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 :)