In Bruges

Sadly without Colin Farrell, but with m'lovely m'Julie! 

I had high expectations, because pretty much every person I told said to me 'Oh Bruges is just lovely, you're going to love it!'. And hats off, I did love it and it IS wonderful! I fell asleep on the train from Paris on Saturday morning, and woke up in Bruges! (Literally). As it was still relatively early, the place was fairly quiet and the sun was shning through the cobbled streets. The walk to our hostel was very pleasant, and our hostel was a great location, right in the town centre! Only 16€ a night, and we were the only ones in our room! We spent saturday enjoying the market, wandering around shops getting last christmas presents, ate frites, had coffee,  ate a wonderful dinner of Belgian stew in our hostel, went ice skating at night which was very pretty and festive in the square! Saturday night we went to the famous De Garre bar for their well known beer ( although as most of you know beer isn't really my thing so I had a light cider instead!) and then spent the night wandering round the beautifully lit streets of Burges, in an attempt to find bikes to hire! Unfortunately we were not successful :( Sunday was the 'touristy' day, where we climbed the 336 steps to the top of the belfy where we were serenaded by the bell ringers as we looked out over the rooftops of Bruges. We took a boat trip along the canals to see all the 'hidden' parts of Bruges. Nipped into an art gallery, went to some chocolate shops, went to a church, got a waffle (the best waffle I've had yet I must admit!) and then it was time to head back. A short but jam packed weekend; and it was great just getting out of the hustle and bustle of Paris!

 

It's the last week at work for me, (yay) and there is a definite 'end of term' feeling lingering around campus. Work is slow, students are becoming fewer/locking themselves in their romms to revise for end of term exams, weather is changing gradually ( although it's still sunny!)... Dull basically. And yes, I am writing this at work, standard. But thankfully I only have one late shift this week and with the show finished, no more Glee rehearsals till the new year! So at least my last week isn't as busy as I though it would be. We had a corridoor christmas party last night which was a great sucess as we got a lot of people from our building to come along! We had food and drink, a christmas tree with lights, fairy lights, pin the carrot on the snow man, tinsel, music, it was all very fun and festive (and French speaking woop!). Think it lasted till about 4, and I think we boosted Batiment J's reputation! Final POW of the year tomorrow night and then its packing time for Ruth!! 

The theme for POW last week was girlPOWer...! Girls only for the first hour, with cocktails, strippers (!) and amazing tunes from Beyonce and the like. It was much fun. Quote from my codouche Sara :' Oh wow, they must be expecting trouble from the boys when they get let in- there's a police man over there!'  [Ten minutes later] 'Omg, the policeman is STRIPPING!!'.( i.e, it wasn't a policement, it was a stripper! )

Of course I can't forget to mention or joyful Glee concert! The numbers went well, apart from the final song when the girl next to me knocked my playing card out of my hand so I had to improvise without my prop for the finishing song! Our arrangement of 'Faith' got the audience clapping, and have had great feedback from it all so at least all the hard work paid off! :) We sang ' I was made for lovin you' by Kiss at the end, for which they made us put on the horrid black and white facepaint- I was not a happy bunny when I had spent ages dressing up my face with my fancy Sephora kit! 

                                   

I have never looked forward to my double bed, a bath, my cats, my sofa , a TV , a plate of mixed vegetables, toast and peanut butter and a proper cup of tea more than I do right now. My back is all stiff from these horrible beds, and from being at a desk all day at work, and the lack of comfort in our accommodation really makes you miss home!The first step onto English soil will be bliss, even if it is just at St Pancras station!

So, thought I should give a little evaluation of my first term here, since this will probably be my last blog before Christmas. When people ask me, 'How is it going out there?', my usual response is 'yeah... It's OK.'. And I think that really is the only way to describe it! There are parts which frustrate me, there are parts which I love. Mostly the week days are pretty uneventful and uninspiring, and it sucks how restriced you are being here. But, I love my colleages, they are French speaking, and I get to interact with a lot of students regularly so meet new people which is GOOD. Although British( as in we only speak English together) , my flat mates are GREAT people :) Glee club is FUN. And hey, at the end of the day, I do just get to hang out in Paris every weekend, which is LUSH! 

French? I wouldn't say it has 'improved' to to speak ( haha, no pun intended) but I defiitely feel more confident with trying to speak and with understanding. It frustrates me when after 2 seconds people say to me 'Mais, tu parles bien français!' when all I have said is 'Je fais un stage à HEC pour améliorer mon français'. Come on, a monkey could say that?!  That doesn't reflect my ability at all. But equally, I am almost at that stage where I am thinking in French now. Like, in Bruges I was so confused as to what language to speak because French just came out naturally, when actually is Flemish or English they use over there! I think the first few days back in England will make me see just how my French is improving or not, I remember the first weekend I went back to England I kept saying 'pardon' to people I bumped into! 

Have the library staff's christmas 'pique-nique' this friday, and I still don't know what to give as it's not like I can cook anything or bake anything yummy! But that will be a nice way to end my week, and then come Saturday I'll be London bound!

Je vous souhaite un joyeux noël et bonne année à tous et a toutes :) 

Christmas is coming!

And Ruth is getting fat. 

But don't bother putting a penny in my hat, they're no use in France.

This blog has come later than intended, I do apologise! I kept thinking, I'll wait until more interesting things happen, but now so much has happened that I can't remember it all! :S

So, the festivities in France have commenced! As I mentioned last time, I went to watch Audrey Tautou switch on the lights along the Champs-Elysées a few weeks ago. Well, obviously I didn't see her really, I was too short and the stage was too far away. But she was there, believe me. As magical as it all is, I have to admit that the tree lights this year are not as pretty as I was expecting. Apparently this year they have gone for a more futuristic approach, with luminous hoops around the trees instead of pretty fairy lights. But nevertheless, the Champs do look nice and Christmassy and the market is especially exciting!

