Breaking into summer March 6, 2009

I am most impressed with the weather the last few days! Blue sky and sunshine, only a few brief patches of grey and no rain. It’s been warm enough to have my window open in the afternoons, although in the mornings it can still take a while for the cool night temperatures to warm up. Definitely looking brighter than the past few months though and it’s a welcome sight! Could this be the herald of a great summer? I certainly hope at least that the worst of the weather is over with. Rain I would expect in March and April but snow and ice I hope not to see again until next year!

The internet was down from Wednesday evening until about Thursday lunchtime, which was a bit frustrating because normally I would have lectures to fill the morning, but since Thursday was the “dead university” day I didn’t. I didn’t even bother walking down to campus although I believe all the buildings were locked and chained as they usually are on weekends or holidays. Instead I did laundry and took the opportunity to deep clean my room; including all those parts which don’t need so frequent cleaning (like my window), or that I usually ignore (in ‘I’ll do it next time’ syndrome), and beating out my rug. After a couple of hours I tried the internet again and discovered that it worked without having to go through the authentication stage (which is the part that hadn’t been working) so for a while I thought they might just have done away with it. But no, after a couple of hours I clicked to a new page and got the authentication page instead, so it was back. I was quite pleased with myself this morning when I managed to get up and out to my 8am lecture at the science fac (the only one I have this semester) – I felt a bit bad because I haven’t been for three weeks; last week being the holiday and I overslept the week before.

Tomorrow I’m going to do a bit of shopping in town; I’ve built up a bit of a list of things to do so that coupled with a lazy-ish morning should kill most of the day. Sunday I might go skating but probably will stay in and do some work and other random things. I’m not sure that many of the Cardiff guys are back yet; as far as I know most or all of their lectures are on strike still so they’ve probably taken the opportunity to stay in the UK for longer. If anyone’s around I might see what’s on at the cinema. Apart from that I intend to have a fairly chillaxed weeked.

Where did that week go? February 15, 2009

I can’t believe it was Tuesday when I last posted! The rest of this week has just vanished, I really don’t know where the time went! It’s bizarre because I was so tired by Friday, and I have been feeling like I don’t have time to do the little work I have – and yet half my timetable is still cancelled due to the strike and skating was the most active thing I did this week, so it makes no sense! I did in fact mean to go skating on Friday afternoon but in the end I was so sick of rushing around and backwards and forwards from lectures I decided to stay and chill out with some reading instead. There will be plenty more time for skating – I’ll go again on Tuesday definitely. I’ve finished les Fleurs du Mal, next will be Horace’s Oeuvres I think. Apart from that there’s just a few pieces of Spanish work to do and some other notes to read. I have the second Approche Litteraire du Picard lecture tomorrow, and then another week off because of the February holiday!

I went shopping yesterday but didn’t find much really, the sales have finished now and it’s down to one rail of random items at the back of the shop that no one really wants. I bought a few bits from Sephora and a new pair of shoes from my favourite shoe shop, but no more clothes finds. Of course yesterday was le jour du St. Valentin, so there were quite a number of couple walking arm in arm with single roses or bouquets, and also I noted quite a few holding shopping bags from lingerie shops! I spent the evening with the Cardiff girls and a friend they’ve made from Bristol uni who is on an assistantship. We watched the England vs. Wales 6 Nations match at My Goodness and then stocked up on junk food from MarchéPlus, went back to Alice’s and watched Mamma Mia! Unfortunately I didn’t pay attention to the time and missed the last bus, but oh well. We then moved on to the Mamma Mia! singalong parts and decided that since Katie and Alice were going to have to get up at 6.30am to walk Vicky to the station (she’s going home for the holiday a week early), it would be better to avoid going to sleep altogether. So we pulled an all-nighter and spent the rest of it exhausting youtube’s supply of disney singalongs, and then when that was done we sat and chatted about music, art, talent and language. We all got a bit of a second wind after 4am and were quite perky walking Vicky to the station. I got a bus back at 7.30 and slept from 8 until 2pm, which was in hindsight a mistake because I felt rough when I got up. Never mind, I will try for an early night tonight and hope the balance is regained by tomorrow morning.

