Voila, la France!

Et voila, je suis a Belfort!

Yes, it was a challenge for me! In a sense that I was really unaware of what waits for me in Belfort, whether I should be excited... happy... or scared about it.

You know, after all the international and dynamique (sometimes frankly crazy) life I had during my MBA, it was quite a defy to relocate to Belfort. Yes, for those who did not know, I moved here for work. By some quirk of fate, the company I decided to work for - a big, globally presented, corporation - located one of its major facilties in this mysterios (for me yet) region.

Mais, alors, enough of boring introductions. C'etait mon premier week-end a Belfort!!!And I must confess, I adored it!!! As S keeps saying, it's all about people, it's not places which matter... I've never had any relatives in France and I don't have very close friends here either (besides, of course, KP who knows that he is more than just a friend..., but a professor and life advisor ;-)).

So, I was very much pleased when the company representative, Amel, met me in the airport in the evening, which is in Basel (Switzerland), by the way, and took me comfortably to Belfort. The trip took around 1.5 hours and I sincerely enjoyed the scenaries in addition to the lovely chat I had with my companion.

She took me to my apartment, which was reserved beforehand. It appeared to be a nice place, hotel-type, a new concept for Belfort lodging culture overall, as I understood. The apartment (studio in fact) is furnished and equipped, though no crockery, or blankets or linen or things like that

("C'mon, girl, it's not your German student paradise and don't become too spoiled", I said to myself). It was a minor inconvenience, which luckily did not manage to spoil my first impression. Well, another thing, the studio is pretty, but so tiny. It definitely will not be enough to host all the friends I have been so avidly inviting to come and stay at mine. So, I want to look for a bigger one, will see...

Ok, back to my impressions! The next day after my arrival, which was Saturday - the last shop-open day of the week here - I went out to look a bit around. I most probably looked so lost J that one of the neighbours I met (it was the first time that I saw him) kindly offered his help with some issues, which I had to arrange with the administration of the residence. I guess, I still looked lost afterwards J, as even after that he suggested to help me and show around the city a little bit and show me the shopping spots too. Since I was a complete rookie and he had a car (an important thing to have in this area), I didn't hesitate long to agree... Et voila, I already made my first purchases in Belfort! My biggest pride was a cable for the Internet connection, RJ45 - seems to be la spécialité of the French communication system.

Those were the main impressions of the first full day in Belfort, my first Saturday...

The next day, I had a chance to travel outside Belfort. Wow! What else to say? Despite all my "all-should-be-planned-ahead" nature, I seem to like surprises and steep turns! Alors, the second day of my being in Belfort (!) I travelled to ... Alsace!!! Yahoo!!! I first went to Mulhouse to visit the train museum, a famouse one and worth seeing, even if you are not working in train manufacturing. After that I (also spontaneously) decided to go further and to see a little village called Riquewihr. Why Riquewihr you can ask? Well, tous simplement, I was told that it's an adorable place to visit! So, why not? And, folks, it was unforgettable! It was a formidable fairy-tale village! Gosh, you must see it some day!!! It's a true fairy-tale world with all the fairies and witches and toy houses with real people inside those houses etc, etc, etc... It's the village of eternal Christmas and never-ending childhood!

Ooh! Well, it was a marvellous end of the marvellous week-end. Qui vivra, verra, but I definitely liked Belfort and more!