Venezia!

Somehow I manage to stay a month behind in my posts but I promise you I will be caught up by the end of this coming weekend.

And so the story continues. After returning from Monaco I spent only 10 days swamped in midterms and group presentations/reports before Jess and I whisked ourselves away to Venice, Italy on Thursday November 4, 2010. We had both visited Italy on previous trips to Europe but my cities travelled were limited to Rome, Pisa, Florence, Naples, Sorrento and Capri so Venice was one I wasn't going to miss out on a second time around. Not only that but we managed to get our flight tickets for only 100 euro round trip and a hotel reservation for a hostel price of 20 euro a night! We definitely scored a deal. However, we spent the whole week leading up to this trip not only anxious about our school work but anxious about another French strike. Seemingly, Air France (our airline of choice) was planning a strike of their airport staff for the day we were planning to leave as well as the day after. To top it off, French transport unions had decided to strike the 3 days after which included the day of our flight home to Grenoble. Well weren't Jess and I just soooo pleased.

In the end things worked out fine and although there was only one Air France rep working the counter at the airport, it wasn't very busy anyways so we made it through and the planes still flew the skies. Luckily, the French transport unions actually shortened, or limited, their strike the following days so we were able to make it home (barely) but that's another story for later.

Jess and I quite enjoyed our 5 day weekend in Venice. It was a bit warmer than in Grenoble (12 degrees) but the sun was nowhere to be found. I heard later on that intense fog is pretty typical of Venice for that time of year but it did add a mysterious feel to the city on water. We voted against doing the super touristy things so Jess and I spent lots of our time just wandering around, shopping, and eating gelato and pizza. Of course we visited the Piazza San Marco and the Ponte Rialto but our favourite turned out to be the island of Murano or the "glass island." It was so easy to spend a whole day there just admiring the hand blown glass art and far to easy to spend our money on unique glass jewelery.

We had a project to submit online while we were in Venice so it was the first time we took our laptops on a trip and I would never do it again. Travelling on weekends has acted as our relaxation time and escape from the craziness that school brings and bringing our laptops and having access to email just didn't provide us with that same freedom. However, homework did NOT stop us from enjoying wine in our hotel room and picking up a delicious pizza (flat crust with roasted red peppers, eggplant, zucchini and cheese) to-go from the local Restaurante Palladio up the road...YUM, YUM!

We managed to avoid rain all weekend except it caught up to us our last night there. We were quite a sight running around the main island with our shoes soaked and broken umbrella in hand trying to find our way and duck into stores whenever possible to stay some kind of dry. After a tasty meal we decided to check out a live show about Venezia at the Teatro San Gallo. It was actually very interesting to learn all about the history of the city and how they became known for the strange masks and stories, although it would have been better had we seen it at the start of the weekend and knew more about the things we saw along the way. Either way, our last night was a good one and we tried to head to bed by 10pm since we had to get up at 4am the next morning to head to the airport....early morning flights were only our choice because we still had class to attend that day.

The airport story (long story short): Jess and I were informed only a day before our flight that there were no busses that actually ran to the airport early enough to get us there for our flight at 630am (since we were staying in Malcontenta which is outside of Venice). Thus, we had to figure something else out and were advised that the best idea would be to bus to one of the train stations and catch a taxi from there to the airport, which was still going to cost us 30 euro. We weren't happy about that but we were informed that there would be taxis at the train station at that hour and they were more reliable then hoping the busses would run on time. Boy was THAT a wrong assumption! We made it to the train station on time only to find out there were no taxis. After some waiting, panicking, then imagining of the worst case scenario and the amount of cash we might have had to dish out to get home for classes, a taxi waiting for a reservation at a hotel across the street called in another taxi for us. By this point we were running out of time and had about 45 mintues before our flight was going to leave. I feared for my life as we flew down the dark, slippery roads at 110 km/hr in a 70 zone but the amazing driver got us to the airport in 7 minutes (a supposed 15 minute drive). We made it through check-in in time but boarding had started and finished while we waited through the security line up. We heard "Spillett and Steingard" paged not one but three times before we cut in line and sprinted to our gate, panting and getting a dirty look from the gate attendant.

Of course we made it home safe and sound and off to class that afternoon but boy were we already worn out from the day by the time 7am rolled around and we had classes until 8pm that night. No....we didn't end up making it and skipped the last hour and a half of marketing. You try paying attention to a class you've already taken after that kind of day!

Bond. James Bond.

Well you can't say I didn't pre-warn you. This is basically where my blogging abilities have fallen off the bandwagon seeing as its been over a month since my last post. So much has happened since then it seems. Either way when I mentioned in my last post that I was getting really busy with school work, I was probably being too modest. Basically I got smoked with group projects, reports and presentations (at least 2 a week). This would have been more manageable had I not planned another weekend trip for October with my Dad and a trip to Venice at the start of November....more about those will follow.

Essentially I found out that not only is this semester the hardest of my whole degree program at GGSB but, the emphasis on being a Grand Ecole is actually more than I thought. It seems as though this gives the school much more status than I realized and thus, much more work. Anyone who wants to work in government/politics in Europe really needs to have graduated from a Grand Ecole and its definitely considered more prestigious than the Universities around Grenoble. This really didn't matter too much to me, considering I was barely aware, but it's nice to have that advantage on my resume if I ever decide to work in Europe.

My dad arrived in Grenoble on Wednesday Oct 13 and we left on Thursday Oct 21 for Monaco. This trip almost didn't happen. One, I was swamped with work and a midterm and project deadline got moved to the week after we were planning to escape to the South of France. Also, the French had continued to strike, interfering with life as I knew it, and were blocking off the gazole/diesel distribution channels throughout France. This might have been alright aside from the fact that my dad and I had decided to rent a car and were going to drive to Monaco. Thus, we were never really certain what was going to happen the day we were planning to leave; all we knew was a rental car would be waiting but we had no idea how full the tank of gas would be and if we would be able to fill up when necessary. Ultimately everything was fine and we had no problem finding diesel when we needed it. Definitely lucked out.

Monaco was incredible! Due to my mad navigating skills, we made it safe and sound to Monaco, more specifically, the Fairmont Monte Carlo. Yes....my father spoiled me and it was awesome! I was so happy to have a large and comfortable bed along with new sheets everyday. Also, there was the most amazing rooftop restaurant/lounge/champagne bar overlooking the Mediterranean that was breathtaking both at night and during the day. The moon reflecting off the sea was a beautiful sight and the warm air was a nice change from the chilly and rainy temperatures we had been getting in Grenoble the week before. In fact, the warmth was so unexpected I didn't have the proper clothes and ended up rolling up my jeans as makeshift capris. Glad we brought our bathingsuits since on Friday October 22 we spent the afternoon sun bathing, eating gelato and swimming in the sea. LOVED IT.

In the end the weekend gave my dad and I lots of time to relax, aside from the fact that I had to study for a French and Business Law midterm during the evenings. We got to see the famous Monte Carlo Casino where the James Bond Casino Royale was filmed although it was 15 euro to even get entrance and 25 euro minimum bet so we didn't bother gambling there. In fact, our hotel was backing right onto the side of the casino. I also received some eye candy in the form of beautiful cars; Aston Martins, Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris....and I was in heaven :D In addition, we ate dinner over the marina, checked out the mini carnival between Monte Carlo and Monaco City, tried to make our way into Monaco City and spent some time walking the beach. On the Saturday we took the car for another adventure and went to visit Cannes, the location of the famous, international film festival. The weather was still gorgeous for this daytrip and so we enjoyed walking along the Boulevard de la Croisette and taking a train ride for a historical and celebrity tour of the city.

By Sunday we had savoured the time we had by the sea and had to make our way back to Grenoble. Of course, the ugly, rainy weather welcomed us home to the start of a week of insanity for me and my dad's last week in Grenoble.

Switzerland

AND I'm back.

Holy smokes, what a week. Well....weekend mostly.

It started Thursday afternoon as Jess and I were finishing up International Marketing class. We had our backpacks packed and everything ready to go for our long weekend in Switzerland/Germany. We were enjoying break and talking to others about our upcoming trip when someone blurts out, "Don't you know the French transit is on strike again today?" Needless to say, NO, we did not know that. Its never written anywhere when these days are going to happen yet somehow, other people are in the know and I am not. We decided to check the train anyways at 1:30pm and no, it was no longer scheduled. Here we go again I thought...

Luckily the busses were still running to the Geneve (Geneva to English speaking people) airport so we paid our extra $50 for the inconvenience and hopped on that one leaving only 30 minutes later. Unfortunately that meant missing our planned train connection. Thank goodness for flexible tickets because it let us just hop on the next train from Geneve to Zurich with the same ticket we had previously purchased. From there it was Zurich to Zug where we met up with Marc, a friend of mine who lives in Switzerland but had come to work in Canada for the last year or two (where we met).

Although we arrived in Switzerland at night it was already amazing. We had dinner on a patio of an Italian restaurant right off the Lake of Zug and then headed to Lucerne to a lounge called "Suite" on the roof of a hotel. Here we experienced a breathtaking view of the mountains, the Lake of Lucerne and all the city lights. Luckily, we planned to come back Monday for more exploring, after our weekend in Germany.

The drive through Switzerland (and even 20 minutes in Austria) was incredible. It was a marvellous 25 degrees, although we were in a car, and the mountains were looking glorious while the lakes reflected the clear blue of the sky. The stereotypical green pastures, with cows everywhere, was exactly how I pictured. I decided this would be the place to paraglide if I get the chance to go back. We even drove past the country of Liechtenstein during our drive!

For ease of reading I'll write about Oktoberfest in the next post. We arrived home from Germany Sunday (Sept 26) evening, enjoyed a warm meal in the midst of crappy weather and headed to bed. Marc had to work Monday so Jess and I headed by train to explore Lucerne. we wandered around, marvelled at the view, climbed up some of the towers, crossed the famous Chapel bridge and munched on some Swiss goodies. Yes, there was some shopping in there too.

After a far to early start on Tuesday morning Jess and I finally made it back in Grenoble at 12:45pm for a class that started at 1:15. And so started another week of classes.