Finally, my internet connection has been set up and i finally feel human again, thanks to my efficient flat mates from Poland and Brazil! so i finally overcame the innertia to write. So Dn Chia, this is my best make-up after the long absence! This is my 3rd blog entry to date after 3 weeks, so many things have happened during the course of these 3 weeks, so being well known among all my friends for being too organized, i shall break down my experiences into different sections with survival tips at the end of each section as well!
* see never shown b4 footages not posted in my webshots link http://community.webshots.com/user/estherhuang2003

---Food, the Core of my happiness in Grenoble---
Apparently, the french, especially my dear friend,Steven, find it hilarious that i love to fry stuff. I mean that's how i have been surviving on a limited tight budget - buying value for money groceries from carrefour, checking out fresh unique home-made produces (like banana vanilla jam) from markets like the famous market hall in antibes when i travel, and cooking almost everyday on 2 hot plates!










Above are several of the dishes that i've cooked. Yummy? Mummy & daddy will be proud of me! haha All my friends (Jana from prague and Marie from Mexico) love my cooking!!!(thanks for lee kum kee oyster sauce & maggi magic cubes..ha) i just have to shout that outloud..cos it means my future husband will be well fed *grinz*. that said, i think i might enjoy being a housewife. *missing text* Apparently most of the french galz here are super slim. I heard from a friend that they stay slim cos they don't eat but smoke to feel full...that said, kebabs are a big thing here. Costing a mere 3.50 euros, you get a sandwich like thing stuffed with freshly (overexposed to bacteria) roasted meat with french fries dribbled with mayonaise. The ice cream at Notre Dame is mouth watering and creamy as well ..think flavors like nougat, bubble gum, lavender, melon...& i just finished 5 rows of milk chocolate...
Tips to a well-fed Tummy in Grenoble:

1. Do up a shopping list b4 going to Carrefour or Geant (5% discount every monday)
2. If you are hopeless in french, bring your dictionary with you when you shop at Carrefour or ask a french friend to come along. (Steven came along with me & i got all my groceries in 50 mins compared to 3 hrs alone the 1st time)
3. Cook bigger portions for a meal and save the rest for dinner
4. Keep track of expiry dates especially items sold on discounts (write the dates on post-it and stick it on your fridege so you know what food to gobble up 1st)
5. Check out the Carrefour Asianique (next to st bruno tram station) they even sell stuff like dried shrimps(which give fried rice the nice salty flavour) & glutinous rice balls!

----Travels to Lake Annecy, South France, Torino in Italy---








So far, I've travelled to the above 3 places and only spent a weekend in grenoble! Nice & Antibes are by far the nicest places. Fell in love with the food (cheese, veal, gelato), clear blu waters (i swam in the sea twice !), markets (they sell everything from antiques to old ads to vintage clothes and fresh produce...) and ports. Italy on the other hand was so rich in history and everyone smokes.and apparently i heard from Caroline, one of my bunk mates in hi hostel that florence, though touristy is filled with mosquitoes and is humid in the summer. she has to sleep in a mosquito every night with layers of insect repellant...so my first impression in torino was that I missed the fine refined culture of france... and I reckon to read up on the places to make your money's worth in italy or else you'll find yourself geting an overdose of statues & museums w/o appreciating the history. I think its really time now to get to know grenoble now that the term is starting. However, my next stop next weekend is Paris to concide with the free museum entries and i think the next stop, fairy tale castle land, Carcassonne!
Also, hi hostel is a fabulous place to stay in, met so many new friends there with the same interests and we travelled together. in some hostels, there is even a kitchen to cook & a fridge. so you save money by cooking dinner and making a sandwich lunch the next day! All in all, i saved on daily meals. Check out my webshots link for the rest of the photos! (i took the effort to name every place i went...hah =o))

