Almost time to leave...

In two weeks time I’ll be back in England and the Paris part of my year abroad will be over, which means it’s time for a little reflection.

Work

Work is the main reason I came here, so it makes sense to start with it. Teaching English is a pretty standard thing for a languages student to end up doing on their year abroad, and I wasn’t an exception. Unfortunately, due to a general lack of jobs and the money situation in Europe, sometimes you have to take what you are given.

However, this doesn’t mean that I haven’t enjoyed teaching English to adults, nor does it mean that that is all I have done. I’ve also learnt to design and update a page on the website, I’ve ran pub quizzes with various themes and introducing some ‘marvels’ of English gastronomy such as Marmite and cheese and pineapple sticks and, probably most importantly for me, I’ve met some great people.

Some of the highlights of teaching include trying to explain words, such as ‘screwed’, hearing that the English are ‘European Americans’ and trying to defend us, trying to explain how to make proper English tea and the importance of putting the tea bag in before the hot water and the milk afterwards, etc. and discussing how Parisian men compare to non-Parisian men and advice from India on how to cure a hangover (yes, they were both real lesson plans!)

Tourist

There is no way you can come to Paris and not play tourist. I think I have pretty much exhausted this little town!

Has Parisian life won me over? In short, no. It is pretty much what I expected, a bit impersonal, busy, smells of wee just about everywhere along with the unidentified liquid puddles/streams on the floor, and full of Parisians. That’s not to say I’ve not enjoyed it, can’t beat seeing the giant pylon or the Eiffel Tower sparkle (and knowing Parisians who use this sparkling as a sign that it is time for the children to go to bed – genius). I also like the fact that you can go to the theatre for less than €20, though the theatre may only seat about 20 people and have a cast of two people. And if you are happy to do things alone, you will never get bored in Paris, especially if you are under 26 – they love us young people and almost everything cultural is free!

Living in Paris

In a word: expensive. I remember I saw a one-man show called ‘How to become Parisian in one hour’ which I would recommend to anyone about to stay in Paris for a while, it makes everything make so much more sense. One thing that sticks with me is what he said about the apartments, you can be in bed ‘making love’ (how Parisian) whilst washing up they are so small. My own addition, how to be Parisian on the metro: look like you want to end your life there and then, tut if there is an interruption and listen to music with huge headphones. The rabbit is pretty cool though...

The best parts

Without a doubt the visits from people and with people. Nick moving me out and then coming out for his birthday weekend, the parents coming out and me tiring them out with sightseeing, meeting up with Carly and of course the weekend with Rosie.

And of course, there was the little trip up to Saint Malo and Mont Saint Michel with Flora and her parents. Also my little surprise on nan and granddad going back for the weekend and the two occasions of being back in Bath and attempting to catch up with advanced (not to much avail).

In conclusion, have I enjoyed it? Yes, but not as much as I would have if I had had my family and friends out here (that includes UOBLBDC).

So what have I learnt specifically from the year abroad so far?

1)     This is obvious: it ruins dance and the French don’t do technique like we do in England, thanks Paula, James, Asia and Jon, my expectations are now too high to enjoy dance quite so much anywhere else!

2)     It takes 5 months to get to know people, and then you leave.

3)     And finally, of course, a bit of French.

Two 'Petits' Weekends

So I’m sitting here about to watch Danse avec les Stars – French equivalent of Strictly, and though it was about time I did some blog writing! At the moment it’s showing the meteo (weather) and how cold it is going to be – meh!

Weekend Number One - Le Petit Prince

Nearly a month ago I decided to actually go to one of those things you see on posters whilst speed walking through the underground passages of the metro:

Free fireworks at La Grande Arche at La Defence,  the business district of Paris, all set to the story of Le Petit Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry published in 1943. The story is about a little prince who lives on a little planet and decides to travel the universe. On his travels he meets different adults learning something from each of them, and you’ll have to read it if you want to know anymore :-)

It was pretty busy! I watched it from the ‘back’ of the arch. The idea was to watch it from the large Parade in front with the fireworks going off behind, but behind there was a good view and not so many people. There were also projections onto the arch, illustrating the story. I think the fireworks put the UK to shame, this was a free event, just to tell the story of Le Petit Prince, and the fireworks were so much better than the UK’s New Years ‘show’! 

