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!”