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

Le monde est petit...

Well, I have survived my first week here, and also my first week at work! I was totally ready for the weekend though, I think every Friday is going to be a 'tgif' moment!! 


Work all this week has been good. The staff are all very friendly and welcoming and its pretty easy being a librarian! One of the workers is your typical French hypochondriac though its quite funny, she's constantly 'ill' and taking pills and water and having 5 minutes break because of her 'headaches'. I sound mean but everyone takes her with a pinch of salt! She reminds me of the character out of Amélie. She's wonderful all the same though :) At the moment work can be pretty dull though .... But working 9-5 or sometimes till half seven can be a bit tiring; and I hate being tied down to canteen hours, i miss being able to just cook and eat when I want to! the food isnt bad though, sooo so cheap too! The staff canteen is rather nice too but you can only eat there at lunchtime. Sometimes all I can have is salad and veg though because of the lack of veggie options! But luckily my uni friend who is also here doing a work placement managed to bring me more more stuff over (she lives in Derby so mum gave her some more things for my room, as she drove here) like a duvet, pillows, mini fridge etc, so my room is much more cosy now! I am feeling more settled thankfully. 

There are now 9 of us 'stagiaires' in the corridor, all British!! One of the reasons I didnt want to do ERASMUS ata French  uni was because I thought I would only mix with English people, and now look what's happened! The crazist thing, the boy who is next fdoor to me (not the shower side thankfully!) is my year at southampton doing french and yet we have never met!! Its so crazy, such a small world. So there are 3 of us from southampton in the same corridor haha!! So yeah, meeintg lots of new people. We (the peopel on my corridor and I) try to get to the studenty things when we can, but working hours limit us a bit! We also tried a student party on campus on Thursday night but it was awful, all these masters students off their faces drunk by midnight! It really felt like an awful Freshers house party or something! And then they started playing 50Cent P.I.M.P- it was so hilarious!!So we left and just chatted in our rooms for a bit before bed.I really want to make French friends though, you know to be able to practise more. I am exposed to french a lot at work at least but its a shame I am not living with frenchies for more practise!

Its defs getting better here, I am learning to appreciate it a bit more. I went shopping with Sylvia and her parents, to make use of having a car, and have stocked up on more thigns for my room and stuff, so everything is good now! I have just entered the paris half marathon which is in March too! I went on a long run the other day and got totally lost that I had to hitch hike back to campus!!! Was so funny...The first car which stopped was a lovely man from Quebec, and not scary at all, we had a nice chat and he even dropped me back off to Campus. One of the girls on my corridor is into running so we have agreed to be running partners as she needs to train for the full marathon which she has entered in April. There are three graduate girls altogether, they have very good French and are working here, but the rest of us are just on our year abroad. 


I had dinner out last nighh with Sylvia and her family,which was lovely. We are all going to venture into Paris tonight for some drinks and dancing! Should be fun, my fisrt adventure to Paris! Am quite looking forward to it :)  

Just to say that my English phone still works, and you can all text me without it costing you! So please give me some love now and again haha> I have a French phone and SIM but its not working for some reason, so will need to get that sorted! Have my bank card now too, but still awaiting a pin! 


Its a glorious day today, what a lovely first weekend. 


Bisous xxxxx

First day at work!

I started my job yesterday, and it was very pleasant :) 
I had no idea how much goes on behind the scenes of a library! There are various different staff, all of whom are very welcoming, friendly and kind. I was shown around the library and its all a bit complicated! There is even a cellar with old archives in, and to get to it you have to go down a very scary and questionable lift! 


In the morning I will be doing mainly translation activities, admin etc, and after lunch I spend the afternoons on the welcome desk, handling loans and returns, answering the phone, dealing with students questions, putting books back... Today I even had to go round with a list of books which were supposedly missing, and check to see if they were there or not! Was rather tedious. Every now and then someone will come and ask me for help with an English email or something which they have written, so its nice to feel responsible and trusted with something! I feel I am going to have a good year there. The staff keep banging on about the previous 'stagiaire' who was a Scottish girl called Mareaid, I can't hear enough about how 'gentille' and 'travailleuse' she was, and whenever I ask a question they will almost always start with ' well when Mareaid was here...' Seems I have some shoes to fill! But I am equally as nice and hard working, they'll see! 
Some of the staff have been taking me for lunch too which is sweet, we get to eat in the staff canteen oh la la. Its no different though! 