I must say though, that the Christmas market at La Défense definitely beats the Champs. I was lucky enough to have the presence of a fellow student Ella Dove this weekend and during our day together we went to the chirstmas market with another fellow student in paris, Charlotte, and despite the bitter wind and rain we were impressed by the 'village-like' market and even treated ourselves to some hot wine and ginger bread men cuddly toys  ( named Petit Biscuit, apparently!). We did wander along the Champs Elysées too (because I needed to buy a Nespresso machine, which in itself was an experience- but thats another story! ) and may have found a way into the Louis Vuitton boutique (!) and finished off having a nice dinner together before I had to rush to get the last train back to the gohst town where I live. ( which actually looks very pretty at night with fairy lights).

The major thing which has taken over my weeks recently is Glee. Not just watching the show, but rehearsing for the concert- which is tonight! It's not the most organised event which is why we have had to have so many extra rehearsals and practises, but I am feeling positive and excited for it! Sara, Julie and I are slightly nervous for our preformance of 'Faith' but as they say, it will be alright on the night! I believe it is getting filmed, so watch this space!There is a dinner CUSSON tomorrow night to celebrate the concert.

Ask any Frenchie what film they would reccommend at the moment and they will without a doubt say 'Intouchables'. And now I know why! We went to see it on Sunday afternoon, and despite having been out a month already, there were still queues and the cinema ws packed out to the max with viewers! It was one of those films where everyone clapped at the end too! It's supposedly the French box office hit of the year, would definitely reccommend it if it comes out in England! Would not reccommend turning round to ask the couple behind you to stop kicking your chair only to find thats not actually what they were doing though...

I did get my advent calendar from the parents, and even a Christmas tree with lights! My flat mate kindly offered to make an angel for the top, but refused to give him a smile due to the 'economic crisis'.

Thanks, Max.

I am counting down the days until I can walk on English soil again! It isn't long now, and its gonna be wonderful seeing my friends and family! Slight problem though, I have lots of presents and clothes to bring over, but no suitcase. I don't know who's idea it was to not leave the suitcase here when I moved in, Mum.

Thankfully no snow has hit Paris yet and so I am confident that the Eurostar won't block me here! Its still 'beau' outside, but the temperature is starting to decrease gradually! I've got this whole 'I'm never cold, I'm English' thing going on at work, and now I am too scared to admit that sometimes it isn't that warm behind the desk incase my pride is punched!

After this hectic Glee week, I will be able to relax at the weekend in the lovely town of Bruges with m'Julie. Ice skating, markets,waffles, choclate, chips, heart disease... Bring it on.

To finish off this blog, I would like to give a belated birthday wish and declare my never ending love for Will Mcstay and his wonderfully written blogs.  Happy Birthday,

A plus! Joyeux Noël from the Soton-Paris students! (Enjoying 1€ cholotae marshmallows!) 

Its Twilight Time!

Apart from musicals, I don't usually get hyped up for book/film series which appear to be aimed at children. However, this all changed when I was pursuaded to have a marathon movie session of the Twilight films last Friday night, so that I could go with my flat mates to see the brand new 4th film on Saturday. The moment I finished watching the first film, I was hooked!! Couldn't wait to watch the next and the next, and the next! Sara, Julie and I went to the cinema (after sucessfully reserving our tickets online I'll have you know! Yes, France is up to date with some things at least!) on Saturday to watch the latest film, and it was brilliant! Although now there is a bit of tension between Julie and I over which Twilight guy we prefer. Come on, a warm, protective, (very hunky) warewolf as a boyfriend? Or a blood sucking, cold hearted vampire who makes you go through hell giving birth? Perhaps this will sway you :<3

Ok, so thats out of my system now! Had a great weekend as well as that. I am taking part in a research project at my university in Southampton, where they track our progress of our language acquistion during the year abroad. This involves a series of little tests before, durning, and after this year, and last Saturday was the first of the tests I had to take part in since arriving here. A lecturere from Southampton came to visit Sylvia and I and we showed him around HEC and then he did his little tasks with us! After lunch together in Versailles, I was Twilight bound!I also gave another English lesson in the morning which was again another challenge! What's the difference between 'It is' and 'This is'? 'A' or 'The? Why can't you say 'The garden's roses'? 

I am pleased at how the weather has been actually. The fog comes to vist every now and again, but most of the weekend and the start of this week I have been wandering about without a coat or jacket, wearing sunglasses!  Unfortunately though, smoggy is back today. They call it 'Purée des poids' apparently! (Literally, mushy peas). But at least the sunshine brightened up the weekend. There was a little market in the local village (on a Sunday, would you believe!) so after a long run  I wanderd down and looked at all the various meats, chocolates, cheeses,wines etc. Spoke a bit of French, bought some Christmas presents. I bought this kinda chocolate/caramel spread thing which the lady assured me is better than nutella, but I am yet to taste it for myself to give my own judgement!

As I mentioned in my last blog, I went to a Big Student Mass service at Notre Dame last Tuesday. It was just spectacular being a part of it all! There was a little garden party afterwards where they served hot wine and brioche while a band played under the fairy lights and bubbles! (randomly!) I really love Notre Dame and the area St Michel which surrounds it. 

I am particulary excited for tonight. The famous Audrey Tautou (Amélie actress- shame on those of you who don't know!) is switching on the Christmas lights along the Champs-Elysées!!! It's officially Christmas! There will be lights, markets, great atmosphere, I really can't wait for this experience! I do hope I get to see Audrey Tautou as well! 

This week is turning out to be very busy! One of our colleagues who works at the desk is away this week, so having to share work between the other two of us. Yesterday I came in to work to find my colleague sat with her shoes off, tissues everywhere, squirting nasal spray up her nose, drinking some questionable cloudy grey liquid medicament and asking me where I can get more of those Lemsip things I gave to her... You think I am joking; It was literally like this: 

I have to work 3 night shifts and 2 early morning shifts this week. But I am actually getting a lot done and being productive! Someone joked to me that since I work in the library, if ever I get bored why don't I just read? Well, what a genius! I have taken this into account and if ever I find myself 'bored' I read French magazines or newspapers, or even work on my university project!!So now I have no excuse. Although I did have a moment in which I spent 100€ online shopping yesterday... :S I just don't have time to go shopping during the week! And Christmas dresses are important, right?! Infact, I am even 'profite'-ing by writing this blog while the library is dead!

