The red wine had not much of an effect last night as I still shiver out of bed. I worked on my code the whole morning until it was almost lunch. Alain came in and said he might need my computer for a few days. I told him the program that I am working on is installed inside and have to check with Anatole on how I could carry on my work if I had to shift to another computer. Anatole came and somehow it seemed like I need not shift. Then he viewed what I had done and worked together to solve a bug until lunchtime was almost over. In the end he solved it and we together with Stephen left for lunch in Anatole’s car. This is the first time I had lunch with Stephen, in fact I had never spoken to him before. I find him quite stern and am always a bit afraid of him. Moreover, I heard that he would take over the project as team leader soon so he must be an important guy. On the way to his car, Anatole confirmed with me that I could leave on the 18th of June because that was what was stated in my contract with IRISA. Great, that would mean that my tour would go on smoothly.
During lunch, I find that Stephen is a very nice person. He even suggested some places where I can visit. One of them is the stone megalith found in Carnac. It is something like the Stonehenge but much smaller and not aligned in a circle. Later I found out from the website that Carnac has the largest collection of stone artifacts. It would definitely be a place I would visit. He also mentioned that if I want to visit the best castles in France, I should go to the Loire Valley because along the entire valley, there would be castles after castles. However, Anatole said that it would only be possible to visit them one by one if I have a car or a bicycle. I don’t think I would go there because the valley is not in Bretagne. It is at the heart of France. Today I had the same sausage I had yesterday with the pancake around it. I was told this is a famous food in Rennes and the pancake is called “crebe” or something like that in French, according to Anatole. Then Stephen corrected him and said that it is actually called “galette” or something like that. Apparently there are 2 types of pancake, galette for salty sausage, crebe for sweet one. The one I was having was salty. Then Anatole asked why I am not playing soccer tonight because he was hoping that we could play together as a team. I told him it was too late for me to play at 1030pm and I would have no transport back. He said don’t worry he would pick me up and fetch me back. Actually I felt it was a bit too expensive to play every week. But after some thoughts, I felt that for 6 euros, I can get: socializing + training + fun and so decided to play.
Back in the office I emailed Jean-Marie that I would like to join the soccer game at the last minute but he said they already have enough players. I wasn’t really disappointed because I can still play if I want next week. Moreover, I spent quite a lot already this week. I worked on the program again all the way until 6pm. Then I went to see Anatole and showed him some results. The visual display was unsatisfactory and we had to do some fine-tuning to make the test more meaningful. This is when I find that I really am not up to the job. Whenever there are some problems, or bugs, I would think in a roundabout way to solve them. Anatole tackled them with a straightforward approach. He would draw diagrams to aid in visualization, make some calculations, draw graphs, etc. For me, I would just keep thinking. I somehow lack this kind of logic thinking when it comes to programming which really puts me to a disadvantage. And I have to confess that I am not all that interested in computer. I entered engineering because I wasn’t daring enough to take up arts or comm. studies. But at the same time I didn’t want to follow the norm and so joined computer engineering instead of EEE or MPE. So I am really just halfway in the middle between being different, and going with the flow. Coming to France was a way again of me to prove that I am different. I am always doing this. Trying to prove that I am different but somehow I guess I am the same as everyone else. Not sure if this mentality would create any adverse effect on me.
It was snowing again at 7pm and for the past few days, it had been snow showering at night. Anatole said that it is abnormal for the temperature to be so low at this time of the year. Moreover, it seldom snows in Bretagne. The snow really spoils my plan for the weekend. People usually go St Malo in the summer but I know I couldn’t wait till then. But at the same time I do not want to go when the weather is so cold. Tomorrow I would find out more about Carnac and another city called Dinan. These 2 would be my backup plans should I am not able to go St Malo on Saturday.
During lunch, I find that Stephen is a very nice person. He even suggested some places where I can visit. One of them is the stone megalith found in Carnac. It is something like the Stonehenge but much smaller and not aligned in a circle. Later I found out from the website that Carnac has the largest collection of stone artifacts. It would definitely be a place I would visit. He also mentioned that if I want to visit the best castles in France, I should go to the Loire Valley because along the entire valley, there would be castles after castles. However, Anatole said that it would only be possible to visit them one by one if I have a car or a bicycle. I don’t think I would go there because the valley is not in Bretagne. It is at the heart of France. Today I had the same sausage I had yesterday with the pancake around it. I was told this is a famous food in Rennes and the pancake is called “crebe” or something like that in French, according to Anatole. Then Stephen corrected him and said that it is actually called “galette” or something like that. Apparently there are 2 types of pancake, galette for salty sausage, crebe for sweet one. The one I was having was salty. Then Anatole asked why I am not playing soccer tonight because he was hoping that we could play together as a team. I told him it was too late for me to play at 1030pm and I would have no transport back. He said don’t worry he would pick me up and fetch me back. Actually I felt it was a bit too expensive to play every week. But after some thoughts, I felt that for 6 euros, I can get: socializing + training + fun and so decided to play.
Back in the office I emailed Jean-Marie that I would like to join the soccer game at the last minute but he said they already have enough players. I wasn’t really disappointed because I can still play if I want next week. Moreover, I spent quite a lot already this week. I worked on the program again all the way until 6pm. Then I went to see Anatole and showed him some results. The visual display was unsatisfactory and we had to do some fine-tuning to make the test more meaningful. This is when I find that I really am not up to the job. Whenever there are some problems, or bugs, I would think in a roundabout way to solve them. Anatole tackled them with a straightforward approach. He would draw diagrams to aid in visualization, make some calculations, draw graphs, etc. For me, I would just keep thinking. I somehow lack this kind of logic thinking when it comes to programming which really puts me to a disadvantage. And I have to confess that I am not all that interested in computer. I entered engineering because I wasn’t daring enough to take up arts or comm. studies. But at the same time I didn’t want to follow the norm and so joined computer engineering instead of EEE or MPE. So I am really just halfway in the middle between being different, and going with the flow. Coming to France was a way again of me to prove that I am different. I am always doing this. Trying to prove that I am different but somehow I guess I am the same as everyone else. Not sure if this mentality would create any adverse effect on me.
It was snowing again at 7pm and for the past few days, it had been snow showering at night. Anatole said that it is abnormal for the temperature to be so low at this time of the year. Moreover, it seldom snows in Bretagne. The snow really spoils my plan for the weekend. People usually go St Malo in the summer but I know I couldn’t wait till then. But at the same time I do not want to go when the weather is so cold. Tomorrow I would find out more about Carnac and another city called Dinan. These 2 would be my backup plans should I am not able to go St Malo on Saturday.
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