I fully expect this week to whizz by like the last did, since I have plenty of things to fill my time. Tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday will include lectures, work and skating; Thursday lectures, laundry and packing and then Friday I’ll have 4 hours of lectures in the morning, lunch and a final tidy up and head for the station at about 4pm. I’m getting the TGV again so I don’t have to leave so early, otherwise I’d have to get the 15.08 slow train and since my lectures don’t finish til 1pm, that would be a bit tight. Actually technically my lectures shouldn’t finish til 2.30pm but the last one is one of those on strike, and I expect that will still be the case this week. There is no word or sign of the strike letting up; there have been fewer meetings and less activism than there was at the beginning, instead it has become the norm not to have these lectures! In some ways I’m not looking forward to it ending because it will be a nasty shock; having now got used to that extra time in the week it’ll seem like I have none at all if we go back to a normal timetable!

Ticking along, still the strike goes on February 9, 2009

I’ve been a bit remiss in the frequency of my blog posts this week, but to be honest there’s not been much new to write about. I was going to blog over the weekend but time slipped by and I didn’t get round to it. I woke up on Saturday morning all set to hit the sales with a major mission, opened my shutter…….and stared in dismay at the sheeting rain outside. After the blue sky and sunshine of Friday, which was also forecast for the weekend, I was not impressed that it should dare to rain on the day I’d chosen to go out shopping! Anyway I left it for a bit while I had breakfast, and then it started to snow lightly rather than rain, so I went down to the supermarket to get my week’s food and it wasn’t so bad out, so I decided that after lunch I would go to town after all. In fact it had stopped snowing as well by the time I left (it didn’t stick), and I found a couple of bargain tops in the sale although the wind had gone out of my sails a bit. I might have another go later in the week.

Yesterday I went skating in the afternoon, although it was busy and I didn’t do much. There’s too many of either extreme; wobbly people who are apt to fall over in front of you or make sudden unexpected changes of direction, and too-big-for-their-skates teenagers who are very good but reckless, and fly round the rink diving at each other and showing off, but with no regard for anyone else. And of course the ones with hockey skates love to carve up the ice with their flamboyant stops. So while I might continue to go on some sundays when I haven’t got much work to do (like this week), I have decided that I’m going to go on Tuesday afternoons instead because I figure the idiots will be in school and I stand half a chance of actually being able to work on things. After skating (which was by myself again) I dropped round to the Cardiff group’s residence to see if anyone was in and if they wanted to go for a coffee. I knocked on Joe’s window but he wasn’t in, and since I didn’t want to put credit on my phone (there’s a time limit to use it or lose it) I was just about to go and get the bus when he walked round the corner, and told me that the girls were in a bar (Au Bureau – “At the Office”, ironic for a bar, no?) watching the football. I went to find them for a bit of a social even though I’m not really interested in football, and found them polishing off some pints and chips. We ordered some more food and drinks and must have sat there for hours! In the end they switched the tv channels so poor Katie only got to see about 30 minutes of the UK football match she had come for; they switched it to a French match. We tried bargaining with the waiter – “we’ll buy another round if you’ll switch the channels!” – but he said too many people had already asked for the one it was on. He was a bit of a flirt but funny and ended up swapping numbers with Alice when we paid the bill!

The teachers’ strike continues this week; in total four of my lecturers are striking, all from the Faculté de Lettres and accounting for 3 modules and 9.5 hrs per week of my total 20.5 hrs, so roughly half my timetable in that respect. I found out from Marion on Friday that some of the Spanish lecturers are also striking, just none that teach me so that’s why it hadn’t affected my modules. I asked her when she thought it would end and she says it’s difficult to tell – the one last year lasted 3 months. The turning point for this one will probably be when the government votes on the legislation that is being opposed; a no vote will most likely end the strike and a yes vote will prolong it and provoke stronger action. In the event of a long strike, exams will either be written off or be extremely easy; based only on the material covered before the strike began. I asked Keele what the repercussions would be on my year’s credit if I couldn’t be assessed for some modules, and they said that when there is no mark for a module due to circumstances beyond the student’s control then they just calculate for the year with the marks you do have.

