3 Weeks In

Bonsoir!

So we’re three weeks into the autumn semester and time seems to be going so quickly! The past week has been pretty good though there have been some frustrating moments with regards to French bureaucracy while the sad news is that summer seems to be coming to an end with things turning cold very quickly!

France definitely has a very blasé attitude to general life and the lack of organisation and communication has been quite testing this week. With timetables full of various types of lecture (French Language, French Culture, French History, French Literature plus some additional Spanish modules,) I thought this would be a testing week and it was, but only because almost every lecture I tried to attend had been cancelled, had changed day or room number or simply didn’t start this week, yet none of this information was passed on to anyone. If I had been the only person waiting for the class then I could understand but with both other Erasmus and native French students waiting for classes that never happened, the fault definitely fell on the side of the University. While nice to have a few extra hours free, it has felt a little like a waste of time waiting around for things that never happened, but it’s clearly just the French way! Every lecture is 2 hours long which can also be very tiring, especially if it’s as fast as the History lecture I attempted to go to. Needless to say I didn’t last the 2 hours there, but the point of these 2 weeks is to try things out!

The other issue I had this week was with my French bank account and subsequently setting up a phone contract. I received a letter from the bank informing me that my card was ready to be collected however when I arrived at the bank, they told me it wasn’t there. She asked for I.D. and so I gave her my driving license but ten minutes later she decided this wasn’t good enough and wanted my passport. I didn’t have it with me but DID have a photocopy, good plan I thought, yet 10 minutes later it wasn’t good enough and so I had to come back to my room for my passport. I eventually received my bank card and so off I went to the Virgin phone shop to set up a phone contract. 20 minutes later, the lady informed me that I had the wrong card. I later discovered that in France you have 2 bank account cards: 1 for chip and pin transactions/cash withdrawals and another for online transactions. I need to pay my phone bill online and so needed the second card but as of yet, I’ve only had one letter for the first card mentioned. So, I have to wait for another letter to collect another card to then be able to set up a phone contract – I hope it comes this week!!!!

Otherwise, Tuesday evening saw a number of us go to la place du palais du justice, a big town square in Chambéry where there was an open air film screening arranged by the University’s cinema society. It was an English film with French subtitles which was interesting as you could compare the spoken English to the written French and how it differed in word choice and context, always important in translation! Though I enjoyed, it was SO cold. I wore the thickest thing I had, a large winter knitted jumper (I’m waiting for winter coats e.t.c. to be sent from home) but by 11pm I couldn’t stop shivering and so I was glad to see the credits roll which meant I could get home and into the warmth: I’d definitely like to go to another of their film screenings in the coming semester however!

 

On Tuesday I also managed to overcome a big fear I had about being abroad – having a haircut! I am quite fussy and had images of me leaving the salon with no hair or something awful. I took along a post-it note with a few French phrases and specific vocabulary which the lady there found hilarious. Usually at home, I like to take the time to sit in silence and relax a little when I have my haircut but instead I chose to take full advantage of the fact this lady had to concentrate on me and we chatted about where I was from and what I was doing in Chambéry. She even finished off the session by using one of those wire head massagers – SO relaxing and so I’ll definitely go back again, even if just for the massage!

Being in such a big group (Team GB,) there are many birthdays and this week we celebrated Alice’s birthday on Friday (she’s Italian, but we’ve adopted her!) while on Saturday it was the turn of Lauren to celebrate turning 22 (she thinks she is old..) Lauren lives a in large communal residence and so the party there was SO busy with a number of nationalities, languages and cultures mixing together – I spoke a lot of French and Spanish that night which was good!!

 

Charles, Pia & I Celebrate Lauren's Birthday!

 

On Sunday the sun shone a little (which was lucky, there’s been SO much rain and several thunder storms this week,) and we once again decided to go to Bourget du Lac, 15-20 minutes away on the bus and at 1.20eur each way, it’s worth it! It was much colder there than it had been on previous occasions and there was certainly a shock when first jumping into the water but it was refreshing nevertheless! After such a busy few days and weeks, exhaustion was an understatement of how we all felt and I slept from early evening through to the next morning, 14 hours at least. I didn’t feel refreshed nor did I feel as tired as I had which was a benefit of such a long sleep I guess!

