sncf: Simply Not Conceivably Funny

Of all the times to be on strike, why does SNCF have to be en grève now?! Zut!!!

snowboarding encore

Hit the slopes again today as I had a free day.

At first, it had looked like I would not be doing any snowboarding today, as I woke up to grey and gloomy skies. Then, more ominously, the bus that I was on broke down en route to Chamrousse, the resort which I was going to. After that it started to snow heavily on the rest of the way up. Great, I thought, Everything seemed to point against snowboarding today!

But at a little past eleven, I finally managed to get my ass up to the ski stations and got my equipment fairly uneventfully. Maybe there was some hope after all, eh?

And hope did not let me down indeed! Today was monumental in many ways for me: Being able to consciously control my speed and direction, my first time on the télésiège on a snowboard, and most importantly, my first time completing an entire piste run without falling!

I wouldn't say that I had perfect runs, but I can say that I had some great continuous runs, the kind where I was on my board and just surfing at ease. I don't think that I was going at much speed, but the sensation of surfing along was incredible! I think my relatively drier pants as compared to the previous time is testimony to my better experience today. =)

Unfortunately it was snowing the whole time today so I was unable to take much photos, for fear of damaging my camera. It was impossible to film videos as well because well, we were both snowboarding, ain't it? =P

against the backdrop of Chamrousse

roanna

the day NUS came down to town

Some staff from the alma mater were in France over the last week to check out the education system here, and they came over to visit us Grenoblois over the weekend.

Met up with them yesterday evening, and they were kind enough to take us poor students out for dinner. (Well, it was them who wanted to meet around dinner time anyway!) Joining us were the Lyonnais who came over for the weekend to ski, as well as Chris, our very own Singaporean Ambassador to Grenoble. =P

Dinner was at a funky place called Le Theatro, maybe a little too "funky" that we almost had to change restaurants! But our dear Ambassador managed to haggle for us special set menus which were more to NUS' budget and we ended up having a great time. What a suave diplomat indeed!

Anyway thanks to the NUS delegate which made last night possible. I had fun! =)

my side of the table

the other side of the table

me, monsieur l'ambassadeur, Yixin

dinner: duck with an identity crisis

mes entraînements du semaine W-17

03 lundi: Nager 2km - 3x350m drills, 6x50m sprints (PU)
04 mardi: CàP 17km (Grenoble et environs)
06 jeudi: Cycle 60km (D1090 - Le Touvet), CàP 5km (DU)
07 vendredi: Nager 2.2km (PU)
08 samedi: Cycle 94km (D1090 - Pontcharra + D525 - Allevard)
09 dimanche: CàP 24km (Grenoble et environs)

En total: Nager 4.2km, Cycle 154km, CàP 46km

Had a horrible horrible near-miss accident with a TER on Thursday. Looking back, it was really careless and stupid of me to assume that no trains were approaching before I crossed the tracks. No more "shag cannot think" incidents, simply because there might not be another chance to learn from my mistakes!

Anyway, here are the profiles of my current bike and run routes. The bike route is more or less about 90km, so its good for Ironman training. Terrain is undulating with some nice flat and fast parts, and I intend to throw in a col or two to simulate The Beast in Zurich when I get stronger. The best part is that I get some pretty nice views of lakes and waterfalls on some pretty quiet roads along the way!

As for my run, it is pretty flat save for a major climb about halfway into the loop. Nowadays I run to centrale ville so I add another 3km to the half-marathon loop.

90km to Allevard

21km run loop

cheated

Feel carroted by CROUS after visiting Annabel and Lisa's place last night.. =(

Damn.. I should find my own colocs next time.

shellshocked

was.

still is.

lucky to have gotten away unharmed nonetheless.

no more repeats.

=(

les elections

Looks like election fever has hit Grenoble! The municipal elections are slated to be held here for the next two weekends, and there has been a fair bit of campaigning on both camps. Interestingly, Grenoble has traditionally been leftist, something which I had not known about before. Anyway Sarkozy's UMP has sent in quite a young upstart to challenge the incumbent M. Destot for the seat of the capital of the Alps, so I do not really expect much changes come 16 March.

But first up, school elections are up this Friday! The Campagne BDE/BDS (Student council campaign) started last Monday and lemme tell you how they do it here (I don't even know how they do it in NUS!). In INPG, you get 2 lists of complete student councils, and they spend tonnes of money and organise loads of activities and basically just do anything/everything to campaign for their team. And whoever wins, the entire team is installed as the next student council. Sounds familiar? Its one freakin' huge GRC battle lah!

The two competing teams:

cuite ou double (my preferred one)

apero³

Here's also a logo of the new BDS. There's no elections for this one surprisingly: It is just going to be a changing over of committee.

S³

And no, while it may sound political, there is absolutely nothing professional about the entire campaign. Instead of rallies, speeches and debates to judge the quality of the future BDE, we have crazy parties with the potential council members competing to see who can get the most drunk in the shortest period of time or who can pull off the craziest stunt. Madness, I tell you.

As if to cater to the only (hungry and greedy) Singaporean there as well, there's been free breakfast and lunch EVERYDAY (for breakfast only though)! Sadly I do not have that many morning lessons this semester but it still makes going to school that bit much easier on the mornings when I have to! =D

kfet apérocube

crazy xavier getting piss drunk again

free food!!! =D

Other than all the crazy soirées and repas gratuites, there's been quite a lot of freebies as well: FHM magazines, goody bags, class raid sessions where the entire team just storms into classes and starts interrupting and campaigning and giving away huge bags of sweets and so on..

campaigning in the middle of lectures

totally irrelevant but totally important poster in school

Hmm.. Who should I vote for on Friday? =P