WE want to thank Akerke Dinzhumanova for providing us the information and photos for the article.
My acquaintance with the city of Grenoble began a year ago when surfing through the Internet I encountered an article about exchange programs in one of its universities. From that moment on, I looked through all the information and fell in love with the city.
The reality has fully met my expectations
Grenoble is a small town situated in southeastern France literally at the foot of French Alpes and belongs to the country’s one of the most beautiful regions — the Rhône-Alpes. In addition, the city is located nearby Italy and Switzerland.
One cannot possibly remain indifferent with the city: snowcapped Alpes right at the distance of stone’s throw, verdure and cosiness of streets, even cute tramlines. After a 10-year living in a big city all of this seems fascinating. For that reason at the very first time, the brightest difference for me here concerned the rhythm of time: in Astana, people are always in rush and strongly occupied by their job. But here the southern climate and the proximity to nature determine the peaceful mode. It is a regular thing here to see people enjoying their meal even on Mondays.
In Astana I graduated the University of KazGUU in the area of Translation and Interpretation and having realized the necessity to choose a particular area to translate in I decided as result to take a full undergraduate program of Economics, which interested me the most. Alongside with the university I studied, in fact French at the language center of Alliance Française d’Astana and 2 years of intensive studying were enough to pass the language proficiency test and score B2 level.
Since I’ve been staying in Grenoble for only a month, I cannot provide with a full information about the town, but can ensure that anyone will definitely find here a way to amuse himself. The city opens a great choice of outdoor sports to try: cannoning, rafting, mountain climbing and all types of winter activities. In this regard, people are very vivid, which in fact encourages you to get involved too.
Winter Olympics of 1968 were held in Grenoble
Here the city has a huge university campus and combines all institutions. So, normally, our courses may be carried out in absolutely different buildings. Each field has its own huge library provided with all needs to guarantee comfortable stay. It is worth mentioning also various cultural events happening even during the lunchtime.
The must-visit place here is Bastille Fortress which served as a military structure built between the years 1823 and 1848. The site opens a great panoramic view of the city and the landscape. There are two ways to get there: on foot or with the help of cableway on the so-called ‘bubbles of Grenoble’.
One of the greatest discoveries for me was the painting of Claude Monet at the Musée de Grenoble. The museum is separated into several halls in accordance with the style and period and amazes with its dimension. In fact, there is a long list of Grenoble museums can be composed.
Furthermore, small distance between the cities, at least in comparison with the vast territory of Kazakhstan, easily allows visiting other towns. So the last weekend of September I was curious about seeing Annecy, also known as the French Venice, and it only took me 1,5 hour to get there by train.
Speaking about the prices, I can’t pass by favorable reductions for students. It may concern all spheres of life: sport, museum, rental housing, train tickets and even shopping. However, the price of products is a little higher than in Astana, so I restrict myself and currently extremely missing traditional Kazakh meat. Here I fall in love with the French bakery and dairy products and think will never be able to forget their taste.
Currently I’m passing through the period of adaptation. On a physiological level the change of place and culture can really stress out. Moreover, now it’s hard to store information in French or understand some lectures. Fortunately, I am not lost without any help and people from all former USSR and French people themselves are happy to give a hand and some pieces of advice, for which I’m deeply grateful.
I don’t regret taking this decision and thank my friends and relatives for all support