Almost a week ago now, I learned that one of my fellow graduates, David Greenslade, had been killed in Afghanistan. I had only talked to him a few times in high school, only ever sharing one or two classes, but it was generally well known that he was well-liked. It is a very sad story indeed.

On Thursday, I finally got my bike from the city, and took my first bike in Europe for a few minutes on the way to school. The rental cost is very cheap at only 6 Euro per month, and it includes everything you’d need including lights, locks, and a helmet (if you want it). I’m almost tempted to take the bike back to Canada with me, since the deposit is only 100 Euro (which I haven’t even paid yet, they’re pretty easy going).

On Friday, Eric was having a lot of fun with our washing machine. Since you can’t stop the machine once it starts, he had to rush when putting the soap in. He put waaaay too much in.

On Saturday, me and 9 others walked a long way to a canoe rental place. As you may have guessed, we rented canoes there and went for 2 hours on the river here in Poitiers. I was steering my canoe, and I wasn’t the best at it. Needless to say, my canoe found every tree, posts, log, and even fishing line that was in the river. The fisherman who’s line we went over was not too happy. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of my own because I was afraid of dropping my camera into the river, but here are some that others took.

We had to walk a ways through the woods before getting there. We walked on a dirt road which was named “Dirt Road” and even labelled as such on the map. Here, we’re standing before a bridge.

Geting into our canoes. The ride was not as leisurely and relaxing as it should have been. One canoe even had a hole in it that would let water in (but not enough to sink it).

After the canoe ride, we came back to my flat where we had a barbecue with hamburgers and sausages. Our flat was a mess this morning with ashes from the fire everywhere, garbages, and dishes galore.

This was the busiest week in a while. We did our presentation for Sustainable Development. Our project was to create a mutual fund company, and the professor was quite impressed with our presentation. I didn’t present myself. The professor chose two French students in our group to present. You can imagine how difficult it must be for them to present, with the added struggle of English as a second language.

On Friday, I wrote my exams for Human Resources Management. They were okay, but not amazing since I didn’t do too much studying. (Something about being away on a vacation of sorts, and only having to make a passing grade for university credit.)

I made time a few evenings this week to walk around Poitiers discovering a few new areas simply by following the river.

The goats in the park near my flat are quite happy and active most of the time. I managed to catch a good shot of this one.

It’s a good thing this river does not freeze. Many nice walls can be found edging people’s property along the river, a task that is difficult to accomplish in Canada with the yearly winter ice bringing destruction to even the toughest wall developments.

Some old building thingy in one of the parks along the river. I climbed those narrow stairs and sat on top for a few minutes. Getting down was something I had not considered beforehand, as the steps were quite small and not easy to descend quickly.

Flowers today in the “Park of Plants”. It felt very much like summer, and looks like it easily everywhere. Everything is very green and colourful already here.

I have posted many new pictures in my various gallery categories, but not too many in any one spot. That would be too simple, of course.

I’m taking it easy this weekend. I’m still waiting to rent a bike from the city, which seemingly gets in short supply this time of year.

On Monday the 26th, I visited Futuroscope, which is a technology park situation on the edge of Poitiers, with my Tourism class. The day began with most of my class getting off the city bus confused and not sure where to go. We eventually found our way to the administrative entrance for a presentation organized by our professor from the park officials. They talked about how they run the park, and keep visitors coming.

Basically, the park used to be privately run, but it is now owned and operated by the local government. The architecture of the buildings is very cool and futuristic, although the actual attraction themselves have mixed reviews. I can’t complain too much because we got in free, but most parts of the park were just simulations where you sit and watch something. They were typically realistic with your chairs vibrating to match what you see on screen, as if you’re in the movie. One of the simulators even had a character that sneezes on the audience several times, resulting in blasts of water (I HOPE it was just water) being sprayed on your face.

This is one of the best views within the park, with beautiful water being overlooked by a very unusual building. Our presentation was in that building at the very bottom. The Gyrotower can be seen in the background. I went up to the top of this tower (as one of the park’s few “rides”) where the entire park could be seen. According to the voiceovers, Futuroscope has some of the highest concentration of hotels in Europe with thousands of rooms available. Several technology related companies also make their home on site.

Strange building with a huge ball on top. Also note the building to the right which also has an unusual shape like all the others.