---My School of Exchange, Grenoble Ecole De Management, Graduate School of Business + Classes----
Aloha is such a wonderful organization in my school, they are basically students undergoing an internship with Monique Cormons who help foreign students integrate into Grenoble. They have helped me with everything! My first week was basically spent in the Aloha room talking to Marc (the cute ken lookalike president), Quentin (the quirky intelligent Bill Gates look alike), Kevn (he looked like the mafia in all black & then the red devil) & of cos the efficient galz like diane, claire, stephanie all who are willing to give you a hand ranging from housing insurance, application for APL. Many of my friends even found affordable accomodation near town after a few days.
That said, my school is apparently quite prestigous. With a core focus in technology management and being international (they have 41 nationalities!), it is ranked 4th in the europe for the MIB program. (they just set up the program in s'pore) The professors here are also really nice and adopt a different approach to teaching. Though i'm taking quite similar subjects back in smu, like technology management and QM, the professors teach quite differently. That is a good thing cos i think i might want to head into academia after working in the private sector for 2 years!so now i can combine the best practices from each of the profs.. who knows....maybe an MIB here..
The only flaw is that timetables are not fixed due to visiting professors. it is such a bummer cos i can't plan my travelling..=( enough said. that aside, foolscape here is like graph paper back home. apparently i like it alot cos it enables me to draw my mindmap more systematically! =o) Tips to a happy school life in Grenoble:

1. Be patient. that applies for everything ..from waiting for your email passwords to chequebook to waiting for CAF to reply on APL and finally the school card..everything takes about a month at least cos the french like to do everything through mail. so double check ur snail mail addy! enough said, you get the idea!
2. Work with people of different nationalities cos you get to enrich yourself with different working styles of each culture..gives you a better idea of where you might want to be posted overseas though this is pretty much a bias sample. =P
3. Do up a contact list sheet with lil personal info of pple whom you've met. so you remember who u meet ...

next upcoming entry...flatmates (that's tetsuya from japan) ,

apartment (that's me doing my dishes) and

culture (fine french dining) ! off to my french class now!

All my photos!

http://community.webshots.com/user/estherhuang2003

---29 Aug, Rainy Evening Tired out & Don’t want to move---

I finally have the time now to seat down continue my entry ….after struggling to cook my 1st home cook meal for 3 hrs!!! (It’s not that I’m a bad cook, the knife was so blunt! I took like almost 1 hr to chop up the fatty pork and another 30 mins to wash all the cockery & utensils..another ½ hr to unload all the food I bought from Carrefour… ;)…) So many things have happened in the last 2 days! And I thank God for answering my prayers for so many things….=) Like how Marc could accompany me to meet my landlord yesterday and do translation of the contract, inventory list, rules…etc . If it weren’t for Marc, I really don’t know how I could manage my luggage and settle into my housing so quickly. And my room here is bigger than my room back at home! HAHA..so is my bed =P Xavier, my landlord was very nice. He doesn’t stay in Grenoble but comes here once a week to check on things and he runs a tourist villa www.clavans.com …nice eh? =) He also repaired the water heater and in the end, hot water came out of my blue tap and cold water for the red tape….*missing txt*..haha..but anyway, I have my own fridge & oven! All the other rooms have to share a common one outside. The previous owner also left hangers & all the shopping bag including the carefour recycle one fyi, carefour d/n provide bags for you to carry back home!) So really thank God for such a good apartment which is near town. After settling my housing, Marc brought me to eat at this kebab stall near school..it’s FABULOUS. Abt 4 euros (kebab stuffed with nice juicy meat with fresh tomatoes & lettuce) + fried…I was too hungry to take a photo of it! Another time ba =) Then I went back to school to settle my housing insurance and open a bank account with credit lyonnais. Just for opening the bank account, they give you 50 euros! I’m so happy cos it can be used for pay for my 12-25 SNCF discount card. =P The good thing is it will not take very long to close cos this time, there is a person, Amelie, who speaks very good English at the bank! Met another nice guy from Aloha called Kevin who settled all my bank stuff. And I met so many other students yesterday..just to name a few Yvonne from Mexico; Kristi from Bahamas; Julia from Canada; Maxine from Nigeria; Elena from Moscow; Mike from Florida…Most of them are doing masters in my school for a year =P After that I went to meet Yimei, from some province near Shanghai. Chatted to her on msn/email before I came here cos I was trying to find a roommate & she’s the only Chinese gal on the exchange list. Wow, she talks a lot…and mainly in Chinese to me. I was trying hard to piece together what she was saying. But overall, she’s nice. =) And we’ve made plans to go shopping for groceries/ cooking together! =)

After that I went to get some last min groceries & it started to rain. What a bummer cos I didn’t have an umbrella! After getting back, I really couldn’t stand all the dirt and uncleaniness in my apartment, so I started to clean up the entire room for about 2 hours fr 9-11pm. mummy will be proud of me! haha .. I washed & moped every single inch of the floor, scrubbed all the shelves, windows, fridge, table, chair, bed…and I wanted to start on the cockery but I didn’t have dishwashing liquid and I was too too tired…so I bathed in the shower & snuggled into bed. I think I’m becoming more like bree in desperate housewives…sheesh..

