So, it was around 2pm or so I guess when we left Michel's house and started the hour or so drive to Nimes. However we stopped on the way at Avignon, where the cousin who was driving us lived. There we met his mother, Alix's aunty, who then took Alix, Eléonore and I into Avignon. We didn't have a lot of time but we parked and visited the outside of the Palais de Papes (Pope's Palace) which looks very cool and medieval, then walked down through the town and the Christmas market there. Alix and Eléonore had to buy a last-minute gift at FNAC, where you can scan any CD and listen to a sample of it! How cool is that!?!
Then we visited the Christmas creche in the Town Hall of Avignon. It was massive and very cute! They also had a life-sized model of a typical Provencal kitchen with people and everything!
We walked around the Christmas market some more, which was much bigger and better than the one in Montpellier. We also found some wall-paintings...they were window-shaped paintings where the windows should have been on the side of a building, but they were random paintings showing a variety of different scenes! Very cool!
We walked around a bit more before we had to go back to the aunty's house to get ready to go to Christmas (Eve) dinner in Nimes. I met the cousin's brother and sister and after a bit of a snack (chocolate croissants) we headed off.
At Nimes I met most of Alix's mum's family...Françoise has 4 brothers so it was them, their wives, their kids (Alix's cousins) and some of them had kids too, including the baby and the 2 year old Faustine (I don't know how to spell it) who we had babysat a few weeks earlier. In other words there would have been more than 20 people there.
I think we arrived around 6:30 or something so we had a long time to wait for dinner, which was around 9 or 9:30 I think. However, there was no way they were going to wait until then to eat. There was champagne and a variety of snacks including three varieties of olives (I think the grandma grows them) and these massive round containers made of bread and filled with sandwich triangles with all different patés and hams in them. Turns out you can buy these bread basket things and they're called something like Surprise Bread or Bread Surprise! How cute is that?
There was also these random little savory profiteroley things that were just pastry and cheese and air! Yummy!
So we sat around, talked and ate and took photos for ages before Santa (one of Alix's cousins) arrived to deliver an entire wheelbarrow full of presents for Faustine and her baby sister. That was funny because Faustine is shy and didn't want to kiss Santa!
Then she had to open them all, which took about half an hour. It was really cute in that 'i just want more presents I don't actually care what they are' kind of way. Also they don't seem to give Christmas cards here! I haven't seen any.
After that it was dinner time! Dinner was about 5 courses or so. It started with Oysters, which I had never had before but which were very nice. Next was I think the Foie Gras, which I didn't have, but I did have lots of the Pain d'espices (Spiced bread) that was supposed to go with it. And lots of other bread too. I think I ate about a whole little loaf of bread that night!
After that was 'wild bird' I think, which was more like bones with a little bit of meat on them. Lots of tiny little bones. But it tasted very good. All this came really slowly, which would probably explain why it was too filling.
I think that's everything...then it was time for dessert. Aparently there was 13 desserts but I didn't see that, unless each different type of nut and dried fruit counted as one. The Christmas log was really yummy...all chocolatey and rich!
After dinner was time for coffee and presents! I gave my presents to Alix, Eléonore and Françoise and recieved 4 books on the region from Françoise and some earings from Alix and Eléonore. Then I recieved some dice earings from one of Alix's aunts, and a bottle of Givenchy perfum from her grandma!!! It smells so good but I don't want to use it cause I don't want to waste it!!! I also recieved a little white bin covered in xute stickers from another one of Alix's aunts (she gave everyone a little 'green bin'!)
After that I gave out all my little Australian gifts, which everyone seemed to find pretty cute! Then I called home (aww) and opened my card and present from home, which was a babushka (I think that's what they're called!) It's really gorgeous, I love it!
By the time that was all finished it was very late and I guess we just sat around and talked a bit more before people finally started leaving and we went to bed.
Overall that was one very fun Christmas celebration and thankfully I wasn't feeling too homesick!
More later, got to go!
Emma.
Saturday, 30 December 2006
The Weekend to Nimes, again!
Ok, so, Saturday 23rd December...this is about the time when 'Je suis trop fatigué' (I am too/so tired) became the most useful and most used phrase in my French vocabulary.
So Alix had two hours of Maths on Saturday morning which I didn't go to because I would have fallen asleep and I didn't want to be rude. Instead I think I spent the time with Jacques, who also didn't go to two hours of maths. Jacques tried to contact the others who were supposed to be at school (Isabelle and Mia I think) over and over on their mobiles but couldn't get them. We sat in the cafeteria for a while and chatted to Enzo I think. We went down to the Polygone but unfortunately FNAC, which Jacques wanted to visit, wasn't open (I don't think hardly any of the shops in the Polygone were open. They are so lazy, they don't open til 10am!) so instead we went and sat down for a while in the comfortable armchairs in the Polygone. We returned at 10:15 to meet our correspondents and we saw a couple of the others who had been in classes. It was the last day of term so we said goodbye to all our classmates and each other because most of us were going away somewhere for some of the holidays.
Alix and I went straight to the Casino place again (it's a supermarket/target type store, not a casino) to do some more gift-wrapping for scouts. We arrived around 11am and didn't leave until 7pm! Talk about hard work! Not to mention it was 2 days before Christmas so it was packed with people buying last minute presents! My hands were green (the colour of the wrapping-paper) by the end. I was ready to fall into bed but instead we got home and had to pack stuff for Nimes for three days as well as organise ourselves for another party, this one Alix's best friend Laure's birthday party.
We set off for the party. Despite us both being completely dead we took a bus then had to walk for around 20 minutes carrying a sleeping bag each. Alix also had a roll-up mat. Two guys we walked past asked us which mountain we were walking to! We arrived at the party a tad late - 9:30 or 10 pm - but just in time for the present. The present was a massive cardboard box filled with packaging stuff and little presents that Laure had to find. In the meantime another girl underneath the box would stick her arm up and frighten Laure, who couldn't see into the box. It was pretty funny! After that there was the cake, which was a chocolate log cake. There was also 2 other cakes which naturally I had to try!
That party was better than the one the night before because it was inside (mmm, warm!) the food was better (mmm quiche and cake!) and the people were very nice. Unfortunately all I wanted to do was sleep!
Alix and I slept over there after the party and had hot chocolate and cake for breakfast the next morning! Then Laure's dad drove us to the Casino place for yet another stint at gift-wrapping. Woo-hoo is my response every time Alix says we have more gift-wrapping to do. I don't mind it, it's fun sometimes, the others are really nice and I'm learning a lot about wrapping odd things like skateboards, tricycles, shooting-star shapped boxes of chocolates and clothes of all shapes and sizes. There's also an incredible number of normal boxes of chocolates (mostly Lindt) to wrap, which makes you very jealous and hungry!
So we wrapped other peoples gifts for another 2 or 3 hours before walking back to Françoise's apartment. There we met Eléonore (Alix's sister) and one of her friends. We had lunch (I think it was veal in a creme-fraiche and lemon juice sauce) before one of Alix's cousins arrived. He was going to drive us to Nimes but first we had to stop by Michel's house so Alix and I could pick up our stuff.
Sorry that's all for now!
Keep checking for updates!
Lots of love to everyone and I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!
Emma.
So Alix had two hours of Maths on Saturday morning which I didn't go to because I would have fallen asleep and I didn't want to be rude. Instead I think I spent the time with Jacques, who also didn't go to two hours of maths. Jacques tried to contact the others who were supposed to be at school (Isabelle and Mia I think) over and over on their mobiles but couldn't get them. We sat in the cafeteria for a while and chatted to Enzo I think. We went down to the Polygone but unfortunately FNAC, which Jacques wanted to visit, wasn't open (I don't think hardly any of the shops in the Polygone were open. They are so lazy, they don't open til 10am!) so instead we went and sat down for a while in the comfortable armchairs in the Polygone. We returned at 10:15 to meet our correspondents and we saw a couple of the others who had been in classes. It was the last day of term so we said goodbye to all our classmates and each other because most of us were going away somewhere for some of the holidays.
Alix and I went straight to the Casino place again (it's a supermarket/target type store, not a casino) to do some more gift-wrapping for scouts. We arrived around 11am and didn't leave until 7pm! Talk about hard work! Not to mention it was 2 days before Christmas so it was packed with people buying last minute presents! My hands were green (the colour of the wrapping-paper) by the end. I was ready to fall into bed but instead we got home and had to pack stuff for Nimes for three days as well as organise ourselves for another party, this one Alix's best friend Laure's birthday party.
We set off for the party. Despite us both being completely dead we took a bus then had to walk for around 20 minutes carrying a sleeping bag each. Alix also had a roll-up mat. Two guys we walked past asked us which mountain we were walking to! We arrived at the party a tad late - 9:30 or 10 pm - but just in time for the present. The present was a massive cardboard box filled with packaging stuff and little presents that Laure had to find. In the meantime another girl underneath the box would stick her arm up and frighten Laure, who couldn't see into the box. It was pretty funny! After that there was the cake, which was a chocolate log cake. There was also 2 other cakes which naturally I had to try!
That party was better than the one the night before because it was inside (mmm, warm!) the food was better (mmm quiche and cake!) and the people were very nice. Unfortunately all I wanted to do was sleep!
Alix and I slept over there after the party and had hot chocolate and cake for breakfast the next morning! Then Laure's dad drove us to the Casino place for yet another stint at gift-wrapping. Woo-hoo is my response every time Alix says we have more gift-wrapping to do. I don't mind it, it's fun sometimes, the others are really nice and I'm learning a lot about wrapping odd things like skateboards, tricycles, shooting-star shapped boxes of chocolates and clothes of all shapes and sizes. There's also an incredible number of normal boxes of chocolates (mostly Lindt) to wrap, which makes you very jealous and hungry!
So we wrapped other peoples gifts for another 2 or 3 hours before walking back to Françoise's apartment. There we met Eléonore (Alix's sister) and one of her friends. We had lunch (I think it was veal in a creme-fraiche and lemon juice sauce) before one of Alix's cousins arrived. He was going to drive us to Nimes but first we had to stop by Michel's house so Alix and I could pick up our stuff.
Sorry that's all for now!
Keep checking for updates!
Lots of love to everyone and I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!
Emma.
Friday, 29 December 2006
Nimes to Party!
So the train to Nimes took about 45 minutes or so, which I spent listening to my favourite classical music on my Ipod. That and the beauty of the countryside rushing past my window made me feel relaxed and content, if a bit melancholic...
In Nimes we met Françoise who drove us up to Alix's grandma's house on one of the 7 hills of Nimes. The house is old and has some beautiful features like the door handles, the doors of the kitchen cupboards, the fireplace and the study of Alix's grandpa with the many small Egyptian artefacts and a collection of glass eggs, among other things.
Alix's grandma served us lunch, which was chicken (i think) and salad and for dessert a apricot jam rolled cake that Françoise made. It was all very yummy! Also the clementines and mandarins are incredible here! They are always juicy and supple and perfectly ripe and there is rarely any pips! I have a couple after most meals now!
After lunch Alix's aunt came round (she lives in a house on the same property...i also met Alix's uncle and their black lab Samy!) and talked to Alix for around an hour about a project Alix has to do for school on bipolar disorder I think...in the meantime the rest of us had coffee and chocolate!
Once Alix was done we left. I thought we'd be going straight back to Montpellier because it was around 3:30 at least by then but on the way we stopped at a little town called Sommière. It's a very cute old French town and I'd post photos but they're not on this computer! We walked up to the chateau at the top of the hill. It was closed but we walked around it and had a magnificent view of the town and the valley beyond. We then walked down and visited the church. It was unlocked but there was no one there...how very trusting they are. We turned on the lights and went inside. It was small but very beautiful, with painted walls and ceilings and my favourite arches!
By the time we left there it was starting to get dark outside so we found a little cafe to have a hot chocolate. Alix and I had hot chocolates, Alix had a meringue (which tasted ok crumbled in the hot chocolate) and Françoise had an African tea! The sugar cubes that came with the drinks were all seperately wrapped in the cutest wrappers with phrases like 'Je t'aime' (I love you), 'Your email address?' and 'un autre café?' (another coffee?)...I kept them.
We returned to the car and commenced the 45 to 60 minute drive back to Montpellier.
Monday and Tuesday (18th and 19th):
These days were just your average days. One of the mronings Alix and I walked to school after missing the bus. Turned out to be not that far, taking us around 30 minutes when it's 20 minutes if we catch the bus (bus for 10, walk for 10). It was a nice walk to, past the arches of the Arceaux (the aquaduct) and through the garden in front of the Arc de Triomphe.
One of the afternoons Jacques and I (we are in the same class) had 4 hours to kill and nothing to do, so we just kind of wondered for a few hours before meeting some of the others. On Monday there was a teachers strike so a lot of the classes were cancelled which meant more shopping for us. In general we spent a fair bit of Monday and Tuesday shopping because Alix had a lot of long science classes and tests (because it was the last week before the holidays they had tests almost every day).
On Wednesday Alix only had one hour-long class, just before lunch, so we got to sleep in!!!
The class was French, which is ok but not great because they are discussing a novel in great grammatical depth so I don't understand a lot of it. Although I do recognise the passé composé better than them! Yah!
After the class Alix had arranged for me to have lunch with Chloé, Kate's correspondent, who stayed with us in Australia last year (2005). So I met her, Laure and Alice (australian) at school. Enzo couldn't come because he was working but we met Chloé's boyfriend and another one of her friends outside the Polygone. We bought baguettes for lunch from Louis', the best bakery ever, and ate them on the steps of the Opera/Comedie. It was nice in the sun but in the shade on the steps it was cold!
Chloé had bought her album of photos from her time in Australia with her and showed it to Laure and us. It was about time for Alice and I, the foreigners, to find some dessert! Alice bought a tart from Louis' then took us to another bakery so I could get a good lemon tart. It was a big slice of lemon tart and it was absolutely magnificent. The pastry was perfect - a good distraction from the lemon taste without being too sweet, too rich or too thin - and the lemony bit was i think the best I've ever tasted, tart and bitter but perfectly balanced. I managed to eat the whole big slice it was that good! I have to go back there!