Modern art of some type

The “Dancing with Robots” ride. I went on this and it was quite intense. You’re strapped to the end of a robotic arm which swings you all around. It’s about 2 minutes long, and you’re quite ready to get off at the end!

That’s water running down the windows of this building (except above the door, thankfully!). Perhaps this is a possible solution that building owners in France could use in the event of a widespread window cleaner strike.

These buildings must have been very expensive to create. Inside this one, I believe there was a nature film shown on large screens in front of you as well as below the clear glass floor, adding a bit extra sense of realism perhaps.

An upside-down staircase, perhaps.

Overall, Futuroscope was very interesting. It’s unfair to compare it with Disneyland, simply because it does not try to have any thrill rides, but you can learn a lot, and play a lot with technology here. One attraction, which wasn’t running yet when I saw it, was a robot that can draw your portrait.

In other news, I decided that I did not like my Panasonic Lumix camera too much, so I returned it. It wasn’t bad, but it did lack some features and quality that I missed in my Canon. I bought the minor upgrade to my old camera, the Canon PowerShot S3 IS. It is almost the same as what I had. I plan to use it for the rest of my time in France, and then sell it on eBay before I leave to return to Canada where I can have my other camera repaired. I’m likely only going to live in France once, so I want a camera that I am very comfortable with.

Not much new with me, except that I’ve been very busy and am slowly catching up on things. My minor class in Tourism started today, and I have it all day tomorrow. It turns out that this is a very good course to take, because I’m told by French students that it is easier, and you also get to go out and see tourism sites around Poitiers. Perfect!

A few days ago, I went for a random walk with my wonderful Canon Powershot S2 IS camera. I went down by the river through a pathway from the street, and quickly found myself in the middle of the woods pretty much with houses built into the sides of hills, and farms visible in the distance.

Long descent towards the water.

Private wooded lot behind a partially broken wall.

Not sure where this path leads to. You can see the wall knocked over for some reason. I didn’t do it.

The river, with some left behind in the water. The walking here was a bit muddy, and my jeans needed a wash by the end of it.

Suddenly, my camera was making weird noises, and then stopped working as it threw error messages at me. That was the end of it. I’m not having much luck with electronics here. I’m working on replacing it now, but that will likely be a hassle from France. I’ll likely have to buy a new one here and worry about fixing the Canon under warranty when I get home.

Have a great week!

On the day before my big trip around the South of France, I decided to take a walk to the Leclerc’s grocery store since it was a nice day, and I was in need of laundry detergent. Uh huh. So all began innocently as I left my house, down the street, through the park, down the hill, across the river, and then to the right up the hill through to Leclerc’s. Or at least that’s how it was SUPPOSED to go.

Even though I’ve walked the stretch once before, I made a wrong turn by going LEFT up the hill. Oops! I became hopelessly lost (or about as lost as you can get in a small town like Poitiers). I continued through and saw a new neighbourhood that I had not already seen.

Freakishly narrow house. Just exactly what proper use could you make of such an unusual living space?

Looks like some rich person’s house.

If you drink way too much wine, you have little hope of getting home up these crazy stairs if you live on top!

Very nice yard, as long as you’re not someone who has to go door-to-door and walking up this long drive way.

I did eventually make it to the store. I wasn’t too far away, and at least got a chance to see more of Poitiers without the hassle of making a plan to do so.

Once I got into the store, I found what I needed, and took a tour of the breakfast aisle.

Imagine being the poor sap sent to get some or “Boules de Mais” or “Blé Souffé” from the grocery store. You would be left confused not knowing which one to get.

I mentioned last time how my Sony Network Walkman music player decided to stop working. Not being able to survive for more than 24 hours without music, I set out to replace the player the next day. I went to FNAC, and spent about an hour looking at the products now available. I finally settled on an Apple iPod Nano 4 GB Blue. So far, I am quite impressed with it, as well as Apple’s iTunes software. My advice to anyone is to avoid Sony products since I’ve found they break quickly, and are not user friendly.

The iPod set me back about 200 Euro, or about C$300 (compared to C$229 current retail price in Canada), mainly because France is the most expensive place to buy iPods and many electronics.

I have no more classes this week, although I have a group meeting on Friday.

That’s all for now. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment!