As I was sitting in my room, highlighter pen in hand ready to attack the lecture notes surrounding me, I suddenly realised that I have neglected my blog for over 2 weeks now. Obviously, with being in France time is going very fast and consequently a lot of different things happen everyday. I think it might be quite boring telling you
everything, so I'll just capture and condense it all down for you. And no, this isn't an excuse to procrastinate...
To begin, my housemate and I decided to cook a traditional Sunday roast dinner for our group of international friends. Little did we know how much time it would take to cook using a
microwave oven. 4 whole hours to cook roast pork, roast potatoes, mixed vegetables and homemade Yorkshire puddings.
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| Yum! |
I've sat 4 midterms so far. Luckily for me, the modules I have chosen each entail all that I am most interested in: film and journalism. I'm one of those people that prefer to study alone, in solitude and isolation, revising in my own time and being able to gather my own thoughts. But seeing as I'm in France, I thought it would be best to
change it up a bit - to find a "study buddy". My friend offered for me to come to his home not far from Antibes to study for our film midterm (my second midterm). I hopped on the train for the first time (buying my ticket speaking in French only), met my friend and then we drove to his house.
When he said he lived on the mountains, I thought he was joking... He was serious.
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| Welcome to Saint Jeannet |
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| I thought he was joking. |
I must admit that I was in awe at the idyllic village and views for the most part of our study session.
A week after my first midterm for Business and Professional Writing, we were sitting in the lecture and the teacher said those words that no student ever wants to hear: "I have marked your tests..." Whilst squinting my eyes, my exam paper was put in front of me. With one eye open, I looked at the percentage written at the top of the front page...
98%! Both eyes were wide open at this point. Speechless.
A few exams ticked off the list, my friend and I decided to visit the legendary Monaco, less than an hour away from Antibes by train. We already knew the shopping prices in Monaco wouldn't fit our student budgets so we spent most of the time sightseeing and window shopping.
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| Monaco train station - a bit too excited? |
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| A small chapel. |
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| Paradise... |
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| Mountains! |
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| For our viewing pleasures ONLY. |
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| My car. |
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| Creative photography right here. |
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| An "underground" nightclub. |
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| Buddha Bar! |
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| Just for the Union Jack. |
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| My Monaco masterpiece. |
There is so much more to be seen in Monaco, but the party in Cannes the night before made my friend and I exhausted by the time we had finished walking around the shopping mall. I'll definitely be back though.
I'm currently getting over my
second flu whilst being here, which isn't easy to do when you have lectures almost everyday, a compulsory fitness class, the pressure of exams and weekly French lessons (which are going rather well by the way). Ginger tea, despite its gag-inducing taste, is my current lifesaver. I'm halfway through getting rid of my husky voice before my fifth and final midterm on Monday, a 5-minute informative speech.
So I've given you a very quick overview of a fortnight in Gabrielle's French life. Oh and before I forget, we've finally booked our tickets to
Paris! 5 days of pondering the Parisian panorama and trying not to spend too much money - yeah, right!
