Home Sweet Home

Hello from Essex! I'm currently sitting in my living room by my Christmas tree, drinking tea and watching Mock the Week. It really doesn't feel like I've been away for 3 months but I'm sure it will hit me tomorrow when I go into town for Christmas shopping...I've already been shocked by the politeness of the Tube, the friendly banter of a cab driver and the beautiful taste of semi-skimmed pasteurised milk. But what will I miss about Paris? Here's a nice list for you, to round off the first part of my Year Abroad.

The people I've met
I've literally met some brilliant people in the last 3 months and without them, it wouldn't have been very bearable. It also feels quite cool (soz) to say I have contacts in South America. 

The amount of bakeries
Self explanatory really. Tesco croissants have got nothing on the real deal. Anywhere, any time.

Cheaper tobacco
As a dirty smoker, this is something I will really miss. 30g of Pall Mall Red cost me €6,90, (£5.51) here 25g of the same costs just over £7.

Living on the same train line as Notre Dame
There's something pretty special getting on a train 5 mins from where you live and 15 mins later arriving in front of Notre Dame and of course, Saint Michel....

Saint-Michel
I know this place is teeming with tourists but there are some really cheap places to eat and the best crepes, in my opinion.

Mr Gould and Frau Horstmann
Easily the best teachers at ISIT. Gould's lessons were hilarious- I particularly enjoyed 'What's a sex nun?'. Horstmann is one of the most adorable people EVER and I wish I could just bring her back to Nottingham. EMPLOY HER PLEASE

Free'p'star
One of the best shops I've ever been to. It looks like your average vintage shop but climb a practically vertical ladder at the back of the shop and you'll find 3 huge boxes of of clothes, which you can rummage through to your heart's content. Best part is that everything the boxes is €1! There are three shops but the best one is on rue de la Verrerie in the Marais.

Hearing 'putain' all the time
'Putain' is a bit like 'fuck', in that you can say it on it's own or describing something but it actually means 'whore'. I literally it  heard thousands of times a day and actually found myself saying it quite a lot too. I missed the last train home once and loudly said it in response to being told I'd have to get a bus. I actually also said it today, to my suitcase when it got stuck on a corner. Am I Parisian yet?


And the things I wont' be missing....

The lack of manners
Parisians are just so rude and don't seem to grasp the concept of basic etiquette. They will literally push you with their hands and literally shove you. The other day, I very nearly slipped down the gap between train and platform because they are just incapable. They'll just barge past you and won't say excuse me. You'll normally only get a reticent 'pardon' if you breathe loudly and agitatedly. 

The price of everything!
Paris is ridiculously expensive, to the point where I now think a meal for 15 quid is the deal of a century.

Slimy men
I don't understand why people think it's normal to walk past someone and say 'oooh bonjour' whilst winking. Just let me walk to the station please without being propositioned by the scabbiest men this side of the Seine.

The stench of some metro stations
Some metro stations would have been condemned by British authorities. One of these was line 4 at Chatelet. There was a homeless man who was there for like, 6 weeks and he had an unfortunate habit of pissing and shitting himself. You literally had to hold your breath on that platform.

The lack of pie
WHY DON'T FRENCH PEOPLE EAT STEAK AND KIDNEY PIE?
that is all.

I'll add more as they come to me! This'll be my last post before Christmas, so Merry Christmas!

x

On a bus in the fog in a forest.

Welcome to what will be my last proper blog post from Paris! Tomorrow morning, I'll be on the Eurostar hurtling under the Channel towards home and I'm really excited- Mum's put all the decorations up, done most of the food shopping and will be waiting for me, with my sister, at St.Pancras. Yay!!

I can't really remember what I did last week before I went to Strasbourg to visit Sia, so we'll just start from there. The journey there was a bit icky, as I'd come down with a cold and spent most of the journey with a tissue up my nose. Sia was on the platform to meet me though, which was cute, and after heading back to hers for a little rest, we started my sightseeing tour.

I was quite excited to see the European Parliament etc and had compulsory pictures of me taken outside of it. They were in session as well, so God only knows what important things were being decided behind me (you can check on the website)

ridiculous fog!

We also went to this strange little zoo where I met some Strasbourg storks and a very curious looking duck. (there is a video of this, but it's 5 mins long..)After that, we headed into the city centre and I quickly came to the conclusion that Strasbourg is one of the loveliest cities I've ever seen, as well as being ridiculously Christmassy- there were literally decorations and lights EVERYWHERE, even on the cranes (building cranes, not the birds). Sia took me to this lovely little cafe where they do all sorts of tea and amazing cakes. I picked lemon and spice tea, but because I was so stuffed up, I couldn't taste it and it was just like hot water :( We rounded off the day with dinner at Vapiano which was excellent apart from the waiter thinking I said 'feta pizza' instead of 'the same for me please'. Is my French that bad?!

The following day we went on to Baden-Baden where we met up with Sarah. It was so cool (for lack of a better word) to get a bus in Strasbourg and just 10 or so minutes later, get off in the German town of Kehl. Baden-Baden is possibly one of the poshest German towns I've been to, but I still did some Christmas shopping, had lunch in a Chinese and dawdled around the markets where we had Gluhwein, of course. We spent a  good chunk of the afternoon/evening sitting in the famous Casino. We also tried our hand at Blackjack- I think the guy thought Sia was mental for buying 3 chips- and I won a tasty 6 euros! The day trip ended with us getting the wrong bus. We didn't realise for a while, until we could only see trees out of the window. Oops. We ended up in a town called Buhl... but we got home eventually. Sia and I watched Nativity! and I've had the song 'Nazareth' in my head ever since.

SO FREAKING CUTE

entrance to the Casino, Sia has better pictures than me so read her blog instead!

On Saturday, we climbed the Cathedral which was really tough and went to the Museum of Modern Art and were suitably terrified by some very strange videos. I enjoyed it though, mainly because I was with someone just as skeptical as me.

it's like a storybook

quite liked this - 'bit like Kanye West, innit'

Quoi le fuck?

 I tried my first Flammekuechen or tarte flambee that night- they're basically a bit like pizzas but very thin and instead of a tomato sauce base they have sour cream and onions. DELICIOUS. We went for dinner at a very popular restaurant with Sia's friends Nikita and Kat, who were lovely. I also bumped into Niamh! She was a party of one of Sia's friends...small small world. We finished off in a cocktail bar called Wakiki where the waitress seemed to get her sums wrong and we paid less than we ought to have done. Score.

Sia and I at Wakiki

flammekuechen

Sunday was dedicated to the Christmas markets, which were lovely and much more authentic than the ones in Paris. It felt so Christmassy! We had our last meal at a Mexican restaurant before going home, both grumbling about how early we had to get up (my train back was at 5.41 am.)

I arrived back in Paris on Monday morning feeling very Christmassy and refreshed after a long-needed break from the city. Niamh and I went to La Pagode to see a Chinese film which was very violent but quite enjoyable even though I did fall asleep for a bit but I blame that on the blankets that they give you...

Last night, we had a Christmas dinner at the residence which was really cute and everyone brought or made something from home. Naturally, I brought mince pies and there was only one left so hopefully they liked them. Mau gave me spices again but this time she'd thought of me and only put one chilli in the salsa so I didn't spend the evening coughing and going red. 

Elinor, Mau and Ines - will miss these girls!

So today was my last day in Paris and I spent it in a class, running around the St.Michel tourist shops for last minute gifts, sniffing various cheeses in Franprix for mum and packing the rest of my stuff. I also witnessed one last strange thing- there was a man on St.Michel bridge throwing sandwiches into the river for the birds. Yes, not slices of bread, but whole sandwiches.

Tonight, I'm off to say goodbye to Anja and Alexandra, who I've met for Starbucks nearly every week since I've been here. Sad times.

This time tomorrow I'll be in Essex again. Au revoir Paris!

xx

                                             

Bonus post (you lucky people, you)

Hello again hello

Just purely because I realised I'd missed out a day of sightseeing that I had a couple of weeks ago that involved the Rodin Museum, the Madeleine Church and the biggest and most chocolatey doughnut I've ever eaten (it was, quite literally, all over my face.)

the famous Thinker and the tour eiffel

I'm not the most arty person and I'm not usually into sculpture museums, but it was genuinely really interesting and the gardens were so lovely- have I found a new interest? (Probably not)

I had a little cry in here (I don't know either)

Now I will consume more ice cream.

x

Buying tat and pretending to be rich

Cou cou! (I hate this greeting, personally, but w/e)

The last week has gone stupidly fast and 3 of my lessons are finished! No more Gsell, no more Horstmann (cry) and no more Solem...the teacher of the horrendously horrible interpretation class. Which I barely attended and didn't really contribute to, but oh well. I feel like I made good use of my last proper week in Paris though and I really dragged last night out by wandering around by the river and sitting in a bus stop for 20 minutes before realising that N.14 to Cachan was only a night bus. Luckily, I was alone and no one saw me scuttle away to the RER.

