La Semaine Intensive

For the past one week, I have been busy with intensive french lessons from 9 am to 1 pm everyday. I was somehow posted to Group B2+ which was meant for "advanced" class. I was totally mind-raped throughout the 5 days. Most of my classmates have had french classes for at least 5 years. They spoke very fluently and confidently although their grammar may not be proper. I believe this is where the Singapore system has gone wrong by not emphasizing enough on conversational practices.

After school, there were usually activities organised by the Bureau International (BI). On the first evening, they brought us to a park and we had a little picnic eating pizza, just chatting away and getting to know new people from different countries. After that, we ended the evening with a beer session at a bar nearby.

Anyway, the world is really very small. I dunno how many of you remember this exchange student from Germany called Martin who stayed in D Block last year. His lab partner back in Germany is now in Grenoble and we are going to the same school although not the same department. Somehow everyone is connected in one way or another.

On the second evening, the BI organized a BBQ on top of a hill called La Bastille. We had to hike up and it was not very easy given the rough track and hot weather. But nice evening making new friends, although after 1-2 hrs, most of us switched by to speaking English as speaking French became too stressful.

By the third day, I was already suffering from internet withdrawal as my hostel has no internet and there were only 6 available computers in the school I had french lessons. So, my friends and I went to McDonalds for dinner and use the wifi. Alas, what a day it turned out to be. At 2230, it began to rain heavily, and soon after, there was hailstorm. As the rain did not seem to be subsiding anytime soon, we decided to walk back. Armed with a minimum of umbrella and windbreaker, I walked back at 7deg celsius through flooded streets. Freezing cold man.

The weather remained erratic for the next few days. It is still summer but it is freezing cold. Clear indication of effects of global warming. So start saving the trees and don't waste plastic bags. Haha.

Some ppl have been asking me how my hostel looks like and if it is as bad as depicted in the website I posted much earlier. Well, the toilet and kitchen definitely look cleaner, but then the school hasn't started and not many ppl have checked in yet. My room is still liveable and I am trying very hard to make it more cosy.