Whinging, basically

I'm running out of ways to start these posts, so we'll just stick with 'Hi'.

Since I last posted, I've not done much apart from nearly throw up from fear of a presentation, run around Paris desperately trying to squeeze as much in as poss, accepted that my name is Christy, drunkenly tried to rent a Velib (you have to register or something?! liars), being miserable from lack of sleep and spending 7 euros on potatoes at the Christmas Market.

Thing is, I am sad at the thought of leaving Paris but at the same time, Christmas is around the corner and I'm missing home comforts. I did have a bit of a tear today; I was standing on Petit Pont looking out over the Seine (obviously this is St.Michel, where else) and it hit me that this was coming to an end. I'm so used to having such a unique (code-word for fucking bizarre) city at my fingertips, I'm so used to seeing all the monuments that I can't imagine not waking up knowing the Eiffel Tower is down the road, I'm so used to not being able to eat a decent steak and kidney pie that I've probably developed an allergic reaction to it. Above all, I'm so used to the people around me. I swear, I'll be in Chelmsford and I'll just be like, ooh I'll text Joe and Niamh, see what they're doing OH WAIT. What about my weekly Starbucks with Anja and our random conversations in German? It's weird as well, because I'm one of only a few who aren't coming back to the residence after Christmas...so that means, they'll all be here again bitching about the trains and meat prices without me. Kinda makes you realise how small your own life is in the grand scheme of things, I guess.

WOW this is getting a bit heavy...on the upside of things, Paris is looking very christmassy and lovely, which gives me a toasty feeling inside! I saw a man on a crane-lift thing decorating the christmas tree outside Notre Dame, I've seen some gorgeous shop windows, lots of lights, and perhaps most exciting of all, have learnt that Santa's Village will be at St. Sulpice this year. Which is literally 2 minutes walk from uni. SANTA. I'm such a kid.

Galeries Lafayette

So what have I actually done this week? Monday was a German test I had not idea had, 20 French sentences to translate into German. No dictonaries. Are you fucking kidding me? Tuesday was hideous presentation day, but it's over now. It was awful, just awful, but it's done and I never have to worry about it again (that won't stop me). On Wednesday, it was Hannah's 21st so it was off to Earth's Kitchen (gonna miss that place too ha) where I don't even know how many cocktails I had, before Hannah and I realised we'd missed the last metro, so we wandered around looking for a bus. On the way, I furiously attacked a boris bike with my navigo, we climbed onto the ice rink on the Champs-Elysees, I attemped to climb on a horse, Hannah fell asleep on the bus  and we eventually made it home. Top night.

only time you will ever see me on an ice rink, relish it

Thursday saw me nursing a hangover in Bagneux McDonalds all by myself. Claassssy. It's only really today that's worth mentioning as I had another touristy day and saw some interesting sights, like this random Japanese Pagoda about 15 minutes from the Arc de Triomphe, a library that looked like a castle, a wall in Montmarte that has 'I love you' written on it in every language and an amazing shop called Tati, which I will be returning to. I was actually able to purchase some 50d tights, in my size, more than one, for 4.99. That's rare as rocking horse shit in most big shops here. I was well excited to get a couple of christmas cards that weren't 4 euros a pop and some present bags that mother will love.

pity about the bloody van

this is just really french

I also finally bought myself an oil painting from one of the sellers along the Seine, something I wished I'd done last time I was here so I'm very satisfied with myself. Can you guess what it's a painting of? Yes, well done, it's Notre Dame and St.Michel. 

Next week is my last full proper full week (well 3 days) of uni and my last long weekend here in Paris, so I have so many other little things to do- I REALLLY want to go to the Sewer Museum, you get to wear a hard hat and everything.

Laters x

Disneyland and other pictures of me being a tit

Bon soir! So yesterday I realised that it's now exactly 4 weeks until I'm home, snuggled in front of my Christmas tree eating my body weight in oven-cooked meals. Where the hell has the time gone, seriously? I don't think my French has massively improved, which is ideal. My confidence is definitely a million times better, but my actual ability to form coherent sentences still leaves a lot to be desired.

I did, however, backchat a beggar the other day (only me, right). Basically, he told the whole train carriage that Sia, Sarah and I were 'little tourists' to which I snottily replied 'I'm not a tourist, I live here!' That sure told him.

