Relatively calm

The past week in Grenoble has been relatively calm: a little bit of classes, a lot of mulitculturalism. We had a massive water fight on the third floor last Wednesday; I was the designated videojournalist until I was forced to put down my camera and join the fray. The mess didn't take too long to clean up... under the watchful eye of the stern dorm "guardian." I let my inner nerd venture out Friday night and played Counter-Strike on a wireless LAN with several French guys. We also swapped a lot of music and movies. I've been listening to Ben Harper, Bloc Party, Bob Dylan, Bright Eyes, Coldplay (going to their Lyon concert in 12 days!) and Elliot Smith.

Our ability to go downtown was restricted for several days; the trams stopped running at 8:30pm every night (instead of the usual 12:30am) until Monday, November 14th, in an attempt to avoid possible confrontations with rioters in the Grenoble suburbs. That's really been the only visible sign of the "urban violence" I've seen in the past three weeks. I noticed more groups of young hoodlums' downtown, but never felt unsafe - mainly because I've avoided going to Grand'Place, Arlequin, Malherbe, Villeneuve, Residence Universitaire Olympique or any of the other sketchy areas south of the city.

I'm trying to book my flight home for winter break, but the final exam schedule hasn't been decided yet - and the administration won't release it until "the first week in December." The university system can't be privatized soon enough.

Main group of friends continues to be... English, Swedes, Colombians, Mexicans, French and Americans, with various representatives from Tunisia, Morocco and South Africa thrown in. Dorm life is really fantastic; it was with great regret that I left a dinner party last night (followed by a movie and an excursion downtown) to go play korfball. I left my frustration on the court: we won 18-7 and I had several goals (and no reprimands from the referee, of which I usually receive four or five a game).

There's a student association sponsored trip to a "mountain refuge" in Font d'Urle, about an hour away in the Vercors mountains, this weekend. We leave Saturday morning, spend the day in the mountains, sleep in a cabin (I hope; my sleeping bag's not warm enough for the outdoors!) and then return Sunday evening. If there's snow, we'll go luging!

I'm off to the theater to see "Lonesome Jim" - reviews so far have been positive!