My favourite part of the day =D
Mussels in the school cafét - who'd have thought (yay!)
These are gooooddd...
The crazed and the dazed (from drinking too much of the mussel gravy hehe)
Hungry ghost
The steak looked super yummy but cutting it was a real bicep-builder!
Anyways, as I don't really have anything eventful to write about, shall instead note down the observations I've made with regards to my life in Grenoble.
1) Lessons start ON TIME. And so are the students (actually they are EARLY). No such thing as excuses like traffic jam, oversleeping, the rain, stomachache or the other reasons that we Singaporeans are fond of using. Compare this to what happens at NUS, where you can enter the LT 10 minutes after the official time of commencement of the lecture and you'll still find the lecturer setting up his technical equipment or making small talk with the students.
2) The profs do not give a break in between the lectures! They talk non-stop for about 1.5 hours, to which I totally take my hat off. They don't even pause for a sip of water or a toilet break! The French have either really huge bladders or they just don't drink.
3) The French students are generally more attentive during lectures. I don't hear much murmuring going on even when the lecturers drone on and on about uninteresting and incomprehensible subjects.
4) The library closes at 20h00 on weekdays, 12h30 on saturdays and is closed for the whole day on Sundays. The library is now my most important source of Internet cos it's the source closest to my residence. Gotta now appreciate the fact that the libraries or study rooms in NUS are opened at times 24/7.
5) An sms and a one minute call on my mobicarte costs 20cents and $1 respectively. Ouchh
6) During the lunch break, many students sit in groups on grass patches in the central area and just soak in the sun and have a sandwich. Wanted to take a photo of this but they'll probably think I'm some weirdo from China being damn suaku and annoying ahha.
7) Public Display of Affection - Yep, it's public all right! No one bats an eyelid to couples french-kissing in the school compound. Some of the french were pretty surprised to hear that we don't see this too often in Singapore! On a similar note, air-kissing happens between girls and the opposite sex. The guys shake hands as a form of greeting.
8) Smoking is unfortunately, very common among the French youth (even the girls!) And it's not just the normal cigarettes they smoke, if you get what I mean. haha. I've a neighbour (this shady white guy) who hangs out in the kitchen at night and smokes! He ALWAYS startles me when I walk past the kitchen at night for the loo and find him sitting in the dark and staring back. Eeks
9) The students dress to the nines! (Guess I didn't need to say that since it's France after all) But the knee high boots and trendy trenchcoats in the Science faculty?? Haha feel like some country bumpkin next to them with my boring garb.
10) Place is practically dead after 7pm and on weekends (well, it's the French and their 35h work week =p).
11) The students are eager to learn and never hesitate to interrupt a lecturer to pose questions which is something we Singaporeans don't really do (am guilty of it!) but I think being less reserved about matters like that will help accelerate the learning process.
12) The old chalk and blackboard combination is still very much in use here! I really hate it when the lecturers write their lecture notes on the board cos deciphering the very cursive French style of handwriting is another module in itself. (shall upload a photo of this next time)
13) No toilet paper in the common toilets of the French hostels! And no toilet seat covers either! Pretty gross because some people just can't aim. Bleh
Will pause here for the time being and add more as time goes by! Haha ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment