A view of the kitchen

It is already November and I have been in France for about 2 months. I am happy to say that I can actually tell that I have improved my French, even if my accent suffers quite a bit and sometimes I have to ask people to repeat things. I have come to realize that it is completely possible to live in France for nine months and not learn French, so it is really up to me to push myself knowing I will make a million mistakes and look kind of like and idiot most of the time. But, like I said, I have begun to look past all of the awkward situations and force myself to make all of those mistakes. Now, doing administrative or bureaucratic things (there is a lot of that to do in France) such as getting housing insurance, getting my student visa validated, or buying a library card isn't as horrible as it was for me 6 weeks ago. With that being said, sometimes I feel like I will never learn French, but I still have 7 months here and a lot more class in French. I don't really expect to be fluent at all by the time the school year is over, but I hope to able to feel confident about speaking French conversationally as well as be able to write a decent essay. I wanted to mention that French really is a beautiful language despite how difficult it has been and will be for me to learn.

The mountains are turning more golden and red as autumn sets in

Anyway, the grèves (strikes) and manifestations (protests) are getting pretty intense in Grenoble. Most university students have not had class all week. International students have class, of course, but students have been blocking the doors into the academic buildings with objects like metal fencing, detached handrails, garbage cans, and more. There is a side door that I have been taking to get to class, but other than that, it would be kind of difficult to get inside. A lot more graffiti about the grèves and manifestations has been showing up around the city, including some on the front of the social science library on campus. This week the trams have been running pretty consistently, but I could not say the same a couple weeks ago. There will be certain hours (or even an entire day) where certain lines will be closed due to greves or manifestations. I have had to get off the tram at an earlier stop before because there were people and police cars on the tram tracks. There is also a backlash against all of this protesting and striking. There will be signs or stickers saying "Stop la Grève" (on a side note, the word stop is actually used in French and there are stop signs here even though the French verb for 'to stop' is arreter') and I have also talked to a few people who expressed a lot of frustration with it all. I can't say that I have heard any university students complain about not going to class though.

Also, I wanted to post a couple pictures of Halloween. The holiday is not a big deal here at all, but it was also a reason to have a party, so of course people got together in one of the Berlioz Residences kitchens. The kitchen is where most of the socializing happens in Berlioz whether it is when people are making food or playing cards or having a Halloween party.

There were a lot of zombies in France this Halloween

The very precise creation of Calimocho (probably not spelled right), a necessity to any party Spanish people are attending, which is every party

Centre-ville is to Grenoble as the kitchen is to Berlioz Residences

Me, Harris, and one of the few carved pumpkins in France this Halloween