Musings

If you're bored, take a look. Year Abroad projects have driven me to procrastination.

Brilliant.

Horrific.

Interesting.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/may/15/slutwalk-debate-sexual-discrimination

Off to Spain tomorrow for the summer! I will be working in a language school. I just hope my Spanish can keep up. Stay tuned...

Olé, olé, olé- A trip to Montpellier!

After a fabulous seven months in Nancy, what better way to soften the blow than a cheeky trip down south to Montpellier! After just one hour of sleep (don't ask...) I met Rhiann, Ellie and Fabi at the train station at 6h15 ready for our epic TGV ride south.

Mandatory train photo...

So, after a 4 and a bit hour TGV from Nancy to Lyon and a 2 hour train from Lyon to Montpellier, we finally arrived at our destination. And like the expert travellers we are we spent our first afternoon in Montpellier having une petite sieste! Definitely needed.

After a panini and classy can of Orangina (when in France....), Rhiann gave us a tour of the town (she was first an assistant in Montpellier). It's a great little place, nice atmosphere, you can easily see why it's one of France's main student towns. I think anyone who worked as an assistant down in Montpellier will have had a completely different Year Abroad experience- without meaning to sound pretentious the vibe is completely different. More relaxed- I blame the weather. We ended up meeting up with Sophie, a friend of Rhiann's she had met during her stay in Montpellier and her boyfriend Christopher for some demi pêche-s. Good chat, chilling outside with a beer. So far Montpellier had met my expectations...

Our second day in Montpellier got off to a slow start due to the Royal Wedding, which we watched from the comfort of our Hotel/Apartment room! Can't believe the hysteria that surrounded the day back home, personally I prefer this.

Anyway after oohing and aahing for a bit at the wedding, we headed to the beach! Caught a bus, reapplied suncream every 20 minutes (I'm a little paranoid) and avoided crabs in the Med (ooh-er).

Our evening was spent with Rhiann's 'French family' who were lovely. They drove us to their place, we drank Muscat (the local apératif), ate a LOT of cheese and generally had a nice time. Speaking French too, they were so so so nice. We got to hear stories about school trips to London (trying not to leave the kids on the Tube) and learn all about the local area from genuinely lovely people. Lovely.

French family meal, too good!

Our third and final day in Montpellier was spent in a seaside resort- Palavas-les-Flots with Rhiann's French family, who had kindly offered to take us out. We ate lots of ice cream and took a free boat to a museum. We finished our day by wandering through Montpellier's old town, having a casual Muscat and yet another bloody panini.

Sooooo Montpellier, go if you get the chance! It's completely different to the French Riviera (Nice, Cannes et al)- more laid back and fewer tourists. Personally I can't wait to go back for the Muscat alone...

Tchin Tchin

I’ve got it bad. That feeling that time is slipping away and there’s nothing I can do about it. Vive la nostalgie! It’s hard not to think about ‘the end’ now- as one assistant drunkenly said to me the other evening ‘It’s too sooooon!’ Only 8 weeks or so to go until I will leave Nancy with only a crappy Dunlop suitcase and great memories from a great seven months.

Friday night was hilarious. I was invited out for drinks with two of the teachers-Nathalie and Valérie from school. I often help Nathalie out with her SEGPA students- students so academically poor they have separate classes from the other students. They’re a handful, it’s not an easy job teaching them I've got to say. After helping in one of her lessons on Thursday, Nathalie invited me out for drinks on Friday night. We met up in Opéra, a nice little bar just behind Place Stan. Spent a couple of hours speaking lots of French (not that easy in a loud bar when you keep having to say ‘Pardon? J’ai pas entendu'.) Love how open the French are about their relationship history- I learnt that Valérie, originally from the South moved to Nancy for a man who later broke up with her. Also learned that Nathalie spent two weeks in Manchester when she was my age and was basically a massive slag. Love it.The most hilarious moment was perhaps the advice they gave me ‘Il faut manger local’ meaning ‘You must find a French hottie’. When in France, and all.

While we're on the subject of 'manger' i.e. food (when am I off this subject?), I went for lunch again this week at Anne’s house- an English lady who’s been living in France and Belgium for the last fifty years or so. Had soup, salmon (as my closest friends will know is the key to my heart) and chocolate mousse. Once again Bouba, her chihuahua was sat on my lap for the entirety of the afternoon. It’s been so nice to swap living abroad stories with Anne- we often talk about the differences between the French and the British. Two of the main ones we found;

· The French don’t let many people get close. In England, I’m used to talking to little old ladies at the bus stop about the weather or the news or some other topic that binds us together for a few minutes. Then we’re off. In France you don’t talk to anyone. You stay silent, don’t make eye contact with anyone and when the bus arrives it’s a free-for-all. Takes a while to get used to.

· The French are very reluctant to invite you into their homes. I get on well with lots of the teachers at school, but am yet to visit any of their homes, even my responsable who lives a mere 3 minute walk away from chez moi. It’s strange. Luckily I have a big group of assistant friends and French students to keep me occupied, but it would have been nice at the start to have been invited for a meal or an aperitif at someone’s house. It’s not easy, packing your life up and moving to a town in foreign country where you don’t know anyone. My first week here just felt surreal- nowhere near as tough as I was expecting but I just felt like I was living in a bubble, that everything I did was just a dream. I still feel like that sometimes- I have plenty of ‘Oh my god I can’t believe I live in France’ moments. When you are invited into someone’s home for a meal, like I have been with Anne it's great. The French spend hours eating a meal, discussing, debating- there’s always an aperitif and a cheese course between the plat principal and dessert. This is my kind of life! I just wish I saw it more often!

A week from now I will be in Krakow, Poland, knackered after having spent the night camping out in Charles de Gaulle airport. Niiiice! I can’t wait to explore a part of Europe whose language I cannot speak for once. Can’t wait to buy local food using different currency and, of course, Auschwitz. It'll be awful, but what else would it be? Moving on to Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna and Prague- it'll be knackering, but I’m sure we’ll have the time of our lives. Protitez-ing bien we are spending next Saturday in Paris, starting with the tourist trap that is the Café des 2 Moulins, Amélie style...

As Humphrey Bogart says in Casablanca, "We'll always have Paris". Mais oui.

Here's to the next 2 months.

Cheers!

Where is Brian? Brian is in the kitchen!

In case you were wondering, the title of this post refers to a sketch by Gad Elmaleh (the guy in Priceless, with Audrey Tatou) about learning English in France. Apparently, the same names appear in all the English text books- Brian, Sophie et al, so if you admit to being a native English speaker, it is likely a French person will at some point ask you where Brian 'eez'. Just for your reference!

My first week in the industrial east of France has come to an end and what a week it's been! Can honestly say it has been much more enjoyable than expected. I thought the first week would be a constant stream of paperwork, angst and early nights with only a DVD for company, but luckily Nancy is FULL of language assistants (namely English speaking). In true Brits abroad fashion, we have been frequenting Nancy's Irish bar (La Taverne de L'Irlandais) for the typically French 'demi-pêche'- Stella and peach sirop. Sounds bizarre but it's good stuff!

So the first few days here were taken up by constant shopping (and not the fun kind of shopping). Our poorly equipped kitchen was in need of some essentials so Dan (another English assistant from the best university in the world) and I visited 'Tatti' a few times for cutlery, mugs and pans. The name says it all really- it's a bit like Wilko's but even more, well, tatty! Ha. We did find time to visit the Irish bar and go for a pizza so it wasn't all grim...

BNP MEMBER ALERT!

Yes, today I have joined the BNP. Luckily this has nothing to do with the British BNP (the racist British National Party for all those who don't know), but I opened a bank account with the BNP Paribas! Amazingly I managed to sort out all the bank stuff without any difficulty- I was in there a good half-hour and opened a student account which is freeeeee!! Apparently you have to pay around 3 euros/month with most other French banks, so I wasn't having any of that! It even has internet banking which I'm sure will prove interesting trying to figure out. The lady who opened the account for me was lovely though, as was the lady who sorted me out with a French sim card and phone number, so don't believe all the French stereotypes! So after opening my bank account toute seule earlier, I headed straight for the boulangerie near the flat for a celebratory raspberry tarte. Well deserved (I think).

Les Soirs

Evenings have been pretty busy so far, namely because it takes about 20 minutes to boil a pan of water in our kitchen! My travel kettle has been an absolute life saver (cheers nan and grandad)! Jackie (my American flatmate) and I have been 'creative cooking' with our hob- chicken risotto and home-made ratatouille being the favourites. After going to a French pre-lash on Thursday night (but not going out afterwards), I finally experienced Nancy by night on Friday. And Saturday. Naturally, the Irish pub featured on both occasions. On Friday, we moved on to Les Artistes, a studenty cocktail bar which I feel is going to become another one of our haunts. I opted for a lager-cocktail, merely because I was intrigued. Turned out to be a good choice! Anyway it was a really lovely evening with all the other English assistants (shame we weren't speaking French though- next time perhaps?!). The evening ended with a 'lovely' photo of myself in front of Lyon's team bus, eyes bright with excitement. It's a shame Nancy lost 3-2 to them the following day...

A perfect Sunday

My first Sunday in Nancy was a beautiful day, not a cloud in sight. Walked down to Place Stanislas- the main square in Nancy (a World Heritage sight, no less) and it is just incredible! So many people, but the architecture is amazing. Needless to say, a LOT of photos were taken. After eating a heart-attack tarte-fromage in a bag, we headed for the park which has a ZOO! Was probably a bit over-excited about that, in retrospect. Nevertheless, we saw monkies, goats and even an albino peacock! You don't get that in Sleazes Park!

Needless to say, this perfect day ended with a trip to La Taverne de L'Irlandais. A pattern is emerging...