After that we did some shopping. Chloé was looking for a toy or something for her male 4-year-old cousin but she didn't end up finding anything. At around 3:15 we went back to the Lycée where they left me to go back to Chloé's place. I went looking for some other Australian's to spend the afternoon with because Alix had lots of work to do but I couldn't find anyone at school or in the Polygone. I was just on my way home when I bumped into Jacques, Issy and Mia marching speedily towards school. They were late for a rendez-vous with their correspondents. From what I remember they didn't meet them anyway and we did some more shopping but I really can't remember.
Thursday 21st:
I didn't go to class in the morning because Alix had sciences. I spent the morning shopping with the others! something we are getting very good at! We should do a little bit more looking around in the next few weeks and less shopping hopefully. I went to class in the afternoon though. Jacques wasn't at school because he had killed his knee at rugby training but it was alright because I talked to some of Alix's classmates. We had lunch at the Cantine but then Alix went to do some French work so I went into town. I was too late back for the next class but came back for history and italian after that.
Sometime during this week Michel (Alix's dad) bought a Christmas tree (one of the branch ones that die after a while) from Ikea for the house. Alix and I found the decorations in the garage and put up the tree and decorated it, which was hard because it kept falling over. We finally managed to get it decorated and Alix also put up lights around the living room. It was all very cute!
Friday 22nd:
Last day of school for the term (except for Saturday morning) and the last day of all the Australians being in Montpellier together (Cynthia would be away until the day before she leaves and some of the others were going away for two weeks!) so we spent the whole day together. In the morning a trip had been organised for us. First we were driven to the in-construction rugby stadium by Madame Blanc and Isabelle's host dad. It was absolutely freezing there (later someone told me it was -2 degrees). It was a construction site so there was no inside and at the top of the stands it felt like Antarctica! It wasn't that interesting but that was probably because I was practically falling asleep because I was so tired. I think that was because I'd stayed up until 12 or something watching Vanilla Sky (which was quite good if creepy).
We returned to school and met another English teacher whose name I can't say who took us down to get hot chocolates at the cafeteria before taking us for a walk through the Antigone, the newest quarter of Montpellier. This was heaps of fun because, after the town hall (where there are massive 3D maps of Montpellier) it largely consisted of us walking down one massive boulevard (all the buildings were built symetrically down this boulevard so you can follow it from the Polygone all the way down to the river Le Lez) and taking heaps of photos of each other. At the end we said goodbye to our guide, who had to go, and decided what to do for lunch. We walked all the way back up and bought panini's from La Brioche Dorée. We ate them at the big chess set near the Lycée. We returned to the Polygone for the afternoon. More shopping, believe it or not. I bought a pair of socks (simone bought three but one was mine!) and I bought my boots!!! I had called home that morning to say hi but largely to ask if it was ok if I bought the boots. Mum and Kate were the only ones home and they were all for it! The boots are flat, black, round-toed and a bit scrunched. I like them, a lot.
That night I had an opportunity to wear them as Alix and I were going to a party! It was all a bit confusing for me because Alix had been invited by someone who had been invited by someone else who had been invited by a friend of the host or something so we weren't really invited. We went to the party anyway. Mia's host mum drove Mia, Charlotte (Mia's host sister), Alix and I to the party but it took us (and about 4 other cars) about half and hour to find where it actually was! Eventually we found it! It was supposed to be 40 or 50 people but it was only around 20 or 30. I didn't know anyone else except Mia and her host and a few of their classmates. The party was ok but most of the music was really hard to dance to and it was very cold!
We got to bed around 3 or 3:30am and had to get up around 7am to catch the bus at 7:20 for school! We were totally dead but we managed it!
Got to go to bed now in fact so more about the weekend, Christmas and the aftermath another time! and photos hopefully!
In Nimes we met Françoise who drove us up to Alix's grandma's house on one of the 7 hills of Nimes. The house is old and has some beautiful features like the door handles, the doors of the kitchen cupboards, the fireplace and the study of Alix's grandpa with the many small Egyptian artefacts and a collection of glass eggs, among other things.
Alix's grandma served us lunch, which was chicken (i think) and salad and for dessert a apricot jam rolled cake that Françoise made. It was all very yummy! Also the clementines and mandarins are incredible here! They are always juicy and supple and perfectly ripe and there is rarely any pips! I have a couple after most meals now!
After lunch Alix's aunt came round (she lives in a house on the same property...i also met Alix's uncle and their black lab Samy!) and talked to Alix for around an hour about a project Alix has to do for school on bipolar disorder I think...in the meantime the rest of us had coffee and chocolate!
Once Alix was done we left. I thought we'd be going straight back to Montpellier because it was around 3:30 at least by then but on the way we stopped at a little town called Sommière. It's a very cute old French town and I'd post photos but they're not on this computer! We walked up to the chateau at the top of the hill. It was closed but we walked around it and had a magnificent view of the town and the valley beyond. We then walked down and visited the church. It was unlocked but there was no one there...how very trusting they are. We turned on the lights and went inside. It was small but very beautiful, with painted walls and ceilings and my favourite arches!
By the time we left there it was starting to get dark outside so we found a little cafe to have a hot chocolate. Alix and I had hot chocolates, Alix had a meringue (which tasted ok crumbled in the hot chocolate) and Françoise had an African tea! The sugar cubes that came with the drinks were all seperately wrapped in the cutest wrappers with phrases like 'Je t'aime' (I love you), 'Your email address?' and 'un autre café?' (another coffee?)...I kept them.
We returned to the car and commenced the 45 to 60 minute drive back to Montpellier.
Monday and Tuesday (18th and 19th):
These days were just your average days. One of the mronings Alix and I walked to school after missing the bus. Turned out to be not that far, taking us around 30 minutes when it's 20 minutes if we catch the bus (bus for 10, walk for 10). It was a nice walk to, past the arches of the Arceaux (the aquaduct) and through the garden in front of the Arc de Triomphe.
One of the afternoons Jacques and I (we are in the same class) had 4 hours to kill and nothing to do, so we just kind of wondered for a few hours before meeting some of the others. On Monday there was a teachers strike so a lot of the classes were cancelled which meant more shopping for us. In general we spent a fair bit of Monday and Tuesday shopping because Alix had a lot of long science classes and tests (because it was the last week before the holidays they had tests almost every day).
On Wednesday Alix only had one hour-long class, just before lunch, so we got to sleep in!!!
The class was French, which is ok but not great because they are discussing a novel in great grammatical depth so I don't understand a lot of it. Although I do recognise the passé composé better than them! Yah!
After the class Alix had arranged for me to have lunch with Chloé, Kate's correspondent, who stayed with us in Australia last year (2005). So I met her, Laure and Alice (australian) at school. Enzo couldn't come because he was working but we met Chloé's boyfriend and another one of her friends outside the Polygone. We bought baguettes for lunch from Louis', the best bakery ever, and ate them on the steps of the Opera/Comedie. It was nice in the sun but in the shade on the steps it was cold!
Chloé had bought her album of photos from her time in Australia with her and showed it to Laure and us. It was about time for Alice and I, the foreigners, to find some dessert! Alice bought a tart from Louis' then took us to another bakery so I could get a good lemon tart. It was a big slice of lemon tart and it was absolutely magnificent. The pastry was perfect - a good distraction from the lemon taste without being too sweet, too rich or too thin - and the lemony bit was i think the best I've ever tasted, tart and bitter but perfectly balanced. I managed to eat the whole big slice it was that good! I have to go back there!
