Wine tasting, trips and french stereotypes

Well it’s been a hard week this week. I feel that some lectures I can sit in and feel that my French has improved and I am beginning to understand a lot more. However, in some lectures I feel that I really struggle. I think this is down to the lecturer. I find that it is easier, in general, to understand women’s voices. They tend to be clearer than men's voices.

Yesterday felt like a very French experience! We went to a wine festival in the middle of Grenoble. It was held in Place Victor Hugo. It was free to get in and 7 euros to get a glass which meant you could try any of the wine! Naturally, we paid the 7 euros to get the glass so we could pretend to know what we were doing with the wine testing! After going round a few stalls it was clear that we had no idea what we were doing! It was a lovely afternoon and there was some live music so we sat and listened to a bassoon trio for a bit and then decided to go to a session called initiation à la dégustation in an attempt to learn what we were meant to be doing! After sitting through the session for almost an hour in French, I would by no means say that I was a pro at wine tasting now! I do however know more than I did before!

Tomorrow I am heading up into the mountains on an organised, guided walk! It’s meant to be lovely weather so hopefully I will get a lot of nice pictures! Unfortunately the trip that I was meant to be going on to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc on Sunday is no longer happening as a result of the weather. I really hope that I will get a chance to go at another time!

I don’t understand this weather that is going on though! Last week I was writing about the snow fall and the ski centres opening and this week the temperatures have risen again to almost 20 degrees in the afternoons! Bizarre! How are you supposed to know whether to put winter or summer clothes on in the morning?!

In other news, I thought I would consider some of the French stereotypes that many people have!

French are bad drivers – well this is true in most cases! I have seen cars reversing down roads, cars speeding up towards you while you are crossing the road on a zebra crossing, speeding and definitely impatience whilst waiting at traffic lights!

French wear stripy tops, wear berets and carry baguettes – So far I haven’t seen anyone in this dress! However, many people do go out to get fresh bread each day as the bread here does not last much more than a day before going stale!

French smoke a lot – this is also true in the majority of cases. In each lecture there is a break every hour. During these 10 minutes most people get up to leave the lecture theatre to go outside to have a smoke. If it is raining outside, people gather round the door and smoke, this means that some people invariably end up smoking inside! If you are trying to get somewhere whilst another lecture is having a break, you have to cough and splutter your way through a cloud of smoke!

However, I would like to point out that these are purely stereotypes and it is just a different culture with different rules and regulations.

The French culture is definitely a lot more laid back and relaxed than the British way of life. And whilst in some cases it has driven me to despair about the lack of urgency for things, it is a way of life that the British could definitely learn from.