I've also realised that I have no idea what I've done in my time here. I've still got some touristy things left to do, I've only been drunk about 3 times and the farthest I've been out of Paris is to Disneyland. Which is still in the same region. Will I ever escape Ile-de-France? Yes, because in 3 weeks I'm finally going somewhere! I'm heading to Strasbourg to see Sia (and the Christmas markets) for 4 days, which will be lovely!

Saturday before last, I had a nice little touristy day all to myself; I went to the Catacombes (grim, but fascinating)

rows and rows of bones...

sums the whole experience up really

taken by a nice Russian lady

 I finally climbed Notre Dame! It was well worth the half hour wait and 400 steps. I'm not even being sarcastic (well, maybe a bit) but it really was quite nice. Did you know that the animal sculpture things aren't actually called gargoyles?! They're chimeras, the gargoyles are the drain/water spout things! I know right, fun fact for you all.

quite proud of this one, obvs a professional now

I also visited the Archaeological Crypt and learnt all about the Romans in Paris, no award-winning pictures of this I'm afraid, but I did find out that the massive aqueducts over the train tracks into Cachan were built by the Romans, how mad is that!



I rounded off my day with a nice visit to Napoleon's tomb.

Have you ever seen anything like it?

The following night, we had another soiree at the residence, which involved a hell of a lot of food. Everyone made something (apart from me, Alessandra and Elinor because we got the wrong day). Spanish omelette, fried potatoes, Greek salad, Czech potato fritters, smoked sausage from the Swiss-French border, hot milk and honey, and some scary Mexican lollipops that made me want to cry. I did try my best and even took a big bite but I just couldn't finish it. Mau did take a picture of my first lick...saying 'Don't worry, I won't put it on Facebook, I'll just show my mother.'

Watermelon and tons of chilli powder, why

Last Monday, Joe and I took a trip to Alfortville, which was, I don't mean to be rude, full of Gypsies. We did see a rather impressive Chinese pagoda hotel though and had nice walk by the flooded river, which made a change to being in a rush around Paris all the time. Got some fresh-ish air in our lungs, went to see the Francois-Mitterand library, which I really don't understand the fuss about? And then headed to the cinema to see Quai d'Orsay - think The Thick of It but less offensive and more French. Most of the jokes went over my head, naturally, but I did enjoy the fascination with highlighters.

This weekend just gone, Sarah and Sia came to visit, which was cute! It was Sarah's first time in Paris so we did the obligatory tourist stuff (naturally, the Museum of Erotic Art comes under that category).

Intriguing

We also had a coffee in Cafe des deux Moulins, made famous by Amelie, so I can cross that off my bucket list! Saturday arrived and off we went to Disneyland, wearing our Mickey/Minnie ears. It was literally freezing, but it was amazing, obviously. Thunder Mountain remains firmly in my list of favourite rollercoasters and I absolutely LOVED posing for pictures with a statue of Buzz Lightyear. My kind of day out.

CHRISTMAAAAAAASYYYYYY

Sleepy is my favourite, and the best. Don't argue.

Sia and I, smileeey

Sarah and I, Buzz fecking Lightyear and what

The weekend also went far too fast though and now I'm facing the last vocab tests and assessments of term, ugh. Though, I did beat a couple of French girls in our German to French translation test, so I'll be sure to hold onto that when I think all hope is gone.

Tomorrow, I'm off to the Saint-Denis basilica with Niamh, and then we're going to watch the Christmas lights switch-on on the Champs-Elysees. Which will be stunning I reckon!

A tout l'heure! x

p.s Sorry that I nicked your photos off Facebook, Sia, does this count as an acknowledgement? Please don't sue me, I can't afford it.

Madame, madame, exusez-moi madame, bonjour

It's been a while since I've posted on here properly, mainly due to laziness and the fact that my life really isn't that interesting. I've also left it so long that I don't really know what to tell you. I've been feeling quite homesick since Lewis and my sister visited, only natural I guess but it's been a tough couple of weeks. We've had a few tests and graded homework at uni and it's been stressful and I'm still awful at contributing to lessons (apart from my German ones, which says a lot about what language I prefer...)

