Today marks exactly one month of my stay in France, so I feel obligated to post this entry in French.. =P
Aujourd'hui est le 24 Septembre, exactement un mois de mon arrivée en France. Et comment je vais? Je crois que pas mal! Ma résidence est la meilleure, j'ai le wi-fi chez moi, le temps fait beau, je peux faire des sports, le cyclotourisme me fait plaisir, etc. Vraiment, je n'ai rien à se plaindre! =)
Mais, mes vacances ont fini et les cours ont commencé. Bien que les profs soient gentils et mes cadres de cours soient amiable, il est difficile de m'intégrer dans la système Français. D'abord, la système d'éducation ici est très différent entre la système à Singapour. Même si nous sont étudiants de génie mécanique, nous étudions des choses complètement différent! Par exemple, les études ici sont plus pratique que les siens à NUS. Alors, je suis souvent perdu dans la classe! Il n'aide pas que les profs parlent très rapidement et leur écriture sont fouillis. =( Deuxièmement, tous les élèves de la 2ème année ont été bien intégré entre eux-même, alors il est difficile de leur joindre soudainement. En plus, il y a de barrière de la langue aussi. Quand les jeunes parlent, il est souvent avec beaucoup de l'argot, et il est très difficile de comprendre tous.
*soupirer* =/
Dans d'autres domaines, la vie va bien. Je suis parvenu à m'installer dans une routine quotidienne, et ne vous inquiétez pas de moi. Seulement un mois a passé, j'ai encore 9 mois à réussir, et je dois essayer! =)
lundi, septembre 24, 2007
dimanche, septembre 23, 2007
lac laffrey
After spending near to 7 hours on the bike yesterday (I went to visit some bike shops after the randonée), I really was not in the mood to go for a 1.5 hour run this morning so when my alarm clock rang this morning at 730am, I just shut it off and went back to sleep. But I woke up again at 9am, because I had a rendezvous with Letch and Andi to Lac Laffrey!
This was quite a impromptu trip and I only decided on Lac Laffrey yesterday evening. At first it was only me and Letch but Andi (!!!) decided to tag along. Spinale could not come as she had her lab report to complete (what's new). We met up at 1015 to get some picnic stuff and we went to the gare to catch the 11am TransIsère bus.
The journey there took about 45mins and I was "entertained" by both of them gossiping about anything and everything in the world. I was quite thankful when we reached our destination because that meant that I could have some peace and quiet.. Heh. =P Laffrey is just a small quiet village, just like how many of France's villages are, but it is famous of its lakes, the largest of which is Laffrey. Lac Laffrey is the eighth largest lake in France, and if I am not wrong, it is a dead lake, which means that the only source of water is from rain and not from river tributaries.
Wasted no time in getting there as we were famished and we wanted to settle down by the beach to have our lunch. Plus we only had 4 hours as we had planned on catching the 1632 bus back to Grenoble. It was a short walk down, but when we got there we were not disappointed:
stunning views of pristine lac laffrey
another view
the bus stop where we alighted
feeding the ducks as well
This was quite a impromptu trip and I only decided on Lac Laffrey yesterday evening. At first it was only me and Letch but Andi (!!!) decided to tag along. Spinale could not come as she had her lab report to complete (what's new). We met up at 1015 to get some picnic stuff and we went to the gare to catch the 11am TransIsère bus.
The journey there took about 45mins and I was "entertained" by both of them gossiping about anything and everything in the world. I was quite thankful when we reached our destination because that meant that I could have some peace and quiet.. Heh. =P Laffrey is just a small quiet village, just like how many of France's villages are, but it is famous of its lakes, the largest of which is Laffrey. Lac Laffrey is the eighth largest lake in France, and if I am not wrong, it is a dead lake, which means that the only source of water is from rain and not from river tributaries.
