SQL & PL/SQL

I have created a new user e.g. johnsmith like so

create user johnsmith profile default identified by johnsmith
default tablespace users
temporary tablespace temp
account unlock;
grant connect to johnsmith;
GRANT CREATE SESSION to johnsmith;
grant select on project to johnsmith;
grant select on v_emp_proj to johnsmith;
create synonym project for johnsmith.v_emp_proj;

first of all creating the synonym fails saying name used by existing object but ive tried to drop the synonym and it does not exist!!

then logging in as johnsmith and selecting * from project says table does not exist???

any ideas anyone? thanks