It's so hard to believe that this year is pretty much over. I was so nervous when I moved here thinking it was going to be the most stressful thing ever but once the first few weeks of organizing were over, it became one of the best years of my life so far and I don't want it to end.
Things I have learnt from being in France-
1) My french isn't actually that bad! Not as good as I'd hoped but is definitely improved with a little Dutch courage (or maybe I just think that when blinded by said Dutch courage?) Anyway, I can safely say that I could now explain to a pharmacist that I have been bitten and need anti histamines without just pointing at the bites and saying "Ow." I can also order a cup of tea with out being laughed at for my accent (I hope). AND I can bloody well chat my way into free drinks avec les pigeons ;)
2) I do not and will not ever pull off the sophisticated french girl look. Nor will Louisa. No matter how many striped tops, blazers and pashminas we buy, we just don't have the grace that they do. Unfortunately this was evident from the start. French girls aren't sick on the tram, nor do they shout at men trying to direct them saying they don't want to be prostitutes, they don't drink pints and they definitely don't embarrass themselves like us Brits do when drunk. Do you know what though? I am okay with that, because we have much more fun.
3) I now eat the weird food Louisa and posh people eat. Stuff I literally gagged at the thought of eating when I got here but now love. I've tried snails, oysters, kangaroo, duck neck thing, eel etc and i now appreciate the bloody awesomeness of a blue steak (excuse pun).
4) I need to live in a city with access to a beach.
5) I don't want to marry a french man. Actually screw that. I want to marry the French men you see in films, or Thierry Henry, NOT the creepy french men who follow us home.
6) SOME french girls are complete and utter minxs *cough* FIONA *cough*
7) I have met some amazing people
8) France is a wicked country although to live here, like I said before, it would have to be a big city for me.
9) I can now swear in French. It's pretty cool, you just have a few words they just mix and match so it doesn't actually make any sense.
10) French people will get up from the most squished table possible to kiss and greet every single person around it. I have learnt to love the biz (until someone breathes on me). It's much more personal.
11) Wine hangovers are not ideal
12) S'all about vodka in the sac
13) Drinking in front of famous monuments and buildings is completely acceptable
14) French people throw some awesome events!
15) ERASMUS = WIN
Friday, 24 June 2011
May
The Boat Club
Anyone who goes to Nantes HAS to experience the boat. It is Nantes' answer to a skins party and it was the most surreal thing ever. As you've probably guessed the club was on a boat. Exeter people imagine cavern crossed with hole in the wall and Cardiff people imagine metros mixed with a bit of a seedy old man place. There are weirdos everywhere and the randomest music. The drinks are cheap and such a good idea at the time. Louisa and Kate in particular loved the whisky shots, and then loved vomming them up over the side just as much.
Gay Pride
There was a parade going round the whole of the centre of Nantes, it was amazing! Really loud music, floats, dancers, make shift bars and so many people!
Fete de la Musique
Every year in France they have a music festival. I wasn't sure what to expect but town was absolutely heaving with different bands, singers, djs, choirs, dancers etc on every corner along with make shift bars and food places.
Uni End Of Exams Party
We weren't going to go to this, but Kate dragged Lou and I along and I am so glad I went. The whole campus was full of people and there were lights and stages on the main steps and bars all around with music playing really loudly. The DJs were doing 3 minute sets and there were like 100 of them or something. It was so good! You would never get that at a uni in the UK.
P.S. Amazing recipe for frozen Mageritas- Lemon Sorbet, Lemonade, Vodka and Tequilaaaa
Final Notes
Lou loves Dog Porn
Becks's "hard-done-by" face
Doug is a lady boy
Anyone who goes to Nantes HAS to experience the boat. It is Nantes' answer to a skins party and it was the most surreal thing ever. As you've probably guessed the club was on a boat. Exeter people imagine cavern crossed with hole in the wall and Cardiff people imagine metros mixed with a bit of a seedy old man place. There are weirdos everywhere and the randomest music. The drinks are cheap and such a good idea at the time. Louisa and Kate in particular loved the whisky shots, and then loved vomming them up over the side just as much.
Gay Pride
There was a parade going round the whole of the centre of Nantes, it was amazing! Really loud music, floats, dancers, make shift bars and so many people!
Fete de la Musique
Every year in France they have a music festival. I wasn't sure what to expect but town was absolutely heaving with different bands, singers, djs, choirs, dancers etc on every corner along with make shift bars and food places.
Uni End Of Exams Party
We weren't going to go to this, but Kate dragged Lou and I along and I am so glad I went. The whole campus was full of people and there were lights and stages on the main steps and bars all around with music playing really loudly. The DJs were doing 3 minute sets and there were like 100 of them or something. It was so good! You would never get that at a uni in the UK.
Lisa Hunter – LEGEND
We had a goodbye Erasmus night outside the castle one night and the legend that is LISA HUNTER was there. You literally have to meet her she is hilarious. I will try and get the video of her off Doug and add it on here because although I have told a lot of you the stories I cannot do them justice. So anyway, we were all pretty merry and then we wanted to go to the boat again but because it was Tuesday it was closed. Then it was someone’s bright idea (probably mine) to continue the party at ours so we all got taxis there (When I say all it ended up being myself, Lou, Kate, Becks, Lisa and Fadi). I had promised them alcohol but all we had was blue curucao left over from St Patricks day, Calvados, a bit of tequila and a tiny bit of vodka. GAGGGG. I still went for it and made the most hideous drink ever. Lisa then vommed ALL OVER the bathroom floor and we ended up just drinking playing I have Never laughing at the hilarious stories Lisa was coming out with. None of us could move AT ALL the next day. We all spent the whole day monging in the flat literally wanting to die.
Girls Night Chez Fiona
Too. Many. Shots. That. Is. All.
P.S. Amazing recipe for frozen Mageritas- Lemon Sorbet, Lemonade, Vodka and Tequilaaaa
Final Notes
Lou loves Dog Porn
Becks's "hard-done-by" face
Doug is a lady boy
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Bog gets her knickers all wet
As it was a nice sunny day in Nantes we decided to go to La Baule to go to the beach. Both lou and I overslept so had to get ready in half an hour, before walking to the tram. A quick decision to wait for the next tram instead of running to catch the one approaching turned out to e a HUGE mistake.
Once we were on the tram it decided to go slower than ever before, casually waiting at each stop for what felt like an hour. By the time we got to commerce to change to get to the station it was 12.14 and our train was at 12.23. For the first time ever there wasn't a tram for 6 minutes so we ran to the next stop in an attempt to speed up the process. We'd asked sister Nora to buy our tickets for us also. When we eventually got to the station it was 12.21 so barging our way off the tram, getting many angry looks and running to the platform (had to be the furthest away didn't it?!) the train doors closed just as we got there out of breath, sweaty and bright red. Lush.
Luckily there was a lovely guy who told us there was another one in 20 minutes so off we stomped to get more tickets having been assured that we could exchange the ones Nora had bought for us to get our return. I went off to buy my tickets from the cashier but Bog (now in a strop) insisted she'd get hers from the machines. I came back to find she'd ended up paying for a ticket to the wrong place and forgotten to use her young persons discount. That was effectively strike 2 after missing the train. We then headed back to the platform (obviously it would be a nearer this time) when lou realised her water had leaked in her bag all over her spare knickers!
Haha it was so funny. She spent the next ten minutes huffing and puffing, effing and blinding about how she didn't even want to come, livid this, FML that.
We finally sat down and in an attempt to calm herself down, bog whipped out her couscous only to realise she had no fork so had to eat it using the lid of the tupperware. Very sophisticated and elegant as always!