Yesterday (Monday) we tried to attend a French Contemporary History seminar but nobody turned up again..... Erasmus grammar in the afternoon however did go ahead and the lecturer discussed mistakes many people had made in the little essay on our regions we had written the week before – She seemed to remember every error I had made and kept asking for examples from my work but I think she thought the area I had described was so beautiful she just wanted to come and visit!

Today we began classes at 9am with Translation from French to English and it was the first time I felt like I’d actually completed some proper work and learnt something – success! Next we had a two hour class on 18^th century French history. While I managed to understand the majority of what was said, I found the lecturer spoke too quickly and so while trying to write something down and listen to what was being said next, I would forget what I had been writing mid-sentence and so I’ll definitely need to go back through my notes and find some sort of structure. I managed to highlight key dates and names as the class went on and so I think a bit on independent research is necessary, as it will be for the rest of the term with regards to this module I suspect. At 4pm we had a class on ‘perfectionnement en français,’ which is essentially a continuation of the 2 week language course we had upon arrival in Chambéry. I also found out that for that course I received 16/20 for the written assessment (all French grades are out of 20) which is equivalent to 70% and were those credits allowed to count back home, that’d be a 1^st   in Cardiff so I was happy!

Tomorrow I don’t have a lecture until 4pm which is on French Civilisation and is aimed at Erasmus students so hopefully that’ll be somewhat enjoyable and I can keep up with what goes on! Other plans this week include possible Salsa dancing with Sarah on Wednesday, going to French Choir with Alex, Sarah & Beth on Thursday (The theme this week is chansons anglaises/English songs – easy!) and I also believe we will be going to the local ice skating rink towards the end of the week for Ailie’s birthday. Hopefully I will soon be the owner of a French phone contract and an online bank card (I need to pay rent next week!) I’m also off to CAF with all my documents tomorrow so that’ll hopefully all be sorted too. All I need now is to have an official and structured timetable and I can get busy with French work while also planning visits to other places or arranging for friends to come and visit me! J

A bientôt les amis

The Big 2-1.

Bonjour à tous!

Firstly, an apology for the lack of correspondence over the last week or so but life has been an unimaginably busy array of lectures, trips, meetings, admin and of course, birthday celebrations!

Our intensive language came to a close this week with a test where we had to write an essay on the thoughts of our society of the future which may or may not have learnt from the mistakes and acts of the past – quite deep and thought provoking but I think it went OK! The course has been a fantastic way to get out across the region, experiencing the Savoyard culture and meeting some amazing new friends and I’m so glad I participated!



 

Birthday Cards!

On Wednesday came the day which I had been dreading for months – My 21^st Birthday. Long before even the summer I had envisioned being in France with a small number of friends from Cardiff, no family, hardly no friends from home and a little celebratory drink at a push. Essentially, I was not looking forward to being abroad at all for my birthday. Despite having made lots of new friends, I didn’t have any expectations at all. If I’d have had high expectations though, they would have been FAR surpassed. I had THE best birthday EVER. After days of beautiful sunshine, I awoke to the sound of torrential rain and it looked even worse than it sounded. Needless to say, I instantly expected this to put a dampener on the day, quite literally. I opened all of the cards and gifts I had brought in my suitcase and there were so many lovely messages which made me smile. Due to the weather we had decided to catch the bus to University (a 10 minute journey, even better for the fact that it helped us avoid climbing the huge hill!) As I left my room, I found cards outside my door from some of my co-Erasmusees (aka Team GB) which was a lovely gesture and I went to reception to meet everyone where I received further cards and hugs and “Happy Birthdays.” I was happy!

The morning in class was slow and the weather had everyone feeling down a little until the entire class sang ‘Joyeux Anniversaire’ to me, which was amazing (though Alex was insistent on singing ‘Bon Anniversaire’ instead haha.) That made me smile too! After class, most people had an afternoon of Enrolment but as Alex and I were already official students, we went into town for a pizza together before relaxing in her room and listening to some music. That evening Alex, Hannah, Anya and I went for a celebratory Chinese meal together. Despite seeing each other every day, we hadn’t really had the chance to be together as a four as is normal in Cardiff and so it was lovely to spend some time together. While the food was delicious, the waiter was a little negative with us as we simply didn’t understand the French words for Chinese food, though we did ask him several times what things were and even when he explained, we didn’t always understand. I suppose it was as frustrating for him as it was for us that there was a lack of understanding on both sides. Nevertheless, we successfully ordered and I did enjoy, even if Hannah’s “extra extra hot” noodles did make my eyes water...

