Fete de la Musique

The first day of summer is a big deal here in France. It is the longest day of the year, so the French celebrate by having a huge music festival. What I mean by huge is that there are bands, groups, people playing music everywhere you look. I was in Grenoble for this event and my music day kicked off with Gloria Estephan blaring from some speakers at a bar across from the train station while I was wainting for my train that got cancelled. After finding out I was going to stay for the night, I went to the garden to watch two guys who where playing guitars intermixed with accordians. They were somewhat folksy and very toe-tapping. When it started to get dark (at 10pm), I decided to head back to my hotel, but on the way I walked by this little bar on a corner with nothing else around it. There was a band set up to play, with a keyboard, guitars, drums, etc... They were warming up as I walked by and sounded like they'd be decent, so I popped a squat on the other side of the street as there were appoximately 8 chairs in front of the place that were already full of people. I watched their first two songs and then decided to head over to the bar and grab a glass of wine while watching the end of the first half of the soccer game. I figured out that Ambre was the name of the band and they were quite entertaining. I stayed for a few more songs and then headed back to my hotel. I fell asleep to the sounds of an African band playing outside somewhere close to my hotel.

Ask and you might receive!

As I mentioned in an earlier post about Grenoble, I was going to stay the night there on my own accord and then decided to change my ticket and leave that evening on the last train out of town. After I boarded the train though, we sat there for 20 minutes not leaving before a lady came on and said our train was cancelled. After asking some questions I realized that I wouldn't be able to get back to Clermont that night, so I was going to have to spend the night somewhere. Well, not being very happy about this, I asked the lady re-issuing my ticket if the train company provided any assistance to people who had to stay over night because of the cancelled train. I really expected the lady to tell me no, but she directed me to the head train conductor. After hesitantly knocking on his door and telling him my story, he took my tickets (the one that showed I took the train into town that morning and the one of the train that was cancelled) and faxed them to his boss. Five minutes later he had the ok to give me a hotel room on the company that night! WOOT! If I was going to pay for a place that night I was going to stay at a hostel that would have been just a bunk bed for about 30 euro. Instead I ended up staying in a 2-star hotel for 67 euro on SNCF. Sure I felt a little guilty that I was debating staying anyway, but really I did want to be home and not have to spend another day mostly on trains, so it worked out. I got to enjoy more of Grenoble and sleep like a rock in a nice, clean room,

Grenoble

On Tuesday I took a little trip to Grenoble for an interview with Schneider Electric. It was a four-hour train ride to the city, with a brief train change in Lyon. Got into the town and the weather just plain wasn't very nice. Thankfully it wasn't raining, but it wasn't sunny or warm. I walked around a bit (in heels, dumb idea) to see if I could find the tourist office and get a map. Also, originally I was planning on staying in the town overnight, just to get the feel of the town, so I looked for a hostel I had found on the internet. I didn't find either, so I walked back to the train station to catch a cab (15euro!) to the company. I had the interview, which was so-so, and then one of the ladies drove me back to the tram station because it was so far from the company (not a plus). I wandered through the Grenoble mall (very nice actually and a lot like malls at home) and found the bathroom (that I had to pay 20 cents for) to change out of my suit into jeans and pumas. Then took the 21-minute tram ride back into center city.

When I arrived back at the train station I decided that I just wanted to go home, so I changed my ticket to the last train out of Grenoble back to Clermont at 6:44pm. Then I set off to explore some sights. I didn't go in anywhere because I didn't have a ton of time, but I did walk through some lovely little places, grabbing a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone on my way. I saw the Rhone that runs through Grenoble and the wonderful sights that would have been spectacular if the sun were shining. As it was, it was a pretty neat town with lots of interesting architecture and young peoople. One very glaring thing that I noticed about Grenoble, and I don't mean this to be un-PC in any way, but there were A LOT of people in wheelchairs. Once I noticed that I realized that there were also a lot of people who are bravely dealing with other challenges to their physical appearances. I wonder why I noticed this and what it means for the town. The only thing I could feasibly come up with was that the town is in the middle of 3 major French ski resorts, as it is at the base of the Alps, so maybe some of these people have been injured during extreme adventure accidents? Not sure because they didn't seem like the extreme sports types, but who knows.

