Return of the Native
Well.
I'm back.
Doesn't entirely feel like it yet - I think I'm still running on French time, and I've still got that living in a hotel room feeling, where everything around me seems out of place and temporary. This may be because my little flat is a lot like a hotel room sometimes, but I suspect it's just that having a week away with a clear focus on just one thing, was something of a shock to my system. No doubt going back to work tomorrow will shake me out of that soon enough. :-)
Meanwhile, high/low lights of the week:
A low: arriving on day one to find half our cohort was missing. One had flu, another had failed to get a visa, one just couldn't make it for personal reasons, and one just didn't turn up at all. There were one of two occasions when the students were outnumbered by the tutors/supervisors!
A high: because of the above, we managed to pack all the presentations and lecture sessions into three days instead of four. I got a full free day in grenoble, took a leisurely walk around some of the city, and managed not to spend money I didn't have in the January sales ...
A low: well, no other lows at all, really - unless you count the less than sterling breakfasts at the hotel, and finding myself watching the Dukes of Hazzard movie (in French) because there was nothing else on TV.
A high: doing my presentation (nervously, even though I'd managed to get it down to 10 slides) and getting an 'excellent! that's just where we expect students to be at this stage.' One suggestion for further work that may arise out of the research and ... no other criticisms or questions! Which was a great relief, especially as others were questioned about their ideas and intentions a lot more thoroughly than I was. I think they think I know what I'm doing. I wish I did ... *g*
A high: eating out in Grenoble, especially in places that had English as well as French menus. Scallops for one meal, garlic grilled steak at another ... lots of yummy deserts and I shall be on a diet for the rest of the month ...
A high: walking into the handmade chocolates shop to be greeted by the most delicious scent imaginable. I would expect Willy Wonka's factory to smell like that. Even Willy Wonka himself, now I think about it. Hmm. Chocolate scented aftershave ... Might get a little too much after a while!
A high: being collected after an eight/nine hour train journey to be presented with an extremely welcome Indian take-away, and a bed to collapse in over night. (Hospitality much appreciated, believe you me.)
And then I came home. Where I have been unpacking, and unwiding ever since. There were over 640 spam e-mails in my various mailboxes, and I'm still back tracking LJ entries, which will probably keep me entertained all week. Back to work tomorrow - and on Tuesday I hold the first workshop for my research project ...