After that we did some shopping. Chloé was looking for a toy or something for her male 4-year-old cousin but she didn't end up finding anything. At around 3:15 we went back to the Lycée where they left me to go back to Chloé's place. I went looking for some other Australian's to spend the afternoon with because Alix had lots of work to do but I couldn't find anyone at school or in the Polygone. I was just on my way home when I bumped into Jacques, Issy and Mia marching speedily towards school. They were late for a rendez-vous with their correspondents. From what I remember they didn't meet them anyway and we did some more shopping but I really can't remember.
Thursday 21st:
I didn't go to class in the morning because Alix had sciences. I spent the morning shopping with the others! something we are getting very good at! We should do a little bit more looking around in the next few weeks and less shopping hopefully. I went to class in the afternoon though. Jacques wasn't at school because he had killed his knee at rugby training but it was alright because I talked to some of Alix's classmates. We had lunch at the Cantine but then Alix went to do some French work so I went into town. I was too late back for the next class but came back for history and italian after that.
Sometime during this week Michel (Alix's dad) bought a Christmas tree (one of the branch ones that die after a while) from Ikea for the house. Alix and I found the decorations in the garage and put up the tree and decorated it, which was hard because it kept falling over. We finally managed to get it decorated and Alix also put up lights around the living room. It was all very cute!
Friday 22nd:
Last day of school for the term (except for Saturday morning) and the last day of all the Australians being in Montpellier together (Cynthia would be away until the day before she leaves and some of the others were going away for two weeks!) so we spent the whole day together. In the morning a trip had been organised for us. First we were driven to the in-construction rugby stadium by Madame Blanc and Isabelle's host dad. It was absolutely freezing there (later someone told me it was -2 degrees). It was a construction site so there was no inside and at the top of the stands it felt like Antarctica! It wasn't that interesting but that was probably because I was practically falling asleep because I was so tired. I think that was because I'd stayed up until 12 or something watching Vanilla Sky (which was quite good if creepy).
We returned to school and met another English teacher whose name I can't say who took us down to get hot chocolates at the cafeteria before taking us for a walk through the Antigone, the newest quarter of Montpellier. This was heaps of fun because, after the town hall (where there are massive 3D maps of Montpellier) it largely consisted of us walking down one massive boulevard (all the buildings were built symetrically down this boulevard so you can follow it from the Polygone all the way down to the river Le Lez) and taking heaps of photos of each other. At the end we said goodbye to our guide, who had to go, and decided what to do for lunch. We walked all the way back up and bought panini's from La Brioche Dorée. We ate them at the big chess set near the Lycée. We returned to the Polygone for the afternoon. More shopping, believe it or not. I bought a pair of socks (simone bought three but one was mine!) and I bought my boots!!! I had called home that morning to say hi but largely to ask if it was ok if I bought the boots. Mum and Kate were the only ones home and they were all for it! The boots are flat, black, round-toed and a bit scrunched. I like them, a lot.
That night I had an opportunity to wear them as Alix and I were going to a party! It was all a bit confusing for me because Alix had been invited by someone who had been invited by someone else who had been invited by a friend of the host or something so we weren't really invited. We went to the party anyway. Mia's host mum drove Mia, Charlotte (Mia's host sister), Alix and I to the party but it took us (and about 4 other cars) about half and hour to find where it actually was! Eventually we found it! It was supposed to be 40 or 50 people but it was only around 20 or 30. I didn't know anyone else except Mia and her host and a few of their classmates. The party was ok but most of the music was really hard to dance to and it was very cold!
We got to bed around 3 or 3:30am and had to get up around 7am to catch the bus at 7:20 for school! We were totally dead but we managed it!
Got to go to bed now in fact so more about the weekend, Christmas and the aftermath another time! and photos hopefully!
After Christmas update!
Hey everyone!
I'm sorry about the serious lack of posting but finding enough time to check my emails and send replies and then get on my blog and post has been absolutely inpossible this past few weeks! So, too bad about Paris, read Simone's blog if you want to hear about that, or ask my parents/sisters who have been enjoying my long if rushed updates. I know you're all jealous!
So, since then, life's been interesting...
On Wednesday we finished class at 12:15 so we went to Lissia's house for lunch. Lissia is one of Alix's friends and is Norweigan! Unfortunately for me we went via Alix's mums apartment in order to drop off my big bag with my pjs and stuff (for staying at Mireille's place) but Françoise (Alix's mum) wasn't home and Alix had forgotten her key so I had to lug the bag all the way to Lissia's house. After lunch we played some table tennis then we walked to the Casino complexy thing. I had to bring my bag but luckily for me Lissia bought a bike and hung the bag off it. We did a little bit of Christmas shopping before Lissia left and Alix and I went into the foyer in front of the hypermarché thing where we were going to do some 'papier-cadeau' or gift-wrapping for Scouts. We did that for about 4 hours. After that we actually went into the supermarket and did the supermarket shopping. Alix's dad Michel joined us there and we went home once we finished that.
On Thursday afternoon all the Australians visited the IBM plant/offices of Montpellier with Isabelle's host dad, who works there. That was ok...it was interesting to see how such a big business works. First there was a powerpoint presentation then we were taken on a tour of all the different buildings where they build massive computers and test them for faults.
On Thursday night Lauren arrived in Montpellier for three days, so we spent all of Friday with her. Haha, we got out of sport! Not that sport is very bad, in fact it's pretty fun because we were doing ping-pong, but it was really good to spend the day with all the Australians and Lauren.
In the morning we showed Lauren around and took her to some of our favourite shops, eg. the postcard shop. We had lunch at Sucré Sale, a little place next to the churros place where you can get a 'sandwhich' (baguette or panini) and a drink and chips or salad for a good price.
After lunch we headed down to the Polygone for a bit more shopping. The guy at the photo shop also managed to save Lauren's photos of her last 3 weeks or so, which was good!
We were going to go and see a movie then but that plan failed after one cinema wasn't showing James Bond that day and we'd missed the start of it at another cinema. So instead we decided to go back to Mia's apartment and bake Cynthia's choc chip cookies. We bought some ingredients and headed there. The cookies were incredible but it took us ages to make them because the oven was being difficult! We managed the first batch of white-choc-chip ones (for Mia) but the next batch burnt after we got the oven working again! They still tasted really good though! In the meantime we watched When Harry Met Sally. It's such a cute, feel-good movie!
Saturday 16th:
Alix had two hours of maths in the morning so I went to school and met some of the others and Lauren. We sat in the cafeteria for an hour waiting for some of the other aussies to arrive then we went down to the Polygone for some morning tea and shopping. I had one scoop of Haagen Dazs raspberry sorbet...it is absolute heaven! We spent the rest of the time in Habitat, a very cool homewares shop, before some of us said bye to Lauren and went back to school to meet our correspondents.
