OK, so maybe the season begun a while back, but I'...
I have been so busy lately that I didn't have time...
The last two days have been so much fun and yet so...
07
Oct
Grenoblog 2!
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Grenoblog 2!
It doesn't feel like I've been here for just over a week - the last few days have been so jam packed full of exciting activities that I've lost track of time, I've barely had time to think! I definitely feel very much at home here and am surrounded by a great bunch of people in an amazing environment. The weather started to brighten up on Tuesday and it's been a few glorious days of sunshine, picnics at lunch, climbing on rock and wandering around the beautiful town centre admiring the mountains and absorbing the culture of Grenoble.
On the way to the meeting point to get a lift to work...not a bad view?
On Wednesday I completed my third day in the office. The Entre-Prises office is not like your normal office in many ways and I can easily spend 8/9 hours there without feeling restricted or frustrated. The chat in the office is amusing and light-hearted, and gradually I am starting to tune in more to the jokes and plaisanteries of the small office community. There is the famous (within EP, anyway) Christophe Sharma - the French version of Chris Sharma who climbs 6b, the mixed bag that is the music of Jean-Charles and the lunchtime tales about amusing climbing incidents and general chatter. There is always talk of climbing and being in the office doesn't seem such a bad thing when one has the opportunity to climb outdoors and the Vercors, Belledonne and Chartreuse Massifs are surrounding the workplace! At first it was difficult for me to be able to understand a fair bit of the lunchtime chat, as natives speaking their language together understandably have a far faster pace of speaking than when they speak to you as a learner. Day by day I am starting to become more attuned to the language - I'm like a little radio receiver trying to tune in to the correct frequency. It is also difficult when learning a language to be able to understand what someone else is saying properly and then to be able to muster up a response quick enough before the conversation has progressed to a completely different level. Again, this is something that I have been getting accustomed to, and something that I hope will continue to improve over the next 9 weeks!
Work-wise I completed my task of translating and creating sales texts for the new EP brochure, and moved on to carrying out some marketing research and a translation of a job description from French to English. One of the reasons I decided to work in France rather than study at a university was because I believed it would give me a broader spectrum of learning about life in the workplace and give me some transferrable skills for the future if the opportunity arises. I have mainly been working with Excel producing large spreadsheets in a mix of French and English - I knew those computing classes in school would help me someday! I am also completely immersed in French for around 9/10 hours each day, which at first caused a few headaches but now I'm more used to it, thankfully! It's been great learning about how a business is run and bits and pieces about Sales and Marketing in particular, as Fred works in this area and is a kind of 'chaperone' for my time here. I am jokingly and I think, affectionately called the baby of the EP family, being the youngest in the office! :P I am keeping a sheet of vocabulary at my side and adding to it each day whenever I hear a funny or useful phrase spoken by one of my colleagues - the result is a rather bizarre mix of odd phrases which I certainly would never have learned in school or University...and a few climbing terms too! On Thursday I completed my work from the day before and was given the obligatory T-Shirt - I am now a fully fledged member of the EP team it would seem! I sent a message to Colin at EP-UK to tell him that I was being well looked-after and he responded admitting to be very jealous of my adventures - sorry Colin! :P
Little bit of home on my desk...
On Friday I went climbing on rock for the first time since my arrival in Grenoble with Meta - a really friendly Dutch girl who also works with EP. Meta has lived in France for 10 years or so, and it's great to be able to talk to someone who has had to learn French as a non-native and share experiences. As the two younger girls in the office (as well as the two older Nats) we stick together and she makes sure the boys aren't being trop méchant or swearing too much! :P We met outside Espace Vertical 2 - the local wall - at 9:30am and had a leisurely drive up to the crag - La Goulandière - which included annoying diversions, but equally it meant we had to take an even more beautiful and touristic route than normal. The views of the Vercors and the surrounding landscape was breathtaking, and I didn't manage to take any photos that did it justice! We arrived at the crag after a tiring half hour walk in and I was taken aback by the size of the routes - 35-40 metres of perfect limestone, some parts riddles with mini tufas that resembled the pipes of an organ. We warmed up on what was probably the most aesthetic and enjoyable 6b I've ever climbed - it was as though someone had intentionally created this route with a specific sequence in mind. Some bizarre but wonderful rock formations greeted me on the way up - threads, colonettes...a real mix of interesting holds that I'd never encountered before! I then made a bit of a mistake in trying to onsight a 7c in the full heat of the sun, but I was proud of my efforts in reaching the crux whilst placing quickdraws, then falling and working the rest of the route. I forced myself to figure out a good sequence in case I return. For the rest of the day we focussed on easier routes, and I managed to onsight a fantastic 7a called Lolo Blues which was around 40 metres long! After taking a photo of me at the crag with the intention of making Colin at EP-UK even more jealous, Meta completed her 6a and 6b with ease and we moved on to a 6c round the corner. It involved a leap/bridge from a massive slab of detached rock onto the main headwall, and as I neared the top I was met with some seeping juggy pockets which made my hands all mucky. The next section was nails and had no chalk whatsoever, and due to my poor routereading I had also missed a good crimp just up and left of the slab I was trying to slither up. In the end I was so knackered from trying to hang on to the wet holds that I fell off :P Not my best performance but conditions weren't great (that's my excuse anyway! :P) We finished on another two 6b's and after having climbed 5 routes at 35-40 metres in length we were rather knackered! The journey home was filled with more sights and some chat about life in France and in the office. My first day on rock here and one that has whet my appetite for more. I may be going to Ceuse and St Leger this weekend - watch this space, weather dependent!
Part of La Goulandiére...was hard to get a decent picture...
On the Friday evening I met up with a Grenoblois friend who spent a semester in Edinburgh last year and was a well-loved member of the EUMC (Edinburgh University Mountaineering Club). Mathieu recommended a little bar to go to and we spent an hour chatting about Edinburgh and Grenoble and arranged to climb the next day at a different wall called Ablok - a bouldering only centre about 25 minutes walk away. I got a bit lost but eventually made it and was blown away by the quality of the wall and the setting. Again I was entitled to free entry through my work at EP which I'm very grateful for! I managed to do a lot of the blue problems but none of the reds, and enjoyed the technical, balance-orientated nature of most of the problems. There were no ridiculously big moves that were impossible, everything was all concerned with subtlety of movement and a bit of cunning! Afte a good few hours there I walked back home, exhausted. After being woken up in the middle of the night by explosions and seeing a car burning on the street beside us, I had a lie in and woke up fairly late before walking into the town centre for the first time to meet up with my friend Alice, a fellow Edinburgh student. We went for a hot drink at a lovely cafe and I was presented with a BOWL of hot chocolate amazing! She gave me a great tour of the town (she has been here 5 weeks now!) and we graduated from talking English at first to communicating fully in french, which worked very well and was good fun. It was nice to meet up with someone else from Uni to see how their experience of studying abroad at a University compared to my work, and we came to the conclusion that there are pros and cons for each. Otherwise, we are just happy to be able to make the most of such an amazing opportunity to spend time abroad as part of a University course. We took some photos and agreed to meet up sometime soon for a trek in the Vercors or a drink somewhere.
Ablok! (just a very small part of it...)
Relaxing after a bowl of hot chocolate!
Tomorrow marks the start of my second week (well, 4 days! :P ) of work and adventures. I have also just decided to participate in a round of the Coupe de France in Valence on the 28th - it will be a whole different kettle of fish to what I'm used to but it will be a fantastic experience for me! I have three weeks to get a bit fitter and stronger and I will see how it goes. I am soon to be a member of the L'ALE Escalade club in Echirolles, so that I can be provided with a licence to compete in France.
Finally I would like to say a big well done to all those who competed in the BLCCs this weekend, especially the Scottish crew and of course my partner in climb/crime/other half Robbie! :D
La belle ville de Grenoble!
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cool found your blog true Robbie.
I'm just home .. lived in Crolles/ grenoble for the last halfyear for my intern in Petzl.
My French is very bad and I was having some problems with the local talk ..
Also climbed al lot around Grenoble A-bloc and espacevetivcal.
Espacecomboire is nice but Presles 1 hour drive is great! beautiful multipitches and stuff
Enjoy!
Greetz Dennis