I spent the weekend ignoring all the advice from my tutors by making friends with Erasmus students, all of whom speak English! A few of them are German, and on our three hour long excursion round Ikea on Saturday I realised that my German is laughably terrible. But I am being taught new words all the time, so who knows what the year will bring! And I bought a kettle, so my life is basically complete.
Saturday night was like stepping into a time machine. Sitting in a big communal kitchen with people I've known for anything from a week to an hour, watching a game of beer pong, teaching everyone the rules to Ring of Fire (which apparently is not a traditional French activity!), getting kicked out of the kitchen just after midnight, and finishing the night with 5 of us sat around in a bedroom playing Never Have I Ever until somewhere past 6am. Thankfully the next day was spent being equally as English, sat around a table in Maccies enjoying a McFlurry and some free WiFi. The only difference is that you can sit on an outdoor table here without it being a near-death experience.
I didn't take any photos of the actual night, but here's the street sign I walk past to get home that always makes me laugh.
I christened my new kettle when I got home, and introduced Raphael (the flatmate who loves Elvis) to the joys of tea. He drinks it in a very small cup with a LOT of sugar, but it's a start. And in return he made me fajitas, so I'd say it's a fair swap.
* * *
Monday was my first official day of uni! I had signed up for Italian for beginners at 8:15am, but when I woke up at 7 I realised that Monday mornings are not for me, so I hopped online, rescheduled the class, and went back to sleep. When I finally made it into uni, I sat through a Greek history class (VERY difficult), a maths class (which was more like a vocabulary lesson), and a translation test (in which I made up many words). The day as a whole was better than I expected, and after translation I ran into Helen and Monique, who said it was time for a beach trip, and who was I to refuse?
The sea wasn't too cold, and the Baywatch running that followed our swim was unrivalled as far as I could tell. The sunset was beautiful, as was the fry up that Helen and Monique made when we got back.
* * *
Today was just more lectures, more timetable confusion, and the realisation that me and philosophy are definitely not friends. I learnt how to use a French washing machine, and found out that the guy who is currently in my room won't be moving out until the end of the month.
Luckily, nothing seems so bad when you know there's a cup of tea waiting for you at home.
Sarah
xx
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