Alix and I were going to do more gift-wrapping but stopped on the way at Françoise's flat. We were going to ride our bikes to the Casino place but lucky we decided not to because it rained all afternoon! Instead we took a tram then two buses, which turned out to be a bit of a disaster. We ended up waiting 10 minutes for the first bus and about 20 for the second, sharing one umbrella and listening to Alix's music!
Finally we got there and did gift-wrapping for about 2 or 3 hours before we had to leave. We had lunch there and then a hot chocolate (in a bowl) when we got home for afternoon tea. Then Alix had a two-hour maths tute (her professor comes to her house i think).
After that we had to get ready and go to Léa's place (another friend of Alix) where we were sleeping over. I'd thought it was a big sleepover with lots of Alix's classmates but it turned out to be just Alix and I there. Léa had cooked a rice dish for dinner, which was really yummy! We watched Melinda and Melinda, a Woody Allen film. It was very interesting. We played some darts after that, which had an electronic scorer. That was funny because sometimes you'd have to throw over and over before the scorer registered the hit! I think I won that but I have no idea how. Then we played a random dice game where you had to roll 6 die and try to get certain combinations and amounts. I certainly didn't win that one!
Sunday 17th:
We got up around 10 and Alix and I left Léa's to catch the new Ligne 2 tram. This should have been very exciting because it had been inaugurated on Saturday and was all new and everything, and we got free tickets and chocolates from the official guy hanging around at the station. Unfortunately after 10 minutes waiting the tram came and was too packed to even get on so we had to wait some more. After seeing that we'd be waiting another 10 minutes for a tram that would probably be too packed as well, Alix decided we'd walk instead...I was dead at the start and I have no idea how my legs survived all the way. It was only a 20 or 30 minute walk but still...We caught a Ligne 1 tram then to Gare St Roch where we jumped on a train to Nimes where we would spend the afternoon.
Thats all for now I'm afraid, I've got dinner waiting for me and I'm starving (it's 8:40 pm)!!!
à bientot,
emma.
I'm sorry about the serious lack of posting but finding enough time to check my emails and send replies and then get on my blog and post has been absolutely inpossible this past few weeks! So, too bad about Paris, read Simone's blog if you want to hear about that, or ask my parents/sisters who have been enjoying my long if rushed updates. I know you're all jealous!
So, since then, life's been interesting...
On Wednesday we finished class at 12:15 so we went to Lissia's house for lunch. Lissia is one of Alix's friends and is Norweigan! Unfortunately for me we went via Alix's mums apartment in order to drop off my big bag with my pjs and stuff (for staying at Mireille's place) but Françoise (Alix's mum) wasn't home and Alix had forgotten her key so I had to lug the bag all the way to Lissia's house. After lunch we played some table tennis then we walked to the Casino complexy thing. I had to bring my bag but luckily for me Lissia bought a bike and hung the bag off it. We did a little bit of Christmas shopping before Lissia left and Alix and I went into the foyer in front of the hypermarché thing where we were going to do some 'papier-cadeau' or gift-wrapping for Scouts. We did that for about 4 hours. After that we actually went into the supermarket and did the supermarket shopping. Alix's dad Michel joined us there and we went home once we finished that.
On Thursday afternoon all the Australians visited the IBM plant/offices of Montpellier with Isabelle's host dad, who works there. That was ok...it was interesting to see how such a big business works. First there was a powerpoint presentation then we were taken on a tour of all the different buildings where they build massive computers and test them for faults.
On Thursday night Lauren arrived in Montpellier for three days, so we spent all of Friday with her. Haha, we got out of sport! Not that sport is very bad, in fact it's pretty fun because we were doing ping-pong, but it was really good to spend the day with all the Australians and Lauren.
In the morning we showed Lauren around and took her to some of our favourite shops, eg. the postcard shop. We had lunch at Sucré Sale, a little place next to the churros place where you can get a 'sandwhich' (baguette or panini) and a drink and chips or salad for a good price.
After lunch we headed down to the Polygone for a bit more shopping. The guy at the photo shop also managed to save Lauren's photos of her last 3 weeks or so, which was good!
We were going to go and see a movie then but that plan failed after one cinema wasn't showing James Bond that day and we'd missed the start of it at another cinema. So instead we decided to go back to Mia's apartment and bake Cynthia's choc chip cookies. We bought some ingredients and headed there. The cookies were incredible but it took us ages to make them because the oven was being difficult! We managed the first batch of white-choc-chip ones (for Mia) but the next batch burnt after we got the oven working again! They still tasted really good though! In the meantime we watched When Harry Met Sally. It's such a cute, feel-good movie!
Saturday 16th:
Alix had two hours of maths in the morning so I went to school and met some of the others and Lauren. We sat in the cafeteria for an hour waiting for some of the other aussies to arrive then we went down to the Polygone for some morning tea and shopping. I had one scoop of Haagen Dazs raspberry sorbet...it is absolute heaven! We spent the rest of the time in Habitat, a very cool homewares shop, before some of us said bye to Lauren and went back to school to meet our correspondents.
Alix and I were going to do more gift-wrapping but stopped on the way at Françoise's flat. We were going to ride our bikes to the Casino place but lucky we decided not to because it rained all afternoon! Instead we took a tram then two buses, which turned out to be a bit of a disaster. We ended up waiting 10 minutes for the first bus and about 20 for the second, sharing one umbrella and listening to Alix's music!
Finally we got there and did gift-wrapping for about 2 or 3 hours before we had to leave. We had lunch there and then a hot chocolate (in a bowl) when we got home for afternoon tea. Then Alix had a two-hour maths tute (her professor comes to her house i think).
After that we had to get ready and go to Léa's place (another friend of Alix) where we were sleeping over. I'd thought it was a big sleepover with lots of Alix's classmates but it turned out to be just Alix and I there. Léa had cooked a rice dish for dinner, which was really yummy! We watched Melinda and Melinda, a Woody Allen film. It was very interesting. We played some darts after that, which had an electronic scorer. That was funny because sometimes you'd have to throw over and over before the scorer registered the hit! I think I won that but I have no idea how. Then we played a random dice game where you had to roll 6 die and try to get certain combinations and amounts. I certainly didn't win that one!
Sunday 17th:
We got up around 10 and Alix and I left Léa's to catch the new Ligne 2 tram. This should have been very exciting because it had been inaugurated on Saturday and was all new and everything, and we got free tickets and chocolates from the official guy hanging around at the station. Unfortunately after 10 minutes waiting the tram came and was too packed to even get on so we had to wait some more. After seeing that we'd be waiting another 10 minutes for a tram that would probably be too packed as well, Alix decided we'd walk instead...I was dead at the start and I have no idea how my legs survived all the way. It was only a 20 or 30 minute walk but still...We caught a Ligne 1 tram then to Gare St Roch where we jumped on a train to Nimes where we would spend the afternoon.
Thats all for now I'm afraid, I've got dinner waiting for me and I'm starving (it's 8:40 pm)!!!
à bientot,
emma.
Thursday, 21 December 2006
Paris enfin!
So i've finally got around to posting about Paris. I don't really feel like it because I'd much rather be eating or something. There's this massive breadstick out on the table and I really want to go have some but I've eaten way too much bread already today and am not even hungry.