Glee club is  still fun and rehearsals are good. We are preparing the Christmas concert and I am also singing a trio with Sara and Julie! We have arranged a version of 'Faith' by George Michael. 

Remember all my problems regarding kettles and fuses? Well, I was very frustrated to find out that our neigbor upstairs has created, literally, a whole kitchen -in his room! He has a fridge with a wooden board across the top which he has balanced with something else to make a work surface, has a microwave, kettle,cafétière, hot plate, mini oven... How he hasn't blown the fuses I don't understand. Its not fair! But he is a very lovely guy who has said his room is always open for cooking ( as long as we give him some of it!), and equally I said that with my love for washing up (yes, weird, I know) how about we have a compromise where he cooks for me and I do all the dishes! I could start baking again! 

I have just spontaneously decided to spend a weekend in Disney Land with the wonderful Ella Dove in December which will also be very exciting and magical!

My colleage has just arrived with red puffy eyes and ten jumpers wrapped around her. Time to giver her some attention.

Ciao for now :)

You snooze, you loose...

For lack of inspiration of a blog title, I would like to dedicate this blog to Ella Dove who kindly proposed this title as she stole my original idea of 'Back to reality'. However, interestingly I learnt the French equivalent for this expression at work this week so, really, it is quite an apt title!  ( 'Qui va à la chasse perd sa place' for those eager ones amount you who wanted to know the French version ) 

As I mentioned in my last blog, I had a 4 day weekend which I took advantage of to go back to Notts for some home comforts. It was just perfect. I really needed it and it did me some good, seeing family and friends and just being in m own big double bed with my cats!! The weekend went too quickly, but it was amazing being home. I had had a bit of a bad week the week before, so was in need of some TLC! But then, as I wanted to say, it was back to reality for me and has been the past few weeks. 

Currently sat enjoying a bowl of Heinz tomato soup with my leftover French baguette after a long and jam packed weekend spent in Paris. HEINZ!!! Yes, the real deal, found in a Casino supermarket in Paris! Along with other 'typical' English-associated delicatcies such as Baked Beans, Strongbow (lol), Digestive biscuits, PG tips, Jacobs crackers, Dr Pepper and Marmite. It's funny to see what  other countries associate as being English food. I had a little moment of excitement when I saw the 'Angleterre' isle, so tried to take a photo but was told by a plain clothes guard that it was 'interdit' to do so!! Then, while I was in line at the till, he approached me again asking me to delete any photos I had taken, and to show him while I was doing it! Seriously, The French! So I do apologise for the lack of photo evidence! 

So this friday was another excuse for a Bank Holiday. To be honest, I am pleased to have had the Friday off as for some reason I was exhausted by wednesday! I had originally planned to take up an offer from my colleague to stay in her little house in Normandy with her and her mum for the weekend, but she only offered me one night and it didn't really seem worth it for one night when I have a potential 3 to benefit from, and plus the train fare was quite a lot just for a flying visit. I have to big up my colleague actually (the hypochondriac! I feel bad saying that before), as she has been very kind to me, taking me under her wing almost just by calling me for a little chat! I am hoping this will eventually turn into 'Come over for dinner' Or 'Lets meet for coffee' or something! But anyway, instead I was lucky enough to spend the whole weekend in Paris thanks to Sylvia's colleague who kindly lent us her apartment as she was away this weekend. It was so nice of her! We didn't have to worry about how we were going to get back or having to cut our night short or whatever, because we were able to just hop on a train or a bus to her apartment. I spent friday shopping for a phone contract and a new coat, both of which I found, then met Sylvia for coffee before wandering along the river and Notre Dame to the Latin Quarter for dinner. We finished off the night by going to the cinema to see Polisse; a film about Child Protection Unit in Paris, very powerful- a few tears were shed! But it was nice to be out doing something cultural, and even though we got out at midnight we did't mind because we knew how easily we could get back and go to bed! 

Saturday was another day of sight seeing and wandering and shopping, and we also had coffee and dinner with another Southampton-Paris student who we know. We ate in a nice student area, and I had cheese fondue!! After saying our goodybyes, Sylvia and I wandered along the river and towards the Eiffel Tower, its spectacular at night. Then successfully caught the night bus back to our pad. Simple! So yeah, just headed back to HEC today (Sunday), I went on my long run ( started my training schedule, no slaking now!), did my laundry (always an effort) and spent about 2 hours on skype to my parents ( love them) so haven't really got much done on my list which I was hoping to do! But hey, I always have time to kill at work so I can always do stuff at work! 

I really am not joking. I love work because : its good money, I have French colleagues with whom I speak French all the time, socialise with them over lunch,  I interact a lot with students and meet new people, but my goodness it is so BORING!! If I do have work to do I complete it pretty quickly and then behind the desk all afternoon, you can't help but go on facebook! :S I try to find excuses to get up and walk around a bit, otherwise my bum just gets sore. I have been running during my longer lunches which is great, as I have just enough time to shower afterwards and it means that I don't have to think about running in the dark after work. Its scary how dark it gets so quickly, and last week there was even a spooky fog cloud over campus which didn't move for days which made the place look like the scene of a horror film or something. I kept thinking Jack the Ripper was going to jump out at me. Luckily though, the sun had his hat on this weekend which made Paris even more wonderful. 

There was another crazy CUSSON dinner last week, but it was very chaotic!  For me it wasn't as enjoyable as previous ones. They had overbooked, so I didn't even have a chair to sit on, or a glass or cutlery! The people around me were rude and didn't want to make the effort to talk to me. It was too hot but people refused to open the window. There were constant drunken chants echoing everywhere which made it hard to talk and think. I kept getting ignored by the waitors.And to top it all off...  I had to eat lasagne! It was a very stressful moment for me, as a vegetarian,but I blame the useless waitor who refused to get me a salad or bread.  Can't blame him though, in a noisy environnement 'Lasagne' and 'Salad' are very similar words, clearly... But I wasn't paying 15€ for nothing! 

To be honest, I am quite pleased at how well I have done so far being a vegetarian in France. I think it is getting more recognised, but it's still not really understood! I don't understand why a salad is always given rather than a simple plate of veg and rice or something?! At the canteen it's usually the hardest because I never really get a 'substantial' meal because a lot of stuff has meat in. But even in restuarants there is almost always something I can eat and so I shouln't go too hard on myself for eating like a spoonful of mince the other day! :S I remember trying veganism once a few years ago, and that DEFINITELY wouldn't work in France! Imagine Paris without Nutella Crèpes! 

My first English grammar class was a success. I think! Very challenging for me, giving an English lesson in French, but it helps with grammar between both languages and it opens your eyes to the difficulty of our language which we take for granted! I was thrown into the deep end by having 'Auxiliaries' as my first lesson, but hopefulyl next week will be a bit easier as my student has requested that we do 'Questions'. This opportunity has also opened a door to another French contatc, as we regularly text to try and arrange meeting up for coffee or something. I even had an offer to stay at her house one weekend, but would that be weird to stay at my colleages house with his daughter?! Any excuse to get out of the campus though I guess! 

Glee club is progressing well, we have a concert at the beginning of Dec which  we are preparing for. I am also going to sing a song with two of my flatmates which will be exciting! 

I am going to a big student Mass service at Notre Dame tomorrow night, what an amazing experience that will be! I love Notre Dame, it is so pretty. But apart from that not much more to look forward to this week. Work, running, Zumba... the weekend! 

Ruth/Lily/Doofs, whatever you call me :p xxxxx 

L'homme est arrivé!

Bonjour,

Apologies for the delay since my last blog. There hasn't really been much going on or interesing to write about, and I was actually away this weekend so my habitual 'Sunday Night Blog Update ' wasn't possible!

Following my rant a few weeks ago, I am feeling much better. I have to keep reminding myself that it is all part of the expereince and its all relative really. Its not necessarily Paris which frustrates me, its HEC!! But, Glee club is going well and I have also taken advantage of the evening language classes by starting Spanish. Its one European language which I have never studied. I though that with knowing French and beginners Italian, I would pick it up quite easily. Turns out not! Its challenging learning a forgeign language, in another foreign language! But also, the teacher doesn't really teach. He just kinda comes out with random sentences and words completley unrelated and writes them ( in illegible handwriting) on the board and expects us to know what he's onabout. We don't learn basics, the other night we learned last names of SPanish people. Did you know that most Spanish people have two last names?  I understand that I need to put in more work for it though!

Not only that, I have been reminded at how my grammar knowledge is deteriorating! A student approached me the other day with a question from a TOIEC book(Test Of English for International Communication).

The question was something like this:

Which is the correct form of the verb?

The clerk inadvertently let the folder ........., and all the photos were revealed to the court.

1. Drop
2. to Drop
3. Dropped
4. Dropping

Pretty easy question, I replied 'Drop'.  The hard bit came when he asked me 'but why?'... He whipped out his 'English grammar book' ( which was in French) and according to that, the correct form of the verb should be 'dropped'- something to do with the subject/object order and the direct object and the tense of the main verb... he lost me completely, I had a total mind blank! After about 10 minutes of explanation/discussion between the two of us, I concluded that he should trust me as I am 100% certain that 'drop' was the answer, and it has somethign to do with the verb 'let', since it kinda carries two verbs in itself 'to let something drop', and the fact the the clerk inadvertently let the folder drop suggests that it wasn't intentional, therefore the folders were not 'dropped' by the clerk, they were left 'to drop'... Or something. We both confused each other! But ir was a wakeup call that although my spoken French may be improving, my grammar is not! And I used to love grammar! Saying that, I made my first embarrasing spoken mistake when calling a colleague to inform them that the man they were expecting has arrived. I though that saying 'L'homme est arrivé' would be sufficient, but after putting the phone down and discovering that the people arround me in the library were laughing at me, I was kindly informed that I shoudl have said ' Le Monsieur est arrivé'... He looked like un homme to me! Fortunately, he wasn't offended, everyone simply found it 'mignon'.  In addition, I am pretty sure I said something like ' can you me send the email again' yesterday...So I guess grammar in all areas needs some work!

The first floor in our building had a flat party on tuesday night, to which all of us were invited. It was great to actualyl meet others who live in the building, it's crazy to think that it's almost three months in and we still don't know who lives above or below us! They put blue t-shirts over the lights to make it more intimate, had music playing and a general chilled out atmosphere. But it wasn't untill DJ Doofs changed the source of music to her iPod that the real party began! It was quite surreal daning in two parallel lines in a corridoor party, but very fun and it was ncie to get to know other people. Most of them were Msters/Entrepreneurs, but very friendly. I even learnt a French rap!

I had the privilege of attending an Italian Wine Tasting night organised for the MBA Students last night. Sara and I went and it was actually very good! Not that I am a fan of Red wines, but the actual owner of a well known Italian wine producers was there to tell us about each wine and how it is made. We even learnt how to hold a glass 'correctly' and how to actually smell/asses wine without just swizzing it around and sniffing it pretending we know what we are doing! I hope to impress my brother and my dad one day. It was quite cool having the evening in a melange of French, English and Italian!

Next Tuesday is a public holiday, 'Tousssaint' , and so I am making the most of a 4 day weekend by doing what the French call 'faire le pont' ( taking an extra day off work in addition to a public holiday that falls on a Thursday or Tuesday, thereby making a four-day weekend) and flying back to good old Notts for some well needed time back home! My own double bed, a proper cup of tea, a home cooked meal (well, several I hope!), seeing friends and family, watching X Factor (!), cuddling my cats... Home Sweet Home :)

Work in the library is dull,  I can't believe I have another 9 months left of writing case studies and theses into the database, but colleagues are great and I am beginning to get mroe confident with my responsbilities. I even went for a morning coffee with a couple of colleages yesterday, it was nice. (the fact that they invited me, not the coffee itself!) 

There is a big POW tonight which I need to prepare myself for since I have an 8.30am start tomorrow, and I am still tired from Tuesday's party! Straight after work tomorrow I am home bound, yay! 

My expression of the week : Tu me saoules! ... You drive me nuts! 

Lily :) 

ps, I am now in need of a kettle number 4... 
pps, the constant change between French and English keyboard is messing with my head! andy my typing, as you can read! 

England V France

So, as much as France may have whipped our asses at the rubgy last weekend, and as much as I have this whole 'Paris je t'aime' thing going on, my relationship with France has now passed the honeymoon stage and I have concluded many ways in which England, in fact, beats France by far and why I am getting a little homesick...


(Have also decided to add some photos to this blog, to make it a bit less depressing!)


- I want to be back in England, where I can just quickly 'pop' to the shops.
- I want to be back in England, where I can stay out later then 10pm and still manage to get home

-I want to be back in England, where the shops are open on a Sunday, and there are more exciting things to look forward to than the canteen opening at 7 for dinner.
-I want to be back in England, where I can have proper, home cooked food,at the time I want
-I want to be back in England, where I can use a kettle, hairdryer, straightners, laptop, mobile phone charger, lights and mini fridge all at the same time without blowing the place up. 
-I want to be back in England,  where the toilet is not at the end of the corridoor

-I want to be back in England, where the toilets are not old school and sound like a tsunami hitting the building each time you flush it
-I want to be back in England, where there isnt a constant smell of urine in your house
-I want to be back in England,  where there are no bugs in the toilets
-I want to be back in England, where you can order food and not be told it will arrive at 11am the next day.(I kid you not, who wants Pesto Pasta for breakfast?!)
-I want to be back in England,  where the keyboards are not backwards.
-I want to be back in England, where you can check your CURRENT (not 9 days out) bank account. 
-I want to be back in England, where getting into town isn't 7 euros. 
-I want to be back in England,  where shampoo isn't 3.50 a bottle
-I want to be back in England,  where milk is fresh
-I want to be back in England,  where there is Cadburys

(This was actually my amazing package sent from my wonderful family) 

-I want to be back in England, where everything is modern!
-I want to be back in England, where they sell more than only beer at bars. 
-I want to be back in England, where they play Rhianna and Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. 
-I want to be back in England, where my name doesn't have connotations. 

(this was the least rude image I found when typing my name into French Google images!) 


-I want to be back in England where my phone works.
- I want to be back in England, where I can audition of musicals without making a fool of myself in French
- I want to be back in England where the floor isn't green and cold. 
- I want to be back in Enlgand, where I can bake. 
- I want to be back in England, and have a proper cup of tea!! 


Never have I felt more patriotic! 


Rant over, I promise next blog will be more happy.  Here is a little something I came across whilst flicking through Google Images, which kinda sums up how I wish France was, and also because it makes me laugh because it is so totally random, like much of France!


 A plus! 

One month, Quel cauchemar!!

If, like me, whenever you take the tube or bus in London you get off thinking to yourself  'Thank goodness I don't live here!', you clearly haven't travelled in Paris. 

October 1st, my one month anniversary, Paris holds la Nuit en Blanche across its quartiers. This is an annual all-night or night-time arts festival with museums, private and public art galleries, and other cultural institutions open and free of charge, with the centre of the city hosting art installations, performances (music, film, dance, performance art), themed social gatherings, and other activities. With a night bus service and two metro lines open all night to ensure that the thousands of attendees make it home safely, supposedly. So we took a girly trip to Montmartre for dinner and then explored the area, climbing to the Sacré-Coeur to see Paris by night, watching contemporary films and seeing various pieces of art, generally soaking up the lively atmosphere of Montmartre's busy streets and pretty nights. We watched one dance spectacle in a school courtyard which was decorated beautifully with fairy lights and lanterns. Various dancers (hip-hop, can-can, flamenco, rock n roll, contemporary, belly dancers etc) came out together listening to their type of music with their own set of headphones, so as the audience we couldn't hear what they were dancing to. They managed to dance around and within each other, each to the beat of the music in their ears, so kinda like a silent disco! The public did have the opportunity to have a set of headphones as well to join in, but as you can imagine the queue was ridiculous, plus it was quite entertaining watching everyone dance to no music! Lovely event. 

We then headed to Hotel de Ville, where there wasn't really much going on, so walked to Georges Pompidou centre where we stumbled across a very lively brass band which had attracted a large crowd of people dancing. The group were so good! Played lots of well known songs and had everyone dancing, we really enjoyed it there, just being a part of it all. It got to about 2am and we thought we had better try making our way home. Get a metro/train as far out of Paris as we could and then get a taxi, it can't be hard, everyone does it! But it all went a bit down hill from there...

First stop, grab a drink because we were so thirsty from walking around, so we just nipped into Quick (French fast food restaurant- Halal too fyi) where there was a huuuge queue, but an express takeaway booth was open so we headed there, only to be told that the till was closing so we would have to join the long queue. 20 minutes later, the girl infront of us took the last bottle of water, there was no juice, or soft drinks apart from coke and sprite so we had to make do with that ( I gave the server one of my looks and moaned that I had been waiting too long and this wasn't good enough, so he gave us a large for the price of a small haha! I'm so good ) He was lovely actually, I felt a bit bad! So that ticked us off a bit, but we headed out to Chatelet metro station which was open all night. 