 

 

Thursday was set to be a long day with a late finish and due to this, I thought it would be best for everyone to go to Charly’s for a quite drink or two to celebrate my coming of age. I had arranged to meet everyone downstairs in the foyer but suddenly everyone turned up at my room. As I was chatting, Alex, Hannah & Anya entered my room with a cake and candles and everyone sang to me (in English this time)...amazing! Even better were the dodgy French candles - once I had blown them all out, they relit themselves and this happened several times – hilarious!  I hadn’t expected any of this, especially as I had barely known most of these people for 2 weeks. It was just wonderful and off we went to Charly’s where I bumped into some other Cardiff students who had only moved to Chambéry earlier that day and so, I introduced them to the group – the more the merrier!

On Thursday we had a morning of lectures followed by a trip to Lyon, an hour and a half from Chambéry and which is one of the biggest urban areas outside of the île-de-France (Paris and its outer suburbs.) It was such a beautiful city and the river reminded me slightly of London and I definitely would like to return before this half of my year abroad is complete. We were given a tour around the older side of the city before having some free time to explore. Team GB (all 17 of us, I think) overtook a Pizzeria where I ate a salmon pizza – rather than a tomato base, there is cream cheese and of course, salmon on top. D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S, and I shall certainly be having it again sometime! We were all exhausted towards the end of the day as we didn’t return to Chambéry 10pm and while some of the others decided to visit O’Pogues (an Irish Pub – is there anywhere in the world where one cannot be found?,) I decided to go to bed and had the best sleep in a long time!

The Gang in Lyon

 

On Friday afternoon we had to go to our languages faculty to collect timetables. These display EVERY class available across all years and we have to try and test classes to see what we would like to study this semester. Unsurprisingly there was little organisation and they had not photocopied the amount of sheets needed for each person. Then, we had to decide what we were going to the following week as lectures were about to officially start.

Saturday began with a trip to the market with Pia, Beth, Ailie and Lauren while some of the others went for a mountain walk (the 6am start didn’t appeal to me too much!) We browsed the tons of foods on offer and bought plenty. We saw a little piglet and Kid (baby goat) which was cute! We also bought a roast chicken and some potatoes and spent the next few hours in Pia’s room, eating and chatting about worldly topics, a pleasant day!

Saturday evening saw the “official” celebration of my birthday. A ton of people piled into my little room at the start and we had some drinks and music before Alex and co presented me with a gift – A t-shirt with 21 tasks that I had to complete for 21 years of life. I think I completed the majority of them but the ink began to run later into the night so I couldn’t even read some of them. I had SUCH a brilliant night and was honestly overcome at just how wonderful and kind and generous everyone had been. It feels like I’ve known all of these people for years and we have such tight bonds already despite the fact it’s been a mere 2 weeks!

Hannah, Me, Alex & Anya

 

Celebrations!

 

 

 

On Sunday the weather was beautiful and we decided to go to Bourget du Lac again. It was much quieter this weekend (the previous weekend had been the last before la rentrée/return to school and University.) As the summer season had come to an end they were mysteriously digging up a large part of the grassy area where we’d sat last week and the diving board had been taking down for the winter. Despite this, we had a beautiful day in the sun getting a little burnt, swimming, diving and jumping off the pier and enjoying the last few hours of “freedom” before Monday came and we began actual lectures.

 

On Monday we got the bus to Uni as we paid 1 euro for a weekly pass. It is so cheap this week as there is a big initiative to encourage the use of public transport and we were more than happy to help out and avoid the hill! Initially we went to a first year grammar class. Designed for French students, we were quite oblivious to the historical references the lecturer made though I was able to follow and understand most of what she said. Furthermore, the class was full of students and we were resigned to sitting on the floor for 2 hours! We had to write a little piece about where we were from which is when the lecturer realised we were Erasmus students. She informed us there would be a class later in the day geared specifically towards Erasmus students. Following lunch, we attended and while it was exactly the same as the previous class, it was easier to follow, we had a chair and she perhaps changed her language a little more to something we’d recognise – I will definitely be returning to that class and not the former! Everyone from Cardiff then met up with our tutor while in France. As he is English, it was nice to be able to ask a question and 100% understand the answer and we realised there were more modules on offer to us than we’d firstly thought. The evening ended with a horror film in Hannah’s room but while I didn’t find the film very scary, it was the reactions of the others which made me jump a little!