The downside was getting home, obviously there was quite a lot of security being the business district and obviously having a large number of explosive fireworks nearby, so it took quite a while for them to reopen the metro afterwards, resulting in me wandering around aimlessly for about half an hour. But all in all, a great evening.

Weekend Number Two - Le Petit Nicolas

My second kid-related thing is slightly less kid-related and happened today. My plan was to go to the Salon du Chocolat, a chocolate exhibition held every year at the large exhibition centre at Porte de Versailles, but I went along pretty late and it was paaaacked so decided to go to the exhibition on at Hotel de Ville instead. This one was an exhibition of drawings by Sempé, a cartoonist also known for his illustrations in a children’s series called Le Petit Nicolas.

Sempé said that the Petit Nicolas series 'c'est d'abord une histoire d'amité' - it's primarily a story about friendship. And I found it quite funny that a lot of the pictures are to do with small kids smoking behind a fence! 

And my interesting fact that I found out about Sempé was that he originally signed his work ‘DRO’ because he didn’t think it was good enough, and he chose ‘DRO’ because it sounded like ‘to draw’ in English!

Saint-Malo and Mont Saint-Michel

Ok I’ve been lazy with the blog writing, but I promise I’ll catch up sooner or later. Going to jump to this weekend whilst I still remember everything!

Friday night I went Salsa because I promised a girl that I would go with her, however, Saturday the plan was to go to Saint-Malo and Mont Saint-Michel very early with Flora and her parents, so it probably wasn’t the best idea to go out Friday night… but I didn’t have the girls number so I couldn’t text her and didn’t want to let her down. I arrived at Flora’s quite late and flopped into bed, knackered.

I got up about 5.30am and had a light breakfast with tea (yays) and we left the house about 6.30am and I slept most of the journey to Saint-Malo – it’s hard work being a passenger! We found a little café, Café de l’Ouest for the morning coffee (well, pineapple juice in my case) and then did a tour walking along the top of the walls protecting the city with lovely views of the sea and port. Of course, then the girls had to go into the town to shop! Flora needed some blinkers (œillères), someone has an obsession with shoes!! Finally she couldn’t resist and ended up going into Promod where she found two tops, one of which I got her for her birthday J (easy birthday present shopping but nevermind!)

We then set off to a little beach not far from Saint-Malo, called Parame, for the afternoon, armed with baguette, cheese, jambon serrano, smoked salmon and Orangina. I actually tanned in northern France in October, unbelievable! Me and Flora went for a little walk along the beach and dipped our toes in the (cold) water. I don’t know how people were swimming, but there were quite a few, including her dad! Despite the long nap in the car I still managed to have a siesta on the beach and learnt that in French they ‘sleep like a dormouse’ (dormir comme un loir) not ‘like a log’. Beaches are great places for learning vocabulary so it seems! Seashells, seaweed, bucket and spade, stuff they never really teach at school…

After the siesta we went in search of the hotel (the reservation sheet had been misplaced, but it wasn’t a problem). It was a little two star hotel by a tiny railway station and we had a family room that had a double downstairs and a little mezzanine upstairs (for me and Flora). I think ‘quaint’ is the word, that translates from estate agent language to English as ‘in need of some work’. Had a quick wander around the village to find a restaurant for dinner and then it was back, ready for this dormouse to sleep some more (faire un gros dodo)!

The next morning, after the hotel breakfast, we had another (reasonably) early start off in search of Mont Saint-Michel, not that far away (11km).  It’s impressive! And not surprisingly it’s protected by UNESCO. Apparently the sheep that feed there produce really good lamb, something to do with the sea salt water. Over the years the tides have stopped coming up to the island because of all the grass and a canal that was created, but the government has decided to restore it to being an island so they are doing lots of work around it.

We went around the abbey and you could hear the monks singing or chanting or whatever you call it! I also experienced part of a French mass and recognised the Lord’s Prayer – oh the uses of primary school! Oh and I did that tourist thing of buying a million postcards but not having gotten round to writing them and sending them… yet. I saw some guys in traditional outfits making the famous omelette from the island, they looked pretty silly but hey ho, all in the name of tourism.

