Christmas, New Year and Getting back to Grenoble!!

Hello everyone!

Firstly, I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year.  It's been an epic time for me...

Christmas and New Year

Christmas was very much a family affair for me.  I got to see several members of my family at different times throughout the short time I had.  I only got back to the UK around the 21st December so I wasn't exactly loaded with time.  Christmas Day saw my Grandparents come round for a traditional British roast dinner of turkey and beef (yes, we fulfill the stereotype well) which was a great occasion for all.
Shortly after I got myself up to Lincoln for a rare return to my university town.  I was lucky enough to spend a fantastic week with my girlfriend Bethany and some other mutual friends.  Highlight of the week was a great New Year's Eve party with some friends who piled Erasmus-style round the house for some banter.  All in all, a great time and it was a real shame to have to leave.  Ultimately, it was always going to happen, I guess.  Good things have to come to an end but I am very excited to be getting back.  In any case, Bethany will be coming to visit soon in Grenoble so that more than makes up for it.





Can't go wrong!




So what happens next?  Well, tomorrow I return to France to continue my Erasmus adventure - very exciting!


To get back to all my friends and coursemates will be a breath of fresh air again and will be a long time coming. 
Next Saturday evening I will be at LondonPub at around 8pm for a birthday 'night out', as my 21st birthday is on the Sunday.  Any of my Erasmus friends out there are more than welcome to join us and celebrate!

For those of you who are new to Grenoble - I certainly hope to see people around.  Many of us lot are old hands around the town so anything you need, just ask!  Besides, it would be great to meet more people from all over the world. (and if there are any English folk out there, do show yourselves!!)

Tomorrow the madness begins again!  I will be in town around 7pm local time - I'll be on the train from Gare de Lyon that pulls in around 1840 :)

Part 2 awaits.

Best wishes to you all!

Mike :) 

Lists, timetables and musings

Good morning :)

It's eight days to go now and I'm getting rather excited/nervous now. Counting down the days is probably something I shouldn't have done too much. Hey, that's hindsight for you!

Over the course of the summer I've been an intern for a small start-up company in Bristol, writing articles and learning some marketing techniques. Hopefully when I get to Grenoble I'll be able to apply this to my course. Slight shame I didn't pick any marketing modules...!

I am lead to believe that internships not only serve as valuable experience for studies, but have also served as a great way of funding my year away.

Anyway, ramble over. I've got something useful for you all. A list.

Yawn, I hear you say. Well, fear not. I took a look at what colleges are asking for to enrol and what accommodation blocks need..

• Firstly, you'll need your passport. A lot of people have an ID card, but be on the safe side and dig out the passport if you have it. If you're in doubt and you've got them, bring both!
• Your birth certificate. You will also need a translation if it is not written in English, French, German or Spanish. (I think Italian is on the list too, but I'll check!)
• This one seems simple but believe me, from my experience in Lincoln it's so easy to overlook... Take your accommodation address with you so you know where you're going!
• A big obvious one... Your certificate of study.  This'll actually prove that you're a student.
• Another email-searching process - find the confirmation of your allocation for wherever you're living.  This'll save you lots of time when you get there.
• Passport photos - some nicely-cut photos will be needed so that you can register with your college.  IUT2, for example, wants two.  I suggest a couple more for good measure.
• If you're an EU student, bring that EHIC card with you.  This'll be so important for you should you become ill or have an accident.
• Your home university should send you any erasmus forms that you need to complete throughout the year - I know there's one for when you register at your college.
• If you require a visa, bring all of your documentation along with you.

With all of this, I highly recommend bringing originals of everything.  Photocopies are a grey area in Europe at times so having the actual documents is far easier and less risky.

Meanwhile, at UJF, I think there has been some success over the start dates and registration.  If you head over to this website, you will find everything you need to know about enrolling and course details.  Thanks to Sassytatio Lupus for finding this :)

A small philosophical musing

I started this blog 17 days ago, thinking my audience would be my family and the occasional Erasmus student. 

What I didn't expect was nearly 800 hits and for it to spread across Europe. With so many people reading the blog in different communities, I guess it's only fair that I say I great big 'Merci!' to you all.  I have students in many countries reading what I write, family, friends and even the Centaurs have got in on it.

I think part of the initial success has been down the fact that this isn't just a story. That was the early intention, just a small record. 

