It's Party Party Party Time!

Exams are over, the semester is done! I'm FRRREEEEEEEEE!! 

In spite of the fact that I sat 12 exams in the space of 12 days, it actually wasn't nearly as bad as I had first anticipated. Especially because "exams" at Paul-Val are definitely not the same as the exams I'm used to. I had invigilators leaving the room multiple times to take phone calls, students hiding phones on their knees to use as a reference in the exam, unchecked notes permitted on the desk, people walking into exams half way though and, my personal favourite, being given two articles, no exam paper, and the instruction "I don't know... Just write a summary or something". So, all in all, it was definitely another learning curve, and further proof that nothing this university comes up with seems to be able to surprise me any more. On the plus side, where it took me two and a half weeks of running around and stress to sort myself a timetable for this semester, I managed to formulate my semester 2 timetable in less than a couple of hours. Clearly practice makes perfect.

Thankfully I was also able to fit some fun in between all the revision. Alex and I decided to profit from the warm weather (still in double figures most days) by taking a December jaunt to the beach to see the sunrise.

I also managed to do an extensive amount of Christmas shopping, and some back street exploration with Helen, which resulted in a few interesting discoveries!

Once exams were over, life just kept getting better! I went to visit Barbara on Wednesday, and during our stroll around the lake, we were lucky enough to come across a "ragondin" (that's a coypu to those of you in England) who was more than a little bold!

Yesterday was our house Christmas meal, and it was spectacular! I became Raphael's sous chef for the evening, and we ended up with a 5 course meal, nothing of which I had ever tried before. Homemade savoury biscuit things for apero, then fish, crab, veal (which is apparently reared kindly in France, for all you concerned animal activists out there) and some sort of ice creamy nut thing. 

And of course, a great deal of wine. A very unconventional Christmas meal for someone so used to the traditional roast, but it was a change that I definitely enjoyed! I even got to witness Raph flambe the meat in spectacular style, without setting anything else in the room on fire. Impressive!

And now just two days before I fly home!

Sarah

xx 

It's (not) beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It's December!!! For those of you who aren't aware, I get incredibly excited about Christmas. The second the 1st December comes around I have my advent calendar at the ready and my Christmas Spotify playlist on loop for the duration of the month. If anything, this year I'm more excited than ever, because in 3 weeks I finally get to say goodbye to the stress of exams, get on a plane, and go home to the family and friends that I have missed so much. 

Life has been pretty quiet since Barcelona, with the exception of a couple of loud nights out. The block on campus has finally been lifted, which means that I'm back in lectures full time this week, and on a full timetable of "partiels" (that's a friendly word for "exams") next week. I go from a feeling of calm and controlled optimism to a feeling of panic and dread approximately 5 times a day, although the Christmas spirit is definitely making life much more bearable!

Last week we had snow!

For those of you who are as confused as I was as to why Hugo jumped off the sofa in excitement and Raphael came running into the living room, here is a zoomed version of the above image.

The temperature still has yet to remain below double figures for more than two days in a row, and apparently this sort of "snow" almost never happens. The cultural differences still never cease to amaze me!

But just because it doesn't look like Christmas, doesn't mean it can't feel like it! Because Montpellier has finally turned on its lights and opened "Les Hivernales".

Alex and I took a walk through the stalls, where he confidently informed me that he had tried every mulled wine available, and therefore knew where to buy from. I never try to argue with Germans about alcohol. In addition to all the pretty lights, sparkly stalls and tasty looking food, they've also opened an ice rink!

And I very patiently waited my turn to sit on Santa's knee.

Sadly I now have to stop procrastinating and start planning. There are presentations to be written and exams to be revising for. Hopefully I will emerge on the other side of these next two weeks in one piece, although I can't promise anything!

Joyeux décembre à tous!

Sarah 

xx