However, with about 5 entrances, only one being open, we walked around for about 10 minutes trying to find how to get down to the station, trying to flag down taxi's at the same time but that just wasn't happening. Eventually got on the tube to where we needed to be to get a train to Montparnass station. Bus was packed, and incredibly slow. We were on it for about 40 mins just doing a tour of Paris, then got told to get off and get on to the 'other' bus; which sounds like it would be obvious, but no sireee. Stressed trying to find this other bus to complete our journey, still trying to flag taxis, trying to ring taxis but getting hung up on (seriously, so rude!) and getting more tired and frustrated, we made it onto another bus for another 30 minute journey around Paris, taking us past everything we had seen that night already! Bus was packed,very uncomfortable. Arrived at Gare Montparnass about 4am (yes, two hours later) and figured at this hour we may as well get the train back to campus! Ran in to see if we could find times, found out that a night bus to Versailles was due to depart right then, ran out and got to the bus just as its doors were closing! Close call, but we made it onto the bus, which was warm at least but again quite busy. An hour later, arrived at Versailles train station and waited for the 6.08 train back to Jouy-en-Josas, climbed up the hill back to campus, and it was half past six. FOUR AND A HALF HOURS LATER we had made it back!! Ok, so we didn't pay any more as we used our travel passes, but still, the whole palava of getting out of Paris was ridiculous. The roads were so busy, no taxi's, no clear signs for tube stations or buses... How are you supposed to host a night for the whole or Paris if you can't even proide efficient transport home for them?! As the morning drew near, the three of us girls were getting more and more frustrated and tired, and snappy and ratty with each other! I am so sorry girls! 

So that was our first adventure in Paris at night. We hadn't even been drinking or clubbing and yet we were rocking up at half six in the morning. I must admit though, depsite all this, I had such a wonderful evening, and at least we have as story to tell and have learnt to either plan our route home or pre-book a taxi for next time! 


After a two hour sleep, well, nap more like, I had to get up to meet someone for a lift to church. I enjoyed the service, but was a bit disappointed because it was an all English church. I really want to find a French church, that's why I am here after all! Its really hard to speak French during the weekends so at least it would be a way of exposing myself to French and getting involved in a French community. But we'll see. 


Discovered that you can actually buy all you need in the Versailles markets! Kicking myself for having spent loads of money travelling around trying to find household items when I could have just got them for one euro at the market! But I guess its worth knowing, was nice just wandering around in the sunshine in Versailles. Unfortunately the gardens at the Chateau weren't free because of an exhibition, otherwise that would have been great to walk around them in the sunshine. I have decided that Versailles is better than Paris for most things. Its easier and cheaper to get to, there are all kinds of shops and markets, lots of nicely preserved culture, less busy, cleaner, just a generally more pleasant atmosphere. Don't get me wrong, Paris is great, but it is very busy and dirty, and the people are quite rude! 


I was fortunate enough to go with Sylvia to her HEC executive education celebration event at the Musée des Arts Forains;  a private museum of funfair objects which you can have a go on. It was great, felt like being in some kind of Alice in Wonderland type dream with all the horse figurines around and music, swanky buffet, sweets and general fun atmosphere! Check out the website: http://www.pavillons-de-bercy.com/popup.htm. 


POW this week was fun. The theme was dressing up as the opposite sex! So we had lots of fun dressing up as guys, but unfortunately the night was cut short when a group of drunk students decided to surround my friend and each throw beer all over her. We were all furious, who does that? We cornered one of them and he apologised profusely saying it was just 'tradition', but that still isn't acceptable. Why are people so stupid?! 


The highlight of my week had to be Zumba though. I had never done it before, so was really excited for it, and it was so much fun! I have never known a man to be so smooth with his hips the way the instructor was! Lots of fun, lots of booty shaking and a great workout! Can't wait to go again. 


Work is still fine. It makes me laugh that I, in fact, haven't still been trained properly! There are still things which I don't know how to solve/ do, they ask me if I know how to do something/where something is kept and I have to hold back my laughter when I explain 'No, I have no idea about anything!!!'. We are another staff member down again this week which will be challenging again.


As a round off to my month here, I though I would just end this post by noting some of the things I have learned/ discovered since being here: 

• The French don't understand kisses on messages, they always put ^^ instead (apparently its a face?!) 
• Cadbury's is impossible to find! 
• Lunch is always 12 on the dot, no matter what you are doing, and involves three courses with a big main meal.
• My name has sexual connotations 
• Paris by night is stressful
• Paris transport is unreliable, even during the day
• The French love green beans with everything
• General life just seems to be behind the times. e.g library cards can't be scanned, the numbers have to be typed in manually. You can't check your bank balance from any hole in the wall, it has to be the one of your bank 
• Masters students drink a lot and think its ok to thow beer on you
• Its acceptable to pee off the balcony onto people entering the club 
• Branded items in supermarkets are so expensive! my usual L'Oreal shampoo was €3.50 per bottle! 
• I can't get to grips with the pronunciation of vowels or the way numbers are said. ( 'e' is 'uh', 'i' is 'ee', 'j' is 'jee'; numbers are said in pairs instead of individually) 
• 'Top' means 'really great'. Its my fave new word!

Voilà, first month and what an experience it has been! Thanks again for reading, 

a plus! 

^^

Paris, Je t'aime! :)

Day 27 in the stagiaire house...

I can't believe that October is fast approaching, which means that I will have survived a month here already! I can see my Year Abroad flashing before my eyes, I guess times flies when you are having fun!

And I AM having fun. The weekend just gone was just wonderful. I have discovered that in order to make the most of my time here, I have to be spontaneous. A friend of mine commented on how being here is kind of like being in the Big Brother house, and I guess they are right! All uni experiences are, it just so happens that I am working at a university, so really it's like being a fresher all over again. We can watch each other, meet those around us, and find ways to entertain ourselves since the campus is pretty uneventful most of the time! Or so we thought...