We eventually got to the beautiful la Baule and headed to the beach with a quick pitstop in one of the really bloody expensive bars. The beach was gorgeous and the sea wasn't as cold as we'd expected. We sun-creamed up and chilled on the beach for a few hours amongst the masses of minging couples who were PDA-ing all over the shop. Literally disgusting, it was pretty much porn.
We eventually got back on the train when i realised just how sunburnt my ass was! Ahhhh the pain. Wear sun screen kids!
Once we were on the tram it decided to go slower than ever before, casually waiting at each stop for what felt like an hour. By the time we got to commerce to change to get to the station it was 12.14 and our train was at 12.23. For the first time ever there wasn't a tram for 6 minutes so we ran to the next stop in an attempt to speed up the process. We'd asked sister Nora to buy our tickets for us also. When we eventually got to the station it was 12.21 so barging our way off the tram, getting many angry looks and running to the platform (had to be the furthest away didn't it?!) the train doors closed just as we got there out of breath, sweaty and bright red. Lush.
Luckily there was a lovely guy who told us there was another one in 20 minutes so off we stomped to get more tickets having been assured that we could exchange the ones Nora had bought for us to get our return. I went off to buy my tickets from the cashier but Bog (now in a strop) insisted she'd get hers from the machines. I came back to find she'd ended up paying for a ticket to the wrong place and forgotten to use her young persons discount. That was effectively strike 2 after missing the train. We then headed back to the platform (obviously it would be a nearer this time) when lou realised her water had leaked in her bag all over her spare knickers!
Haha it was so funny. She spent the next ten minutes huffing and puffing, effing and blinding about how she didn't even want to come, livid this, FML that.
We finally sat down and in an attempt to calm herself down, bog whipped out her couscous only to realise she had no fork so had to eat it using the lid of the tupperware. Very sophisticated and elegant as always!
We eventually got to the beautiful la Baule and headed to the beach with a quick pitstop in one of the really bloody expensive bars. The beach was gorgeous and the sea wasn't as cold as we'd expected. We sun-creamed up and chilled on the beach for a few hours amongst the masses of minging couples who were PDA-ing all over the shop. Literally disgusting, it was pretty much porn.
We eventually got back on the train when i realised just how sunburnt my ass was! Ahhhh the pain. Wear sun screen kids!
A Long Overdue Catch-Up
Apologies to anyone that actually reads this for both the crap I write and the fact I haven't written anything lately. I can't even use the excuse that I've been busy because in comparison to all my friends at home now in their final year, busy isn't a word I can use to describe anything in my life except maybe the queue at pasta box or maybe the trams. I've just been lazy in all honesty. The weather and the new episodes of all the trashy tv I watch are probably the main reasons.
Anyway moving on, what have I done of interest recently?
Ah Patrick's Day was fun! Although stupidly I arranged to do my first two hour long Autour du monde presentations on the 17th and 18th so I couldn't join everyone to buy the stuff for green cocktails on the first day (bummer? Nah) and I was obscenely hungover for the second one. (I should probably mention that Autour du Monde is a company stupid enough to hire me to teach French kids about the UK). So yeah, off I went to the first one, I wasn't paying attention so missed my stop so ended up having to run to the school. When I got there I was taken through the school to the class I'd be with- all boys except one. Great. They were a treat to say the least! One of them asked me if I wanted to buy some 'hachiche' (the teacher had left the room) and it's safe to say they aren't fans of any music other than rap and r&b. Lovely children!
Anyway, on with the irish celebrations! Everyone came to ours and we drunk obscene amounts of green cocktails that got significantly stronger as we got more drunk. Can't say I remember much! My eyes are going in different directions in every picture and I ended up crying for hours because I was too drunk to get into the club which would clearly ruin everyone's night(?!) as well as me crying, becks was crying about supposedly losing her phone, kate was telling everyone to 'come 'ere! Fuck off!' and lou was getting her arse out (standard). Apart from that the streets of Nantes were packed with people all getting merry in the name of St Patrick, what more could you want?
I definitely did not want the hangover the next day. I woke up with a Becks in my bed, a sleeping falcor and lou in lou's and the hangover from hell. I couldn't think of anything worse than talking to another class that I'd already been told were less responsive. Rocking the pale vodka glow and glassy eyes I turned up, gave my presentation and was met with the most awkward silence ever. They just didn't speak. I ended up having to rack my brain trying to think of the chavvy music I used to listen to when I was younger to try and bond. Any street cred I once had definitely vanished when I hadn't heard of one single 'rapper' they liked. I blame it on the vodkkka.
We've had some pretty mental nights out recently too. Nora's birthday ended with us all strutting our stuff and dancing like sluts on the bar in le Loft (even doog).
After a picnic (where some lovely Armenian men gave us loads of food and a free bottle of wine, becks was a tad worse for wear and ended up not being able to get in to Tex Mex. She wasn't drunk though! And when asked to prove it she could definitely stand up straight, string a sentence together and see without scrunching up one eye... NOT. Fiona and I managed to get her into another club because she wanted to dance but miss Sweeney ended up throwing water over us because we were trying to get her more drunk and it wasn't really water) and then forgetting she'd even done it five minutes later! Absolutely hilarious.
Every story I tell on here seems to involve alcohol so just to prove we do some sober stuff too. Kate and i had IRFFLE classes together and had to sit through lots of presentations about different countries. One did hers on saunas! Wtf?! And these weird Chinese lady did hers on some place she was from but forgot to look up on a map where it was so none of us had a clue. Some romanian girls made us do some sort of weird conga dance (not impressed especially as all the hot Spanish guys were there and I looked ridiculous). Then Kate and I did ours on wales and Ireland and the sad part is that the only response we got was moody Irish woman correcting us and the class laughing at welsh and Gaelic. Good one! Maybe I should have sung Tom Jones or something?
I went to Guerande to do another presentation and we have been to the beach a lot. The weather is so nice! Can't believe I was in the sea in April (even if I was sacrificing my extremities). We also went for lots of meals and coffees and have generally just spent our days being complete and utter bums all in the name of learning French (really need to start doing some actual learning).
Anyway moving on, what have I done of interest recently?
Ah Patrick's Day was fun! Although stupidly I arranged to do my first two hour long Autour du monde presentations on the 17th and 18th so I couldn't join everyone to buy the stuff for green cocktails on the first day (bummer? Nah) and I was obscenely hungover for the second one. (I should probably mention that Autour du Monde is a company stupid enough to hire me to teach French kids about the UK). So yeah, off I went to the first one, I wasn't paying attention so missed my stop so ended up having to run to the school. When I got there I was taken through the school to the class I'd be with- all boys except one. Great. They were a treat to say the least! One of them asked me if I wanted to buy some 'hachiche' (the teacher had left the room) and it's safe to say they aren't fans of any music other than rap and r&b. Lovely children!
Anyway, on with the irish celebrations! Everyone came to ours and we drunk obscene amounts of green cocktails that got significantly stronger as we got more drunk. Can't say I remember much! My eyes are going in different directions in every picture and I ended up crying for hours because I was too drunk to get into the club which would clearly ruin everyone's night(?!) as well as me crying, becks was crying about supposedly losing her phone, kate was telling everyone to 'come 'ere! Fuck off!' and lou was getting her arse out (standard). Apart from that the streets of Nantes were packed with people all getting merry in the name of St Patrick, what more could you want?
I definitely did not want the hangover the next day. I woke up with a Becks in my bed, a sleeping falcor and lou in lou's and the hangover from hell. I couldn't think of anything worse than talking to another class that I'd already been told were less responsive. Rocking the pale vodka glow and glassy eyes I turned up, gave my presentation and was met with the most awkward silence ever. They just didn't speak. I ended up having to rack my brain trying to think of the chavvy music I used to listen to when I was younger to try and bond. Any street cred I once had definitely vanished when I hadn't heard of one single 'rapper' they liked. I blame it on the vodkkka.