Work is usually 9-5 with an hours lunch. Some days I have to start at half ten to finish at half seven. Its annoying because I can't just pop into town during lunch or go to someones office about something, because everywhere pretty much shuts down between 12 and 2, and if I want dinner before the canteen closes I dont really have much time to do anything worth while once I have finished work. Anyway, I must say, as I was walking back from work today, handbag on my arm, heels clattering against the tiles along the corridor,I really felt the part. It occurred to me that actually, its not bad here at all. I am enjoying my work placement so far, the campus grounds are actually beautiful, food is good, accommodation is free and I am getting more used to it, I am exposed to French every day, I am getting on well and bonding with my neighbour- Bentsi. We meet for dinner with the intention of sitting with other people but always chicken out and sit by ourselves! :( and walk to work together as he works too. An Irish girl called Julie arrived today and she seems really nice too, she is also doing an internship! So thats three of us so far! 


Last night Bentsi and I ventured out to see if there was any student stuff happening as we feel a bit out of the loop since we are not technically students so we don't really know whats going on! But it turns out there was a social including speed dating!! Haha, obviously I did it and met 5 Germans in the process, so yet more English speaking rather than French practise! But we mingled more and met some more people. There are other activities on this week to which we'll try and go to, but most of them start before we finish work- including a trip to Paris on Friday night!! Gutted I'll miss it, but theres plenty of time for all that! 


I went on a little exploration run yesterday evening, and stumbled across the chateau and lake on campus- stunningly beautiful! I had to stop to take it all in, it was beautiful. Playing fields nearby too for sports. The gym here is free which is cool, but its ever so tiny and without aircon so its like a sauna in there! 


I am definitely feeling more positive about things and determined to make the most of my time here. I'll do a bit more shopping and socialising this weekend hopefully. And I need to be more confident with speaking French. I am learning new words every day which is good, its just my grammar which is a bit all over the place! 


Sorry that these blogs are so long! I talk a lot in real life so, you know! 


Dont start untill half ten tomorrow so get a bit of a lie in at least!


Bonne nuit mes amis 


Bisous xxx

Never judge a book...

So, if you were to look at this website www.hec.fr, you’d probably think ‘wow that looks pretty snazzy!’. This was my initial thought and so my expectations were pretty high… However, after a tedious treck across Paris with three suitcases (and no escalators at stations!)  on arrival at HEC it was rather different than expected! :S Mum and I made it to the campus, and found the housing office. I just had to sign some documents for my key, and was told that if it was lost or broken I would have to pay €125. Fair enough. And then the guy at the desk looked at me and demanded a cheque as a ‘deposit’ from me! Well, I don’t have a French back account yet so couldn’t give him a cheque, and my key wasn’t lost yet! So I stressed out a bit but then remembered I had my English cheque book, so had to write him a cheque for £125 in the end! But anyway, walked across to my block and discovered I am on the second floor, but some kind men helped us with our suitcases up the stairs. Put the key in the door and… complete disappointment! I actually burst into tears, Partly from exhaustion but mainly because the room was so unwelcoming and not what I was expecting. Its like I have gone back in time to a 70’s boarding school! Dark, old, wooden furniture , green lino floor tiles, brown bed blanket, wooden panels on the walls, plastic curtains, and the shower is shared with my neighbour- whom I have yet to meet. Toilets are at the end of the corridor, but you have to walk past the urinals to get to the cubicles! Tres bizarre. My sink even let out brown water when we first turned it on! The single bed has a funny long, oblong type pillow which is a bit uncomfortable to sleep on too. But there is a nice balcony! I think I need to think realistically, it’s a free room on campus at the end of the day, with running hot water and electricity and internet access. Even though I haven’t been given my internet pass yet. And I met a girl who lives at the end of the corridor- she had a few friends in her room so chatted a bit to them.

We did the best we could to unpack and use what we could of the storage in the room. Now my personal things are up it looks a bit better!

We decided to get some air and so we walked around campus in the afternoon. There isn’t much! Don’t get me wrong, it is a beautiful campus with lots of greenery, but it is in the middle of redevelopment so there are lots of barriers and machines about! But there is no shop to grab a snack or anything, no bar, no like students union area… everyone is expected to eat at the canteen for three meals a day! But we checked that out and the food isn’t actually bad at all, very very cheap and a good range of actually healthy food! When you ask someone where you can go and buy stuff, they just kinda look at you blankly and say ‘there’s nowhere!’, or the nearest places are a train/bus ride away. Its just different to uni, I’m so used to having shops and stuff so close.