The usual POW (Party of the Week) did not take place last week. Unfortunately for us who work early on Friday, knowing that the only sociable night out of the week is a Thursday, it can be a bit of an effort to want to go. But we have just had to adapt to what we have, and make Thursdays our Fridays. After all, whats a day being tired when the weekend follows if it means having fun with the students here! So there we were, nice and full from our first Pizza delievery- no Dominoes though I must say!- eager to get out and have some fun.There was word on the street that one block was having a little flat party. Me being me, managed to do some detective work and get an invite (I think its my eyes, or my new fringe?) for us to tag along. It was a great way to mingle actually, we got to see someone else's accommodation - they had a mini kitchen!- and got to know a variety of drunk and sober people! This then moved spontaneously on to the Zinc bar here, where we had quite an eventful night! But i'll say no more. We danced a lot, had some laughs, and managed to stay right till the 2am closure! It was just one of those nights where things happen unexpectedly, you meet random people and have random chats! One French guy psychoanalysed me just by asking me about a box in a desert or something... Tres bizzare! Then us girls stayed up a bit longer having a girly gossip before turning in about 4am to sleep.The stupid thing was though, I habitually got ready to be at work for 9am, only to arrive and be told that I am doing the night shift so didn't need to be in untill 11!! Could have had an extra two hours sleep! So that did not start my friday very well, but at least it ended well:

I have managed to find myself two lovely Tunisian girls who want to do a French/English Conversation Tandem with me, so we met after work on Friday for a little natter. They are so sweet! We chatted French/English and agreed to make it a regular thing, meeting once a week for dinner/a drink/a game or something. So I am quite excited about that, finally French Girl Friends! One of them even invited me to Paris at the weekend, but I didn't go because she was leaving at 8.30am on Saturday morning! I kinda wanted a lie in! Well, I did set my alarm to go running, but turned it straight off once I realised how exhausted I was! Some of us went out for dinner late on Friday night, to one of the few restaurants in Jouy-en-Josas. Its a little pizzeria, but so popular! We had to wait a while to get seated, but they were very welcoming, gave us a free apertif, there was live music, they got us up dancing, great food, great atmosphere- typical Italian style with lots of kids running about everywhere! But it was a wonderful end to the week :) And a kick start to a fun weekend!

Saturday was a day of shopping and culture! Sara and I headed into Paris with the intention of seeing some sights, but somehow unexpectedly came across a hug shopping centre!! Ok, it was like being back in England with HnM, New Look etc, but we were so excited to see something familiar that we went a bit wild! Our debit cards suffered a lot though.. eek! But we were loving it, stocking up on clothes and stuff! But then we realised that we were not making the most of the beautiful weather outside! It was such a nice day, and we were cooped up inside a shopping centre! We decided to stop shopping and wander around Paris, exploring the Pomidou Centre with its cultural surroundings, walking past Hotel de Ville, discovering the French equivalent of BHS (BHV) for some more supplies, then meeting some of our corridor friends for dinner at Bastille. We found a really great, authentic falafel house where we had a proper Turkish platter of houmous/falafel/pitta... my favourite food! I slept very well that night ;)

Sunday morning turned out to be a bit of a flop, but then ended up being an incredbly amazing day! I got up early for a run, showered and rushed down to the train station to catch the 9.44 train to Versailles because I wanted to try out a church there. But somehow the train times didn't match what it said on the internet, so ended up being too late and didn't really know what to with myself, had a bit of a paddy! So decided to just go straight to Paris, return one of the dresses I bought because the belt was faulty, plan. But of course, nothing is open on a Sunday in Paris, not even shopping centres! So that frustrated me a bit too, but since it was another glorious day I just decided to make the most of it and have a little Adventure of my own! I must have walked miles. I came across a little church which had its doors open for viewing and a little service, realised I was right next to the Seine and the Louvre, so had a pleasant stroll along to river to visit the gardens. All along the bridges crossing the river were lots of padlocks, and apparently couples go there to place a padlock on the mesh and then throw away the key into the river, to declare their love for each other! How romantic! Its a shame the council have to come once a year to remove them all in order to make way for more! The Louvre gardens were stunning, I sat by the ponds and soaked it all up. Then I headed straight up the boulevard to the Champs-Elysées, wandering in and out of expsensive shops, loving life! As I approcahed the Arc de Triomphe, I thought I had better make the most of the weather and just being there, entrance is free for 18-25s so I walked up the 284 steps to take a look at the magnificant view of Paris. You can see for miles, all down the Chmps-Elysées, The Eiffel Tower, Montmartre... Stunning. To finish off my  touristy day, what better sight to visit other than the Eiffel Tower itself! I have already climbed it a few years ago, and it was a really busy day so wasn't intending on climbing it again in the heat! But it was just so amazing being there. This is where I live!! I wonder how long it will take before things in Paris get boring for me aha. Not that soon, I still get over excited whenever I arrive in Paris!! There was a family day happening around the Champs de Mars, so I wandered around looking at the various activties, and sat myself on the grass to sunbathe and listen to the live singing and entertainment on the stage. What more could you want? Ice cream and Sylvia? Well, yes, that happened too! We strolled around the Eiffel Tower with ice cream, and headed to the Musée de quai Branley for a little look around (its also free). What a wonderful museum, very impressive architecture and artifacts.

You can imagine how exhausted I was following my day of exploration! So after dinner, we watched a film and I went straight to bed, feeling very happy that I had made the most of the day and done some Parisian things! I wont feel so guilty about shopping next time! So yeah, loving Paris life right now :)

In other news, work is still going great. I love the staff here, there is always banter and gossip! They are very friendly and welcoming. Unfortunately one of the staff members is off ill ( the hypochondriac you wouln't believe) so sometimes I have to open up at 8.30, but it means I get to finish at 4.30 so its not all bad. But then again, with one librarian down it can sometimes get a bit stressful, especially when I don't know how to help someone and they are not being very understanding about it! Yesterday a very rude woman rang, asking for the book which was left in an envlope for her at the desk.  Could I see it? No. Could I find it? No.Could I ask someone about it? No, because all the staff were in training so I couldn't interrupt really. I explained as politely as I could that the book was not here and that no one else was around to help, but this woman kept nagging me, asking me for my email, sending me the book title, all unproductive things which didn't help the situation at all! And plus when I panic, my French goes all over the place so goodness knows what I was coming out with to her!

Have also been very spoiled by some technicians and other HEC staff, I have been bought sweets, chocolate, and stinky cheese all the way from Normandy!! haha, I am getting to know them well and we have some silly conversations, I guess its just them trying to welcome me, but its quite sweet!