We've had some pretty mental nights out recently too. Nora's birthday ended with us all strutting our stuff and dancing like sluts on the bar in le Loft (even doog).
After a picnic (where some lovely Armenian men gave us loads of food and a free bottle of wine, becks was a tad worse for wear and ended up not being able to get in to Tex Mex. She wasn't drunk though! And when asked to prove it she could definitely stand up straight, string a sentence together and see without scrunching up one eye... NOT. Fiona and I managed to get her into another club because she wanted to dance but miss Sweeney ended up throwing water over us because we were trying to get her more drunk and it wasn't really water) and then forgetting she'd even done it five minutes later! Absolutely hilarious.
Every story I tell on here seems to involve alcohol so just to prove we do some sober stuff too. Kate and i had IRFFLE classes together and had to sit through lots of presentations about different countries. One did hers on saunas! Wtf?! And these weird Chinese lady did hers on some place she was from but forgot to look up on a map where it was so none of us had a clue. Some romanian girls made us do some sort of weird conga dance (not impressed especially as all the hot Spanish guys were there and I looked ridiculous). Then Kate and I did ours on wales and Ireland and the sad part is that the only response we got was moody Irish woman correcting us and the class laughing at welsh and Gaelic. Good one! Maybe I should have sung Tom Jones or something?
I went to Guerande to do another presentation and we have been to the beach a lot. The weather is so nice! Can't believe I was in the sea in April (even if I was sacrificing my extremities). We also went for lots of meals and coffees and have generally just spent our days being complete and utter bums all in the name of learning French (really need to start doing some actual learning).
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Hopping on and Hopping off in Sweden
Being on a Year Abroad is an amazing opportunity to travel, so Rose and I decided that instead of visiting each other we would meet up in a random city. We searched for a while on Ryanair then ended up booking flights to Sweden. Mine were booked from Paris Beauvais which i thought would be pretty easy to get to... apparement pas.
I started researching online and realised that Beauvais was actually an hour and a half outside of Paris. There were two ways to get there: either get a train to Beauvais and then the shuttle bus, or get a train to Paris and then a bus from one of the metro stops. Either way a massive mare. Anyway I ended up leaving my flat at 7am to get the tram to the station to get a train to Paris, got a tram across Paris to then get a train to Beauvais and then the shuttle to the airport. All was going so well and I had arrived at Beauvais three hours before my flight.
Beavais airport is only used for cheap flights (it works out more expensive with all the bloody traveling though) and there is nothing there except a newsagent and a really expensive café. Anyway, an hour into my wait my flight was delayed by two hours due to snow in Sweden. Then it was delayed 3 hours. Then four hours. It was horrible! After numerous teary phonecalls to my Mum we were eventually rushed on to the flight at quarter to midnight instead of 3.15pm. It was fair to say I was fed up and exhausted and the flight made things worse as the bad weather made the flight really turbulent. The sodding air steward guy made it even worse when he figured out I was British and made the mistake of saying "Well at least you are here, if this was the UK they wouldn't have even bothered flying." Grrrrr literally nearly walloped him. DO NOT MESS WITH ME AFTER SUCH A STRESSFUL DAY.
After waiting around in the airport the otherside for the first train at 5am and managing to somehow get into the centre I eventually got to the hotel at 7am but not before having to trudge through a foot of snow for about half an hour. Once I was there however, all was forgotten and it was so lovely to finally see Rose and a bed! We both slept for a few hours and got up at midday to go exploring.
We wrapped up in our layers and went to the hotel reception to ask how we got into Sweden only to find out that there was no transport running in to Stockholm whatsoever. Good one! Serves our right for trying to be so damn adventurous. We went for a wander (with soaking wet feet) anyway and found a pizza bar (sorted) and a super market so bought supplies for what turned out to be a quiet girly night in.
The next day the transport was running again so we managed to get to the train station and get some tickets. We took the train the wrong way for ten minutes then figured it out and got into the centre looking like the stupid tourists we were. Maps at the ready and with Rose's camera safely attached to her button hole (cool?) we decided to take a city sightseeing tour so we could fit everything in. It was such a beautiful city! And there was so much snow! People were skiing down the street as if it was the most normal thing ever- so bizarre! Also found out H&M is Swedish and they are very proud of that as there were about 5 on each street.
The snow didn't hinder us anymore as we had lined our shoes with bin bags (clever girls). However I did fall over a few too many times! I thought it was really clever to try and jump in some untouched snow, but the snow beneath my feet was so slippy that i ended up just face planting- very classy. After a long day of sight seeing, coffees and shopping around the beautiful city we went back to the hotel for dinner and caught a few hours sleep before I had to leave again at 5.30 am. MAAARE!
Although it was really expensive and such a nightmare to get there and back I had such a lovely time and it was so lovely to catch up with the beautiful Roz. Nothing had changed at all and it was as if we had just seen eachother yesterday.
I started researching online and realised that Beauvais was actually an hour and a half outside of Paris. There were two ways to get there: either get a train to Beauvais and then the shuttle bus, or get a train to Paris and then a bus from one of the metro stops. Either way a massive mare. Anyway I ended up leaving my flat at 7am to get the tram to the station to get a train to Paris, got a tram across Paris to then get a train to Beauvais and then the shuttle to the airport. All was going so well and I had arrived at Beauvais three hours before my flight.
Beavais airport is only used for cheap flights (it works out more expensive with all the bloody traveling though) and there is nothing there except a newsagent and a really expensive café. Anyway, an hour into my wait my flight was delayed by two hours due to snow in Sweden. Then it was delayed 3 hours. Then four hours. It was horrible! After numerous teary phonecalls to my Mum we were eventually rushed on to the flight at quarter to midnight instead of 3.15pm. It was fair to say I was fed up and exhausted and the flight made things worse as the bad weather made the flight really turbulent. The sodding air steward guy made it even worse when he figured out I was British and made the mistake of saying "Well at least you are here, if this was the UK they wouldn't have even bothered flying." Grrrrr literally nearly walloped him. DO NOT MESS WITH ME AFTER SUCH A STRESSFUL DAY.
After waiting around in the airport the otherside for the first train at 5am and managing to somehow get into the centre I eventually got to the hotel at 7am but not before having to trudge through a foot of snow for about half an hour. Once I was there however, all was forgotten and it was so lovely to finally see Rose and a bed! We both slept for a few hours and got up at midday to go exploring.
We wrapped up in our layers and went to the hotel reception to ask how we got into Sweden only to find out that there was no transport running in to Stockholm whatsoever. Good one! Serves our right for trying to be so damn adventurous. We went for a wander (with soaking wet feet) anyway and found a pizza bar (sorted) and a super market so bought supplies for what turned out to be a quiet girly night in.
The next day the transport was running again so we managed to get to the train station and get some tickets. We took the train the wrong way for ten minutes then figured it out and got into the centre looking like the stupid tourists we were. Maps at the ready and with Rose's camera safely attached to her button hole (cool?) we decided to take a city sightseeing tour so we could fit everything in. It was such a beautiful city! And there was so much snow! People were skiing down the street as if it was the most normal thing ever- so bizarre! Also found out H&M is Swedish and they are very proud of that as there were about 5 on each street.
The snow didn't hinder us anymore as we had lined our shoes with bin bags (clever girls). However I did fall over a few too many times! I thought it was really clever to try and jump in some untouched snow, but the snow beneath my feet was so slippy that i ended up just face planting- very classy. After a long day of sight seeing, coffees and shopping around the beautiful city we went back to the hotel for dinner and caught a few hours sleep before I had to leave again at 5.30 am. MAAARE!
Although it was really expensive and such a nightmare to get there and back I had such a lovely time and it was so lovely to catch up with the beautiful Roz. Nothing had changed at all and it was as if we had just seen eachother yesterday.
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Les évenéments de janvier
Amidst exams and the sad reality that the girls and Liam only had a few weeks left, we decided to cheer ourselves up with a few nights out.
Night number one- "Just think of her French!!"
After pre-drinks at our flat, we headed into town (once I had changed out of my slippers that I nearly left in). We started in a bar where one of Matt's friends was DJing. It was here that it came apparent how drunk Becks was... vomming in an alley "you disgusting mess!" Actually maybe i shouldn't use that phrase. Matt learnt that the hard way when Lou deleted him out of her life! hahaha too funny. Anyway, next Nana Colman herded the group (minus becks and matt who had gone home) to a club called Tex Mex. It was soooo good! We had a good little dance and beaked about and that's all I'm saying about that night.
The Last Supper
As a way of saying goodbye, we all went for a meal at Hippopotamus which is like a grill and steak chain thing in France. Oh my god we ate so much! Everyone was feeling slightly fragile after the night before's antics but it was a nice way to say goodbye.
Bike Rides
A simple pleasure but so much fun! Livi, Lauren, Ellie and I rented bikes and cycled around Nantes for a few hours because it was such a nice day. We went along the river, got lost for a bit follwing my directions (oops) then headed to Lieu Unique by day (very weird) to go up the Clock Tower. My God those seats are so uncomfortable though! Literally couldn't sit down for the next few days!
Lieu Unique is literally what it says- A Unique Place. It has an office bit, a bar/café, a clock tower, a shop, a turkish spa, an art museum and a club all under one roof.
Walks à la Sound of Music
The next day, being pro-active for once, we went for a walk along the other river. It was beautiful and we played poo sticks, jumped about in the leaves and enjoyed just chilling outside. We then went to the cinema to see Hereafter with Matt Damon, oh my god it was so sad!
Night number 2- Tex Mex again
After drinks at our flat again, we headed to town as it was Livi, Lauren and Ellie's last night out. We met some french people on the tram, one of which had a belt on his head (very weird) and went with them to a bar called la vestière. It was really dark inside and the cocktails were really overpriced but did the job. Living up to our rowdy British stereotypes, we played drinking games and drank to sister/loner Doug who just sat there in the corner like a loser.
Next we headed to Tex Mex because some french guy stole Livi's drink or something (twat), where we met loads of French people who bought us drinks- wicked! They had been to Cardiff the year before and Ellie and I were talking to them about and we asked where they had stayed because they were raving about it and they said Grangetown. I guess it still has some charm there?
I also found my nose twin! Nora (a GUUUUURRRRL from America) and we have the same nose. the picture doesn't so it justice but it was such a weird drunk realization we discovered where all the best girl chats go down- in the toilets.
Ooh and Maurice and I decided to start a Girls Aloud Tribute band (minus Nadine because she's a skank). I am Kimberleyyy :D and he is Nicola and Liam is Cheryl. Information about auditions for Kimberley #2 and Chavvy Sarah will be coming soon.
When the club closed we wandered back to Nora's because EVERYTIME I leave a bar I suddenly realize how much I need the toilet, so Nora was let me use her facilities before we got the first tram home. Ergh such a bad hangover.
Night number 3- Liam's last night
To mix things up a bit this time we started in La Maison which is a bar themed like a house, so there is a kitchen, a living room etc- it's really cool. Lou's friend Katie from Exeter was here for a few days also so we all sat around chatting which was very civilized for us... until the shots appeared.
It was then we decided to head to the Island to go dancing. We got on the bus and went to one of the bars which was absolutely PACKED. After a few drinks we hit the dance floor and/or the podium. Becks rocked her snake hips, Liam dutty wined, I tried not to fall off and all the girls strutted their stuff on this tiny little box we adopted as our stage. We were having such a good time until some skanky french girl tried to get on. Let's just say she didn't last very long!
We had such a good night and then got the night bus home which was full of weirdos as per. These guys kept telling us to talk slower to each other so they could hear our conversation. How bloody rude!? Why on earth would anyone admit they were trying to listen to our conversation? Freaks. After about half an hour surrounded by weirdos we got to the closest stop to our flat and began the thirty minute walk home. All of a sudden, out of nowhere a taxi appeared, and in my drunken state it was like a gift from God. Lou kept telling me how you can't flag taxis down in Nantes but I was having none of it! I got us that bloody taxi. Good work Jess.
Night number 4- Alexa's arrival
Now everyone else had gone (:(), Alexa had arrived and also Matt's girlfriend Chloe was visiting so we decided to go out again. We had drinks at ours and then got the last tram in again. All was going well en route to the tram stop until Louisa completely decked it off the platform, graizing all her knees! hahah it was funny but she was bleeding a lot, and Alexa was just so proud of her "bloody (literally) ticket!"
We were half way into town when some twats got all rowdy on the tram (who would do such a thing? they should learn to behave themselves right?) and the police turned up and kicked us all off. As a result we had to walk all the way in to town which is about an hour walk. But we eventually got there after a pit stop at a bar en route.
I think we went straight to Tex Mex again (such loyalty) and had some drinks upstairs. We saw some of the girls from our lessons and these weird french guys decided to come and sit by us. They started to get really weird because they were so drunk and didn't even notice that Alexa had passed me his full Desperado under the table to hide. Score. Doug also somehow acquired his glasses and was wandering round thinking he was so cool haha. All was well until this random girl somehow managed to talk me in to swapping drinks with her, I really don't think I agreed but before I realized she had gobbed all over it. GAG.
When that closed we headed to the comedy club which was closed but I befriended the manager who managed to get us in to another club called the Loft free. He kept telling Doug to sober up so Doug just put on the glasses and was speaking really poshly whilst scratching his chin... knob! It was here it went seriously down hill.
You know in clubs there are those VIP sections where they have bottles of vodka on the table? I managed to get one of them and poured the bottle into a glass and was just wandering round drinking it straight. Ergh the thought of it makes me feel sick. We lost Alexa for a bit then found her dancing on the bar in her massive coat with the frenchies. Lou and her then fell asleep on the sofas (blates exhausted from the dancing) while Becks and I hit the dancefloor. Next thing we knew it was 6 am and we were on the tram home. I am proud of our drunk navigation skills.
Night number one- "Just think of her French!!"
After pre-drinks at our flat, we headed into town (once I had changed out of my slippers that I nearly left in). We started in a bar where one of Matt's friends was DJing. It was here that it came apparent how drunk Becks was... vomming in an alley "you disgusting mess!" Actually maybe i shouldn't use that phrase. Matt learnt that the hard way when Lou deleted him out of her life! hahaha too funny. Anyway, next Nana Colman herded the group (minus becks and matt who had gone home) to a club called Tex Mex. It was soooo good! We had a good little dance and beaked about and that's all I'm saying about that night.
The Last Supper
As a way of saying goodbye, we all went for a meal at Hippopotamus which is like a grill and steak chain thing in France. Oh my god we ate so much! Everyone was feeling slightly fragile after the night before's antics but it was a nice way to say goodbye.
Bike Rides
A simple pleasure but so much fun! Livi, Lauren, Ellie and I rented bikes and cycled around Nantes for a few hours because it was such a nice day. We went along the river, got lost for a bit follwing my directions (oops) then headed to Lieu Unique by day (very weird) to go up the Clock Tower. My God those seats are so uncomfortable though! Literally couldn't sit down for the next few days!
Lieu Unique is literally what it says- A Unique Place. It has an office bit, a bar/café, a clock tower, a shop, a turkish spa, an art museum and a club all under one roof.
Walks à la Sound of Music
The next day, being pro-active for once, we went for a walk along the other river. It was beautiful and we played poo sticks, jumped about in the leaves and enjoyed just chilling outside. We then went to the cinema to see Hereafter with Matt Damon, oh my god it was so sad!
Night number 2- Tex Mex again
After drinks at our flat again, we headed to town as it was Livi, Lauren and Ellie's last night out. We met some french people on the tram, one of which had a belt on his head (very weird) and went with them to a bar called la vestière. It was really dark inside and the cocktails were really overpriced but did the job. Living up to our rowdy British stereotypes, we played drinking games and drank to sister/loner Doug who just sat there in the corner like a loser.
Next we headed to Tex Mex because some french guy stole Livi's drink or something (twat), where we met loads of French people who bought us drinks- wicked! They had been to Cardiff the year before and Ellie and I were talking to them about and we asked where they had stayed because they were raving about it and they said Grangetown. I guess it still has some charm there?
I also found my nose twin! Nora (a GUUUUURRRRL from America) and we have the same nose. the picture doesn't so it justice but it was such a weird drunk realization we discovered where all the best girl chats go down- in the toilets.
Ooh and Maurice and I decided to start a Girls Aloud Tribute band (minus Nadine because she's a skank). I am Kimberleyyy :D and he is Nicola and Liam is Cheryl. Information about auditions for Kimberley #2 and Chavvy Sarah will be coming soon.
When the club closed we wandered back to Nora's because EVERYTIME I leave a bar I suddenly realize how much I need the toilet, so Nora was let me use her facilities before we got the first tram home. Ergh such a bad hangover.
Night number 3- Liam's last night
To mix things up a bit this time we started in La Maison which is a bar themed like a house, so there is a kitchen, a living room etc- it's really cool. Lou's friend Katie from Exeter was here for a few days also so we all sat around chatting which was very civilized for us... until the shots appeared.
It was then we decided to head to the Island to go dancing. We got on the bus and went to one of the bars which was absolutely PACKED. After a few drinks we hit the dance floor and/or the podium. Becks rocked her snake hips, Liam dutty wined, I tried not to fall off and all the girls strutted their stuff on this tiny little box we adopted as our stage. We were having such a good time until some skanky french girl tried to get on. Let's just say she didn't last very long!
We had such a good night and then got the night bus home which was full of weirdos as per. These guys kept telling us to talk slower to each other so they could hear our conversation. How bloody rude!? Why on earth would anyone admit they were trying to listen to our conversation? Freaks. After about half an hour surrounded by weirdos we got to the closest stop to our flat and began the thirty minute walk home. All of a sudden, out of nowhere a taxi appeared, and in my drunken state it was like a gift from God. Lou kept telling me how you can't flag taxis down in Nantes but I was having none of it! I got us that bloody taxi. Good work Jess.
Night number 4- Alexa's arrival
Now everyone else had gone (:(), Alexa had arrived and also Matt's girlfriend Chloe was visiting so we decided to go out again. We had drinks at ours and then got the last tram in again. All was going well en route to the tram stop until Louisa completely decked it off the platform, graizing all her knees! hahah it was funny but she was bleeding a lot, and Alexa was just so proud of her "bloody (literally) ticket!"
We were half way into town when some twats got all rowdy on the tram (who would do such a thing? they should learn to behave themselves right?) and the police turned up and kicked us all off. As a result we had to walk all the way in to town which is about an hour walk. But we eventually got there after a pit stop at a bar en route.
I think we went straight to Tex Mex again (such loyalty) and had some drinks upstairs. We saw some of the girls from our lessons and these weird french guys decided to come and sit by us. They started to get really weird because they were so drunk and didn't even notice that Alexa had passed me his full Desperado under the table to hide. Score. Doug also somehow acquired his glasses and was wandering round thinking he was so cool haha. All was well until this random girl somehow managed to talk me in to swapping drinks with her, I really don't think I agreed but before I realized she had gobbed all over it. GAG.
When that closed we headed to the comedy club which was closed but I befriended the manager who managed to get us in to another club called the Loft free. He kept telling Doug to sober up so Doug just put on the glasses and was speaking really poshly whilst scratching his chin... knob! It was here it went seriously down hill.
You know in clubs there are those VIP sections where they have bottles of vodka on the table? I managed to get one of them and poured the bottle into a glass and was just wandering round drinking it straight. Ergh the thought of it makes me feel sick. We lost Alexa for a bit then found her dancing on the bar in her massive coat with the frenchies. Lou and her then fell asleep on the sofas (blates exhausted from the dancing) while Becks and I hit the dancefloor. Next thing we knew it was 6 am and we were on the tram home. I am proud of our drunk navigation skills.
Exams
After a lovely Christmas at home, Annie picked me up from my house to drive to the ferry. After making the most of UK music all the way and being searched by some butch woman we met Claire to sail back over to France.
It was so nice to be back, but the prospect of exams was not very appealing I must say. The first one was a three hour, year three translation (English > French). We got there half an hour early like we were told to, but we weren't let in until they started calling people in five minutes after the exam was meant to start, ONE BY ONE. I swear sometimes the french are so backwards. We then had to explain we were Erasmus, and guess what? Being once again true to their un-organised form, there were no seats for us! So we had to squish in where there was space. It would be me that was stuck next to the girl with BO wouldn't it? Typical. The exam wasn't too bad but I was finished after an hour and couldn't believe that we had been given three hours for ONE translation. The boy in front of me had a casual sandwich mid-exam, a girl in the first row decided to make the most noise ever trying to get her coat off and I was sat there not having a clue what the word for "broody" "betrayal" and some other obscure words were. Let's just say it wasn't long before I made the first move to leave, swiftly followed by Lou.
The second exam was year one translation which would be easier. However it was at 7.30 AM the other side of Nantes! And to get there for 7 i would have had to leave mine at 5.30. Ergh absolutely disgusting. What on earth were the university thinking when they arranged that? As usual, my sleeping pattern failed me so I got to the exam buzzing on caffeine. This exam hall looked more like what I was used to. It was about twice the size of the Exeter sports hall at exam time, just without the stupid women screaming at us all to shut up. Everyone was just so chilled and just went to their seats. We started the exam and all finished within twenty minutes as we only had to do a small translation from french into english, however we couldn't leave for an hour. I felt so bad for the woman invigilating our exam, all of us just sat there glaring at her for forty minutes because none of us had a clue what time it was as there were no clocks anywhere. I always thought I wasn't very creative, but it's amazing what I can come up with when given a few pieces of scrap paper and time to kill.
The third exam was year two translating both ways and my god it was so hard! Nothing else to say really other than I don't think I did very well!
Fourth exam- phonetics. WHAT. A. JOKE. We had to do an oral exam because we had a clash and I know as little about phonetics as I do about football (next to nothing). The guy gave me the question sheet as I sat there with Doug looking so confused. I wrote down anything and everything I could think of about how we make vowel sounds but turns out when it came to it, that only took up about 4 minutes of the fifteen minute exam. He then asked me some questions to which I just responded with the GCSE knowledge I had before staring blankly at him. He started explaining this graph thing to me but I got so distracted by trying to get out of his line of breath (gag) that i completely switched off, only snapping out of it when I was met by a cold silence. Panicking and not knowing whether he had asked me a question or not, I looked all confused and asked him to repeat what he had said. FML he repeated all ten minutes of it and then hadn't even asked me a sodding question. ahhh it was awful. How well did I do? Well put it this way- before leaving, he looked at me confused and asked "Don't you do Maths?" to which I replied "Yes but I hate physics." Not a good move there Jess eh? I was just so mind-numbingly bored by the end of it and needed to escape his smelly breath ERGGH. Yes I bloody do maths, but maths makes sense (occasionally) and it's in English! Maybe I should have revised a bit... Ah well.
It was so nice to be back, but the prospect of exams was not very appealing I must say. The first one was a three hour, year three translation (English > French). We got there half an hour early like we were told to, but we weren't let in until they started calling people in five minutes after the exam was meant to start, ONE BY ONE. I swear sometimes the french are so backwards. We then had to explain we were Erasmus, and guess what? Being once again true to their un-organised form, there were no seats for us! So we had to squish in where there was space. It would be me that was stuck next to the girl with BO wouldn't it? Typical. The exam wasn't too bad but I was finished after an hour and couldn't believe that we had been given three hours for ONE translation. The boy in front of me had a casual sandwich mid-exam, a girl in the first row decided to make the most noise ever trying to get her coat off and I was sat there not having a clue what the word for "broody" "betrayal" and some other obscure words were. Let's just say it wasn't long before I made the first move to leave, swiftly followed by Lou.
The second exam was year one translation which would be easier. However it was at 7.30 AM the other side of Nantes! And to get there for 7 i would have had to leave mine at 5.30. Ergh absolutely disgusting. What on earth were the university thinking when they arranged that? As usual, my sleeping pattern failed me so I got to the exam buzzing on caffeine. This exam hall looked more like what I was used to. It was about twice the size of the Exeter sports hall at exam time, just without the stupid women screaming at us all to shut up. Everyone was just so chilled and just went to their seats. We started the exam and all finished within twenty minutes as we only had to do a small translation from french into english, however we couldn't leave for an hour. I felt so bad for the woman invigilating our exam, all of us just sat there glaring at her for forty minutes because none of us had a clue what time it was as there were no clocks anywhere. I always thought I wasn't very creative, but it's amazing what I can come up with when given a few pieces of scrap paper and time to kill.
The third exam was year two translating both ways and my god it was so hard! Nothing else to say really other than I don't think I did very well!
Fourth exam- phonetics. WHAT. A. JOKE. We had to do an oral exam because we had a clash and I know as little about phonetics as I do about football (next to nothing). The guy gave me the question sheet as I sat there with Doug looking so confused. I wrote down anything and everything I could think of about how we make vowel sounds but turns out when it came to it, that only took up about 4 minutes of the fifteen minute exam. He then asked me some questions to which I just responded with the GCSE knowledge I had before staring blankly at him. He started explaining this graph thing to me but I got so distracted by trying to get out of his line of breath (gag) that i completely switched off, only snapping out of it when I was met by a cold silence. Panicking and not knowing whether he had asked me a question or not, I looked all confused and asked him to repeat what he had said. FML he repeated all ten minutes of it and then hadn't even asked me a sodding question. ahhh it was awful. How well did I do? Well put it this way- before leaving, he looked at me confused and asked "Don't you do Maths?" to which I replied "Yes but I hate physics." Not a good move there Jess eh? I was just so mind-numbingly bored by the end of it and needed to escape his smelly breath ERGGH. Yes I bloody do maths, but maths makes sense (occasionally) and it's in English! Maybe I should have revised a bit... Ah well.
Christmas Festivities
It was so weird spending the build up to Christmas in Nantes. Unlike in the UK you do not get bombarded with Christmas Carols everywhere you go, but instead there are some really cute little markets all over the place selling home made gifts and lots of mulled wine. It wasn't until we got to Paris that we actually heard Christmas carols which was odd seeing as when I was in Chior I'd have been singing carols since September. However, although different I still had a lovely few weeks.
Erasmus party at Lieu Unique.
(ummm... descriptions of this night may be a bit vague as not many of us remember much... oops)
We started drinking at Livi and Lauren's flat, making a drinking game out of French for Dummies on my phone (I'm quite embarrassed that I just admitted that seeing as we all ended up so drunk and our degree is in French). Anyway, after a few hours we headed into town, I fell over on the tram somehow and ended up wedged in the stairwell. Livi and I also made a friend called "Fanny you know like the Pussy" whilst singing Rihanna on the street.
We then wandered round Bouffay for no apparent reason and then eventually got into LU. Being known for being ever so slightly more dramatic than usual when slightly intoxicated, I was absolutely shocked and appalled when the bouncer wouldn't let Lauren in because she was too drunk. I took it upon myself to just stand there, pretty much shouting in the bouncers face "ELLE N'EST PAS IVRE! ELLE A BESOIN D'ENTRER S'IL VOUS PLAIT." Such a wonder they let me in again after that. What a knob!
Lauren eventually got in with Claire having swapped coats with Annie. Hahaha she looked absolutely hilarious in Annie's coat which came down past her knees because Annie is taller. Didn't think I could make more of a fool of myself to be honest but the night was still young.
I then took it upon myself to confess my love to my friend Maurice. Not going to go into any more detail about that one as I am too ashamed. Sorry darling! We apparently made lots of French friends? Je ne sais pas.
Can't really fill in the blanks here to be honest which is awful (hope my mother never reads this). I remember walking home with Lauren because Livi had run off because she was angry that Lauren had called her a knob or something ridiculous like that. The cut knees the next morning suggest I may have fallen over at this point. The fifteen minute walk to their flat (I was staying there too) took us about three times as long as it should have done but we then found Livi.
Livi and Lauren broke into the most hilarious argument with Livi shouting "You called me a knob!" and Lauren replying with "I'm sorry I called you a kno-" and being cut off by Livi screaming "YOU JUST DID IT AGAIN!" hahah it was so funny. But in my stupid drunk mind I thought it was a good idea to pretend I was going home to stop them arguing. I ran out being all dramatic and ran up a flight of stairs in their building and curled up for a little nap outside someone's door for half an hour before returning back down to the flat wanting a proper sleep. Very effective Jess.
The next morning, we all woke up with such sore heads and texts off a boy called Simon that none of us could remember meeting! The day progressed with more texts telling us "It was nice to meet you all last night, British girls are fun!" Apparently the way to make french friends is to get so drunk that you don't care about what you're saying. I wonder what the Exeter University staff would say about that...
Secret Santa
To get into the spirit of Christmas, I organised Secret Santa for us all. We had to spend 5 euros and would open the presents at a meal during the last week. We all had lovely presents and ate and drunk enough for about 20 people.
Some of the presents were hilarious. Liam had a penis sponge to do his washing in his shower and his favourite biscuits. Lou had some incense which smelt lush. Becks had whisky and lip balm. I had a lovely mirror and knickers from accessorize from Annie <3 Merci cherie! Ooh and also Bon Point cards from Ellie :D hahah Ellie had a really fashionable Nantes tourist bag full of goodies. Lauren had an orgasmatron (head massager = amazzze). Annie had a bracelet. Claire had such a cute Christmas tree decoration. Livi had a lush little purse. Doug and Matt celebrated by toasting to each other or something stupid- Scrooooges.
After we had eaten, we headed to Pti Zync which Donald re-opened for us as he was closing bless him. As we were the only ones there, we could choose what music we wanted (from a very random/bizarre collection) and had a good dance before getting the tram home.
Ice Skating
There was a temporary ice rink next to the Cathedral in Nantes, so Liam, Ellie, Lou and I went for a few hours. It was only a euro! Winter Wonderland is such a rip off.
Lou took one step onto the ice, having never skated before and completely decked it! It was so funny.
But she mastered it eventually bless her.
Flying home
After so much panic with the snow and everything, we were all so worried about getting home. Unlike some people, we were so lucky that our flight wasn't canceled. We got to Nantes airport, and without breaking tradition, I once again had to unpack my case because it was so heavy, and poor Liam had to wear about three coats and stuff all the pockets because his was so heavy!
After laughing at everyone's passport photos (Doug's in particular is hilair) we eventually boarded the flight an hour late and it was horrible. Ellie was having a mare and I was starting to get a bit panicky and accidentally screamed "SHIT" really loudly as the plane suddenly dropped, much to the parents next to me's dismay. However, once we got in the air we were fine, luckily.
We landed slightly late also, and were in such a faff trying to rush to get our train. We missed it, and because of all the snow, there were no taxis running and the Derby bus was really late. It eventually turned up so Ellie, Doug and I got on it and got to the station where we stocked up on British goodies that we had missed so much.
Once we got on the train towards Cardiff, I realised I had left all my UK cards (young persons rail card, boots and gift cards) in Nantes- twat. Luckily the train man was in a bit of a rush so only glanced at my ticket. This woman started talking to us which was really annoying, I hate it when people do that. She just kept butting into our conversation- It was so annoying! She even had the cheek to ask for a piece of Ellie's chocolate orange and if any of you know Ellie, you know that's not a wise move.
A few hours, a really long wait at Birmingham and loads of magazines later we finally got to Cardiff where Charles picked me up (thanks again babes xxx). It was so good to be home and nothing had changed. Emma was already nagging me to hurry up home so she could start eating the chinese... Safe Em, sisterly love and all that. Not like I hadn't seen her for 2 months because she'd lost her passport or anything...
Erasmus party at Lieu Unique.
(ummm... descriptions of this night may be a bit vague as not many of us remember much... oops)
We started drinking at Livi and Lauren's flat, making a drinking game out of French for Dummies on my phone (I'm quite embarrassed that I just admitted that seeing as we all ended up so drunk and our degree is in French). Anyway, after a few hours we headed into town, I fell over on the tram somehow and ended up wedged in the stairwell. Livi and I also made a friend called "Fanny you know like the Pussy" whilst singing Rihanna on the street.
We then wandered round Bouffay for no apparent reason and then eventually got into LU. Being known for being ever so slightly more dramatic than usual when slightly intoxicated, I was absolutely shocked and appalled when the bouncer wouldn't let Lauren in because she was too drunk. I took it upon myself to just stand there, pretty much shouting in the bouncers face "ELLE N'EST PAS IVRE! ELLE A BESOIN D'ENTRER S'IL VOUS PLAIT." Such a wonder they let me in again after that. What a knob!
Lauren eventually got in with Claire having swapped coats with Annie. Hahaha she looked absolutely hilarious in Annie's coat which came down past her knees because Annie is taller. Didn't think I could make more of a fool of myself to be honest but the night was still young.
I then took it upon myself to confess my love to my friend Maurice. Not going to go into any more detail about that one as I am too ashamed. Sorry darling! We apparently made lots of French friends? Je ne sais pas.
Can't really fill in the blanks here to be honest which is awful (hope my mother never reads this). I remember walking home with Lauren because Livi had run off because she was angry that Lauren had called her a knob or something ridiculous like that. The cut knees the next morning suggest I may have fallen over at this point. The fifteen minute walk to their flat (I was staying there too) took us about three times as long as it should have done but we then found Livi.
Livi and Lauren broke into the most hilarious argument with Livi shouting "You called me a knob!" and Lauren replying with "I'm sorry I called you a kno-" and being cut off by Livi screaming "YOU JUST DID IT AGAIN!" hahah it was so funny. But in my stupid drunk mind I thought it was a good idea to pretend I was going home to stop them arguing. I ran out being all dramatic and ran up a flight of stairs in their building and curled up for a little nap outside someone's door for half an hour before returning back down to the flat wanting a proper sleep. Very effective Jess.
The next morning, we all woke up with such sore heads and texts off a boy called Simon that none of us could remember meeting! The day progressed with more texts telling us "It was nice to meet you all last night, British girls are fun!" Apparently the way to make french friends is to get so drunk that you don't care about what you're saying. I wonder what the Exeter University staff would say about that...
Secret Santa
To get into the spirit of Christmas, I organised Secret Santa for us all. We had to spend 5 euros and would open the presents at a meal during the last week. We all had lovely presents and ate and drunk enough for about 20 people.
Some of the presents were hilarious. Liam had a penis sponge to do his washing in his shower and his favourite biscuits. Lou had some incense which smelt lush. Becks had whisky and lip balm. I had a lovely mirror and knickers from accessorize from Annie <3 Merci cherie! Ooh and also Bon Point cards from Ellie :D hahah Ellie had a really fashionable Nantes tourist bag full of goodies. Lauren had an orgasmatron (head massager = amazzze). Annie had a bracelet. Claire had such a cute Christmas tree decoration. Livi had a lush little purse. Doug and Matt celebrated by toasting to each other or something stupid- Scrooooges.
After we had eaten, we headed to Pti Zync which Donald re-opened for us as he was closing bless him. As we were the only ones there, we could choose what music we wanted (from a very random/bizarre collection) and had a good dance before getting the tram home.
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| Can't you tell how much Diglet likes being touched... |
There was a temporary ice rink next to the Cathedral in Nantes, so Liam, Ellie, Lou and I went for a few hours. It was only a euro! Winter Wonderland is such a rip off.
Lou took one step onto the ice, having never skated before and completely decked it! It was so funny.
But she mastered it eventually bless her.
Flying home
After so much panic with the snow and everything, we were all so worried about getting home. Unlike some people, we were so lucky that our flight wasn't canceled. We got to Nantes airport, and without breaking tradition, I once again had to unpack my case because it was so heavy, and poor Liam had to wear about three coats and stuff all the pockets because his was so heavy!
After laughing at everyone's passport photos (Doug's in particular is hilair) we eventually boarded the flight an hour late and it was horrible. Ellie was having a mare and I was starting to get a bit panicky and accidentally screamed "SHIT" really loudly as the plane suddenly dropped, much to the parents next to me's dismay. However, once we got in the air we were fine, luckily.
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| King Louis? |
We landed slightly late also, and were in such a faff trying to rush to get our train. We missed it, and because of all the snow, there were no taxis running and the Derby bus was really late. It eventually turned up so Ellie, Doug and I got on it and got to the station where we stocked up on British goodies that we had missed so much.
Once we got on the train towards Cardiff, I realised I had left all my UK cards (young persons rail card, boots and gift cards) in Nantes- twat. Luckily the train man was in a bit of a rush so only glanced at my ticket. This woman started talking to us which was really annoying, I hate it when people do that. She just kept butting into our conversation- It was so annoying! She even had the cheek to ask for a piece of Ellie's chocolate orange and if any of you know Ellie, you know that's not a wise move.
A few hours, a really long wait at Birmingham and loads of magazines later we finally got to Cardiff where Charles picked me up (thanks again babes xxx). It was so good to be home and nothing had changed. Emma was already nagging me to hurry up home so she could start eating the chinese... Safe Em, sisterly love and all that. Not like I hadn't seen her for 2 months because she'd lost her passport or anything...
From Paris With Love xxx
Having been in France for three months, we decided it was about time we embraced French culture at its best and booked a weekend in Paris (all in aid of our degree of course). Thus, on the 3rd of December 2010 Claire and I got up obscenely early and set off to the beautiful Paris, to then be joined the following day by Ellie, Liam, Lauren and Livi.
After discovering we were in the wrong seats and being directed to the right ones and having a woman fall asleep next to me (very awkward when I needed the toilet) we finally arrived and bought our tram tickets for the weekend. We got to the Young and Happy hostel in the Latin Quarter (definitely got quite lost), dumped our bags and headed off to explore Paris. SUCH A BUSY DAY. We must have walked miles. We saw the Moulin Rouge, Palais Royale, about a gazillion wedding shops and, of course, went shopping in Les Halles. We then went for a few drinks and met two lovely American guys before heading off to the Louvre to pretend we were cultured. I hate to sound horrifically uncultured, but if I saw one naked baby flying round in the sky or feeding off it's mother, I saw a thousand. They are big on their nakedness in the Old Louvre. I was rather shocked I must say! Some of the paintings are so beautiful but there are others that are just so weird!
By 8pm we were dragging our feet round the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, absolutely shattered, only to get lost trying to find the exit. However uncool we sound saying this, we were glad to get to bed at about 11pm, both absolutely shattered. We were quite content until the Brazilian girls we were sharing with decided to make as much noise as possible until about midnight. SAAAAFE.
The others arrived bright and early the next day, we went to meet them and then dropped their bags etc off. First stop- FOOD. We decided on crepes and paninis in a little cafe in the latin quarter. It had started to snow and Ellie took this opportunity to launch a snowball at Liam (and surprisingly didn't miss) hitting him square in the ear. *Cue Liam's Promise Of Revenge.* Next thing we know, random questions such as "Ellie, what do you think about Titanic?" "Wasn't it such a shame about the iceberg?" led Ellie to finally discover she'd been walking around with a HUGE snowball in her hood. All fun and games.
We then headed back to the hostel to change before going for a meal and out in the evening. It was then that I came up with such a bon plan- to wear plastic bags on my feet to keep them dry under my boots! It worked so well! If anyone ever gets stuck in a similar cold-feet-sitch you now know what to do, and I intend to sue if I ever see plastic bag linings in shoes on the catwalk.
All dolled up and ready to go, we found a lovely restaurant in the Latin Quarter where we decided to eat (mainly drawn in by the 15 euro 3-course-menu- yummy). Once we had all finished, and Ellie had hoovered up most of the leftovers (she'll kill me for that- "you're giving me a complex!"), we decided to go to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up. We got on the tram, and after a few jugs of wine at the restaurant, it was SUCH a good idea to buy a cheap bottle of wine in an off license to drink in front of the Eiffel Tower- Class birds. The man at the till was less than impressed when we asked for his cheapest bottle of wine and then "Avez-vous un screw-top?" Funnily enough, they don't do easy-open cheap wine in France, you know because they are all cultured and don't drink in the streets, but luckily he had a bottle opener. We obviously weren't the only ones who had ever bought wine to drink en route. Either that or he drinks his profits...
Having recovered from the mental scarring in the sex district, we made our way to La Defense to see another Christmas market. La Defense has been described as a mini Japan in Paris apparently, which I thought was ridiculous, but is in fact a reasonably good description. Compared to the rest of Paris, it's HUGE modern buildings make it unique. However, as the French are never afraid of a bit of mismatching, in amongst all these futuristic buildings were lots of little huts that formed a traditional Christmas market. It was so lovely! Ellie and I had a lush tartiflette which was absolutely amazing, however, having had a glimpse of modern/more familiar surroundings, some of the others couldn't resist a McDonalds. When in Rome...
After discovering we were in the wrong seats and being directed to the right ones and having a woman fall asleep next to me (very awkward when I needed the toilet) we finally arrived and bought our tram tickets for the weekend. We got to the Young and Happy hostel in the Latin Quarter (definitely got quite lost), dumped our bags and headed off to explore Paris. SUCH A BUSY DAY. We must have walked miles. We saw the Moulin Rouge, Palais Royale, about a gazillion wedding shops and, of course, went shopping in Les Halles. We then went for a few drinks and met two lovely American guys before heading off to the Louvre to pretend we were cultured. I hate to sound horrifically uncultured, but if I saw one naked baby flying round in the sky or feeding off it's mother, I saw a thousand. They are big on their nakedness in the Old Louvre. I was rather shocked I must say! Some of the paintings are so beautiful but there are others that are just so weird!
By 8pm we were dragging our feet round the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, absolutely shattered, only to get lost trying to find the exit. However uncool we sound saying this, we were glad to get to bed at about 11pm, both absolutely shattered. We were quite content until the Brazilian girls we were sharing with decided to make as much noise as possible until about midnight. SAAAAFE.
The others arrived bright and early the next day, we went to meet them and then dropped their bags etc off. First stop- FOOD. We decided on crepes and paninis in a little cafe in the latin quarter. It had started to snow and Ellie took this opportunity to launch a snowball at Liam (and surprisingly didn't miss) hitting him square in the ear. *Cue Liam's Promise Of Revenge.* Next thing we know, random questions such as "Ellie, what do you think about Titanic?" "Wasn't it such a shame about the iceberg?" led Ellie to finally discover she'd been walking around with a HUGE snowball in her hood. All fun and games.
"No Ellie it's fine." ...*thinks so self* "definitely going to shit on your pillow!"
Next we went to look around some of the Christmas markets along the Champs Elysées. They were so beautiful! However after walking so far in the snow, all our feet were freezing to the point where Livi couldn't walk properly- a perfect excuse to stop for hot chocolate. At the café we were joined with two more girls from Cardiff uni, Amy and Kathryn before we wandered through all the shops, only venturing into H&M because we couldn't afford anything else.
We then headed back to the hostel to change before going for a meal and out in the evening. It was then that I came up with such a bon plan- to wear plastic bags on my feet to keep them dry under my boots! It worked so well! If anyone ever gets stuck in a similar cold-feet-sitch you now know what to do, and I intend to sue if I ever see plastic bag linings in shoes on the catwalk.
All dolled up and ready to go, we found a lovely restaurant in the Latin Quarter where we decided to eat (mainly drawn in by the 15 euro 3-course-menu- yummy). Once we had all finished, and Ellie had hoovered up most of the leftovers (she'll kill me for that- "you're giving me a complex!"), we decided to go to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up. We got on the tram, and after a few jugs of wine at the restaurant, it was SUCH a good idea to buy a cheap bottle of wine in an off license to drink in front of the Eiffel Tower- Class birds. The man at the till was less than impressed when we asked for his cheapest bottle of wine and then "Avez-vous un screw-top?" Funnily enough, they don't do easy-open cheap wine in France, you know because they are all cultured and don't drink in the streets, but luckily he had a bottle opener. We obviously weren't the only ones who had ever bought wine to drink en route. Either that or he drinks his profits...
So, with wine now in tow, we headed to a place near the Eiffel Tower where you could see it best and it looked SO beautiful. We had our fair share of photos and managed to avoid the crazy merchandise sellers before wandering through the gardens to it. Obviously couldn't walk past the carousel without a cheeky go though! Eight 20-22 year old students all so over excited sat on gigantic and ornate carousel horses, shrieking like hooligans whilst swigging from a bottle of wine- that was a site for the Parisians I must say!
Next stop- Notre Dame. Even more beautiful at night and when surrounded by Christmas trees and lights.
We then caught the last tram back to the hostel to sleep off the wine before another day of tourist attractions the next day.
Day 3- Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge and La Défense Christmas markets. As it was our last day in Paris we wanted to squeeze as much as we could in. We headed towards the Sacre Coeur as it is renowned for having one of the most beautiful views in Paris. This view, accompanied by the questionable voice of the guy singing the Beatles, was a bit much for our Liam, who came over all emotional. Larmes au Sacre-Coeur.
So after an emotional half an hour at the stunning Sacre-Coeur, we then dropped down into the sex district. The Moulin Rouge is a must see when in Paris, however the sex shops, we soon discovered were so disturbing! Literally the most terrifying objects I have ever seen. We went in to have a look around for a joke but all came out absolutely traumatized. *SHIVER*
As our trip drew to a close, we went back to the hostel to get our stuff to get the train back to Nantes. Livi ended up having to book an earlier train home (I think it was cheaper), so off she scarpered. Lauren Claire and I booked together so were all sat together on a table which was all well and good, until the stupid bloke opposite me took up ALL my legroom. Literally my knees were under my chin! Stupid man! And to make things worse, he spoke English and French so I couldn't even have a good bitch. About half way through the journey Liam appeared in a fluster as he's had to sit next to a fat smelly guy- nice. It was then we found out that Ellie had managed to get into first class! Lucky sod.
It was so lovely to get out of Nantes for a few days, and we had such a fabulous time! Young and Happy through and through. "So much banter" as Liam would say. Really going to miss these guys :(
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