The afternoon was of course another beach trip, this time to a little village/town called Carolles, on passing through the town I saw a little Church that reminded me of the one in Ryarsh (back home), this time ‘quaint’ but without the estate agent connotation. This one was really busy, not quite as nice as the day before and the water seemed colder!

We left about 4pm I think and found a little place to have a crepe (or two, nom) and off we went back to Paris! There was some traffic, and again, this dormouse slept a bit! Got home and it’s always good to get back into your ‘own’ bed. Had a chat with mum, a quick hi to nan and slept like a baby.

Thanks to Flora and her parents for inviting me to explore the north of France a little, I had a lovely weekend :-D 

Written last weekend without the Internet...

I’ve done a couple of little trips at the weekends, I went to Bois de Boulogne last weekend and hired a bike for a couple of hours and just rode around in the park, it was very pretty and relaxing – even if I didn’t have a map and went past the same point 3 times, and I had lunch by the lake :-)

The park has a bit of a reputation at night for prostitutes, and I did have a bit of a ‘culture shock’ to see my first prostitute, not sure whether it was male or female, but if you thought dance competitions required a lot of make-up and false eyelashes, this was a whole new level!

Yesterday I had a really busy day (I try to keep Saturdays busy so that I don’t get too bored or homesick). I went to Fontainebleau, slightly unplanned. Unplanned to the point that on the train going to Gare de Lyon I wasn’t sure whether I was heading to Fontainebleau or Val d’Europe (BIG shopping centre), but the angel in me won and I went to do something slightly more cultural and probably cheaper. The train ticket only cost €7 – special young people’s weekend ticket and you can travel as much as you want for a day across all the zones and it includes using the bus and trams – bargain! It took about 40 minutes to get to Fontainebleau and then another 20 mins or so to get to the chateau.

The castle isn’t as well known as Versailles but it was worth the visit and it’s free for under 26 year olds from the EU (got to love France for that), so I paid just €1 for the audio guide (in French of course) and wandered round the bedrooms, bathrooms, throne rooms, chapel... After that I had a wander around the grounds which were well kept and there were loads of couples wandering around hand in hand (hmmm).

After that I came back to Paris and was on the way home when I decided I’d stop at Chatelet for a bit of shopping after all. It was with the intention of finding Nick a birthday present, but it turned into clothes shopping for myself... I don’t know who said that the French have good fashion, they lied. French shops are terrible, and I never thought I’d have to resort to New Look in France! So mum will have/has a list of things to go and get and bring out to me next weekend :-D and so far Nick has no present...

So that means that today I’m being lazy and watching TV. It started very educational, a programme about a plane, called the Comet that crashed in 1954 with 35 people on board, but now it’s deteriorated to one of those films you get on ‘True Movies’ or something like that, called ‘Le Lit du Diable’ (the Devil’s bed) whilst I’m having a bit of a clean.

This weekend has a bank holiday stuck on it, so no idea at the moment what I’ll do tomorrow, everything will probably be shut knowing France! My internet hasn’t been working, so if it decides to work I can hopefully find out what is and isn’t open and go and do something, if not, I’ll sit and read in the park and get a crepe or something. 

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work I go...

So the routine of work has set in – getting up, taking the metro then the tram, getting something to drink at work and then starting for the day. Still, lessons won’t start properly until September, so a couple of days have felt pretty dragged out preparing lessons hour in hour out. Though me and Kate were given an ‘extra’ task to sort out the library (well, the few shelves of books that are kept locked away) so we got to get out of the open space and I think by now we are both experts on referencing! We finished it really quickly, so I wonder what fun task is next!

Wednesday after work I went to the theatre with Kate and Fred (a guy from work) to see a Moliere play “Le médecin malgré lui”. Which, being Moliere, I would have thought would be really difficult to understand, but seeing some 7-8 year olds reassured me, and the woman behind kept explaining everything to her child, not that I was eavesdropping at all! It was really nice, and the first thing I’ve done with someone French (apart from dancing) since I’ve been here. I hope there’s more to come.

Something I’ve enjoyed doing at work so far are the English/French/Spanish lunches, where we meet up with someone just to have lunch and we spend half of it in English and half of it in French/Spanish, but they can be quite hard work and it doesn’t give you much of a ‘break’ from working me and Kate have decided... So we’re going to try not to have one every lunch!