The rest of this week and next will give us the opportunity to try classes and establish what we wish to study up until Christmas, before we need to fill in (more) paperwork and inform Cardiff of our choices, though even at this early stage I think I’m quite certain of what I would like to do. Annoyingly, we are all still waiting to receive information and documents from the French bank account we each have opened (I applied 2 weeks ago, the French are very relaxed about all of this!) When this is complete, I can complete my CAF forms and submit them and can also set up a French phone contract which will be much much cheaper than using my UK phone! Hopefully something will come in the next day or two. Otherwise, we have 2 birthdays that will be celebrated on Friday and Saturday and as much as I’d like to go back to the lake on Sunday, the weather seems to be cooling down now (after 2 weeks of near wall-to-wall sunshine, hence I am a little burnt) but we can live in hope!

Hopefully things will calm down a little and be more structured now, so I can blog more frequently J I can’t believe I am now over 2 weeks into my time in France and how close our new friendship group is – it’s as if we’ve always been friends. The “holiday” is coming to an end now and we have to start putting in some effort with regards to University but we still have the evenings and weekends and hopefully lots of trips to look forward to.

++! (French online ‘argot’ (slang) for “à plus tard”/“see you!”

 

La Première Semaine/The First Week

Bonjour de Chambéry! I can’t believe I’ve been here a week already. I’m having such a great time, though it does feel a little like a holiday and it may not perhaps sink in that the next few months of my life are based in this beautiful area until lectures start and the work begins to count towards my degree.



Alex & I At University With The Mountains In The Background

Monday was an early start as the 2 week preparatory socio-linguistic course began. The morning (9-12.30) are language based mainly focussing on oral and grammar practice while the afternoon sessions are focussed on meetings, presentations and excursions across the region. We’ve made so many friends through the course, many from other parts of the UK and of course with other international Erasmus students too. These initial days have seen clusters of nationalities group together as everyone seems a little tentative with their French, which is natural I guess. Naturally, the Brits (or Team GB as we’ve styled ourselves) have spent lots of time getting to know each other, helping each other out with paperwork and socialising, especially as there are few native French students around at the moment. I’ve already made so many great friends and am not looking forward to saying goodbye to them in January and starting the whole process again in Spain!

 

 

Our first class began with International “speed dating” as a way of getting to know the others in the class which was quite different as there were accents from all over the world speaking French and there was a need to gauge the ear to ensure correct understanding. Otherwise the practice of speaking French generally seems to be going well and I already seem to be picking up new words that I hear either in class or when speaking with others. We also had a guided tour around the town too and we saw some older parts hidden away down alleyways that perhaps we’d never have seen without the help of our trusted French guide.



On The Steps Of The Château

 

Wednesday afternoon saw the event I’d been told would not be much fun: matriculation (enrolling at the University.) It was a fairly slow process, partly due to the fact it was the first day and systems and people working there were only now completing the tasks for the first time. There seemed to be a lot of confusion as to which documents they needed from me, while I showed them the letter I had received instructing what I was required to bring to France with me. I eventually came away as an official student complete with student card – success! This week I have also began the process of opening a bank account in order to receive my CAF (a monthly sum of money reimbursed from my accommodation payments, by the French government) along with the lengthy and complicated CAF form and have also looked into a phone contract for the duration of my stay. Both CAF and a phone contract require a French bank account and so until I receive my information, I can’t proceed much further with them but hopefully details will arrive in the post within the next few days.

Earlier this week saw ‘Team GB’ plus a few other friends meet at Alex’s room for some wine and a little relaxing. However shortly after, the room which had 10 of us in had 27 people in as students from other floors heard the party and decided to come and join. The quiet evening in turned into a trip to a local bar called ‘Mojito’ which is really nice and the people working there are really helpful with your French, I’d imagine there’ll be a few more events there before I leave for Spain!

