It is very "bon" to meet you

IT'S THE HOLIDAYS!!! I have officially survived an entire half semester, and now get to enjoy a week off for les vacances de Toussaint. Over the moon is an understatement.

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The end of last week was pretty miserable and tiring, I was getting to the point of just being quite sick of uni and the constant feeling of being snowed under by work that I have very little interest in, or desire to do. The weekend was good though! On Friday night we all went out to Circus Bar to celebrate the visit of Tara's boyfriend, who is spending his semester abroad in Ireland, so spoke very good English.

We then continued on to RockStore, which is the best club I've been to so far. For those of you who are used to going out in Manchester, it was very similar to a night out in 5th Avenue, except everyone speaks French and the drinks are very expensive. 

I returned home on Saturday to find that both the boys were gone and I had the house to myself for the night! Although not for long, because Alex offered to bring me a crêpe, which I was not going to turn down. And when he arrived with an additional bar of chocolate, crate of beer and pile of James Bond films, I decided I'd made the right decision.

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This week was amazing, because my parents came to visit! It's the first time they've been abroad in 22 years, so I think it was about time. And seeing them was amazing. On Monday I took them on a tour of the older part of town, and we went out for some pizza, which I had to order in my finest French accent to attempt to prove that I have improved since arriving here!

On Tuesday they came to meet me at uni, and were finally able to appreciate just how different university life is here compared to back home! They were also able to meet Helen, and we sat and had lunch together on campus before Helen and I (there you go mum :P) went to our last lecture. I then met my parents back in town and took them down through the newer part of town as far as the River Lez. After that we headed to my house and I was able to introduce them to my flatmates! The language barrier was hilarious for me, but both of the boys did their best to speak as much English as possible, and we all ended up going out for dinner in the evening. Everyone got on very well, aside from the heated debate about rugby!

On Wednesday after uni we met Barbara for lunch, and I took them all to the roof of Corum for a good view of the city.

Lunch was probably the best meal we had together! The restaurant was just behind the Préfecture, and the food was perfect.

And just as we finished eating, the sun finally came out!

We made the most of the last day together with an excursion to Le Lac, and sat out in the sun for hours listening to the world's loudest ducks.

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With my parents gone, the prospect of evil Thursday was enough to make me want to curl up in bed and never leave. However, the day actually panned out very nicely, because I turned up to my last lecture (two hours of talking about the cinema which takes my day through til 7:15pm) only to find that our room had been taken over by another class, forcing my lecturer to cancel the lesson! Then mine and Raphael's decision to buy a celebratory box of beers, instead of the usual bottle, resulted in the creation of the world's new and greatest superhero: Leffe Man.

The world will never be in peril again.

Sarah 

xx

"C'est pas parc' que you are me qu'I am you"

Last week I ticked another thing off the to-do list and went on to the roof of Corum. Corum is one of the big buildings in the centre of town, a couple of minutes walk from Place de la Comédie, and it has a huge staircase at one end so that you can access the top.

Me, Helen and Monique just sat for ages enjoying sunshine, girl talk, and some really amazing views!

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Wednesday was karaoke night with the boys! Raphael spent the afternoon introducing me to Renaud, one of his favourite singers, and later treated us all to an impersonation.

"Hotel California" is another favourite in our house, and one of Hugo's friends was lucky enough to be treated to a rendition over the phone.

The live entertainment definitely makes working a lot more bearable! 

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I had the best evil Thursday ever! I got to experience first-hand another very important piece of the French culture: the strike! We had a "journée banalisée" at university, which meant that there was a huge assembly to discuss budget cuts, and all lessons after 11:30 were non-compulsory, to allow every student the opportunity to attend. Passionate as I am about all such financial issues, I decided it was about time I tried a crêpe!

It was Marian's birthday, so after crêpes we all went to Colombiere for cake! Me and Helen bought him an LED pig which changes colour, which I wanted to keep, but sadly could not. Thursday night was movie night, because Raphael loves Grease, and I'd never seen Back To The Future! 

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Raphael's friend David came to visit this weekend, so we decided to start on the house book of cocktails! This was of course accompanied by yet more karaoke, and some very enthusiastic dancing! 

I was very insistent on the cocktail umbrellas.

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Uni on Monday was horrible and made my head hurt, but thankfully Alex has a car and a love for the beach, so back we went to sit on the rocks with a beer and watch the sunset.

Definitely the best way to make Mondays less evil!

Sarah

xx

Déménager/Emménager

I realise it's been a while since I updated this, but things just keep happening and days fill up too quickly! 

On the Wednesday before last me and Helen went to see Barbara for a meal, and it felt like I'd never left! A glass of white wine, a good catch up, a 4 course meal, and two new cheeses for us to try!

There was a hard cheese called Cantal and a soft one called Chabrol, both of which were mild and very delicious, and thus my cheese education continues! We also watched a comedy called Dinner des Cons, which I would definitely recommend.

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Last Friday my suitcases finally turned up! After having lived out of a suitcase that was intended to last two weeks for a full month, I was over the moon to finally have my stuff. Unfortunately "Productive Friday" wasn't quite as productive as me and Helen had hoped, in spite of the efforts of "Le Bol" of tea.

We were both feeling pretty ill and very unmotivated, so we decided to do the only sensible thing: put all our work away and go for a night out at Panama.

It probably goes without saying that I wasn't feeling particularly rosy that Saturday morning, when I woke up with virtually no voice whatsoever. But by the time I got up I found that my new room, which Mickael had vacated earlier that week, was full of furniture and ready to move in to! However, I ditched unpacking for a while in favour of a shopping trip with Helen, and it was onwards to Odysseum, the huge shopping centre outside of town. I bought a bin, some birthday presents and some cocktail sticks, and we managed not to get to our respective homes until past 8 o clock. I then finished all my unpacking and wall decorating and am thrilled to say that, after a full month in this country, I finally have a room to call my own!

Raphael and Hugo were both away that weekend, so Alex came and housewarmed with me instead, and I introduced him to the wonder that is Mean Girls! 

Sadly a night in was nowhere near enough to save my health, and I spent all of the week just gone blowing my nose and croaking like a squashed frog :/ In spite of this I managed to have a lot of fun, including a very long sing along courtesy of Hugo and Alex on Tuesday night, a movie night and CROUS sleepover on Wednesday, and an impromptu shopping trip (which included a glimpse of my first student protest) and night out on Thursday! 

Friday was bed day, but I did get to witness my first giant thunderstorm since arriving here. By about 4pm the entire sky was as dark as night, it poured with rain for about 4 hours, there was so much lightning and the thunder was so loud!! It was really beautiful :) Yesterday Alex I went back to the beach for the first time in a while, intending to go for a run. But by the time we got there neither of us could be bothered, so we just walked until the sun went down and the stars come out, which was gorgeous! 

And I'm still just happy to finally have my own bed!!

Sarah

xx