I woke up this morning determined to be productive for once. I was working on a circuits problem last night that I never finished because I ended up watching a video on how to solve it. My first goal for this morning was finish that problem.
I was so determined to solve it that eating breakfast could wait. They say to do the hardest task of the day first, so the rest seem easier. I was hoping this would be the case for me.
It was.
I ate my breakfast after solving the problem, content with my newfound knowledge of Wheatstone bridges. Checking my phone, I was pretty surprised to learn Stephen Hawking had died. 76 years is definitely an impressive life for someone in his condition and to think of all he accomplished.
After breakfast I tried to continue my productivity with studying. I spent some time on circuits, but mostly on physics. I could study more circuits later. A little later, I watched an episode of Netflix to treat myself.
For French class, both levels were going to the museum today. The Musée de Grenoble features a lot of modern and contemporary art and I was excited. The large amount of art museums I’ve gone to while abroad has made me realize how much I enjoy them, especially contemporary art.
I was too lazy to make lunch, so I made plans to meet Nick at Tacos Royale before we met everyone at the office. I got my usual order: a steak tacos with barbecue sauce, fries, and a Fanta. I’m not a huge soda drinker, but Fantas taste much different in Europe and I am a big fan of them.
Nick and I headed to the office to eat them while waiting for everyone. 20 minutes later once all the stragglers has finally arrived, we headed to the museum as a group.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day today. This was easily the nicest the weather has been since I’ve been in Grenoble. The walk to the museum was really nice.
Here’s a picture I took featuring: One of Grenoble’s many murals, the tower in Parc Paul Mistral and the alps of course
We soon arrived at the museum. All the art descriptions in the museum were in French, but we were lucky enough to have a guide who spoke English. We started off with the modern section. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the difference between modern and contemporary art, here’s a good definition form google:
“Modern art is that which was created sometime between the 1860s (some say the 1880s) and the late 1960s (some say only through the 1950s). Art made thereafter (e.g., conceptual, minimalist, postmodern, feminist) is considered contemporary.”
Our tour guide was super knowledgeable about everything and I did not hold back on asking questions. I could tell some of my classmates were a little bored, but the guide definitely appreciated my participation.
I only took one photo of a contemporary piece, but it was this one by Matisse.
Still Life with Aubergines
This was a revolutionary painting for its time because it ignored all basic rules for panting. Here’s some examples:
1.It’s in square frame despite being a painting of a room aka a landscape
2.There really aren’t lines defining the dimensions of the room.
3.Notice how the floral print continues from the wall to floor
4. The reflections in the mirror doesn’t portray what it should.
5. The table cloth doesn’t make sense and the egg plants appear to be almost falling.
6. The canvas isn’t entirely painted, Matisse uses the canvas as an additional color for various parts.
This list goes on, but proves how Matisse was really doing something different and pushing the boundaries in art.
I will save you the pain of me describing any more artwork, but here’s are some of my favorite contemporary pieces I saw.
High Seas by Shirley Jaffe 
Print of Jackie O. By Andy Warhol
From a Coral Cauldron by Sam Francis
Quator II by Joan Mitchell
This next piece was probably the most cliché contemporary art piece you can think of.
The whole idea of it is that art is what you make of it, and that’s the most important part. The blank canvas is supposed to demonstrate this.
I’ll admit this one was a stretch even for me.
I took this picture in front of it to spice it up
The tour finished up soon and I will definitely coming back by myself at some point. There is a bunch of stuff I didn’t get to see this time.
Before I left, I thanked the lady for the tour and told her how much I enjoyed it.
After leaving, my friends and I’d didn’t want to go back to studying right away. We decided to make a spontaneous trip to the top of the bastille. Harry, Nick, Jonathan and I were to lazy to walk it, so we opted to take the gondolas or “the bubbles” as many people call them here.
We were nearby and it was only 5 € for a round trip up and down.
This isn’t the greatest picture of them, but you can see the gondolas in it
I had climbed the bastille before, but this was in January when it was cold and empty. It was packed today and I learned that there actually were two restaurants up here. The views were incredible today and you could see all three mountain ranges surrounding the alps. We spent about 40 minutes up there just soaking in the views.
The Belledonne Range, including Chamrousse where I have gone skiing
The Vercors, where I went snowshoeing
Later all four of us took the gondola back down. Nick headed home, but the rest of us wanted to enjoy the day a little more. Jonathan, Harry and I bought some beers and headed to the river to drink them and relax.
Beer and the river
The sun started to set and we all parted ways to head home.
When I got back, I was starving and wanted to make a second attempt at Mac and cheese. I had some new plans today. I got an actual bowl from Anne-Marie, but couldn’t remember the names for salt and pepper in French. I found a packet of seasoning for soup broth in my room, and figured that could work as a substitute.
I cooked my pasta in the microwave, and then added the cheese and seasoning. Even with the new items, it still was looking pretty gross.
My Mac and Cheese
You probably noticed how the cheese forms into weird clumps. Despite looking gross, the pasta actually wasn’t too bad tonight. I think I need a better cheese and milk to get it to not form clumps. I will not stop this pursuit until I have mastered the microwave Mac and cheese.
The rest of my night was really boring. I spent about two and a half hours studying for circuits and like 45 minutes explaining a problem via text to my friend. This blog post also took a while to write since my laptop is still broken.
Oh there was one thing I forgot to mention. Through some severe act of stupidity, I managed to accidentally electrocute myself on the wall outlet. I wasn’t looking and tried to unplug my phone charger. My finger went between the converter prongs and plug, giving me a pretty good shock.
I hope Anne-Marie wasn’t nearby because I yelled some pretty loud curse words. The ironic part of this all was that it happened while studying circuits. I hope this somehow leads to me getting a better grade on my midterm tomorrow.
Foreign Tourist with No Grasp of the Local Language 
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