Being Welsh, I’m quite used to sometimes being accidentally referred to English, however it’s the done thing over here as people from the UK are ‘les anglais’ just as they are ‘los ingleses’ in Spain. There was difficulty when trying to explain to my French lecturer that Wales has its own language and I’ve used several pieces of paper drawing UK and Global maps to show people from other countries exactly where Wales in. I’m not a very patriotic person but I see myself as Welsh not English (probably because I’m not..?) so perhaps I’ll educate a few people while I’m here too J

The weather has been amazing and this benefited probably the best day of the week: Friday. Following an early start (we had to be at University by 8.15am) we were taken on a tour of the region for the day. We began with cheese tasting (which was surprisingly nice,) and then went on to visit Annecy and the lake there, the second largest in French and around an hour away from Chambéry. It was an idyllic setting as we hired pedalos and spent an hour out on the water while some of the others decided to dive in and enjoy the sunshine from within the water. Surrounded by mountains, the scene was beautiful and it felt as if we were on holiday, not at University! We visited the old town and had amazing ice cream and bought some postcards – Official tourists! Later we moved onto a family-based winery and tasted some of the products they produced. The red wine was disgusting (I don’t like red wine at all) but their white wine was so good I bought 2 bottles, the man talking to us was so nice that I couldn’t really say no! The long day had us all exhausted but we managed to build up the energy to go for a few drinks in the evening together, we need to make the most of this time before real lectures start! Saturday Lauren and I went to a Pizzaria for lunch and did some shopping in the town. Prices, however, are on the more expensive side! That evening we went back to Mojitos for some drinks and spoke lots of English, French, Spanish and Italian - a multicultural night all around!

 

 

Panoramic View Of The Lake (Click To Enlarge)

 

 

Annecy

 

 

 

 

On Sunday we all decided to get the 15/20 minute bus journey to Bourget du Lac, the largest lake in France. Most of the others swam in the lake while I decided to relax at the side and then played beach volleyball with some locals and other international students, before renting another pedalo and we all went out for an hour on the lake – beautiful. Last night we all decided to go to an Indian restaurant to fill us up ready for the start of classes again on Monday morning. I usually eat lots of food at home but am hardly eating much at all here, yet don’t feel hungry either – it must be the heat! I’m not a huge fan of bread and there’s plenty of it here, so it’s a case of finding alternatives to a baguette every other day but at least I can cook things for myself (stirfry, couscous, pasta etc.)

This week will be another long one as our initial language classes draw to a close. On Wednesday I’ll be celebrating my 21^st birthday with all of my new friends but we have a trip to Lyon on Thursday (an early start, of course) so we won’t celebrate properly until the weekend. One thing I had been dreading about my year abroad was the fact I wouldn’t be at home with all of my friends for my birthday, thinking there’d just be a few of us and I’d be a little lonely. However, I have some of my best friends right here with me along with so many more new friends and so I’m sure it’ll be a good time.

It’s still quite surreal to think that I am living in France and have been doing so for over a week, I don’t know how long it’ll take to sink in. Team GB plus our other friends are planning trips across to Italy and to other parts of France and across the Savoie region which will give us plenty of things to look forward to. I’m so pleased to say that I never thought things would be going so well so early into my time here. So far, so good!

Jusqu'à la prochaine fois, au revoir !
Until next time!

 

Bienvenue en France

Bonjour de France et bienvenue sur mon blog! So here I am, sitting in my little studio apartment in Chambéry as day three comes to a close and they’ve been a crazy three days! There is a lot to tell.

I experienced a little mishap in London when my suitcase decided to break (better it be in Paris than London though?) Alas, I had to go back out and buy myself some new luggage and £85 later I had a new suitcase and a large hiking-style sort of bag. I was staying with my friend Rachel for the night and we’d come to the conclusion that my second case had been too heavy and so thought it was best to spread the weight out. We went to a lovely Italian restaurant where I had bruschetta followed by a chicken and mushroom risotto accompanied by some white wine and it was a lovely dish to be the final on British soil for quite a while!

That night I didn’t sleep very well at all. All of my nerves and excitement of previous nights had all vanished and now I just wanted to get out on the road and complete the journey. I met another Cardiff student, Jaime, at Kings Cross St Pancras and we boarded our 8.30am London – Paris gare du Nord Eurostar service where I was very excited!

 

Departure Time!

 

Somehow, our Eurostar was 15 minutes late into Paris which meant that our already short hour to travel between train stations there was cut down to 45. As we were getting off the Eurostar we were talking to 2 American girls who were also coming to Chambéry but we lost them at the station while there was another girl from Liverpool who was making her way to Martinique for her year abroad! We jumped into a taxi and here came the first French words to be uttered... “Gare de Lyon, s’il vous plaît.” The taxi driver was such a cool guy and being the first person I’d talked to in French, put me at so much ease and built some confidence. We discussed where we were from, where we were going and what we were studying. He had French rap music on and asked if we could understand, to which I replied ‘only the odd word.’ He then put American rap music on and asked the same question, to which I provided the same response. He said this song by Jay-Z and Kanye West but didn’t know what a certain word meant. He wrote it down; it said ‘church’ to which I told him it’s an ‘église.’ I’d only been speaking French for 5 minutes and was already translating for native French speaks.. Amazing!