Wasted no time in getting there as we were famished and we wanted to settle down by the beach to have our lunch. Plus we only had 4 hours as we had planned on catching the 1632 bus back to Grenoble. It was a short walk down, but when we got there we were not disappointed:
stunning views of pristine lac laffrey
another view
the bus stop where we alightedThere was a big group of ENISAR students already there so we settled down at a quiet part of the beach and had our picnic. It was truly lovely. Ham baguettes, cherry tomatoes, fruits, chips and wine. Really felt damn French! Thereafter Andi and Letch started gossiping again while I tried to nap. =P
pebble paved beach
the three of us
pebble paved beach
the three of us
lunch (not including the toes)
feeding the ducks as wellSo after a rather brief nap we tossed the frisbee for awhile and headed out on a pedalo. Brought back memories of Annecy last year. It cost €10 so I guess it was pretty reasonable. Hmm.. Nothing much to describe here but I'll attach a 360-degree panaromic virtual tour of Lac Laffrey for you here. =)
360-degree tour of lac laffrey
showing how it's done
Andi
Letch
et moi!
slacking off at the back
And so anyway after the Pedalo ride we went in search of Napoleon's statue because this was the place where he famously uttered the words
360-degree tour of lac laffrey
showing how it's done
Andi
Letch
et moi!
slacking off at the backAnd so anyway after the Pedalo ride we went in search of Napoleon's statue because this was the place where he famously uttered the words
"s'il y a quelqu'un parmi vous qui veuille tuer son général, me voilà!"
which means "If there is anyone amongst you who wishes to kill their general, here I am!". And so the French Revolution was started and the statue was erected here in honour of him. However when we reached we found the statue and its environs to be in pretty bad shape so we photowhored a bit more.
the real thing
the impersonator
three of us encore
walking back
Anyway we caught the 1632 bus as planned, and I went over to Condillac for dinner. It was a fabulous day doing simple stuff with nice company.. Just the simple things in life I guess. =) Yawn its been a long day and I have school tomorrow, so I'll just end my entry here.. Dreading having to go to school tomorrow now! =X
the real thing
the impersonator
three of us encore
walking backAnyway we caught the 1632 bus as planned, and I went over to Condillac for dinner. It was a fabulous day doing simple stuff with nice company.. Just the simple things in life I guess. =) Yawn its been a long day and I have school tomorrow, so I'll just end my entry here.. Dreading having to go to school tomorrow now! =X
samedi, septembre 22, 2007
la randonée d'espoir 2007
This was supposed to be a race report, but due to some bad placement of arrows/signage, this has to be changed to a cyclotour report instead. =/
Heard about this event about two weeks ago when we went to Pinsello to buy CF's bike. Decided to go for this as I thought that it would be a good way to break into the local cycling/tri scene, plus get to know the cycling routes here better. So at 7am today I rolled out into the cold and headed to Domène, the town where the race was supposed to start, with CF. Although the temperature was not really very cold, the windchill caused by cycling was sufficient to cause my fingers and ears to freeze. Dunno how am I going to bike in Winter..
So anyway we still managed to make our way to the registration point in spite of the risk of hypothermia. I was surprised when the Race Organiser recognised me and asked me if I was the one who called yesterday, until I realized that it was fully due to my bad spoken French. Haha.. How funny. In any case he was quite impressed that there were two Singaporeans who came to participate in this rather small and community-level race, and he announced that on stage and the other participants who were around applauded politely. How lovely.
Left the Depart at a little after 8. Due to the technical problems I faced yesterday (loose bottom bracket), I was not able to pedal properly, and I even had to stop pretty frequently to tighten it. To make matters worse, we took a wrong exit at a roundabout and got lost. We only realized that we were lost when we saw no other people along where we were cycling, so we had no choice but to backtrack. Eventually we found our way but it seemed pretty clear to me then that the race was over. The markings (orange arrows) were not very visible and infrequently placed. Most of the time I was chasing down peletons, getting lost, chasing more pelotons, and then finding that I was lost again. Even some of the French pelotons that I followed got lost, with riders splitting up at road junctions, each preferring to go their own way. Haha.. What a weird event!
Chose the 90km event over the shorter 56km one as this one promised to be less punishing. The 56km one had 2km of vertical climb! And yes my course was pretty rolling as compared to my other personal rides for the past two weeks. It felt good to be able to get on the dropbars and just hammer away. It felt good to be in my familiar rolling terrain. =P
Eventually after about 95km of riding (5km of getting lost) I crossed the Arrivée with an aching butt due to the super rough and uneven roads. There was a buffet assortment of fruits and bread so I filled myself up. There was an event t-shirt too - Not bad for just €5 registration fee! =P Clocked a total of 120km today door-to-door. =)
Here are some photos taken today, courtesy of CF.
race site in the morning
race map
le depart
my brain getting fried again
row of bikes
me and my hard-earned tee
photowhoring as usual.. =P
Heard about this event about two weeks ago when we went to Pinsello to buy CF's bike. Decided to go for this as I thought that it would be a good way to break into the local cycling/tri scene, plus get to know the cycling routes here better. So at 7am today I rolled out into the cold and headed to Domène, the town where the race was supposed to start, with CF. Although the temperature was not really very cold, the windchill caused by cycling was sufficient to cause my fingers and ears to freeze. Dunno how am I going to bike in Winter..