Today I met Abdoulaye who brought me to prefecture to see if I can make my carte de sejour to get my APL (housing subsidy). But becos I’m staying <6 months, I’m not eligible! =( so sad, means I don’t get reimburse of 145 euros for my housing every month~ ! but what am I to complain when my other friends r paying so much more! =) After that we parted & I went to Carrefour at Grand Place Station. It’s really really big but not bright like Singapore’s Carrefour. I had no time to make a shopping list so I just went down each aisle systematically..haha..and the worst thing is I forgot to bring my French dictionary so I had a super hard time choosing all the fresh meat & different kinds of sauces etc =( I was also trying to guess what all the promotions were like 3 for the price of 2 or buy 2 and get 1 free. DUH! But all the French pple whom I asked for help were very nice! =) including the fresh chicken man. I bought a lot a lot of things..like laundry soap powder, dish washing liquid, juice, bacon, bread, eggs, vegge, meat, tomato, beef, fruits, 3 packs of rice (thai, indian, dunno what brand)…etc and I spent about 3 hrs shopping there. And being blur and not knowing which brand is good to buy, I observed what the French people choose. Always observed a few pple at that particular section b4 choosing the brand which I think is the best & cheapest after observation& of cos the expiry date. The wonderful thing here is that I think they use RFID? All the price tags are electronic & also includes the price per unit, so I can know which is the best value for money per unit! Smart eh~! Haha. So I kept shopping till my trolley got really heavy and my tummy was rumbling away…And when I started to take out all the items 1 by 1 at the cashier, I realized that maybe I bought too much..and all my groceries filled my backpack + the 2 humongous recycled bag that I brought. And I tried carrying all of them but really CMI. I took a few steps & gave up. Just imagine how I look ok? So silly. So I stood there thinking what I shd do. I was trying to think who will be kind enough to help me carry all the things back to my apartment… And I called Abdulaye!!! praying that He’s free now after his haircut…and He came after an hour! ( I occupied myself by starting to eat my groceries & called home) He even postponed his bank appointment to help me. So I’m really thankful for God’s provision. God answers prayer! And becos he came, I learned of a shortcut way to get to Carrefour other than the tram =P

After Abdulaye left the groceries in my apartment ( I gave him a banana to thank him & 2 reboost his energy =)) I started to wash all the cockery first before slicing the fresh meat to portion for the rest of the days. AND THE KNIFE WAS BLUNT. Can you just imagine slicing through a thick stubborn slab of pork, bloody and thick with a blunt knife (and you haven’t had lunch, only a in-the-process digesting banana and its already 3 +pm?) eeww..horrible. I really regretted buying that fresh slab though it’s 2+ euros only. I shd hav juz been lazy and buy fillet~! Even cutting the carrots, garlic and onions was a torture…I had to use the bread knife instead .. unspeakable experience. But once I fried my eggs..and dumped all the chopped stuff in I was quite satisfied with my master cooking…though I wished I had brought all the CNHG Kee’s sauces…hai. I only have the magi cubes! =( . Well, as you can see from the pics, my lunch/dinner looks pretty gd. But its was too salty & the pork too tough (so I gave up eating the pork & ate the chicken instead).