After walking around a bit and enjoying the sights, I made it back to the train station in time for my train, but found out it was cancelled and there was no way to get back to Clermont that night. I got a hotel (with a bit of help...read the next post) and checked in before wandering about town for the Fete de la Musique (later post as well) and then enjoyed a night of the music festival, watching a band at both the garden and on my way home in front of a bar and I watched part of the Spain World Cup game at a outdoor cafe where I swear 13 year-olds were drinking beers. The "legal" age in France is 18. If these kids were 18, I'm 35. Made it back to my hotel and slept blissfully for 9 hours. Woke up to bright sunshine and admired the views on my way out of town.

Protest cont'd...

I'm not sure how many of you are watching the World Cup, but it didn't go well for the French. Not only are they out of the tournament, they thoroughly embarrassed themselves and their nation by being absolute ninnys. Here's what happened. During one of the games a player on the team wasn't happy with the coaching and the way the game was going. When he came off the field at half-time he said something not very nice to the coach. The coach subsequently took the player out of the game and then, when the player didn't apologize for what he said, the French federation kicked the player off the team. The player continued to make snide and demeaning comments to the media and about the state of the team and how they would do, but what did the French team do? They went on strike. Naturally. They literally would not go to practice for one of the days because they wanted to prove a point to the French Federation. In the following days they ended up losing their last match of the World Cup and were officially out of the tournament. (the argument could be made that they never should have been in it to start, given they only got in because of an illegal handball that prevented Ireland from being in instead)
Now. I think what the players forgot is that this wasn't about them, or even about the guy that, in my opinion after what I have read, was rightfully kicked off the team. This wasn't just some professional game where they'd all get paid anyway and no one really cares. This is the World Cup. These men represented their nation and their history and, while I have no official polls to back this up, being in the country and reading the newspaper and hearing from French people in bars, this team was a disgrace to everything the French want to represent. Sure they love to strike here and show their affinity for making a statement, but not here, not in this arena and now when this kind of reputation is at stake. Unfortunately, to the rest of the world, the French just took a step backwards because an over-paid group of soccer players forgot that it isn't about them, it is about the country they represent.
Update: Just read the headline - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704853404575323063067778590.html

And then there were....

This week has been pretty boring, as my roommates started their internships and we had to say goodbye to some of our best friends in Clermont and our best French friends. I took one to the train station on Friday afternoon and it was really weird saying good bye to someone we've hung out with so much and not knowing when I will see him again. Last night we hung out with another of our French friends all day, which was nice and he even made us dinner on his last night! Admittedly to clean out his fridge, but no complaints here. He left today and now we literally know about 5 people who live in this town. It is a little more difficult that at home too to meet people because there aren't exactly clubs and such like home. The gym is fine, but not a lot of younger people work out there, and this being a university town, many of the students are gone for the summer anyway. I'm still searching for what is going to happen in the next 6 months of my life, so I'm not even sure I will be here, but in the meantime I'm going to have a lot of time to myself...

Protest

The other day while I was cozily watching soccer in a local pub and enjoying the fact that I was no out in the rain, some commotion began outside. I turned around when the chanting started and looked out the door of the pub to see a group of people marching for something or other. Living in France this isn't a unheard of occurrence. I have seen plenty of stikes and protests and marches and have been inconvenienced by a few of them, but mostly they are harmless and people just demonstrating. I'm not sure why the French are so hell-bent on expressing their right to strike and protest, but they sure are hard-core sometimes. Take yesterday for example. It was raining allllll day and it wasn't warm outside. These people are out there with umbrellas, to listen to some guy talk about who knows what and the worst part? I really think everyone else is just flat out ignoring them. Thus, what's the point? I don't know what they think will get accomplished by their little 100 person march, but alas, they have the right, so might as well voice their opinions I guess.

Summer?

While the weather has been less than summer-like here, with temperatures hovering in the low 70s and sometimes 60s and we the constant rain that has been infecting our days (I think it has rained every day at least for a little bit for the past 8 days), there are some veritable signs of summer in Clermont. I took a walk through the park that is close to our apartment and realized that there is a fabulous rose garden that is absolutely teeming with roses. They are huge and in many different colors. The gardeners also had some fun with other plants in the park and made some dinosaurs into the hill of part of the park. Kind of a fun diversion to the normal straight lines or just groupings of plants. I spent a little bit of time in the garden before laying out on a blanket in the park to read and take a nap. The storm clouds chased me home earlier than I would have liked, but I did get some Vitamin D and enjoy the view for a while.