Anyway, aside from feeling sorry for myself, there's been some good parts too. We've had a crepe party at my residence, which is just what it sounds like- just eating a fuckload of crepes really. I met a couple of Peruvian girls which was lovely and Mau, a hilarious Mexican girl, taught me to salsa which was a laugh.

international amis

I also had a 'cultural' Sunday with Niamh, which consisted of going to a jumble sale, visiting the Pantheon (where they keep all the important people's bodies, basically) and sitting in MacDonalds waiting for the rain to stop. I was a bit relieved with the jumble sale, as it's called a vide grenier and I thought we were actually going to go to someone's attic and rifle through their unwanted belongings. Which would have been a bit odd.

a really rubbish picture of the Pantheon

I've been out a couple of times too, back to Earth's Kitchen with the Hannahs and Hannah's lovely spanish flatmate. Managed not to get locked out this time. Joe and I also attempted to go to an Erasmus get together in Bastille last week but I can't even tell you how awkward it was. Everyone is incredibly clicque- y here. We said hello to a few people and then ran away to a cheaper bar.

Bit of a nightmare when I got home that night, as I realised my sister was arriving that morning NOT Friday morning as I'd started to think. Cue frantically (and drunkenly) doing the washing at 1am. I managed to collect my sister sans incident and we had a wonderful weekend together. We stayed in a very cute hotel a stone's throw (well, a 10 minute walk) from the Arc de Triomphe, ate some decent meals and walked everywhere.

from our hotel window, my camera skills are shocking

Naturally, there were some hiccups along the way -it wouldn't be my life otherwise. I actually had my first proper confrontations in French. One was with a beggar woman who practically tried to rob us and the other was in a restaurant in St. Michel. The food was rubbish and I tried to get our money back, didn't work but I held my ground for a good 5 minutes and argued the whole thing in very angry French.

We did a lot of touristy things as well, as it was Joy's first ever visit to Paris! It was actually really nice to see her excitement at everything, as it brought it all back for me. We ordered room service one night as well, which went swimmingly until I dropped it (a massive chicken sandwich) all over the floor. The poor bellboy said he'd get me another one, but then reception rang up to the room and said it would be another hour. "Have you still got the one I dropped?" is probably one of the oddest requests they've had in a while.

the one I dropped, complete with elastic band to prevent future accidents

Joy was also a bit shocked by the amount of beggars and homeless people here, but I'm used to it now. Everyday, someone will approach me or say to me as I walk past 'Madame, madame, un euro, madame.' In fact, I'm so used it, I've perfected the art of completely ignoring them, which is awful, I know but let me just quickly explain. A lot of them that roam the trains are just chancers (they have little printed cards explaining their plight), some are just evidently not genuine (I've seen people pretending to be deaf and then having a conversation with their beggar mates...). It gets to the point where you just don't bother to even try to work out who really needs help or not.

We said byes on Sunday afternoon and it felt so strange to know she would be back in Essex, with my mum, and I was going to be in my room in Cachan drinking chocolate milk and crying into my vocab books.

This week has been alright though, have spent most of it with Joe as we're both miserable and sans amis at the moment (my residence is practically empty because everyone is on uni holiday). Wednesday night we went to La Defense, which is the business district, just outside the city border. I actually love how they've kept it seperate from the city. It also looked like something from the future. Were we on the set for the film adapation of 1984? Must have been.

La Defense (from the Arc de Triomphe)

I did absolutely rien for Halloween except watch the Shining by myself and as a consequence, didn't go into my ensuite for about two hours, for fear of some axe murderer hiding in there.

Yesterday was All-Saint's Day and we attempted to be French by visiting the Montparnasse Cemetery. There didn't seem to be as many people there as we expected, but it still felt a bit cultural. (I'll keep telling myself that.) Then we went to the cinema to see Gravity which was INCREDIBLE. Except, we queued to buy our tickets and then had to go back outside and queue again to get into the film. This country, seriously.

I'm still enjoying being here, but I think I'm definitely getting a bit sick of the city. You're probably thinking 'But it's Paris, stop whining!', I know, yes it's lovely, but it's very stressful after a while! My horoscope said I should take a holiday....if only!

can you tell we're related? scary innit