Then of course I found a useful couple of things on mobile phone and bank accounts and thought 'hang on, there's a piece in that...'

And here we are now. Where next? Well, there's no question that I'm not changing anything. Keep writing I say.

After all, the distance between genius and insanity is only ever measured by success.


8 days now... In the grand scheme of things, it feels like tomorrow.

Mike

Over the airwaves and over the field...

When do you really define 'the beginning'?

Is it when you get in the car that morning, is it when you see Grenoble for the first time, nestled in the mountains? 

For me, there's a clear argument that it started the day I got my letter of acceptance. Maybe my Level 2 results.

I'm fairly certain though that yesterday was a big step. 

To start off with, I plugged my SIM card into my phone and got my phone number. It's an old iPhone that I'm being loaned, so plugging into iTunes and making it like home was nice too.

Obviously keeping the data roaming off, I would rather avoid any nasty surprises! 

Next thing that I managed to do was to pay for my American Football transfer - I sent money off to the European Federation of American Football's office in Germany.

I'm now patiently awaiting that wonderful email welcoming me to the French league... The Centaurs will be a great experience I'm sure and I'm looking forward to playing my third year in the sport under some great coaches.

Considering life in Arsonval will be different to Junxion, Lincoln, I decided to cut down on a lot of stuff I won't be needing. In Lincoln there is definitely a more 'self-catered' approach than Grenoble, where the student cafés will give you a 3-course meal for €3,50 or less. Whilst in Lincoln I had my own kitchen (within the flat) in Arsonval it's a big kitchen/catering kitchen between about 50 of you. Perhaps this will work to my advantage and stop my usual rampant overspending!

I also considered what sort of clothing I would need. Firstly, I'll push aside the irony that Grenoble today is expecting to see temperatures of 30 degrees and mention that it will be pretty cold in the winter. I'm assuming snow is a certainty!

Managed to dig out my thick winter coat and everything I only wear in Lincoln in extreme weather (as we call it in the UK, the prepared Europe calls it 'winter')

Travel plans are set in place now: we'll travel by Eurotunnel and stay overnight near Riems before making the trip down to an Alpine chalet near Grenoble.

We'll travel on a Friday, get into Grenoble on the Saturday afternoon.

Less than three weeks remain... I want to go, but a bit of me wants to stay. Nerves I'll put that down to.

I'll run another Mailbag at some point and write something American Football related during the week.

The countdown runs down.

Mike.

The Mailbag Part 2

Following the success of the first of my Mailbags, I can happily say here's a second part:

• Accommodation, deposits and all that - A few people (myself included) have asked about what the next step is with regards to our accommodation.  Things like deposits and rent and insurance all need to be sorted out.
  Thanks to David Reyes (University of Malaga) I can tell you that we'll be sorting everything upon arrival.
• Household Insurance - One of the compulsory things you need is household insurance when getting CROUS accommodation in France.  This is simply to cover you in case of an accident.
  At first I think it was safe to say that no-one really knew what to do, though a bit of searching goes a long way.  I looked at several sites and they all pointed to Smeno as the place to go.  Once you are insured you are able to download the certificate immediately to show to the accommodation office.

• Mobile phones - A lot of people across Europe have been talking about mobile phones and which is the best company to go to.  Well, there was a rousing response from people.  Sarah Bilot (UPMF) handily added in a comparison site to compare contracts (known as 'forfaits' in France) which can be seen here.   

During the next couple of days I'll work out what's going on with the CAF, the grant you can get paid for your accommodation in France.  I think it'll help greatly with costs so it's definitely worth looking in to.

Much to do today - keeping life as normal as I can given the insane excitement that's befallen me of late.  I cannot wait to get going.  

It's three weeks today.

Mike :)

The MailBag: Episode 1

Hello everybody!


Right, it's time for the first of my Mailbag series.  Basically, I scour through the best of the questions, comments and messages that I've found/received over the last few days and I let you all know what's what.

1. A lot of people seem to be moving into Grenoble pretty early - many before their tenancies are due to start!   - This is fair enough, many seem to be wanting to get into Grenoble promptly to settle in and get to know the area before they get hit with work.  Going too early, however, can result in you having nowhere to live for those first few days.
   A few people have mentioned finding houses or flats.  Personally, I reckon that we aren't talking about a huge amount of time between getting there and moving in.  May I suggest a Youth Hostel to you? 
   The only Youth Hostel anywhere near Grenoble (without a 10 mile walk into town) is the Hostel Grenoble located 10 Avenue du Gresivaudan.  Its somewhere around EUR20 per person per night so it's always worth a look if you want something near town.
   
