After almost a week back

The laissez-faire routine has returned, for the most part. Classes are yet to begin - or even finalized - but I'm confident I'll have a fairly similar schedule to last semester's: brutal, agonizing Tuesdays followed by two easy classes on Wednesday. There'll be more literature this time around, and fewer fluffy translation classes, but I should have enough downtime to survive. A quick summary of the past several days:

• Tuesday - Took TGV from Paris to Lyon, then traditional train to Grenoble. Met a nice South African humanities student studying in Grenoble for the semester. Shared all the little tidbits of knowledge I'd gleaned from my travails. Assured him that, "Yes, the water is quite safe to drink and actually tastes good," after he expressed worries about being exposed to a non-English speaking country's water supply. The flight from Johannesburg to Paris was his first, so I suppose it was a legitimate health safety question. Purchased my monthly tram and bus pass. Convinced the Accueil ("Welcome" Desk) to give me a spare key to my room. They wanted my passport as ransom, but I convinced them that a driver's license was an acceptable substitute. Success! They mentioned something about returning the keys within three days (it's been almost seven), but I can't do that until the FedEx package from home containing them is properly delivered. That was supposed to happen today, Monday, but I've come to accept that nothing ever works like it should here, especially if it involves communications, transportation or finance. Should you have the misfortune to require something demanding all three... oh la la.
  
  
• Wednesday - Slept at least 13 hours. Started to improve the disastrous state of my room.
  
  
• Thursday - Paid the monthly rent. Room slightly less disastrous. Think New Orleans, post-Katrina.
  
  
• Friday - Little bit of grocery shopping at the dreaded Monoprix yieled an excellent find: Tomme de Savoie cheese. Reasonably priced, yet delicious, I ate the entire thing, about the size of my fist, in one sitting.
  
  
• Saturday - Went skiing with Emma and Pippa (yes, lots of jokes were made about "Salt 'n Pippa" and the "Pied Pippa") at 7 Laux - a beautiful ski resort in the Belledonne mountains. Huge, expansive runs. We played in incredibly dense fog for a while, with ten feet of visibility at the most, then took chairlifts higher up where we were greeted with some AMAZING views. I'm bringing my camera next time. Skiing in France is very different from skiing in Colorado. The runs are rated more conservatively (i.e., a "black," their most difficult, isn't quite as hard as a black diamond back home), but there are hardly any boundary markings and you're expected to have much more common sense than resorts in the US demand.
  
  
• Sunday - Woke up at 1:30pm to a phone call from Tarek inviting me to play football. Mumbled agreement, but wasn't able to roust myself from sleepy haze in time. Watched episodes 3 and 4 of 24. I'm hooked. Afternoon filled with laundry duty. Went to McDonald's, the place I have to go to if I want Internet access after 7:30pm or on the weekends, then to O'Callaghan's Irish Pub to watch the Steelers-Broncos game. No sound, tiny TV and enough smoke to signal the moon, but we still had fun. Politely declined challenge from heavily intoxicated Irishman to fight outside after he thought I laughed at him. Caught the second to last tram back to campus at midnight, talked with friends until 2am, then fell asleep watching Reservoir Dogs.
  
  
• Monday - My temporary residency permit expires in three weeks and I was concerned about re-entering the country after its expiration, so I went to the Prefecture to inquire about the status of my medical exam forms (supposedly the last remaining hurdle in my carte du sejour quest). Harried desklady told me that it typically takes several months for the forms to arrive, so I should be patient. I reiterated my fears about re-entering after the expiration, so she stamped (ahh, stamps) my temporary permit with a two month extension.... now it's valid until April 22, so I only need to have my full permit for... three weeks. I would just forget about it, if it wasn't required to receive the not insubstantial government housing assistance, around $1400 USD in total. Indulged myself with a few on-sale items at H&M. Wardrobe is still seriously deficient, and if I didn't have jeans... yikes.
  

Interspersed in there are a few nights spent with my floormates, all French. I'm finally starting to get to know them, and it helps to put a name to all the bonjours. The cast includes Marc, Karim, Jean-Paul, Aurelie, Virginie, Sophie, Michel, Youan, Mathis (German, and not even from our floor, but seems to always be around) and then one aloof fellow who's extremely nice, looks like a Turkish prince and seems to maintain the corresponding royal distance. Sometimes I just want to bow and say, "I offer my humble services to the Almighty Pasha." They're all great fun and we routinely just talk, hang out and tease each other about our respective crazy politicians.

Unfortunately, many of my friends from first semester have left, either to return to their home countries or to work elsewhere, like my Swedish friends Lina and Isabelle, working in Chamonix for the ski season. Maria went back to Colombia, Gabriela to Mexico, Silvia to Italy, Marc to Canada and Jeff, Eli, Kristin and Brandi to the US. Sad, sad, sad.

I'm not sure if I'll sneak a trip in this week, since I'm not 100% sure about the class schedule, but I'm definitely planning one for next week. Greece seems to be surprisingly affordable to get to, so that's moved way up on the to-do list. Something closer might come first, though.