So now I’m sitting here in my room with NO WIRELESS…I wanted to head to mac to clear my mails, upload photos, send this entry & reply mails…but it started to drizzle…and I’m lazy!!!! =P.. I’m still thinking if I shd install wireless in my room. It costs 30 euros/mnth, comes with a phone line, free tv (but all French) , and router rent of 3 euros/mnth. How How? Marc said school closes at 10pm and can use the wireless there or mac. But I can’t log in my SMU’s VPN at my sch! Only at mac. =( . Perhaps I’ll go sch tmr & ask Aloha. And I might be going to Paris this weekend and supposedly meeting the Mexican gal in Amsterdam before heading down to Hamburg/Berlin then to Prague and Vienna before school starts on the 18!! and I haven’t book all my train tickets..arrrgh. Aloha is organizing a trip to South Bottom West France: 14-18 Sep – 10 hrs bus to the beach/camping but I think I might not go....not sure if I can make it back in time after my trips..though I think it’ll be fun…ohwell..its only the 4th day here! So many things to do, so lil time….…Why can’t I just take it slow…and I shall now…qt then going to sleep. It’s only 9pm here but I’m so tired …till then…=)

Thank God for everything. His providence; His grace; His timing of things.

---Sing-Thai-Lon Heathrow
Once I reached out of sight of Dn Chia & Sis Lenny, the “entourage” of boys from YF (I’m so touched! They woke up so early!!!), Josiah, sweet sweet Esther Lin, I had this feeling..you know the feeling inside you when you know there is no one you can depend on physically? But I prayed a silent prayer in my heart and march onward, trying to start embracing this new journey in my life! Haha. I received a call from Wang Kai when I was in the toilet in Thailand Transit! It was so comforting to hear his voice..you know how he talks la! Haha =) like big korkor~! Also received smses from my family, you have no idea how these ‘lil smses which seemed ‘naggy’ in Sing can seem like words of gold when you’re embarking on this journey alone. =P The flight to Heathrow was very good; I managed to change my backseat to the front where the air flow is supposedly better (thanks to Josiah’s advice! =)) and I had a real gd view of the big tv, and the shows were pretty old tho ‘ol !!!! Managed to catch up on my lost sleep too. But the food on thai airways was not exactly appetizing but I managed to da bao some souvenirs of small bottles of sauces (hello mummy, I also da bao the salt packets ok…haha) that they provided with the meals.

P.S. All the guys who sat beside me on the plane helped me put up my hand carry luggage in the cabin!! Heh =P

---London Stansted Cottages 5am--- b4 ryan air takeoff
When you wake up, brushing your teeth as you look out to a vast landscape with a veil of fog, drizzling in the wee hours of morning, with a horse nuzzling in the far distance, it somehow reminds you of your natural roots, you know, like how life can be so peaceful if you want it to be. This hotel was at truly a blessing. Juz a stone’s throw away from Heathrow, I almost walked away after waiting for the transport pick up for 25 mins when the guy, Kwaed Khan, at the airport (a Singaporean who lives in Tampines! Doing his PHD & working at the airport part time) said it wld come in 10 mins..& coincidentally, just when I turned away and took a final look “Juz in case”, the silver car slided into the carpark…=P. When he was driving me towards the cottages it was SOO DARK and Raining & Winding & far in..For a moment I thought I might be in the midst of being kidnapped…and I prayed hard ok!! And I asked the driver “How come so dark?” Then he said its in the country side…which didn’t make it even better. Cos I imagined my body to be dumped in some old shed….” But once the cottages come into sight, I heaved a sigh of relief!!! I took a full force shower (they provided like dove shampoo and mineral salt bath), “da bao” the extra roll of toilet paper & snuggled into bed! A continental breakfast was also provided BUT the BREAD WAS MOULDY!! EEwww..so I only ate the cornflakes with milk after scrutinizing the expiry dates.

---Above the clouds 10.30am on board ryan airways---
Sat beside a nice French girl, Amandine who stayed at Valence, who was going to study at my sch in Sep too. Got her contact number! =P

---St Geoirs - Hotel Alize – Walking ard – 1st Night – 1st Morning ---
Took the shuttle bus fr the airport direct to grenobla Gare (main train station) for 2.8 euros (stdt price). Once again, I thank God that I could slide my humongous large suitcase into the LAST luggage space available. On reaching the train station at 2.30pm, I pushed my luggage along the cobbled street towards hotel alize (1 night 28 euros!! I dare say..cheapest in town, cos the student hostel is in the suburbs!) & I dropped my sweater which was tied ard my waist, which I only realized at night =( so sad!!! Meeting the receptionist, Jalmeac whom I chatted to over the phone was really nice! He remembered me & was sooo excited to see me. HAHA!! He helped me to mark out spots on the map to places I wanted to visit in the afternoon. (My smu friend went to check into his own apartment himself) So after dumping my luggage and locking everything up carefully I skipped my way into town, Notre Dame, Place Victor Hugo =). Navigation was easy. I just made sure I followed the tram rails which led to all the main areas in Grenoble HAHA =). The weather is absolutely nice. Air-con temperature. French people were also very friendly. Like when I was looking at the map at the traffic light, this middle aged French lady asked me something in French and she just pointed out to me where I was. This happened again in K-store when I was buying some groceries. =)

Notre Dame, the city center has so many stores. I got pretty lost at times but the tram marks were my “guidelines”. There’s mac, a lot of pastry, sandwiches shop and café outlets. The Chinese shops sell like fried spring rolls & stuff but didn’t look very fresh. Spotted a few essential shops also to get my basic essential (there’s this shop “Golden eye” which sells only hair care prdts at cheap cheap prices! Like the one in jurong east central near optical 88) Found the internet café, laundry shop, photocopying machine too =P There’s this authentic carousel too!!Nice big fountain in a green area square, Victor Hugh, where people just sit around, chat or read books. I sat there eating my late sandwich lunch. While I was walking back to the hotel after wandering across the whole town, saw a bunch of rowdy men across the street. There were some police men near them and I saw one of the rowdy men threw a beer bottle at a couple despite the presence of the police man!!! So scary right…So I scurried away super quickly la. When I reached the hotel, it started to drizzle. So timing was just nice!!! AND THE MOST SURPRSING THING HAPPENED.

When I was in my room again, the receptionist on the evening shift called me, Abdoulaye, whom I also had a nice conversation with him on the phone when I reserved my hotel over skype. He said a student councilor was downstairs waiting for me from my sch. (The whole story behind this was that I actually emailed my school administrator to ask her if she can arrange for the student association, Aloha, who helps exchange students to integrate here, to meet me today at the train station and offer me homestay which as a cheaper alternative then this nice hotel. But she couldn’t provide me with who was meeting me exactly and I dropped her an email to say that I’ll just stick to staying in this hotel, left my contact number and she didn’t reply me…..so no choice..) So I trooped downstairs and I SAW “KEN”. Barbie Ken? YA. He’s so CUTE la. Really. =) He introduced himself as Mark, the president of Aloha & said he was waiting for me at the train station since 1pm & couldn’t see me. So he spent the whole day walking around, dropping in hotels in this area to ask them if they had seen a petite Asian gal with luggages ( He didn’t have my photo or contact number!!! Aiyo…miscommunication I guess…) I FELT SO GUILTY. Imagine..he’s the president of Aloha ok..aiyo. =(. So embarrassing. Then he said he was so relieved to know that I arrived safety and his mission was at least completed. And that he is going to improve these kinda meet ups in the future (like make sure the integration office passed them our photos for easy recognition)

Haha..So we went back into town again, where I met another councilor, Quentin, his friend who looks like a younger version of Bill Gates, who =P We had nice cheap coffee under a nice white tent and they offered me a lot of tips here and there..really Nice chaps =) And Ken really has a Barbie girlfriend! Haha =P I’m really thankful for such a student association whose mission is to help foreign students here integrate. And they will be helping me settle down into my apartment on Monday, housing insurance etc =). After reaching back into the hotel I had another chat with Abdulaye, a master student from Guinea, studying in my school who has been working part time here on the evening-night shift for the last 5 yrs! He speaks superb English & French & answered a lot of my queries. Even allowed me to call back home for a few mins for free! =) His mum is a Christian and we chatted some time about religion =). This hotel is also 70% occupied by long stayers (people who come to grenoble and cannot find housing, so this hotel is like a social care thingy too). One of the occupants from Algeria came down to pass him a huge bowl of “CrousCrous?” (Not sure how to spell), which he offered me a plate. Basically tasted like very fine rice with healthy boiled potatoes & veggies…which I washed down quite satisfactory with the good water from the tap (yes, nice fresh water from the alps!)

Bed time…I had bleeding nose for some reason but it stopped. All tv channels in French =( Couldn’t sleep very well too cos I was afraid someone would break into my room. So I slept holding the personal alarm, night light on and all the cash, passport all strapped to me !!! But I slept soundly after 2am I think. =)