2. A few people missed the CROUS deadline for student accommodation - OK, firstly don't panic - there will likely be something you can do fairly easily.
   Because you missed the deadline, you'll have to wait until the 1st September to find out where you're living for the first semester.  Panic not though - I would still rate your chances as pretty good of getting some CROUS living.  If you're going to wait until three days before people start moving in I can't see them turning around so close to the start of the course and saying "sorry, nowhere for you!"  How are you meant to find something in such a short space of time?  My money is on you getting somewhere :)  Obviously I don't take any responsibility if you don't!
3. What about Internet connections? - I don't know how anyone can survive without a good internet connection... Thankfully, the CROUS team have kindly provided us with the name of the company that they like to use.  Neoservices is the one that is frequently mentioned across the accommodation guides.  I would believe that you'll get some details when you move in. 
   There are some blocks where I am lead to believe that you have to find your own deal with an ISP.  Shop around and look for the best deal for your needs, I am no French ISP expert!
4. And finally, some sound advice from a Brit - Thanks to Ifan Williams (University College London) I can report that Grenoble is more expensive than London!  I'm sure this'll bring up good old debates about budgeting.
   Ifan would also like to stress that there are nearly no buses running late at night - I would like to stress that I do not condone his suggestion of drunken cycling home at the end of a night out.

Well, there's a few of my top questions from the day.  Hopefully there'll be a nice load of them over the next coming days.  Any more questions, feel free to comment and I'll add them in!

Mike :)

The little bits and pieces

A few people have been asking me about what I'm up to with certain amenities while I'm away... 

Mobile Phone - perhaps the biggest of the little things is a means to communicate with home and people I meet. There was an idea to use a French service, though all required me to have a Social Security number, something that I only get once I arrive in France. Having something read seemed a reasonable idea so the other day I ordered a pre-paid SIM card from LeFrenchMobile, a company which specialises in helping English people while they're abroad. It operates off the Transatel network and texts cost about €0.08 - calls are €0.19 a minute.

In terms of a bank account, it was a similar story - French bank account would only be available to me once I got there. Of all the options about, I sent to the Post Office as got one of those holiday cards they do. Basically use my main bank account to pay the top-up card and then use that. I don't have to pay any fees, which is quite nice too :)

Internet while I'm away will be arranged through my accommodation block via a company called Néoservices. No idea what it's like, but I do know it's €8 a month.

Well, there's a few bits and pieces to think about - I still have a bit to sort so I'll update you soon (not much I can do whilst on the bus to work!)

Mike :)

Well here we go again!

Well this is a bit awkward isn't it?

Back in my first year I created a blog about my university life and what was going on.  I got to the end of my first year and thought "well, that was good, so let's get on with it in my second year."
... and you heard nothing after that.

Shamefully, I didn't write a post for the entirety of my second year.  Now I'm a month away from my third year and suddenly realising that it ain't going to write itself. 

The thing is though, much has changed over the last year.

Firstly, I continued on the International Business Management course at Lincoln. I, naturally took up French again (being tutored by my personal tutor Ian Scott) and even got the chance to actually pick a module to do (something that obviously had evaded people's minds when they designed the course.)

I am currently in a delightful relationship with a lovely lady called Bethany, we have been together for over nine blissful months now. Bethany studies History in Lincoln and knows how to be great company and a wonderful girlfriend.

(Allow me to be briefly candid: my relationship with my ex-girlfriend Safia was not a healthy one, my previous blog gave off that impression, thinking back. I did have the odd person read and ask what had changed. She left Lincoln shortly after my last post and has returned home to study locally. We have not spoken in a year. Hindsight says that this was for the best.)

In September 2012, I accepted a nomination to become the president of the Lincoln Colonials American Football team. High hopes for a season were dampened by a persistent failure from the Student Union to support the team and the resulting departure of Coaches Alex Robson and Warwick Grosvenor. Souring relationships with the Lincolnshire Bombers lead to me declining to play in the BAFANL this season, though one day I intend to play in the National Leagues again.

Of course, all of this pales into relative insignificance.... For 2013 brings its own challenges.

September 2013 brings Grenoble, France.