The weather continues to be changeable here; while yesterday was dry but grey, today brings lashing wind and rain/sleet. The forecast is for more rain with a lonely day of sunshine on Wednesday, with temperatures dropping through the week to snow by the weekend. Still nothing compared to what the UK has had in terms of snow, and I just hope that it starts to peter out now to give everyone a bit of a break – and not least because I don’t want any travel delays in a fortnight! It seems unlikely the airport or trains here would be affected if we had a sudden dumping of snow, but I can imagine that the flight would not be able to land at Exeter for example, or it wouldn’t be safe for mum to drive up and collect me. Hey-ho, we shall just have to see. Two weeks is a long time in weather terms I suppose and it’s difficult to predict now what the situation will be.

Marché de Noël December 17, 2008

I put off the christmas shopping yesterday, partly due to the grey and drizzly weather and partly to laziness, but I’m glad I gave in to that because it was much nicer today! I cracked the last of my christmas shopping, save for one or two small additional items I might pick up from duty free at the airport. It was nice because I could just wander aimlessly instead of trying to battle through the people on my way to do something else, as has always been the case before now. I had some chichis – long twisted sticks of fried dough rolled in sugar, and the obligatory vin chaud. I actually splashed out a little extra to get the souvenir mug (white with the red Marché de Noël d’Amiens logo on it)! I obviously can’t tell you what I bought, because some people reading this might be receiving the gifts in a week’s time! The exception to that is the little suitcase I bought, one that’s small enough to go as hand luggage but big enough for a short-trip bag. I’m going to need the extra space to bring things back this time; there was no way I’d fit it all in my one, medium suitcase. It’ll be useful for travelling over christmas and in the future as well. I might go back to town tomorrow afternoon after I’ve had some time to reflect and if I think of anything else I need, but apart from that I just have a 1hr spanish comprehension exam tomorrow morning, then I have to do laundry and start to pack. I’m going to have to pace myself though; given that I shouldn’t need to leave Amiens until lunchtime on Friday even if I want to be hours early for my flight, it’s going to be no good if I find myself sitting twiddling my thumbs with everything packed by 4pm tomorrow! I blame nan for this gene that makes me abnormally efficient at packing! I shall leave you with some photos again, this time from the market.

……snow? November 22, 2008

A short post just to sum up today. I got caught out by the weather! The forecast was for snow, but since I woke up to blue sky and bright sunshine I thought that it must just be a bit confused. I got ready to go to town and in faffing about managed to miss two buses. I headed out the door to catch the 11.50, wearing pumps with no socks and a light woolen 3/4 gilet over a t-shirt (and jeans). Stepped out the door…..and was promptly blasted by an icy wind. Hmm. Did I go back for more layers and boots, miss the bus and wait another half hour, or did I decide I could cope, ignore the cold and get the bus? I went with option number two, which although my hands were already tingling after the two minute walk to the bus, didn’t seem so drastic at the time. It was ok when the sun was out, walking briskly with my hands jammed in my pockets, but when the street was in shadow and the wind conspiring to blow straight down it, I was cold! I spent a couple of hours diving in and out of heated shops; I had a quick browse in Miss Coquines but they had no shoes that took my fancy (I’ve already bought two pairs from there), reccy’d the christmas gift potential in Galeries Lafayette, and browsed the dvd’s in FNAC. I decided I needed some new jeans and checked out the options in Camaieu, Pimkie, Mim and CacheCache but although I found and tried on some I liked the look of, eventually walked out of all four with nothing.

I had a quick panini in a cafe by Mim for lunch and then went to meet Katie to head for the ice rink. Faith couldn’t come in the end due to lack of funds but hopefully she will be able to some other time. It was a good session; we went for the start and it was very quiet for the first hour, the ice was pristine and it was very relaxing just skating round and chatting. During the second hour it got busier and the ice got chopped up because of a load of guys racing to a dead stop on their hockey skates, so we called it a day after two hours of skating. Both of us felt like we’d had a workout! I tried to get one of the staff to explain the timetable to me but she just gave me the one I’d picked up before, which appears to be out of date and doesn’t correspond with the online information. From what she was telling me it seems that the rink is open much more often than I thought, including two sessions every sunday, so I should be able to go every week.

