a hassle to dig out  the map from the backpack), it took about fiver hours… Some pictures from the end of the trip, when I knew where I was :)

Ardeche, must have cycled around and over all of those hills at least once during the trip...

First VTT trip in Valence!

I know, two posts in one day! It isn't likely to happen again very soon, but had to share the pictures from my first VVT trip in Valence! Target of the day was Massif Crussol and Château de Crussol.

Heard bells, thought there might be cows, but found donkeys! So much cooler

1st week in Valence!

It's been a pretty chill week as most of my classes are with the 5th year students who doesn't start till next monday. So have had plenty of time to discover the town,

View of the Rhône from a park (can't remember the name) 

2nd language course finished!

Second language course finished and I've gotten a diploma for the first one:) I only had morning classes this week, but BIE (Bureau International Étudiants) served free breakfast (baguettes, pains au chocolat, croissants and juice), so it wasn't too bad. Saturday I had breakfast at the  boulangerie, I only went to get bread, but missed my pain au chocolat and it sounded nice with a coffee as well...

Breakfast at the boulangerie

Språkkurs nr 2!

Since I'm already signed in at the university, my language course number 2 started with a day off  :D Can't  say that I got the most out of my day off, still a bit affected by that cold, but I'm pretty happy with what I achieved: