Work hard, play hard

Saturday was the first and only day I took part in the 3-day city festival here in Valmiera. As I mentioned in my last post, my friend and I agreed to perform a Celtic dance together. An international dance for an international pair. When I woke up in the morning, I felt fairly confident about doing it. As the morning slowly passed, I felt slightly nervous. As I stood around the stage floor waiting for our turn to dance, my mind went blank and my legs turned to jelly. Being 14th in the line-up really didn't help. I had one strategy and one strategy only: just keep smiling.

Poster for Valmiera City Festival

Before the song and dance performance, the students had some time to work on their group projects and explore some of the festival events. I managed to see some of a youth fashion show, which looked as if it had an eco-friendly and/or recycled theme.

My favourite: Nescafe dress

Afterwards, my friends and I briefly walked into the shopping centre. I saw that a stall was selling homemade gingerbread cookies. I'm a sucker for any biscuit, cookie or cake. We didn't have much time to stop, so I had to resist my cravings. To distract me from my biscuit-hunger, my friends and I decided to take a photo at one of the stalls. 

Modelling traditional countryside wear

It was time to dance. While people were putting on their Uzbek costumes or changing into their Italian football shirts, I simply tied my Union Jack scarf around my waist. It was more of a practical decision than a fashion choice. After all, I didn't want to keep fiddling with it when I shimmied or skipped!

Germany, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Italy all in one photo.

I made a few mistakes here and there, and had to surpress my laughter every now and then but I think we did a pretty good job! Considering I'd only practised it three times, I'm rather proud. A cold, post-traumatic Latvian beer and two gingerbread cookies topped it off! Yes, I went back to buy them. I couldn't resist...

Voila!

Sunday was our day off. The day most of us were looking forward to. The day we could travel, relax and enjoy Latvia without any time constraints or pressure. Most of the students, including myself, travelled to Riga. This was my third time in Riga and, like the second time, everyone split into smaller groups. From then on, it was me, my Azerbaijani friend, my Uzbek friend and my Belarussian friend. I don't think you can get more international than that! The first thing we did - which was a first for me - was climb to the top of the Latvian Academy of Sciences building for a panoramic view of the city.

We went to the 17th floor.

Then our self-led tour continued. After a week of brilliant sunshine in Valmiera, dark clouds started to form over Riga. And you know what that means - rain! Luckily, we happened to be standing under a tree or in a shop whenever it started to pour. 

I'll let the photos speak for themselves:

TV Tower (the tallest structure in the Baltic States)

Old Riga

Riga Central Market (one of the largest European city markets)

The Sun Stone (office building,
second highest structure in the Baltic States)

National Library of Latvia (founded in 1919)

I just had to...

Cat House

Look at that sky!

My beautiful friends.

My new furry friend.

The rain began to ease off and we had an idea to go to Jurmala, a resort town just 25km west of Riga. It was my first time getting a train in Latvia - a very different experience to trains in England. First of all, you can walk on the track. Secondly, you have to climb quite high to get on to the train itself (I don't know how elderly Latvians do it!) and thirdly, it seems much cheaper!

I love the beach!

My first cartwheel in 4 years.

Oh happy days.

After spending the afternoon at the beach, I can really understand why Latvians love nature.

"A smile is not a sign of happiness but the cause of happiness" - Daisaku Ikeda

Learning about lovely Latvia

As the Baltic International Summer School continues, I'm learning more and more about this wonderful country that I have the pleasure to stay in once again.

My new facts about Latvia:

• During Easter time, swinging on a large wooden swing apparently reduces the chance of mosquito bites in the summer (I wish I knew this last year!)
• Girls and women wear crowns during Midsummer's Night celebrations to signify (and for married women, pretend) that they are not married.
• Before Christianisation, Latvians believed in several gods. Now, Latvia is predominantly Lutheran, Catholic or Orthodox.
• Latvians believe that the closer you are to nature, the closer you are to the universe.

Interesting, huh? 

On Wednesday, I joined one of the programmes on their first trip to a nearby town called Cēsis. I went there twice last year, but I really wanted to go again. From Valmiera to Cēsis, we crossed one railway line a total or 7 times! 

The students first met with the Vice-Mayor of Cēsis, Martins Malcenieks, to discuss the town's development and its tourism.

BISS students in action.

Afterwards, the content manager of this summer programme gave us a small tour - Cēsis is actually her hometown so we were lucky to have an insider's view. We walked towards the centre and came to Rose Square. Although there currently aren't any roses, the square was filled with roses before the Second World War, hence the name.

"Rose Square"

Lutheran church, built in approx. 1286.

The lantern has been the symbol of Cesis since 2004.

A gravestone in memory of those deported from Cesis by Stalin.

We then entered the medieval Livonian castle grounds to begin our organised tour of the ruins. 

Magical!

Before starting, one of the organisers of a famous historical film festival held in the castle itself gave us a small talk on the ins and out of the event. Then, the castle tour began... Some people, including myself, were given lanterns to take into the ruins later on in the tour.

You can see the excitement!

Dressed in traditional servant clothing of the time, our guide gave us a very thorough and vivid tour of the castle, describing the typical scenery, which rooms were where and who lived here. Our first impressions were that royalty lived here, a king and queen perhaps. But instead, friar monks and knights lived here. She described their living conditions in such detail, from their dietary limits to their prayer timings. 

Our wonderful tour guide.

At this point, I was engrossed in everything she was saying... Until I felt the sudden urge to be sick. Out of nowhere, I felt like I was going to faint. I couldn't see anything; everything around me was glaring white. I'm not one to usually fuss. Normally I would have just let this moment of sickness pass and carry on with the tour but something really didn't feel right. I stumbled towards the content manager and whispered "I don't feel very well". I handed my lantern to one of the students out of fear that I would drop it. She sat me down as I mumbled different things. I just remember saying "I'm sorry" a lot! Eventually, she went to fetch for the castle's receptionist and they took me into a cool room where I sat while the tour went on. I really wanted to see more of the ruins but, over the years, I've come to realise that health is very important. After all, I'm 20 now. I have to take these things more seriously!

After pulling myself together, I joined the group again and we headed to a nearby lake for a quick swim. I wasn't sure whether to swim or not (I'd brought my bikini) but after having that strange heatstroke attack, I didn't think it was wise. 

Latvian lakes are a thing of beauty.

So that was Cēsis. It was definitely a different experience to last year! In the evening, in traditional BISS style, we had the International Snack Party. People had piles of food on their allotted tables, particularly the Italians (yum!) Some of my friends may remember me worrying about which food to take - perhaps scones, shortbread, curry... Only joking! In the end, I brought some angel cake slices with me. Simple, delicious and English. 

It was all gone by the end of the night.

There's one more bit of UK 'repping' I have to do here in Latvia. Valmiera City Festival started yesterday, 3 days of celebration and unity. BISS students are required to participate in the song and dance performances. I've been racking my brain about what to do. Sing the national anthem? An Irish dance? Sing an Adele song? Just when I thought I was out of ideas (sensible ones), my friend from Denmark said that she was performing a Celtic dance alone. Celts... Ireland... UK - sorted! The summer school staff wanted to see what each country had prepared the same evening. I learned the dance in 10 minutes and performed with all my heart (and with inevitable laughter). I'll wear my Union Jack scarf to top it all off.

I was asked to join the other programme's first field trip yesterday for Facebook coverage. With plenty of water in my bag and a promised lake swim, I couldn't refuse. I was also able to get to know the other group a bit better. 

We had three different stops:

I would live there.

1) Ametciems village - a beautiful village consisting of eco-friendly and naturally-made houses. The original swampland was bought by a successful entrepreneur years ago. He dug up the swamps to build his home, and soon asked his friends to join him on the land. He now sells land to people to build their homes. There are no fences so wild animals can roam freely and one part of each house must contain logs.

As the village's representative said, "This is an example of how one person's dreams can come true."

2) Vestiena parish, the main trip location

Vestiena, meaning Latvia's hat, is the highest place in the Vidzeme region.

After exploring the protected landscape, the students had to split into groups and present ways in which the place could develop activities to increase tourism. The food and Kala Lake (the largest lake of Vestiena) was enough for me! I even went on a peddle boat and sailed out into the serene lake with some Polish friends.

Sunset over Kala Lake.

3) A small animal sanctuary

As we left Vestiena, we weren't really told where we were going. Only that we weren't going home yet. Driving along a narrow path, we saw a white billy goat in the distance. The coach stopped and when we got off, it was as if we had entered another world. There were hens, chickens, geese, ducks, a dog, a cat and 400 different types of flowers in one garden. It was an eco-friendly animal sanctuary.

After exploring the garden, we were taken to a hill top where we made our own candle over a cup of tea and cake. We said three wishes - one for the world, one for our country and a personal wish - and then folded bee's wax into a small candle. 

Don't worry, there was a rope holding it back.

As you can probably guess, I'm very tired but I'm enjoying every single experience. There is one good thing about this heat: the mosquitoes don't like it!

Et voilà - the end of my French fantasy

A new beginning or the beginning of the end? 

My time in France is slowly coming to an end with just three days until I board the plane to go back home. For good this time. Well, until next time anyway. That indescribable feeling of finishing the last exam - and the dread of last minute packing - has urged me to write another post.

Over the past four months, I've:

Made the most amazing new friends, including some fellow French classmates, members of the university's newspaper association and not forgetting "the Americans"...

The original family.

SkemaNews - my second family.

My France best friend.

Gotten used to a whole new school system - mainly the exams...

I tried my best!

Eaten new food - snails to be more precise...

And made new memories, memories that will stay with me forever and forever.

So there you have it, my successful second time abroad and the end of my Erasmus adventure. I'll try not to cry on the plane, but I cannot guarantee anything. The thought of snuggling up in a blanket, watching old-school Christmas films and cuddling with the cat is keeping me going though. I haven't stayed in England for more than 2 weeks in nearly 7 months. Hopefully nothing has changed too much and I won't experience reverse culture shock - and yes, I did Google it.

Where to next? I hope for my next adventure to be in Egypt, but you never know what might happen. I could end up in New York, Tokyo or even the south of France again. I will go wherever my heart takes me (without sounding too cheesy).

Note to self: buy a bigger suitcase or pack less clothes!

Like I said in my last speech, if you ever get the opportunity to go to a country that you've never heard of or know little about, I encourage you to go. You will come back richer in friendship, knowledge and, above all, in culture. That's all from me. Time to pack (or, more accurately, squeeze everything into my suitcase).

Over and out,

A Student Abroad.

"Everything passes. Both soaring joys and crushing sorrows fade away like a dream. However, the knowledge of having lived one’s life to the fullest never disappears" - Daisaku Ikeda

Time to start saying goodbye (or au revoir)

Wow, haven't these past 4 months flown by? I remember when I'd just moved into my apartment and panicking because the wi-fi wasn't working. But since then, the wi-fi has served me well - apart from a few glitches when Skyping - successfully accompanying me through 4 months of studying [and procrastinating - but we won't dwell on that one].

As well as few projects and presentations, I have completed two out of five "finals", one being for Speech where I delivered an informative speech about how amaaaazing Latvia is for a holiday destination, delving into its rich history, the language and the traditions. And yes, I mentioned being the only non-white person in my town of residence. I just had to. A few minutes before giving my speech, I did start to imagine how the class would react from me saying that. Would they look at me in complete horror? Would they see the humour in the idea? Are they actually going to be listening to me? 

Luckily, some people giggled. I did say it with some sentiment though: to not be afraid to explore, embrace cultures and share your own. I decided not to mention the one black man I saw though. Goodbye Speech, it's been a pleasure.

I took my second final exam for Business and Professional Writing yesterday. I spent all day before memorising three case studies. It's all well and good doing that, but I always find that two minutes before the exam, you get a sudden wave of stress. Hardcore stress. While the clock is counting down until you must enter the exam room, the following scenario vividly plays out in your head: you sit down in your allocated seat, desperately trying to hold on to each and every word memorised and then your trusted mind goes entirely blank. Luckily, this didn't happen and the exam went well. Goodbye "BPW", as it's most commonly known.

Among the great friends I have made in France are not only the other international students but also the Buddhists I met too. 

Our last Buddhist meeting/party together.

I may not have understood every French word they said in the Buddhist meetings... but they never failed to make me laugh.

Definitely one to remember.

I'm trying to keep this experience alive by soaking up as much sun as possible (I've heard so many horror stories about the weather in England) and eating as many French breakfasts as possible, consisting of a few croissants, coffee and pain au raisin. Yes, you read that right: coffee. I never drank coffee before coming to France. I'm undoubtedly an English tea girl. I never knew how one sip of sweet coffee would be so addicting. Last month, I went through a phase of drinking coffee every day. I was neglecting my tea bags. 

As the days went by, I became well aware of this developing coffee habit and knew I had to do something about it before it got serious. I started to slowly wean myself off the coffee and go cold turkey. It was hard, I'm not going to lie, but tea is my true hot drink. Now I'm just drinking coffee every now and then until I leave. 

I suppose one good thing has come out of it: I have plenty of tea bags left over for my last week in France! 

"The differences between people need not act as barriers that wound, harm and drive us apart. Rather, these very differences among cultures and civilisations should be valued as manifestations of the richness of our shared creativity" - Daisaku Ikeda

Feeling the Christmas spirit in France

Yesterday was the first Saturday in a long time that I haven't stayed in my room all day studying - and it felt so good to be out again. Okay, I'm making it sound like I've been imprisoned in my room for 3 months. It's not that bad, honest. It just felt good giving myself a break away from the stress of university work and to enjoy the south of France once again! On a bitterly cold (but sunny) Saturday afternoon, my friends and I decided to check out Noël à Nice - the Christmas market. This was not procrastination, by the way.

And so we arrive: Nice by day.

I've never seen Nice so busy before: it was heaving with people! My friend and I decided to have a quick look at the market stalls, while we waited for our friend (who had an exam) to come and join us. We kept to a policy of "just looking, not buying" until our friend came - but it was so hard. Everywhere I looked I saw something adorable. Hand-decorated mosaic mirrors, jewellery of all kinds, homemade gingerbread and even different flavours of tea! How I resisted buying the chocolate orange tea, I'll never know.

Preeeetty.

Our main plan was to go ice-skating on the outdoor rink, but time just flew as we were being dazzled by little Christmas goodies. About an hour later, our friend had arrived in Nice so we left the market for a brief moment to meet her near the train station. It was time to do some shopping. On our way back to the market, it had already gotten dark. You know what that means... Christmas lights!

Nice by night.

Lovely Christmas decorations!

Trying to be sensible, I only brought a little bit of cash out with me, otherwise I would have bought everything in sight. The great thing about market stalls is that you can "haggle" you way to a good deal and our precious student Euros can go a long way. We saw a crowd of people so, like people do, we went to have a look. A man, a very talented man, was making clay pots - a different one each time - and giving them to people.

My pot in the making.

My best part of the evening was getting a free clay pot. The worst part was trying to get a freshly-made clay pot home without someone bumping into me. Guess what? Someone bumped into me. Luckily, it had already started drying so there wasn't too much damage done. From that point on, I held on to it for dear life. Well, as much as I could with two shivering hands. With that said, I nearly dropping it on the train ride home when trying to save my friend's pot from falling... But it survived:

"Mum, I made this for you!"

The pot looks quite big in the photo above, but it's actually smaller than my hand. I might paint it... but then I don't want to ruin it, especially after all the trauma it went through just to stay in one piece! I'm not sure how it's going to be transported home safely, but if it can survive being knocked over twice, I'm sure it can survive a 2-hour plane journey.

And so to my best photo of the night:

I want this in my house. Now.

I am definitely in the Christmas mood now. We plan to return to the market, with more friends and slightly more money, and ice-skate! And maybe get another pot:

"Could I have another, I mean, a beautiful clay pot? Oh no, you've never seen me before Monsieur."

These next two weeks are going to be hectic for me. 5 final exams, 2 assignments and 1 presentation later, I shall be packing up my room, saying my goodbyes and catching a flight home. Oh gosh, the packing - *sad face*

"The important thing is to firmly fix our gaze on our own weaknesses, not run away from them, but to battle them head-on and establish a solid self that nothing can sway" - Daisaku Ikeda

Three weeks...

A strange pattern has emerged. This is the third time I am writing my blog after three weeks. You're slacking, Gabrielle. Clearly, this means that a lot has happened in the meantime so I will try to give you a brief but interesting overview of "the latest" in my life.

As most of you know, all the classes I do at my French university centre on the subject of Communication, but there's one that I have warmed to the most: Writing for Multi-Media. Not only is it taught by a professional freelance journalist (who works for the New York Times) but it also focuses on what I want to do in life - write. As our teacher is "in the know", she managed to get one of her professional friends named Jeanne Oliver to come in and talk about her travel website, a website with all the information you need to know about Croatia. She took us through the ins and outs of setting a website up, looking for inspiration, facing competition and keeping up-to-date with the time. But this got me thinking... maybe I could create a website one day. But, of course, there's no rush.

Talking of travelling, I've made another crazy life decision. I want to do an internship in Egypt. And yes, I've already applied and had a Skype interview for it. I told you a lot can happen in three weeks! I know what you're probably thinking: why Egypt? Well, I'll tell you. After announcing to my housemate about wanting to do an internship in Egypt, his initial reaction was "don't go there, it's dangerous", and that got me thinking. My response to him was "I want to see what we see in the media for myself". A typical Gabrielle response, but it's true. Of course, I see his point. There has been a major uprising and revolution, but if everyone had that sort of preconception about certain cultures, no-one would travel! I've always been fascinated with the ancient history of the country and I want to see how the culture is now, in this day and age.

Blame it on The Mummy.

Because I'm in France, I'm unable to do a face-to-face interview in England (obviously) so I managed to arrange a Skype interview - my first Skype interview. I was quite nervous at first. What do I wear? I should make my bed. What if the internet randomly cuts off? Who calls who? I am happy to say that despite my initial nerves, the interview went very well. I think I may have kept looking at myself on-screen, but nevertheless I said everything I wanted to say, I was honest and, most importantly, I didn't panic. A few days later, I received an email saying they were impressed with my responses and were sending my interview transcript to the national office for final acceptance. That's good enough for me!

I have also completed my second and last set of midterms for the semester. I think they went well, especially my speech. We were assigned to write and perform a persuasive speech. The first thing that came to mind was the abolition of nuclear weapons, so I did it. It's something I feel quite strongly about and I wanted that to come across in my speech. My speech began with a hypothetical situation, asking the audience to imagine they were the President of the most powerful country in the world and they had just been attacked by a neighbouring country - do you press the "red button" on your desk (which would instantly fire a nuclear missile) or not? After telling a few anecdotes and shocking facts, my speech was over. My teacher came to the front and said to the class, "we should be throwing flowers at Gabrielle, she had total conviction". The best [unexpected] compliment I could have wished for! It truly made my day.

What next? Ah, yes. Thanksgiving. I have celebrated my first Thanksgiving with my amazing American friends in France. That's a story for the grandchildren. The food was delicious: turkey, sweet potato pie, stuffing, the lot! And because we were hosting it at our house, my housemates and I were able to enjoy the leftovers.

Nom nom nom.

Well, I for one think that this is a successful summary of my life over the last three weeks. I am currently bombarded with project upon project, leading up to "finals" - like midterms, only these are at the end of the semester. I'll try to write another blog post soon, but if three weeks pass again, I'll be writing it in England!

I'd better make the most of my time left then, i.e. eat as many fresh croissants as humanly possible. Au revoir!

Paris: the city of romance and crêpes

I was doing my early morning browsing of the internet for the latest news and gossip (like ya do) and something suddenly sparked. I remembered my blog has gone three whole weeks without word nourishment!

Where to start, where to start. Ah yes, midterms. Who could ever forget midterms? Despite having a terrible cold, I managed to complete all of my midterms to the best of my ability. The easy part was over... the hardest part for me is waiting for the results. Every lecturer (or teacher) is different. Some like to be organised and mark them all in time for next week's class. Some are the complete opposite and have to prioritise which exam papers to mark when. And there are some who literally mark them in class a week after the exam. This happened for my 5th midterm. I was astonished... And I got 100%! Admittedly, there was a little party of Gabrielle's dancing around in my head.

During the days of having a cold, I had to give a 5-minute informative speech about Daisaku Ikeda, President of SGI (the Buddhist organisation I belong to and the author of most quotes on my blog). It took me about a day to write, including gathering research. It was quite hard to condense one amazing man's life down to 5 minutes, but I think I did a pretty damn good job considering! I received a better grade than the last one. I just need to work on slowing down when I speak. It can't be that hard, can it?

While preparing to go to Paris, which includes packing, unpacking and then packing again, it was announced that the Halloween party that my university was hosting had to be postponed, leaving it up to the international students to find an alternative. I was told at the last minute that my house was being used for the emergency venue. I wasn't planning on going to the original party. I had no costume. I did what any girl would do and smothered red lip gloss all over my chin and chest (I don't own red lipstick) - how to be a vampire in 10 seconds. I would just like to advise anyone going on holiday to never ever have a party the night before. Ever. Just for the sake of being full conscious when you reach your destination. It was fun though!

I was an innocent vampire.

So I managed to wake up in time, finish my packing (I'm getting better at it) and meet my friends on the bus to the airport with my housemate. As I got on the bus, I noticed that one of our friends was not there - hence my prior advice. That was the first thing that went wrong. The second was even worse. We'd found a brilliant apartment to stay in through a very reliable website. Us being us, we waited until the last possible moment to collect our money together and book one... sitting on the bus, our booking was rejected. So we were packed, on the bus to the airport and HOMELESS. Despite freaking out inside, we couldn't help but laugh at the situation. No matter what was going to happen, we were going to Paris. We sent quite a few emails to some apartment landlords and eventually got a response! We were happy again.

She made it to the airport!

As soon as we landed in Paris, the cold and rain hit us. Thank goodness I brought my big coat with me. We eventually made it to the apartment, after asking the local residents and trailing our suitcases behind us a few miles. We met the landlord, were given a quick tour of the apartment, dumped our bags and went hunting for food. The boys did some heavy-duty grocery shopping. The girls, on the other hand, decided that since we were in Paris, we'll go out to eat every night. We were on holiday after all! Plus, we were living on a great road for food. It was lined with cinemas so there were crêpe stands everywhere!

My first photo in Paris.

Guess what my first meal in Paris was? Can't guess? It was Chinese. We really should have eaten something French but we vowed that we eat something French before we left Paris.

It was an amazing 4 days and 5 nights...

My first sight of the Eiffel Tower.

Tourist pose #1: Place de la Concorde.

The Pharaoh and I.

One of the most famous streets in the world.

Tourist pose #2: Arc de Triomphe.

Tourist pose #3: Eiffel Tower.

Inner thoughts: "I'm so excited!"

My best experience of Paris was going to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was freezing cold, we had to queue for just over an hour but we met some interesting people and saw some beautiful sights of the city.

Going up...

Watching the sun set from the Eiffel Tower.

Red nose!

The lights came on afterwards.

Eiffel Tower aglow!

Dinner #2: Italian (we are naughty tourists!)

After seeing the main sights in the centre of Paris, we took a trip to the Palace of Versailles. The sun came out just for us!

There it is!

Le chateau.

The famous Hall of Mirrors.

One of many gardens.

In awe at art and the garden landscapes, we hopped on a train (we paid, of course). Some were more eager than others:

A photo had to be taken.

The next day, the touristic spree continued - the Louvre Museum. The queue was horrendously long. My friend and I and two of the boys decided to have a race. First one to the Mona Lisa wins. My friend had been before so she knew a quicker way to get in. After pushing through the crowds and taking pictures to prove we had seen the Mona Lisa, we made our way out with glee written all over our faces.

The largest Louvre pyramid.

We beat you boys!

We entered the main hallway, looked up and the boys were standing in front of us. I felt like screaming "noooooooooooooo!" but I just smiled sweetly and said "have fun in there!" instead.

Notre Dame Cathedral.

After sightseeing, we decided to play a game. We got on the Metro, said a number (8, for example) and we would get off at the 8th stop. We ended up in Vincennes, a town in the suburbs of Paris.

But then the game got a bit more serious. We got on the RER (the overground train in Paris) and, without saying a number, ended up going to Disneyland "by accident". We didn't actually pay to go in the park but did have a nice little wander around the store.

Proof!

Just kidding.

As I said before, one of my main goals for Paris was to try some real French cuisine, not just croissants and baguettes, but the hardcore stuff!

Either escargot or cuisses de grenouille - or in English, snails or frog's legs. We were roaming the streets, looking at the menus in every restaurant window to find the suitable meal. Eventually, we found one. It was 11pm. We were the only customers left. My entrée was escargot. My friend grabbed my camera and documented every move I made.

Snails covered in garlic.

Gradually realising that I was about to eat snails.

Now I've done all the touristic stuff, I will return to Paris to experience the true Paris. The Midnight in Paris experience.

Voilà! Midterm madness, Halloween hangovers and Parisian paradise. What else could possibly happen in my last month and a half here? We shall have to wait and see...

In the words of Audrey Hepburn, "Paris is always a good idea".