The girls on reception at work, Laura and Flora, are really nice. Was having one of those “AH I CAN’T SPEAK FRENCH!!!!” days, which I somehow managed to explain and get through in French, and they were both just lovely – meeting people like that makes the year abroad a whole better experience, so thanks girlies!

To finish on a light note – Post-it Wars! It’s a guerre (war) where you make a picture on your window using Post-it notes and the person opposite does the same thing... I took part in this on Friday as it was a quiet day and in Bath’s honour and my own obsession, created a duck! (Before any geeks out there mention it, I know it isn't an 8 bit image or whatever you call it, but I wanted a duck so I did a duck - so there!!) It used quite a few Post-its but they get recycled when you create another image. It’s good fun and a nice break from work. 

One month in...

So I’ve been in Paris for a month now! It’s flown by! Had lots of ‘firsts’ – starting with the first day at work, then my first night alone in the studio, first trip to the market, first lesson, first feeling homesick, first time eating peas that come from a tin (quite a strange concept), first French bank card, first French payslip and I could probably go on. What I mean, is that there are lots of new experiences all the time, and I’m enjoying most of them.

Work is going well, I’ve had three lessons now and August seems like it’s going to be an easy-going month as everyone appears to be on holiday! Food at work is good and I can eat 2 courses for about €2! There is loads of choice, especially if you eat meat (which I don’t, yet...). I think going to work takes away the boredom of living alone and getting paid is always nice of course!

I’ve been filling the weekends with cultural activities – tour of the Opera Garnier in French, Cimetiere de Pere Lachaise, Place des Vosges and Paris Plage, followed by lying in the sun in a park on Sunday. My plan is to do lots of different things that tourists wouldn’t necessarily do, and so far it’s working nicely at keeping me occupied. Ooo how could I forget the wander around Monmartre and seeing a rather cool (linguistically) wall – it has ‘I love you’ written in loads of languages :-)

Skype is amazing. It’s my connection to everyone back home and I can’t imagine having to stay in touch without it (although I have been sending postcards J  ). Chatting to nan and Nick more or less everyday is something nice to look forward to in the evenings and mum will learn eventually... Maybe by the time I’m in Spain at this rate!! (Get a move on mum!!) There have been a few nights where all I’ve done is call people in England and have a chat (which might not be the best thing to improve my language, but it’s a good end to the day)! Of course everyone must get slightly homesick, we are all human, and everyone will miss people and different things from home, be it cheddar, squash or proper frozen peas!

This morning I went to my first market, at 7.45am ish before work. The sky was a pretty powdery blue and it was nice and quiet and I walked to the market listening to Schandefreude (from Avenue Q) and songs from Hairspray, so there was a spring in my step. Surprisingly people were still setting up, so I found a stall that was more or less finished setting up, the guy was very helpful and it’s good French food practice! Came back with a bag full of fresh veg for a little over €3 and a quietly smug smile at realising that I do know some useful French, even if the grammar might be a bit dodgey now and then.

So that’s more or less my month in an A4 page! 

You know you're living in Paris when...

Metro:

·         You can read in a very small space standing up on the metro

·         You see there is no space in a particular metro carriage, so you just barge on anyway (I do this every morning – advantage of being little)

·         You can get on the metro in exactly the right place for the exit at the destination (kerching!)

·         You know when the metro station will require a ticket or pass to get out and you have it ready – unlike the tourist in front! GRR!

·         You have a Navigo (of course, better yet if you didn’t have to pay for it)

Monuments:

·         You see the Eiffel Tower every day just walking to work and you start to take the Parisian attitude towards it (maybe that’s just me though)

·         You use your free entry to museums for going to the toilet somewhere clean

·         The sound of an American makes you cringe (again, probably just me, but I hear them every morning on the RER going to Versailles moaning about how many people are on the train going to work :S hmmm)

Service:

·         You don’t expect any decent service anywhere

·         You hear the word ‘Facebook’ more than ‘svp’ or ‘merci’

·         the wine come in tiny glasses, so it’s better to order the bottle and be done with it (this is general for France, and no, I haven’t been drinking, but mum experienced this one on her first day here)