After skating we went and rounded up Joe, Vicky and Ollie and headed for Jardin des Déices for a chocolat chaud. Unfortunately they were full indoors and no one fancied sitting outside in the cold, so we continued on to the Forum, another good cafe. They were also busy but managed to squeeze us into a booth. This time I had chocolat viennois – basically hot chocolate with whipped cream, instead of the chocolat kirsch I had last time. Both were nice and warming on a cold winter’s day! I paid a quick visit to Champion and the British aisle again where I decided on a jar of Colman’s mustard, although I’m still not quite sure what to put it with! By the time I got the bus to come back to campus it was dark and colder, and I was envying everyone their big coats and scarves! It took a good half hour for my fingers to stop feeling numb once I got back, and I’d even been wearing gloves! (I only had those with me because you have to wear them on the rink). I suspect that I may wake up to a dusting of snow tomorrow, if so I’ll have to get out and take some photos.

A relaxed weekend November 17, 2008

I didn’t really get up to much this weekend, it was generally grey, dull and drizzly and not really conducive to going out and about! I caught up on some sleep and although I did go to town on Saturday, I was only there for about an hour. I wandered aimlessly about town and the market but discovered that I wasn’t really in the mood for shopping, so I got a mediterranean baguette from my regular boulangerie/patisserie for lunch and then did my grocery shopping at Champion. I think they have the best range of things although they aren’t the cheapest, but because they’re in town I don’t often do my shopping there; E. Leclerc is just a 5 minute walk from my halls so that’s where I usually go. Anyway I had been told by the Cardiff students that Champion now has an international foods section (it’s their nearest supermarket), including a British aisle! So I had to go an investigate. Sure enough, there were items like Bird’s custard and Bisto gravy, Marmite and Colman’s mustard staring at me from the shelf, but for the time being I contented myself with a can of Dr. Pepper until I can think of a good meal to use the other things in (not all at once!).

Sunday night brought a welcome break from the quiet of campus with an evening of fine dining in St. Leu. Katie, Alice, Joe, Vicky and I all went out for dinner to a place called “A La Capitainerie”, which is  one of the many restaurants lining the river on Quai Bélu in St. Leu. We chose from their set evening menu, which included an aperatif, starter, main, dessert and coffee for €26.90 or £22. This is very good value for Amiens, and even more so for St. Leu where a main course alone can be up to €20. I chose duck terrine to start, followed by lamb shank and chocolate soufflé, and it was all delicious. The restaurant itself is huge but we were sat in the covered heated front terrace which made it quite a cosy setting. There were quite long gaps between courses, which would have annoyed some people, but actually made for a very relaxing meal. Because you have time to chatter away between courses, you talk less during each dish and therefore appreciate the food more, because you’re not hurrying to finish a mouthful so you can say something before the conversation moves on! It was quiet while we were there; there were never more than 5 tables at a time, but I noticed that they were still serving starters and mains at 10pm as we were finishing our coffee – on a Sunday! That would be unheard of in the UK in a similar situation, I’m sure of it.

I had no lectures or anything today so I took the opportunity to tidy up my room, chuck out the recycling and do some laundry. Ah yes, the laundry saga continues! Washing is no longer free – I knew that was too good to be true. Instead you have to pay by moneo card, which you can get free from the restoU. However, I’ve never needed one up til now so I had to trek over and get one, which took a while because it was lunchtime. Unfortunately the top-up machine wouldn’t recognise my bank card (didn’t surprise me much, it’s not french), and the only other method of topping up is with coins, minimum amount €10……which I didn’t have. So, I trekked off to Leclerc down the road and bought two pens with a €20 note, and then proceeded to ask for most of my change, in well, change. This annoyed the cashier but I was past caring. The system I have to deal with has caused me problems, therefore I shall cause problems for someone else. Deal with it! So I got my €10 in coins and topped up my card, got my laundry washed. Then the dryer wouldn’t accept my 20cent pieces so I got them changed for a €1 piece, which it accepted, but refused to switch on. So my room now smells of damp laundry and I have things hanging everywhere, because by that point I really couldn’t be bothered to drag my heavy, damp laundry into town to a launderette.

At least tomorrow should be nice and simple, I have a day full of lectures!