You may have remarked over facebook that I have had a name change! For those of you who know me, I dislike having to repeat myself, so you can imagine my frustration when every time I say 'Je m'appelle Ruth' in whatever accent/variation, the French look at me bemused and confused as if to say 'I'm sorry, who?', I end up having to spell it out for them so that they can picture it for themselves in order to say. Its because the french don't have the 'th' phoneme  in their language so they find it hard to pronounce, and also with my name being one syllable its harder. Especially of there is noise or music, like in bars. So I thought, what the heck, 'Lily' is much easier to say and pronounce for the French, and its not like its NOT my name at all, its my middle name. And in France who is going to know, I am only here for 10 months! I know it might seem a bit extreeme, but I really dislike repeating myself and getting funny looks every timeI introduce myself! Moreover, I was kindly told that 'etre en rut' has sexual connotations, so when I say 'Je suis Rut', well, you can imagine...

The Forum des Associations ( similar thing to a clubs/societies fair) is tonight, so meeting my two Tunisian friends for dinner then to go along to see what takes our fancy to sign up for. I'm thinking Glee/Musical theatre and performong kidna things, prehaps a sport if theres one I can do outside of work hours.

I have blabbed on enough, and think I have covered most things! The weather is supposed to stay sunny this week so will try to make the most of it while it lasts! We might go to the POW this week, but its fancy dress as the opposite sex... hhmmm. 

Thanks to all those who have been following this. I never know if what I write is boring/ interesting, but I guess if you ever want to know how I am doing you can catch up on this! Thanks for all the support with messages and texts too, keep them coming as I don't want  to loose touch with you all!

Lily ;) xxxx

Cusson les anglaises!

Coucou! 


Sorry is has been a while since I last wrote, this week really has been quite busy! A very good week though :) 


Work has been fine as usual. It can be a bit boring at times when there isn't much to do. I try to make myself put books back just so that I am doing something! I have to activate all the journals and newspapers each day with magnetic strips, so I do that which is pretty boring too! But in the afternoons I get to be on the welcome desk, which can be quite challenging sometimes when I don't understand what people are asking me! And I have had a few translations of websites and documents to do which were also quite challenging! But the staff are great, I am on 'tu' terms with most of them which is nice. I like that lunchtime is a very sociable thing where we all go to the restaurant together, its just always so early when I am used to quite late lunches! One of my colleagues and I share flasks of various types of tea in the afternoon which is great! His name is Lionel, and he is adorable, he just loves chatting to me! We somehow got onto a conversation where I found myself describing what sambuca and jaeger bombs were to him!! But I also like that I am interacting with stduents every day too, and I often see them around campus and we recognise each other and have chats and stuff which is cool. 


The 'Couloir des stagiaires' as we like to call ourself,is now complete plus two French masters students and one German. We have had a pretty great week of fun together! We have a had a few cosy film nights which were great, and we were lucky enough to experience the IS (International Students union) termly meal which is called CUSSON (This is a play on the French equivalent of the word 'chug/down it' apparently! And we soon realised why!). A big meal with about 300 people at Robin de Bois restaurant (how apt for me!) which involved a chicken paella, sadly only a salad for us veggies though! :(, plus unlimited wine!!!! Well, you can imagine what the atmosphere was like! They have a drinking song which involves starting with 'CUSSON' then adding 'génerale/ les anglaises/ les françaises/ les étrangères...' and then depending on which category you fall into you have to stand up and 'chug' your drink!! It was pretty insane, each time you went o put a fork of food in your mouth you ahd to stand up and drink something! It was so crazy, but I did sit with some french students so got to chat to them and learn some 'français familier' which was cool. Some of us went onto the party afterwards, but I decided to call it a night since I had work the next day (dull). I really enjoyed the night, and luckily didn't suffer from it as much as the others the next day!


My friend Sylvia and I went to Versailles on Wednesday evening to meet someone else from Southampton Uni we know, Sam, for dinner. It was lovely to get out and we had a delicious meal in the market area of Versailles. It took about 20 mins door to door including getting the train so it wasn't too much of a trek or anything. Unlike Paris, where you need to get two trains and then the metro. We went this weekend since the weather was lovely again and it is Journée de la Patrimoine across Paris which means that all public places are open for free, like the Louvre, Sarkozy's house, Notre Dame etc... I went with a few of the girls here and we went to Notre Dame which was just stunning, then wandered around Paris soaking up the atmosphere, had lunch, did some shopping (I stumbled my favourite French shop, Sephora, and spent a little too much money in there! :S . We reunited for an afternoon crèpe with Sylvia, and then all 10 of us managed to meet up for Dinner together. It was a bit of a mission trying to decide on where to eat and stuff, but eventually we settled on a nice pizzeria and had a wonderful evening sheltered from the storm outside! It was nice just being in Paris, I would have liked to have seen more, but I kept reminding myself that I am here almost a year so there is plenty of time. I may head in again this afternoon. And plus, it just actually felt like I was in France... Being on the campus, well, you could be anywhere in Europe, but now that I have actually walked around Paris I felt like I was living my French dream more. 


I have managed to find myself a French running partner!  We basically just got chatting one afternoon in the library (he though I was German and he was looking for someone to practise German with!) and it just went from there really, I told him that I had entered for the Half Marathon and after work I was going for a run, and he just asked if h could join! I have to seize opportunities like this,even if he did drag me up lots of hills!!! It was fun though, good to chat French with him whilst running (/dying lol). I have discovered some more routes around a farm nearby which I can run around too, trying to extend my runs as much as I can. Weather is still great so am trying to make the most of it as much as I can! 


All my bank stuff is now good, used my card in Paris and it was so exciting! We get paid at the start of each month so I already had this months wages woop! They are almost gone though, keep doing that thing where I'm like 'Oh, i'm earning now, I can afford this..' hhmm. Phone sorted too. Its all good! 


Well, its already half one and I am still in my dressing gown! ( I did get up early for a run and do laundry and shower though, I just haven't got dressed yet! ) Hoping for another eventful and French-filled week ahead! 


Auditions for the Glee club here are soon, can't wait!! 


If you ever want to ring/skype/text me then please do! Also, anyone want to see Britney in Paris with me?? Am struggling to find someone to come with me, for some reason...


Ruthy xxxx