·         You know people only drink coffee because anything else will cost you five times the amount

Other:

·         You get used to not having an oven and your wardrobe turns into something not only for storing clothes, but also for drying them

·         You no longer pronounce ‘oui’ properly, but it turns into something resembling ‘whey’ (pretty sure this is for most of France though)

·         You know ‘je voudrais...’ is just something they teach you at school, and if you say it you’ll get a strange look

·         You eat most of the baguette whilst walking across the road back home

·         You can almost ignore the sound of the church bells next door (if you want to)

Parisians:

·         Don’t look where they’re going

·         Don’t keep time 

·         Rarely smile

Work after a week

Well, it seems to have gone quickly (July 14^th probably helped). It all seems a bit laid back. To be honest I’ve not had that much to do as everyone seems to be on holiday and the majority won’t be back till September. At least that gives me time to prepare some lessons, and raid the stationery cupboard :-D

I shadowed Carys for a few of her lessons as I said in my previous post. My main first task is to test everyone to see what level of English they have so that they can be put into pairs (most of them). I’ve already made my test, written and oral and should have a couple of people to test at the end of the week – it’s quite difficult making a test for a wide range of levels though.

 I've been preparing some lessons as well on lots of different topics and in doing so have read soooo much stuff on the BBC include this article:   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14016993 about Hungary wanting to install a 'chocolate tax' and this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/earth/water_and_ice/ocean#p00gbgkn about rubber ducks! 

The lunches are pretty good, most days my lunch has cost less than 2€ and that’s a large plate of pasta and/or salad with a bread roll and a can of drink. I’ve had lunch with quite a few different people, generally half in English and half in French, that way I get to practice my French a bit more.

Today I joined a presentation (in English unfortunately) on the differences in business behaviour in France and Israel. It was really interesting, it firstly talked about generalisations and then explained why the Israelis are how they are, going into history and religion and day to day life.

All in all, it’s going well so far and I’m enjoying it.

Getting a French bank account

Another topic that uni don’t seem to want to go into in any detail whatsoever, so here’s what I found. Banks don’t like people. Let me elaborate, unless you have a bill to the address you are staying at in France you will probably be turned down. 

Generally to open a bank account, take as many documents as you possibly can. I took:

-           the contract for my house

-          my house insurance (which had the address on)

-          my job contract

-          bank statements from the UK (to prove I have some money)

-          passport

Although Crédit Agricole wouldn’t accept all that as proof of residence and insisted on a gas or electricity bill (facture de gaz ou d’electricité).

The Post Office is the place to go. Yep, they have a terrible reputation and might not see you on the day, but they accept more or less anyone – me included. And the guy who served me was pretty helpful :-)

It took about 8 days for me to receive banking details, online log-ons, my cheque book (which has funky different coloured cheques) and a little longer to receive my card.

La Fête Nationale

Thursday 14th July

Well what a busy day this was! We started with the defilés (processions) at Champs-Elysées, arriving just after 8am and it was packed. People everywhere. Horrible really. We decided to wander in search of somewhere better, but found a bench to stand on and see stuff as and when it happened. No wonder the Parisians decide to watch it on TV.

There were people standing on benches everywhere, like us, followed by policemen telling them to get off the benches, like us. What did surprise me was the disrespect of some people, in particular a Chinese girl and a Spanish boy who decided to climb on someone else’s car to get a better view – although they weren’t the only ones in fairness.

Bex brought a friend and I’m not sure, but I don’t think she knew that it was a military parade... and she seemed to get bored pretty quickly! I wasn’t really expecting it to be like the Disney parade...

After the parade, well I say after, it was during really but meh, we decided to try to get to Champs de Mars, but you need to cross the Champs-Elysées which is impossible. However, we did end up wandering by where all the tanks and other vehicles were waiting, and I think the soldiers were loving the attention from everyone, although there were a few having their cigarette break and even the military seem to text whilst driving! I love noticing all these little details, in my opinion they make the day more interesting :-)

We ended up going home to have some lunch and a nap with plans to meet up with Bex later for the fireworks. Me and Nick didn’t think it’d be worth going to Champs de Mars to watch the fireworks but we thought we’d head over there just to have a look and see how busy it was – this was 5 hours before they were scheduled to start.