...i gave in. I can't help it, the bread here is incredible. And there's still half a breadstick left and it'll be impossible to eat tomorrow. Seriously, if you're ever in France, buy a breadstick from a Boulangerie/Patisserie and eat the whole lot. You can't leave it out overnight because it goes rock hard.
So anyway, back to what i am supposed to be talking about...
nope, i don't have time to do this now so you'll have to wait a little bit longer. But you can read simone's blog if you want to find out about it...mes aventures francaises.
...i gave in. I can't help it, the bread here is incredible. And there's still half a breadstick left and it'll be impossible to eat tomorrow. Seriously, if you're ever in France, buy a breadstick from a Boulangerie/Patisserie and eat the whole lot. You can't leave it out overnight because it goes rock hard.
So anyway, back to what i am supposed to be talking about...
nope, i don't have time to do this now so you'll have to wait a little bit longer. But you can read simone's blog if you want to find out about it...mes aventures francaises.
Tuesday, 19 December 2006
PHOTOS!
Ok so this post can just be heaps of photos of stuff because i can't be bothered writing anything and I think we're having dinner soon!
So this is Kasey and Jacques in our first week. Our correspondents had boring classes or classes that we didn't understand (eg. SVT, physique, Allemand, Espagnol...) so Kasey, Jacques, me and I think someone else went out into Montpellier. This shot was taken on the top of the Corum, a random performance building near the school. You can go up onto the roof and see out across Montpellier, it's very cool. Someone had written their Myspace address up there in grafiti!
This is a photo of Pollux, Alix's dog, on the table on the front porch at Michel's house (Alix's dad). Pollux is such a cute dog but he's not supposed to sit on the table! All the leaves in the garden have now been burnt so it's clear again but it was so nice with all the leaves!
La Cathédrale Saint Pierre de Montpellier.
This is a cathedral we all visited together. The school organised a little tour of Montpellier on our first Friday at school and the random tour guide took us here, along with some other places. It's really big and very beautiful inside. Unfortunately my photos from inside are not very good because it was too dark for my poor camera! The tour guide managed to get the people at the church to let us see a chapel not normally open to the public. It was so beautiful!
This is the water tower of Montpellier. I think it's Roman. It's lovely up close...on the other side the aquaduct, les Arceaux, strides away into the distance. It's magnificent, i'll have to get a good photo of it! This is in the park across the road from the Arc de Triomphe (the Montpellier one, not the Paris one).
I found a good picture of the aquaduct! But it doesn't really show all the arches and everything very well!
This is a beach I visited with Alix and her mum Françoise on Sunday 10th December. It's right next to the Cathédrale de Maguelone which we also visited. It's a 12th Century Middle Ages cathedral and it's very beautiful...simple and peaceful! And the beach was nice too!
Yes I know that's not many and there's almost none of people, I'm sorry but the rest are still on my camera so I'll have to do it another time!
It's 10:10 pm and we're about to have dinner so cya!
Emma.
Favourite Music - to be updated regularly...
Now for something completely different...
Since I'm listening to my Ipod I thought I'd make a post dedicated to some of the most beautiful music in the world. In this post, which I will try to keep updating when I come across good music, will include my favourite classical and other songs. I know it's really bad to separate songs into Classical and Not but it's really the easiest thing to do. I could title them all Romantic, Classical, Baroque, Pop, Jazz, Rock etc. but it would take forever and I wouldn't know where to put half of them!
Please note: these lists are not in any sort of order other than the order my Ipod plays them in!
Also note: songs added to the lists will be added at the top of each list!
Classical (don't disregard these just because they're classical; this list contains my favourite music and the most beautiful music in the whole wide world!):
Other (in other words anything that is not classical...this could be pop, rock, jazz, random, funny, soundtracks, anything...):
Since I'm listening to my Ipod I thought I'd make a post dedicated to some of the most beautiful music in the world. In this post, which I will try to keep updating when I come across good music, will include my favourite classical and other songs. I know it's really bad to separate songs into Classical and Not but it's really the easiest thing to do. I could title them all Romantic, Classical, Baroque, Pop, Jazz, Rock etc. but it would take forever and I wouldn't know where to put half of them!
Please note: these lists are not in any sort of order other than the order my Ipod plays them in!
Also note: songs added to the lists will be added at the top of each list!
Classical (don't disregard these just because they're classical; this list contains my favourite music and the most beautiful music in the whole wide world!):
- Allegretto II: Symphony No. 7 in A Major - ABC Classic 100, Volume 2
- My Life Before Me (Prologue from 'The Portrait of a Lady') - Swooning
- Cavalleria Rusticana, Intermezzo - ABC Classic 100, Volume 1
- Ave Maria (all the different versions by different composers!)
- Variations on an Original Theme, 'Enigma', Variation No.9 'Nimrod' - ABC Classic 100, Volume 1
- Oh! Ne T'eveille... - Composed by Godard - Swoon Collection (Gold Edition, 2005)
- Konzert a-moll BWV 1041 - Composed by JS Bach - Violinkonzerte BWV 1041-1043
- Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Composed by WA Mozart - ABC Classic 100, Volume 1
- Die Walkure (The Valkyrie) - Composed by Richard Wagner
- Canon in D (from Canon and Giegue in D Major)
- Song for Athene - Swoon Collection (Gold Edition, 2005)
- O Fortuna; Carmina Burana - ABC Classic 100, Volume 2
- Kust Tunnen Kodu (How Can I Recognise My Home?) - Swoon Collection (Gold Edition, 2005)
- Song to the Moon (from Rusalka) - ABC Classic 100, Volume 2 (with Yvonne Kenny)
- Intermezzo from Violin Sonata - Francis Poulenc (played by Duo Sol)
- The Nutcracker (the whole thing!) - Tchaikovsky
- Cello Suite No. 1, BWV1007 I: Prelude - ABC Classic 100, Volume 1
Other (in other words anything that is not classical...this could be pop, rock, jazz, random, funny, soundtracks, anything...):
- How You Remind Me - Nickleback
- The Blues Are Still Blue - Belle and Sebastian
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Michael Bublé or Queen
- My Happiness - Powderfinger
- Lola - The Kinks
- Summer of '69 - Bryan Adams
- Russian Lullaby - Blue Drag
- Imagine - John Lennon
- Decomposing Composers - Monty Python
- Colors of the Wind - Pocahontas (Disney)
- Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles
- Sway - Michael Bublé
- If You Love Somebody Set Them Free - Sting
- Since I've Been Lovin' You - Shades
- All Things Dull And Ugly - Monty Python
- Son Flamenco - Los Del Caney
- God Only Knows - Beach Boys
- Mack the Knife - The Joey Thomas Big Band or Kevin Spacey
- Money (That's What I Want) - Flying Lizards
- Wild Thing - The Trogs
- I Love Your Ways - Powderfinger
- If You Go Away - Dusty Springfield
- Apple Blossom Time - The Andrew Sisters
- Amour et Cul - Les Wriggles
- So Beautiful - Pete Murray
- Ne Me Quitte Pas - Jacques Brel
- L.O.V.E - Heikki Kahkola
- A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles
- Montgolfière - Les Wriggles
- Lovefool - The Cardigans
CDs I love (the whole lot...no point writing out every song!):
- Swooning
- The Lord of the Rings (soundtracks, all of them)
- Amélie (soundtrack)
- Les Triplettes De Belleville (soundtrack)
- Chicago (soundtrack)
- Freaky Friday (soundtrack)
- Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (soundtrack)
- Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (soundtrack)
- Les Choristes (soundtrack)
- The Lion King (soundtrack)
- Love Actually (soundtrack)
- Monty Python Sings
- Moulin Rouge (soundtrack)
- Movie Masterpieces - Ennio Morricone (soundtrack)
- My Best Friend's Wedding (soundtrack)
- The Phantom of the Opera (the show, not the movie, but it was good too)
- Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl (soundtrack)
- Sole Believer - The Shades
- The Nutcracker - Tchaikovsky
- The Wizard of Oz
- Twin Peaks (soundtrack)
- Shrek (soundtrack)
Wednesday, 13 December 2006
Results and other stuff (ie update)
Hey everyone!
sorry i haven't posted much i've been too busy out and about in Montpellier seeing things and enduring classes and catching up with fellow australians!
results wise: i've heard lots of results and they sound fantastic!!! for those who haven't heard, here are mine:
Revs: 46 (anna beat me by one lol!)
Legal: 43
i'm really happy with revs cause i thought i'd totally screwed up the exam but it's all good! i know i could have done better in legal but that's ok cause it's over now!
i want more results from everyone else, especially revs and legal peoples but also anyone else who cares to let me know!
on to life in Montpellier, France...
well, it's been a long time since my last post so here's a quick run down of the week!
so basically last week was our first week at the Lycée Joffre, otherwise known as school. It was so good to get to school and see other people and it helped me stop thinking about home and everything! I've got to know a lot of Alix's friends from her class (here they have one class and do all their subjects with that class, like year 7 and 8 in Aus). They're all really nice and try to talk to me slowly so I can follow but most of the time they have to translate something for me! I'm getting better at listening to them and picking up what they are talking about but they talk really fast to each other! Alix has heaps of friends in and out of her class so i don't remember names, just faces mostly!
The food has been interesting so far - we have lunch with our correspondents in the canteen most days, or at least i do...it's like an american movie but more confusing...you have to wait on the stairs then some lady who must get paid to shove students back into the crowd lets some people through. Then the student has to swipe a card and give you a slip of paper to say you've paid for the meal. Then you get a tray and get one entre (some pastry thing or salady stuff) one main (cooked, generally not very nice meat with not very nice rice or pasta etc...) and some dessert (yoghurt, fruit, sometimes a pastry thing)...then you give the little slip to another random who must be well-paid to refuse to let people through if they haven't paid...then you have to find a seat!!! it's not eqsy! there's heaps of seats but they are always full unless you are early or really late. when there's a big group (alix normally sits with half her class, at least 10 people) it gets hard to find seats but we've managed so far!
So mostly we've been going to some classes and then going shopping with the other australians not in class. French class is ok cause you can pick up some words to translate, and english class is kinda fun cause you can help out and correct the teacher! I've only had one english class so far because the teacher has been sick and they only have 2 classes a week! i don't understand what they are doing in maths but it's something like function and I understood the chemistry more than Alix - they are doing acid-base reactions! I avoid the other science classes, especially the two-hour ones, because i just don't understand them and don't get anything from them. Much better for my french to go and order some yummy haagen dazs (the guy who served me said i spoke good french! yay!!!) or a pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant).
Last wednesday night alix and i went to tai chi with alix's mum - it went for two and a hlf hours! It was alright, but everyone else was older than us. The instructor was pretty funny and cause i couldn't understand most of the things he said alix had to explain them to me when we started doing the exercises. Alix and I spent half the time laughing as some of the things we were doing were pretty funny! When we had to change partners i couldn't understand anything they were saying to me but oh well. I think we might be going again tonight - alix really enjoyed it!
on Friday morning we had sport (a two hour class they have once a week)...it wasn't as bad as i had expected it to be. We played table tenis for the first hour, but they were all so good at it! i felt pretty stupid! Then we walked down to the running track...it was cold and spitting and I really didn't want to spend an hour running! In the end we jogged 4 or 5 laps then stretched for a while then played some basketball - i think their teacher was being nice cause it was so cold!
On Friday and Saturday there was a Telethon in Montpellier to raise money for helping disabled people i think. It was like a festival - there were stalls and events like roller-blading, bike-riding and little displays of judo, rugby etc...On saturday night alix and I went there with some of her friends - it was freezing but lots of fun!
On sunday I slept in until miday then had lunch - we were at Alix's mums place and it was yummy! Then Francoise (alix's mum) took us to the Cathedrale de Maguelone, and cathedrale from the Middle ages (12th century I think). It was beautiful - very simple but very atmospheric. It was right on the beach too so we checked out the beach while we were there!
Ok, i've got to go so I'll update on Paris (yesturday) another time!
also i've seen a couple of movies so far - mr and mrs smith in French - didn't understand a word! and scoop in english with french subtitles haha!!!
anyway, bye for now - give me some more scores!!!
sorry i haven't posted much i've been too busy out and about in Montpellier seeing things and enduring classes and catching up with fellow australians!
results wise: i've heard lots of results and they sound fantastic!!! for those who haven't heard, here are mine:
Revs: 46 (anna beat me by one lol!)
Legal: 43
i'm really happy with revs cause i thought i'd totally screwed up the exam but it's all good! i know i could have done better in legal but that's ok cause it's over now!
i want more results from everyone else, especially revs and legal peoples but also anyone else who cares to let me know!
on to life in Montpellier, France...
well, it's been a long time since my last post so here's a quick run down of the week!
so basically last week was our first week at the Lycée Joffre, otherwise known as school. It was so good to get to school and see other people and it helped me stop thinking about home and everything! I've got to know a lot of Alix's friends from her class (here they have one class and do all their subjects with that class, like year 7 and 8 in Aus). They're all really nice and try to talk to me slowly so I can follow but most of the time they have to translate something for me! I'm getting better at listening to them and picking up what they are talking about but they talk really fast to each other! Alix has heaps of friends in and out of her class so i don't remember names, just faces mostly!
The food has been interesting so far - we have lunch with our correspondents in the canteen most days, or at least i do...it's like an american movie but more confusing...you have to wait on the stairs then some lady who must get paid to shove students back into the crowd lets some people through. Then the student has to swipe a card and give you a slip of paper to say you've paid for the meal. Then you get a tray and get one entre (some pastry thing or salady stuff) one main (cooked, generally not very nice meat with not very nice rice or pasta etc...) and some dessert (yoghurt, fruit, sometimes a pastry thing)...then you give the little slip to another random who must be well-paid to refuse to let people through if they haven't paid...then you have to find a seat!!! it's not eqsy! there's heaps of seats but they are always full unless you are early or really late. when there's a big group (alix normally sits with half her class, at least 10 people) it gets hard to find seats but we've managed so far!
So mostly we've been going to some classes and then going shopping with the other australians not in class. French class is ok cause you can pick up some words to translate, and english class is kinda fun cause you can help out and correct the teacher! I've only had one english class so far because the teacher has been sick and they only have 2 classes a week! i don't understand what they are doing in maths but it's something like function and I understood the chemistry more than Alix - they are doing acid-base reactions! I avoid the other science classes, especially the two-hour ones, because i just don't understand them and don't get anything from them. Much better for my french to go and order some yummy haagen dazs (the guy who served me said i spoke good french! yay!!!) or a pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant).
Last wednesday night alix and i went to tai chi with alix's mum - it went for two and a hlf hours! It was alright, but everyone else was older than us. The instructor was pretty funny and cause i couldn't understand most of the things he said alix had to explain them to me when we started doing the exercises. Alix and I spent half the time laughing as some of the things we were doing were pretty funny! When we had to change partners i couldn't understand anything they were saying to me but oh well. I think we might be going again tonight - alix really enjoyed it!
on Friday morning we had sport (a two hour class they have once a week)...it wasn't as bad as i had expected it to be. We played table tenis for the first hour, but they were all so good at it! i felt pretty stupid! Then we walked down to the running track...it was cold and spitting and I really didn't want to spend an hour running! In the end we jogged 4 or 5 laps then stretched for a while then played some basketball - i think their teacher was being nice cause it was so cold!
On Friday and Saturday there was a Telethon in Montpellier to raise money for helping disabled people i think. It was like a festival - there were stalls and events like roller-blading, bike-riding and little displays of judo, rugby etc...On saturday night alix and I went there with some of her friends - it was freezing but lots of fun!
On sunday I slept in until miday then had lunch - we were at Alix's mums place and it was yummy! Then Francoise (alix's mum) took us to the Cathedrale de Maguelone, and cathedrale from the Middle ages (12th century I think). It was beautiful - very simple but very atmospheric. It was right on the beach too so we checked out the beach while we were there!
Ok, i've got to go so I'll update on Paris (yesturday) another time!
also i've seen a couple of movies so far - mr and mrs smith in French - didn't understand a word! and scoop in english with french subtitles haha!!!
anyway, bye for now - give me some more scores!!!
Saturday, 2 December 2006
en france!
salut de france! thats probably not right but my french is still a bit ify! the good thing about this keyboard is exclamation marks dont need the shift key!!!!!!!!the bad things include that i cant find the question mark, full stops need shift, i dont know where the apostrophe is and i cant work out how to get to the at sign for email adresses because it seems to be third in line on one of those keys that has lots of signs to choose from. and its not the one with the specials fn key either. also, the m and a and w letters are weirdly placed and the numbers all require shift. keep in mind this is a laptop keyboard.
anyway, thast probably all quite boring for you so lets get to business...we are here in france and its not all that cold. i havnt even used my coat yet and im in a tshirt right now - show how heated it is inside. i havent done much yet sorry! yes the plane flights were fine, but paris airport was a bit of a nightmare. luckily we didnt have to get our luggage before our flight to montpellier, but the annoying thing was everyone seemed to know where to go and what to do except us! luckily mia was being very self-directed and asked a security guard about what to do and he directed us down what looked like the back staircase but whiwh was actually the way down to the screens that display the flights! from there it was all good...we arived at montpellier and were wisked away by our exchange families once we had collected our bags (which were thankfully there!) since arriving here i have not left the house and have slept a lot! i felt a bit sick yesturday...probably a mixture of nervousness, homesickness and jetlag! alix has gone to school today for just a few hours in the morning and after that i will go out into montpellier with her!
thanks for all your messages...i promise to post some photos when i work out how!
cya,
emma.
anyway, thast probably all quite boring for you so lets get to business...we are here in france and its not all that cold. i havnt even used my coat yet and im in a tshirt right now - show how heated it is inside. i havent done much yet sorry! yes the plane flights were fine, but paris airport was a bit of a nightmare. luckily we didnt have to get our luggage before our flight to montpellier, but the annoying thing was everyone seemed to know where to go and what to do except us! luckily mia was being very self-directed and asked a security guard about what to do and he directed us down what looked like the back staircase but whiwh was actually the way down to the screens that display the flights! from there it was all good...we arived at montpellier and were wisked away by our exchange families once we had collected our bags (which were thankfully there!) since arriving here i have not left the house and have slept a lot! i felt a bit sick yesturday...probably a mixture of nervousness, homesickness and jetlag! alix has gone to school today for just a few hours in the morning and after that i will go out into montpellier with her!
thanks for all your messages...i promise to post some photos when i work out how!
cya,
emma.
Friday, 1 December 2006
In Singapore
Hey everyone...posting from free internet in siganpore airport! its boiling hot here and we're about to board our next flight. last one was ok, we have movies on demand but they broke down half way through! loking forward to the 13 hour flight coming up and then France!!!!
have to go so bye for now,
emma.
have to go so bye for now,
emma.
Tuesday, 28 November 2006
2 days to go!
only two days to go before we're out in the big world facing who knows what in the labyrinth that is international airports...i'm one of the few who haven't started packing yet. it is my belief that the best packing occurs when everyone is rushed and flustered...otherwise you tend to forget things or leave them till later. so, i'm pretty excited about getting going but i'm a bit scared all the same about arriving in France and living with a new family. They sound really nice so i hope i'll get to know them and love them! sounds a bit corny, but it's true! There would be nothing worse than living in a foreign country for 6 weeks with a family you don't get along with.
so anyway, hope everyone is having fun packing and/or relaxing into their holidays. it's going to be very hot in Aus over summer but it'll be nice and cool à Montpellier!
see you all later...
so anyway, hope everyone is having fun packing and/or relaxing into their holidays. it's going to be very hot in Aus over summer but it'll be nice and cool à Montpellier!
see you all later...
Monday, 27 November 2006
Walking By Woods on a Snowy Evening
I don't know much about copyright laws so someone should let me know if I am violating any!
The title of my blog comes from the following poem, which I came to like after using it for a composition exercise in my music theory lessons.
The title of my blog comes from the following poem, which I came to like after using it for a composition exercise in my music theory lessons.
Walking By Woods on a Snowy Evening
By Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
These woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to kepp,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Isn't it lovely?
Having realised this would be a good name for my blog I also came to a few other realisations about the name; it could reflect more than just half the title of a nice poem. In reflection of the phrase 'walking by woods' I found that it could refer to a kind of fantastical wander through the woods of many of the novels I have read and loved (thinking The Lord of the Rings, The Axis Trilogy, to name a few). It could also refer to the mystical woods of my thoughts and dreams. I'm not trying to sound too philosophical but what can I say. All those novels do affect your imagination from time to time.
So anyway, that about wraps up the naming business. I was also going to call it 'dream within a dream' which was unfortunately taken (the name of a famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe).
I must also thank my sister Kate for leaving these poems on her bedroom door for me to discover so easily. She has a much more interesting blog than me.
Bye for now.
Intro to Blog
So, here's my blog. I have initially set this up to record my French exchange adventures this summer/winter but hopefully this blog will become my more sophisticated myspace/piczo/etc... To those who are visiters from the wide unknown, hi, feel free to look around and leave comments etc. I'd love to hear from anyone who has similar interests to me but i can't guarantee friendship/replies (next year is going to be tough enough!). To those who know me, hi, enjoy the blog and let me know what you think! Read the next post to find out more about the title and corresponding poem!
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