So anyway we still managed to make our way to the registration point in spite of the risk of hypothermia. I was surprised when the Race Organiser recognised me and asked me if I was the one who called yesterday, until I realized that it was fully due to my bad spoken French. Haha.. How funny. In any case he was quite impressed that there were two Singaporeans who came to participate in this rather small and community-level race, and he announced that on stage and the other participants who were around applauded politely. How lovely.
Left the Depart at a little after 8. Due to the technical problems I faced yesterday (loose bottom bracket), I was not able to pedal properly, and I even had to stop pretty frequently to tighten it. To make matters worse, we took a wrong exit at a roundabout and got lost. We only realized that we were lost when we saw no other people along where we were cycling, so we had no choice but to backtrack. Eventually we found our way but it seemed pretty clear to me then that the race was over. The markings (orange arrows) were not very visible and infrequently placed. Most of the time I was chasing down peletons, getting lost, chasing more pelotons, and then finding that I was lost again. Even some of the French pelotons that I followed got lost, with riders splitting up at road junctions, each preferring to go their own way. Haha.. What a weird event!
Chose the 90km event over the shorter 56km one as this one promised to be less punishing. The 56km one had 2km of vertical climb! And yes my course was pretty rolling as compared to my other personal rides for the past two weeks. It felt good to be able to get on the dropbars and just hammer away. It felt good to be in my familiar rolling terrain. =P
Eventually after about 95km of riding (5km of getting lost) I crossed the Arrivée with an aching butt due to the super rough and uneven roads. There was a buffet assortment of fruits and bread so I filled myself up. There was an event t-shirt too - Not bad for just €5 registration fee! =P Clocked a total of 120km today door-to-door. =)
Here are some photos taken today, courtesy of CF.
race site in the morning
race map
le depart
my brain getting fried again
row of bikes
me and my hard-earned tee
photowhoring as usual.. =Pvendredi, septembre 21, 2007
la rentrée
My first week of school is finally over, and amazingly I survived it! =P
La Rentrée is the return of the French academic fraternity from their Summer holidays, and is a pretty huge thing in France, where time seems to stand still every June to September. Anyway last week was La Rentrée, but there were still no classes because La Rentrée only meant back to school, not begin to study n'est pas? And so my lessons started only this Monday.
First day of school started auspiciously enough. I had Cotation Fonctionnelle et Techniques de Production, and the professor taught tolerancing and dimensioning, things which I had already learnt in NUS, so it was no trouble understanding him, except for a few minor matters. Second day was better. I had Automatique Sequentielle and I was pretty much in revision land as the professor touched on Boolean Algebra. Man.. Now I know how those PRC scholars feel when they go for lecture in Singapore!
Things started to go downhill on Wednesday. First was Automatique Sequentielle again. This time, things were not so easy. Learnt about number systems and coding, both of which were foreign to me. Then came a tutorial session - Travaux Dirigés. The class was so noisy and the prof spoke so fast and wrote so cursively such that it was impossible to listen/read/understand anything which transpired between him and us! However the worst was yet to come.
Had Conception Dimensionnement on Thursday. Not only were the course contents new to me, I also had difficulty trying to catch what the professor was saying because he did not use a microphone, even though he was lecturing in a lecture hall! I think I gave up halfway trying to comprehend, and just started copying down random notes because I was lost in this sea of confusion and frustration. Anyway did I mention that I was sitting in the front row?! The French must all not be listening, or they must have excellent hearing skills.
So today was Atelier Ingénerie again. Today I had more discussion with my group and I volunteered to be the bibliothécaire, which is someone in charge of arranging and keeping all the documents in the course of our project. I hope that I can contribute meaningfully to the group instead of just freeloading off the rest.
Ok will tell you more later - I have a bike ride early tomorrow morning and I have to go sleep now. There were some problems with my bike earlier and I spent quite some time trying to fix it. Not sure now if my bike is fully good to go now, but I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best! =P
La Rentrée is the return of the French academic fraternity from their Summer holidays, and is a pretty huge thing in France, where time seems to stand still every June to September. Anyway last week was La Rentrée, but there were still no classes because La Rentrée only meant back to school, not begin to study n'est pas? And so my lessons started only this Monday.
