Work is still keeping me busy here in Grenoble. There are two weeks of classes left and lots of grading to accomplish, but soon I'll be on break. I'm excited to say that after being away from home for the past two Christmas seasons, I'll be returning to spend the holidays with my family in Colorado this year. So I'll finish classes on Thursday the 17th at 5pm and prepare for my 10am flight the following morning. I'll be back for two weeks.
Things are going well in Grenoble. Teaching has had its difficult moments (and by teaching, I really mean just figuring out all the administration and grading), but I find it quite rewarding. I've gotten some nice feedback from a couple students, and that sure feels good. It's quite the change from my first day when a student looked me over and walked out of my class before even giving me a chance to speak!
I feel like I've been able to talk about some exciting things this year, which keeps classes all that more interesting. I enjoy being able to talk about advanced subjects like the street artist Banksy, short films, Buy Nothing Day (a way to protest Black Friday), and the Tiny House Movement. I look forward to continuing to push the box next semester. Next semester's schedule isn't quite finalized, but it looks like I'll be switching some of the extra classes I've taken on from IT students to students studying alpine geography. I'm figuring out what exactly that is so that I can cater some subjects to their interests!
In other news, the snow has arrived around Grenoble and the ski resorts are open. I'm waiting until after the holidays to check out the snow myself, but I had friends show me pictures of the beautiful slopes. It's been cold and sometimes wet in Grenoble itself, but today was beautifully sunny. Check it out for yourself! I snapped a couple quick pictures on the way into my office this afternoon.
