First Week

Student Card for my new uni

Today I had my first meeting to get my student card it was a bit of a hectic day because I forgot my purse and also two of the required documents needed to obtain my student card. Here you need confirmation of your home university this can be your recent results or an acceptance letter also you need to go to the bank/post office/ ring an online company to obtain ‘résponsabilité civile’. You also need your European Health Card and your passport with a photocopy.

First-glimpse of the BEAUTY in Chambéry

My walk to uni was beautiful. It took no longer than half an hour and I know for a fact that when it is sunny and dry I am always going to walk it from now on however, there is a bus you can take. My campus (Jacob-Bellecombette) is small but I have taken a great liking to it already. Today I didn’t stay here long because of my forgotten documents and purse so I made my way back to my university halls. On my walk home I needed to stop at my local shop Carrefour ( there’s plenty of these here ) forgetting that I forgot my purse at my halls. I went as far as taking my items to the cashier desk (the usual Doritos and salsa dip, blue-top milk, bread etc) before remembering that I couldn’t pay for my items, I said to the cashier that I will return. It was quite a short walk back to my accommodation from here although I did have a little rest and some water as soon as I entered my room. When I returned it was a pleasant experience because the cashier proceeded to look for my items that I couldn’t pay for before it was great service and reinforced my opinion that the people here are lovely! I’m finding everyone here really really nice it’s really easy to get on with people here especially my accommodation, people are open to talk whether you blurt out some Franglais I’ve spoken to some decent conversations in French already and I’ve only been here less than two weeks it’s given me a great boost of confidence.
The fact that Chambery is a small city which is perfectly situated and structured just makes it so much more liveable! Everything is within a reasonable distance and I basically know my way around already -coming from someone with a really bad sense of direction.

The only downfall is.. the McDonald’s here is very expensive so I went to Burger King across the road instead, its way cheaper! Also there is plenty of kebab shops there is literally one on the edge of my accommodation and it’s open till very late so it’s perfect and the wine here is also very cheap- I’ve been drinking it a lot.

I’ve been to a touristy shop already to get some postcards purely because they were pretty but they really don’t do the views here justice.
There’s so many walks to go on and parks to visit that you can take a stroll to. My registration meeting handed out a hiking leaflet with hikes taking place in September and early October- I’m definitely going to get involved. Even though I’ve just started my second week here Chambéry has exceeded my expectations it’s so beautiful and the people are very welcoming I feel at home here already 🙂