First day of school started auspiciously enough. I had Cotation Fonctionnelle et Techniques de Production, and the professor taught tolerancing and dimensioning, things which I had already learnt in NUS, so it was no trouble understanding him, except for a few minor matters. Second day was better. I had Automatique Sequentielle and I was pretty much in revision land as the professor touched on Boolean Algebra. Man.. Now I know how those PRC scholars feel when they go for lecture in Singapore!
Things started to go downhill on Wednesday. First was Automatique Sequentielle again. This time, things were not so easy. Learnt about number systems and coding, both of which were foreign to me. Then came a tutorial session - Travaux Dirigés. The class was so noisy and the prof spoke so fast and wrote so cursively such that it was impossible to listen/read/understand anything which transpired between him and us! However the worst was yet to come.
Had Conception Dimensionnement on Thursday. Not only were the course contents new to me, I also had difficulty trying to catch what the professor was saying because he did not use a microphone, even though he was lecturing in a lecture hall! I think I gave up halfway trying to comprehend, and just started copying down random notes because I was lost in this sea of confusion and frustration. Anyway did I mention that I was sitting in the front row?! The French must all not be listening, or they must have excellent hearing skills.
So today was Atelier Ingénerie again. Today I had more discussion with my group and I volunteered to be the bibliothécaire, which is someone in charge of arranging and keeping all the documents in the course of our project. I hope that I can contribute meaningfully to the group instead of just freeloading off the rest.
Ok will tell you more later - I have a bike ride early tomorrow morning and I have to go sleep now. There were some problems with my bike earlier and I spent quite some time trying to fix it. Not sure now if my bike is fully good to go now, but I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best! =P
lundi, septembre 17, 2007
dimanche, septembre 16, 2007
sunny sunday + asian food festival
They say make hay while the sun shines.. And so that is I have been doing. Not literally making hay, but out training while summer is still here. The weather has been perfect here for the past week, so I have been out swimming/biking/running/frisbee-ing quite a fair bit.
Today met up with some of the Singaporeans to toss the frisbee around the field. Ended up playing ultimate, which was a little more than what I had bargained for. After all I had planned to go for a LSD later in the evening! In the end I cut short my LSD to a 1-hour run. I just ran along the Isère until I reached the next town, then I ran back. Although I dun think that I did 12km as planned, I was happy to be out running and getting my Sunday long run out of the way. =)
Went over to Condillac for dinner. The Condillacians and Rabotians were apparently organising some kind of Asian food fest! And I seriously was not disappointed.. Just look at the spread!
andi's indonesian mee soto
clockwise from left: sushi, mee soto, more sushi, mee soto again, rendang, and fried rice!
gâteau au chocolat!
waki
maki
last but not least.. SASHIMI!!!
the people who made it all possible
the girls posing with mr. maki
me with spinale in a spinal pose
err.. apparently this is how you eat maki in France.. NOT!
the pot with a pot of fried rice.. =P
Today met up with some of the Singaporeans to toss the frisbee around the field. Ended up playing ultimate, which was a little more than what I had bargained for. After all I had planned to go for a LSD later in the evening! In the end I cut short my LSD to a 1-hour run. I just ran along the Isère until I reached the next town, then I ran back. Although I dun think that I did 12km as planned, I was happy to be out running and getting my Sunday long run out of the way. =)
Went over to Condillac for dinner. The Condillacians and Rabotians were apparently organising some kind of Asian food fest! And I seriously was not disappointed.. Just look at the spread!
andi's indonesian mee soto
clockwise from left: sushi, mee soto, more sushi, mee soto again, rendang, and fried rice!
gâteau au chocolat!
waki
maki
last but not least.. SASHIMI!!!
the people who made it all possible
the girls posing with mr. maki
me with spinale in a spinal pose
err.. apparently this is how you eat maki in France.. NOT!
the pot with a pot of fried rice.. =PArgh.. Now I have a stomachache due to indigestion. But oh well you have to pay for the sins of eating too much good food!!! =D
samedi, septembre 15, 2007
mise à jour 2
Another major update.. No time to blog last week as I had to settle some major academic stuff PLUS school finally started on Friday for me. =(
ANYWAY..
massive queue
me whilst waiting
Anyway 10am came and the doors opened (their punctuality another shocker for me), and we went in. It was totally packed and I had trouble navigating around.. There were already long queues for the more popular sports like Skiing and Tennis. I didnt sign up for anything that day but I think I should be signing up for Tennis (50Euros) and GUC Triathlon (95Euros). Craziness man the prices.. But that's the only way I can get to practice my sports! o_O
Friday.. Was Andi's birthday! Went over to Condilac in the evening for the fête. The idea was to spring a surprise as usual but I think Andi was already expecting something. Heh. Anyway everybody came and we had quite a good time hanging out in the kitchen, eating and drinking. Even got some of his floormates to join in the festivities! And so it was an enjoyable evening at Condilac, where all the SGreans colonised the place.
group photo.. go to Andi's blog for the uncensored photos!
How come I never get such surprises comme ça? Maybe I guess it due to my birthday which always falls during the school vacations and hence I do not see any of my classmates. Bah.
Went to Decathlon to buy some tennis shoes in the morning today. I guess I was quite lucky and got the last pair of the ones on discount. Then I went cycling in the afternoon. No Alps were planned for today and instead we went cycling around the banlieues of Grenoble. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, we found another mountain nearby - Mont St Martin, and so we went up! This one was a shorter 5km climb, but it was every bit as tough as the Alpe d'Heuz which we scaled last week! Some information about this can be found here, where its known as Alpe d'Huez's little brother!
So after dinner we cooked dinner. Andi and Spinale came over and we cooked nasi goreng! Hmm I must say that it tasted really good. Should have brought over more of these msg-filled culinary delights!
Ok just leaving you with a couple of pictures of today's ride. Going to sleep soon.. Going to run tomorrow! =)
on the climb up
brillant views of St Martin Le Vintoux and its environs
reaching the top
mingling at the top with a couple of old folks who went up in a car =P
there was a farm too and we went in to take a look. anybody knows the french version of baa baa black sheep?
ANYWAY..
Thursday was the Forum de Sports at INPG. For sports fans it was the major event of the year, the time when you can sign up for your favourite sport (for a fee of course) or just check out new ones. Hence for me, it was a must-go event. The forum was scheduled to start at 10am so I made my way there at about 950am. Surprisingly there was already a super large throng of people waiting to enter the hall (think COMEX in Singapore)! And I thought the French were always late!
massive queue
me whilst waitingAnyway 10am came and the doors opened (their punctuality another shocker for me), and we went in. It was totally packed and I had trouble navigating around.. There were already long queues for the more popular sports like Skiing and Tennis. I didnt sign up for anything that day but I think I should be signing up for Tennis (50Euros) and GUC Triathlon (95Euros). Craziness man the prices.. But that's the only way I can get to practice my sports! o_O
Friday.. Was Andi's birthday! Went over to Condilac in the evening for the fête. The idea was to spring a surprise as usual but I think Andi was already expecting something. Heh. Anyway everybody came and we had quite a good time hanging out in the kitchen, eating and drinking. Even got some of his floormates to join in the festivities! And so it was an enjoyable evening at Condilac, where all the SGreans colonised the place.
group photo.. go to Andi's blog for the uncensored photos!How come I never get such surprises comme ça? Maybe I guess it due to my birthday which always falls during the school vacations and hence I do not see any of my classmates. Bah.
Went to Decathlon to buy some tennis shoes in the morning today. I guess I was quite lucky and got the last pair of the ones on discount. Then I went cycling in the afternoon. No Alps were planned for today and instead we went cycling around the banlieues of Grenoble. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, we found another mountain nearby - Mont St Martin, and so we went up! This one was a shorter 5km climb, but it was every bit as tough as the Alpe d'Heuz which we scaled last week! Some information about this can be found here, where its known as Alpe d'Huez's little brother!
So after dinner we cooked dinner. Andi and Spinale came over and we cooked nasi goreng! Hmm I must say that it tasted really good. Should have brought over more of these msg-filled culinary delights!
Ok just leaving you with a couple of pictures of today's ride. Going to sleep soon.. Going to run tomorrow! =)
on the climb up
brillant views of St Martin Le Vintoux and its environs
reaching the top
mingling at the top with a couple of old folks who went up in a car =P
there was a farm too and we went in to take a look. anybody knows the french version of baa baa black sheep?
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