Last Sunday, Niamh, Joe and I went to another vide grenier by Gare de l'Est. I think it's safe to say that this area leaves a fair bit to be desired but it was fairly successful in that I bought myself a miniature Chanel No.5 perfume (box and all) for 4 euros, a scissors pin for my big bruvva (he works in a jean tailor shop okay) an old photograph of Trafalgar Square, a Moscow mcdonalds pin and a Paris mirror for my niece (I bluntly told the seller 'I take it for 2', completely forgetting that future tense existed, apparently.)

a crappy picture of my quite crappy purchases

Monday started off as a very shitty day though I was cheered up by Joe and Niamh as per and we made Stollen for our last German lesson with Horstmann. It turned out ridiculously well and was bloody delicious. Though, apparently white marzipan is non-existent? We could only find pink, green and yellow. Okay then.

Fast forward to Thursday,because I can't remember if anything exciting happened in between. Elinor and I went to the La Defense christmas market but were quite disappointed. It was more traditional than the Champs Elysee one and I did chow down on a delicious Bretzel but it just wasn't very...German. Obviously. That night was the ISIT Christmas Gala that Joe managed to persuade me to go to (I really bloody didn't want to) but it turned out to be really good. I literally danced the night away, found a 'secret' room, put my foot through a chair and smoked in a 'fumoir', which I will NEVER do again. It was literally a room with no windows open. I might be a smoker, but ugh no thank you!

IT'S JUST SO BELLE

I didn't get to bed until 6am, which was unfortunate as I was going to the Galeries Lafayette with Elinor, for a free fashion show. I managed it sans incident though and it was well worth it, mainly because I can now say 'Oh yes, I've been to a fashion show in Paris.' Never mind that it was full of Japanese and American tourists. No one needs to know that, okay? 

me and the insane Christmas tree, again

Elinor had a class afterwards, so I had a little wander and decided to go to the opera house. There was a plan in the air to go to a performance with Ines and the others, but it never happened so I decided to pay 6 euros and a have a butchers myself. It was worth it, I just wish I could have dressed up and gone properly!

Imagine sitting up there! One day, one day

On Saturday, Niamh and I ventured to another vide grenier but this one wasn't quite as good and was mainly antiques. Saying that, Niamh did buy some more pins (she's got about a hundred now, I think she has a problem.) As usual, I was whinging about being hungry but Niamh was insistent we get to the church jumble sale she'd heard about. I grabbed a muffin and we took a pleasant walk through Jardin des Plantes where we stumbled upon one of THE most exciting carousels I've ever seen.

I wanted to ride it, but was persuaded not to

We did eventually find the correct church and it actually made me feel very home. Every year, Moulsham Street in Chelmsford has a Christmas parade and the church always has a Christmas fair, so this place actually gave me that warm bubbly feeling (never thought I'd say that about a church). I bought a nice shirt and tried on several pairs of boots (they were all 1 euro!!) but my calves are so horrifically large that they wouldn't go on my legs, fantastic.

After this, we walked to Les Halles and we sat in a 'Nabab' where I had a burger and Niamh pinched some chips. I don't know why, but I insisted on no sauce? Wierdo. It was a good burger though and prepared me for the long walk down Rue St. Honore to the Chanel shop! My sister sent me the money to go and buy myself some No.5 for myself for Christmas and I'm glad she did- I felt ridiculously posh and rich asking for what I wanted and watching as she wrapped it all up. I just hope she didn't notice the tatty carrier bag in my hand. Oops.

And so we come to Sunday, which began with a very hungover Joe eating a kebab at 11am and obscuring the tourist's view of Notre Dame. Hilarious way to begin our last touristy day together, I'm surprised he survived the 40 minute train journey! We got to Versailles (which looked like a really lovely town) at about 12 and barely queued, though we did have to leave our picnic (I say picnic, but it was really just biscuits and an orange) at the bag drop-off. Oh, France, all these beautiful gardens and we can't have a picnic. Versailles was incredible though and is probably one of the most luxurious, indulgent and ridiculous places I've ever seen, ever. The gardens were also beautiful, but as Joe wasn't feeling very sprightly we ended up sitting a lot and soaking up the sun- which was not a bad thing, it was refreshing to actually be in countryside.

beautiful...and a woman's butt

'this room is bigger than my flat'

Me and my horrendously large calves at the Palais

I must have been more tired than I thought because today I slept through my alarm and woke up feeling very poorly. I spent the day in bed before venturing out to Franprix to get some ice cream. Boo hoo, woe is me and all that...I just hope I feel better for Thursday as I will be catching a very early train to Strasbourg!

x