Today was the last day of class. Thank God! The 5 hours of French was too much for me, especially since the material we covered in class was very random and not super interesting. After class, the group decided to head to the Bastille and ride Les Bulles on the Téléphérique de Grenoble Bastille. The téléphérique is a ride up to the Bastille – a series of tunnels and fortifications used in ancient times on top of a part of the Chartreuse Mountains. Les bulles are egg shaped cable cars on the téléphérique and are made of clear plastic, so you can see a beautiful view of the Isère River, the city of Grenoble, and the surrounding mountains. This is a must do if you come to Grenoble. It is such an incredible view!
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| Les Bulles up to La Bastille |
Once we got to the top, everyone went exploring in different directions. I ended up chatting with a couple hikers who had made the trek up the Bastille. One of the men I chatted with was originally from the US (Cali and Virigina) and has been living in Grenoble for 13 years. He clued me in to some essential vocab that could easily be interpreted in the wrong way with incorrect grammar. Apparently the word for steep also means stoned. I keep finding that being brave and trying out my French really pays off. I haven’t regretted talking to anyone I’ve met thus far. Anyways, he got me super excited to climb it. Now, a group of us are planning on climbing up to the Bastille later this semester. Apparently, there is a steep trail straight up the side of the mountain that takes about an hour and is super challenging and slippery; there is also a trail that is a series of switchbacks up the other side of the mountain.
Molly, Nicole, Elliot, Travis, and I ended up finding this underground tunnel that led to another peak of the mountain. The lights shut off just as we were entering the tunnel, but luckily Nicole had a flashlight app on her phone so we could make the climb. At the end was a beautiful set of stone windows built into the mountain and then a clearing with another view of the city. We all checked out the view and then went to go relax on the grass. All of us ended up falling asleep for about an hour. It was literally the perfect afternoon, besides being dehydrated.
After the bastille, we worked on getting our trans cards figured out and then bought some postcards. We parted and met up again later in the night. Unfortunately, Elliot and I missed out on a dinner in the city because I miscommunicated with our host mom. Just as we were about to head out, she called us down to eat. Whoopsies! I swear I only understand half of what is going on at all times. It’s frustrating!
After dinner, Elliot and I joined the crew and wound up back at London Bar. We were supposed to make our way to Vertigo but ended up staying the whole night there, again. Blink 182 was played. It was awesome. Picture a small section of kids at a French bar belting out the words to “All the Small Things” in the corner. It was amusing.
Tonight, I had an interesting discussion with one of the guys on my program. We talked about how cool it is that we’re getting to know people from all kinds of different social groups that don’t necessarily mix at college. It’s neat to have such a small program where you can really connect with everyone and in different settings. This afternoon I got much closer with some of my peers exploring the bastille and then later connected with others at the bar. I’m making such great friendships with people I may not have been able to meet had I not been afraid to venture outside my comfort zone and really push myself in choosing this challenging program.
So far, my favorite part of traveling is just making those close relationships and learning from all these different people. It’s been interesting to find similarities in the most unexpected places. People are people. So much is foreign to me here, yet the basic human interactions can be communicated even when language acts as a barrier. It’s pretty amazing.
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