What a difference from the defile! The atmosphere seemed really nice, helped by the sun, and there was live music playing on a stage which was all broadcast onto screens everywhere. Armed with cards, pasta and carambars we decided to sit and wait. We must have played nearly every card game we knew, and Nick is terrible at two-player Gin Rummy! I heard the song ‘Aux arbres citoyens’ and saw ‘Touch pas à mon pote’ stickers everywhere (it’s a campaign against racism). It was lovely watching the sun set just by the Eiffel Tower and I did feel rather touristy trying to take pictures of the pretty sky.

So then the fireworks started. Obviously you get some absolute idiot who decides to set off a firecracker or a flare (GRRRR) and then some more idiots with lasers beaming everywhere. Then in front of me was some guy with a camera who watched the whole thing through it whilst trying to take photos – as Nick said, why not just enjoy the moment?! Oh and the smoke, I must have passively smoked the equivalent of about 10 cigarettes. Apart from that, the fireworks were really good and they were set to songs from Broadway musicals :-D right down my street! Though why you would choose to end the national holiday celebrations in Paris to “America” from West Side Story?!

It all ended and the manic rush began to get out and to metro stations, thankfully I live pretty close so it was just a 20 minute walk – piece of advice, if you own a car, don’t even attempt to drive on that night! It was a very busy but worthwhile day. It’d be a bit stupid to be in Paris and not go and see one of the biggest events of the year – even if you do get a better view off the TV. 

First day at work

Monday 11th July

So first day at work is done! It started last night with a strange dream about work. I dreamt that my first task was a game of doubles tennis with Joey from Friends on my side, and the winner would decide how much the clients would pay for some advertising. But a mosquito kept attacking Joey so he went into a shop and realised it didn’t follow him in there, so what he did was he bought some clothes and shoes to repel the mosquito. However, it was a lady’s shop so he had to buy some lady’s clothes which was rather funny. I also dreamt that I went to work with bed hair :-S but don’t worry, I didn’t!

Well, I was rather pleased that the reality at work was nothing like my strange, strange dream. Nick came with me in the morning and I was about 15 minutes early. First thing to sort was my card to get in and out and which also has the money on for lunch, then I had a little tour – got to see the stationery man who will provide me with lots of stationery as and when I need it. When won’t I need stationery?! On my tour I met loads of people with lots of “enchanté”s and names that I will never remember. I thought it was just one floor, but nope, 3 floors for me to get lost in – quite a labyrinth!

From there I met the other English girl who was teaching and we chatted about general stuff to do with lessons and planning and the fact that David Montero has left the uni. Then came lunch – which isn’t free, but only cost 90 cents (it’s heavily subsidised) and I get more on my salary to compensate for not getting a completely free lunch. Séverine (my boss) and Carys (English girl) had lunch with me and we chatted (in French of course) about vegetarianism (Carys is also vegetarian and the person before her was as well), holidays, jogging and other such general business.

In the afternoon I experienced two very different lessons. The first was with two very outgoing guys both with a good level of English and we did a mini debate and some phrasal verbs. The second wasn’t such a success unfortunately, he seemed to completely lack self-confidence and at one point I thought he was going to cry (we think it was the pressure of having two English speakers there, but who knows)!

Well, I made it through the first day and I’m actually quite looking forward to starting properly and giving my own lessons! Now we’re off to eat out to “celebrate” the first day :-)

Catch up time

Monday 4th July- an early start...

We met Bex nice and early to go and visit le Louvre – we arrived about 8 and a queue was already forming – crazy!

Once in we headed straight for that weird painting everyone wants to see – Mona Lisa or La Joconde.  My opinion is that people just want to see it because it’s famous and they can say “hey, I saw the Mona Lisa!”, which sounds better than saying something like “hey, I saw the Untitled by a relatively unknown artist!”. 

I think the best part was the Egyptian mummies and other remains which are all downstairs – slightly creepy and me and Bex had a good giggle!

We also wandered over to the Sacré Coeur – but unfortunately there were railings everywhere as the day before or so someone had tried to break a record for jumping on rollerblades the longest distance or something like that. I really like the view of Paris you get from the Sacré Coeur, and it’s strange to think it’s a stone’s throw from the Moulin Rouge (which is a bit of a dump).

Ooo how could I forget, shopping! Shoes!! Decathlon is going to become the new Dance Direct :-P Got two pairs of trainers in preparation for Disney for €29 and they are sooo comfy! What you do is buy the insole for €9 then buy the shoes for €10, so you only need one pair of insoles and then can buy many shoes :-D  This could be my new obsession...

Tuesday 5th July– Disney!

It’s taken 20 years for me to get there, but got to Disney at about 9and it cost €45 for a student ticket for one day for two parks.

First impression wasn’t great, as we queued for Big Thunder Mountain and it had broken down which was really annoying as we were quite near the front, but meh! I ended up going on it twice, which is pretty good for me as I hate rollercoasters. Also did lots of other mini rides – Buzz Lightyear was great until I got off and banged my knee and now have the bruise to show for it! Later on we watched the Parade and then rushed off to the Studio park where we watched one of the best cinema pieces I’ve ever seen, it’s called Cinémagique – but I won’t spoil it! We ended the day on Pirates of the Caribbean which is very clever and we also went on it twice.

One of the highlights though had to be Bex who seemed to think that a baby chicken is called a duckling and her impression of mining which looked like she was trying to stab someone. Oh, and the jumping in unison in front of the pretty castle thing! All in all a good, but very tiring day (with terrible food, but good chips... But I guess that’s because I’m a “picky veggie” in a very loose sense of the word).

Wednesday 6th July– Bank attempt number 2!

Not much really happened today, apart from my second attempt to get a bank account, which seemed to work with the Post Office (I’ll find out in a few days if my studio contract counts as proof of residence or not). Also tried to find some white t-shirts for Nick, but the French habit of smoking seems to have shrunken all their men.

Thursday 7th July- the pylon and then some real culture...

Eiffel Tower – yes, Nick managed to get up this time! We met Bex and some Americans in a queue and had the normal hustling of people trying to sell diddy Eiffel Towers and other people trying to get us to sign papers pretending they can’t speak GRRR.

We then went to a place that I’ve wanted to go to for ages – Musée de l’Orangerie – essentially the place where Monet’s huge paintings of waterlilies (les Nymphéas) are housed. They are some of my favourite paintings ever and they are displayed so well in an oval room which is light and really shows them off.

On the way to the Musée de l’Orangerie we walked over Passerelle Solférino and it reminded me of Florence as there were all these padlocks attached to the bridge, a symbol of everlasting love.

For lunch we ate at my local – the crêperie called la Cuillère en Bois. Two courses of crêpes = NOM! Savoury and a sweet. Just NOM. Another time for a good giggle, the waiter trying to speak English, Bex replying in French as he walked away, Nick spilling water over Bex’s napkin, asking the guy next to us which desert he was eating and chatting about how fat I’m going to be at the end of these six months and how I’ll have to waddle through the door sideways and will become friends with the old lady who also seems to go in every day.

Following a nap, me and Nick went off to Ecole de Danse de Paris, but mon mal, I got the times wrong and we were there two hours too early – oops! Especially as I thought we were running late! So we had a sit down by the Tour de Saint Jacques which is one of the starting points for el Camino de Santiago or le Chemin de Compostelle. Then we did a little shopping (found a white t-shirt for Nick in real men’s sizes) and grabbed a Subway, then wandered back to dance.

Dance was AWESOME. Nick managed to get by with copying stuff and ignoring the French and in our first lesson (level 2, whatever that may mean) we did 3 different types of link and whips in jive and then spent half an hour doing an open hip twist in rumba (not so awesome). Then came level 3 and I was just wishing that it wasn’t Paso. Guess what it was? Yep, Paso! Joy! *Makes horns with fingers* Still, managed to pick it up and met a guy who also hates Paso, so all good. The second half of level 3 was more jive and this was a bit more challenging with some chicken walks – but French-style (I hope I don’t come back with terrible technique!). 

I definitely agree with what Nicole said, I think it’s going to be the highlight of the week. But I’ve got to wait till mid-September till it starts again – so in the meantime two months of getting fat on crêpes!