The town centre is about a 15 min walk, and again very small and basic. But there is infact a small supermarket, banks, hairdressers, boulangerie , train station etc. So ACTUALLY, there is life around! We treated ourselves to dinner at a fancy brasserie with some wine- it was well needed after such an exhausting day!

Friday was ‘get stuff done’ day. I needed to see someone about my contract, set up a bank account, go shopping for things like a kettle and stuff. The whole morning was taken up by walking around the WHOLE of the campus, trying to find one woman, we were getting sent from pillar to post and I was getting more frustrated at each person we spoke to for directions that I stopped listening haha. We found her eventually, but she was quite short with us- probably because it was approaching lunch time and she wanted to leave! But anyway, sorted that and we decided to brave the canteen for lunch and that was nice. So off we trotted to town again, to set up a bank account. Now, I had been warned of the numerous documents one needs for setting up an account in France, so I was ready prepared with every document and photocopy of anything they might throw at me… so I thought!! It was all going well, until the young man asked me for proof of my accommodation… All I had was my key!! But he kindly let me off- which believe me is incredible for French admin!  So that all got sorted, including free housing insurance which is mandatory for me to have to be able to stay in my room! Then just as we were about to leave, we asked him where we could go for some shopping. He told us about a big shopping centre about 15 mins away, but buses were irregular if we wanted to go. We said thank you anyway, but then he turned around and said ‘I’ll take you!’. Mum and I were like ‘No, its ok you are at work!’ But he insisted. So bless him, he drove us to the shopping centre, and gave us his number in case we didn’t know how to get back! The funniest thing though, we went out for dinner with one of mums friends in Versailles that night, and we were sat outside and guess who drives past because he lives on the same road…? The bank man!! Haha, who’s name is Aurélien (any ideas on how you say that most welcome!) Mum made me go over to where he parked up to say hello and thank him for helping us, so I did, and he was quite pleased to see me!

After all the hassle of trying to get myself a kettle, we bought it back and I only went and blew the fuse with it!!! Apparently you’re not allowed appliances with more than 1000W, which is written on the back of the door but I clearly didn’t see it! So that was a bit of a palava, and no one came to fix it until midnight :( I had to be persistent as apparently there was no one on the 24hr emergency helpline to come and fix it for me, but after marching down to reception it turns out that there is in fact someone. So it’s just a bit frustrating that the French seem unreliable and inconsistent! But, its all part of the experience.

I went back to England this weekend for a friends 21^st, so although it was effort going to and from London and Paris twice in one weekend, it was worth it so see my uni friends and say goodbye to them all! I met my brother briefly in London too, and he had managed to get me a smaller travel kettle so hopefully that shouldn’t blow the fuses again! I managed the trek back to the campus on Sunday evening all by myself which is quite an accomplishment. I didn’t want to come back though, I just couldn’t find the energy to be positive about where I would be for a year!

Anyway, I met some of the staff with whom I will be working in the library, and they were all very pleased to see me and seem lovely and kind. Fingers crossed it will be that way when I actually start work!

So first impressions are a bit rubbish, but like everyone keeps telling me I am sure things will look up. I am just so emotionally drained and exhausted, sleeping is really hard because the accommodation is very noisy and my room faces out towards where party nights are held so there is music most nights. I don’t know much about what is going on for students this week or anything, but it would be nice to get out and meet more people!

A la prochaine!

Just a quickie!

Bonjour,

I don't yet have access to internet in my room- stupid French tech line not answering the phone!!! But I just have a quick chance on a friends computer to say that I have a LOT to update you all on... Some goot, some bad.

The move has been interesting, its nothing what I was expecting and I feel slightly deflated! Room isnt very nice, the campus is pretty isolated, and not many students have arrived yet so everything is still a bit quiet. I feel a bit in limbo. But there have been some positives, met some good people and there are two people already on my corridor- one French and one Brummy! Its still a lot to take in and it will take me  a while to get on my feet. There isnt much around to do, no shops or anything really.

Managed a bank account though, but thats another story in itself!

I do have a lot to write so please be patient with me, but its all a very surreal experience but I am trying to stay positive! Thanks for all the support and love!

Bisous

Ruth xx