We eventually arrived into Chambéry to the sight of glorious rain. London and Paris had been so sunny, I couldn’t believe we’d come all this way to be greeted with the same weather Wales treated us to all year around. Nevertheless, we took another taxi to Arpej, the name of the private University halls which would be home for the next 5 months. “Mr Arpej,” as I like to call the man on the reception desk showed me around and to my room, filled in the inventory for me and then left me to make myself at home. It was so surreal to actually be here, after the weeks, months and years of waiting. I first went to find Alex, Hannah & Anya as I hadn’t seen them in several weeks and I then unpacked and began to make the place feel like home with some photos and the Welsh flag given to me by the Animals. Luckily, the previous tenant had left behind some cutlery and crockery. I inspected which I would be willing to use and after washing them, they were good as new, and that saved me some Euros! My room is large and spacious with a balcony and various mountains can be seen between other buildings – a beautiful sight. I bet it’ll be spectacular when the snow starts to fall!  

 

 

 

 

That evening Alex, her dad (Mr Hine,) Jaime, Hannah and I went to an Italian restaurant for dinner; A salad, a hugeeeee pizza and chocolate profiteroles – yummy! It was time to go and get some much needed sleep...

Saturday started out with Alex, Jaime and I having a little wander and getting breakfast from a patisserie followed by a trip with Hannah to Carrefour, a HUGE supermarket and the French equivalent of a Tesco Extra store where I bought some food and more items for my room such as a knife, another pillow, a blanket and cushion and some stationary. One thing I have noticed here is things are weirdly priced. For example, a litre of milk cost me 40p while 15 black bags came to the grand total of £2.30... madness! I’m generally quite surprised of prices here though as I thought it’d be relatively cheaper than Paris for example, as Swansea is the cheaper cousin of London. We also took a quick visit to the local market which sold a plethora of meats and cheeses and vegetables and so will have to return next week for a proper look around. We also visited the tourist information office and took some leaflets on markets and events and other things that happen in and around the region.

Saturday evening Anya, Hannah & I took a spontaneous visit to Charly’s, the most popular student bar which just happens to be seconds across the road and opposite our accommodation. Seeing as most students are yet to arrive, the bar was filled to near capacity and it was quite daunting as Anya tried to order drinks but could barely be heard, let alone the fact it was all being done in French! We seemed to get by however, and it was not a bad first experience of French night life.

I didn’t sleep much on Sunday night due to being ill, I’d obviously eaten something bad during the day and my body didn’t like it too much. Hannah came to see if I was ok and i slept from around 9am until 3pm. I felt better than I had done but I was drained of all energy. I was so hungry but couldn’t move to cook. Another issue is that NOTHING opens on a Sunday, no shops nor pharmacies and so that didn’t help the situation either. Thankfully three of my best friends here. Alex, Han & Anya came down to my room to cheer me up and tell me everything would be ok as I really wanted to go home. Hannah made me some scrambled egg on bread (we have no way of toasting things..) and I managed to stomach it which was a good sign. I then slept some more and made myself some mushrooms on bread which filled me up a little more. The four girls did a test walk to University today which I am sad I couldn’t go on as the sun had actually come out too, but at least we’ll know the way tomorrow!!

 

It’s now Sunday evening and I’m feeling 100% better. We have a French language test at 9am tomorrow to put us into groups for the 2 weeks intensive language and cultural course which will hopefully be an opportunity to meet lots of new people from lots of different places. Halls have been quite quiet so far as lectures don’t start for another 3 weeks but perhaps things will slowly start to liven up.

I am already beginning to notice the stark contrast between British and French culture. It seems that it’s a faux-pas to speak on trains while the fashion here really is quite different, especially for a night out where everyone wears a hoody or something equivalent. A lot of people seem to be fascinated by my Vans shoes too, very few and far between compared to at home!

It’s 00.23am here in Chambéry and I have to be in Uni for 9am so I’d better get some sleep and ensure I’m 100% better. Here’s to the first full week in France!