The ups and downs and over and backs of living in France!

Once again I must apologise for the huge lapse between posts, but this time I have a legit reason other than just being lazy. My laptop broke while I was in Spain, and then there was the whole starting back in college bla, bla, bla, basically once again, life got in the way. But let's face it folks, when doesn't it? I'd rather be busy than have nothing to do!

Living abroad comes with both positive and negative things, naturally, but a lot of them are just downright inconvenient, so I said I'd compile a list of Pros and Cons about living in France for anyone who was contemplating spending any length of time there, or anywhere really.

N.B. These are not in any particular order, merely the order in which they entered my brain.

1. The Bread, but not just any 'ol sliced pan now, the BAGUETTE (from a boulangerie of course), it's like the God of bread. (Nom).
2.  The weather, I mean the sun is just somethin' else, a little advice to the newbies, invest in A LOT of fans, a cool abode, and (if possible) a portable shower. If you're from a hot country then this point is void. 
3. The beaches, the soft sand (avoid when windy cause then that shit gets annoying. And sticks to EVERYTHING) and the warm sea, (I have yet to brave the Irish waters since returning.) A little warning: Be prepared for people to just whip off clothing as they wish, they will never be described as a self-conscious nation. 
4. Bad words don't really sound like bad words. Merde, Putain. See? Completely innocent. (Except when shouted at you by druggie to whom you would not give money.. sort of needed that for food you see.)
5. Things are cheap; food, accommodation, cinema, alcohol. Makes me think like, Ireland, get your shit together. 
6. The markets. You find the most randomest crap here, I mean they sell ANYTHING. If you happen to find yourself thinking, oh, I'd love to buy a huge Peugeot sign, then hit one of those up. I'm not even joking, there was a market that sold this. It's great! 
7. Disneyland. Who doesn't love it? If you go to France for a prolonged amount of time and don't go, then you are crazy and you will need to get that checked. Go at Christmas time, it's out of this world. And so colourful. It's possible I may never grow up.
8. The architecture, everything's just so beautiful. Mr. Eiffle, you are some man. 
9. One of the best things? Meeting people from ALL over the world, I feel so cultured.

1. They don't like to share. Students in particular, just don't ask for notes, it's as if you asked if you could kill their favorite pet. 
2. If you are foreign, you will know you are foreign, you might as well write it upon your forehead.
3. The milk. What even is that? AVONMORE, people, AVONMORE! 
4. The tea. Just bring your own, That's all I'm saying. And then get family members to post more when you run out. Just another note: If you have a friend named Barry, your Mam will find it the most hilarious thing to send you Barry's tea. And you'll be all like... Okaaaaaaay. 
5. Opening hours. Reminder: THEY DONT OPEN ON SUNDAYS! And sometimes randomly close in the middle of the day. That's cool, it's not like I needed anything. 
6. Most of your family and friends are in a different country, and you can't annoy them with your strangeness everyday like you used to. 
7. Nightclubs are sleazy,
8. The train people LOVE strikes. And it always seems to happen when you really need to get somewhere.. 

That's all I've got for now, but no doubt there's plenty more to be noted! So if I think of any I'll be updatin', if you lovely folks think of any, leave a comment!! With all it's ups and downs I really do love France! And the language too, it's just so beautiful! So long my lovelies, I promise I'm getting better at this blogging malarky starting this month :D 

New country, New adventure.

As I ‘repose un peu dans ma chambre’, I’ve begun thinking about this whole year. I can hand on the heart say that I am, in some ways, a very different person than I was this time last year. There’s no doubting the fact that I’m a lot more cultured, as is everyone who partakes in a year abroad. Sometimes I think that maybe that’s even more important than academic education, don’t get me wrong now, of course academic education is important,(STAY IN SCHOOL KIDS) and everybody should attend school until they’re at the very least, 16.(as is the finishing age in many countries) But in saying that, through experience I’ve learned that you learn so much more about the world, and about different ways of life, by traveling, being well read and observing (you can learn a lot about a person just from the way they move).

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a whole… 9 months since I left Ireland (mental isn’t it?).  And only another month and half left of this adventure. Ah but sure, every day is an adventure, non? One thing I won’t miss, is lugging all that bloody luggage around, not that I did it that often but seven plane rides later you start to wonder why you even need that much stuff. Wait ‘til I tell ye about my journey to Barcelona! First of all, the lovely people of SNCF (the train company) decided to go on strike (lovely), I prayed to every god there is that my train wouldn’t be cancelled, mais what did I find? Yep. My train was cancelled, on I went up to the train station to sort out another way to get there without having to pay even more money, god bless the woman at the desk, I know she was being helpful, but she wasn’t really that helpful. This, friends, is what she told me to do: Get the bus to Nimes, get a train from Nimes to Montpellier, a train from Montpellier to Perpignan, and onwards to Barca. My face must have been the picture of ‘you must be jokin’ ‘, so I went ahead and asked her; are you sure there’s no other direct trains to Barcelona? Her response? ‘No. There’s none, I’m sorry. Good luck’.  Eeeeem. Okay. Did I follow this? I did not.. I researched it myself and did it my way.  (As ya do). Anyhow, I took the only two running trains that got me to Barcelona, ergo two hours late. The first train was fine, I just took a random seat an prayed nobody would make me move, but then, when I got to Perpignan the only connecting train to Barcelona was at 12h 13 which meant that I had a two hour wait, nevertheless I was plenty entertained with dissatisfied customers, one man was threatening  one of the information clerks, I was sorta like ‘chill dude, why not see the funny side in all of this?’..clearly he didn’t think it was rather quite funny. The train journey to Barcelona from Perpignan wasn’t as long as the one before, however because EVERYONE was on the train we didn’t have any seats, which meant we had to move all our luggage anytime anybody wanted to either use the toilets, go upstairs or leave the train. Bundle of laughs so it was. At one  particular stop this guy moved my suitcase but he pulled on the handle a tad too late and it broke, his face was nothing short than priceless, you’d swear he’d killed a man. I just laughed it off, I thought it was quite hilarious. He didn’t look at me for the rest of the journey. I was lucky that my host family met me at the station or I probably would have collapsed in exhaustion. They were so lovely, helping with my bags and whatnot! Such sweetie pies! I arrived on Saturday, that evening I got to see the host child in one of her dance performances, it was a contemporary interpretation of water and it’s different forms, it was interesting , I’d never seen anything like it before…I did enjoy it though! And do ya know what’s ironic? It started raining on our way there!  I’m enjoying Spain so far, there’s not a food I haven’t like, which is great because ya know me now, I does love me some food! The weather isn’t as hot as it was in Avignon (and there’s people back home being all like ‘yeah there’s a heatwave here this weekend’, I’ll tell ya what, ye come back to me when it’s 35 degrees without wind and I’ll say something ) which was great because it was near impossible to be motivated in that heat, all you want to do is sleep.

Anyway, the point of this whole post is really, I've learned so much more about people and the way the work in this one year than I probably have my whole life, it's amazing how living in an unfamiliar place opens up your eyes to the world around you (because if you didn't you'd probably get lost, because ya know, you don't know where you are). This year abroad has only heightened my wanderlust and I can't wait to finish university so I can discover bigger and better things!! 

En fait, I’ve ended one adventure and begun another, here’s to a great summer in Espana! But, I really do miss France and the people in it. Vive la France, vive la baguette!

In the next edition: Pros and Cons of living in France, for all of those who wish to possibly someday maybe in a lifetime move there.

Oh P.S. Look at my new room, how cool right? All those books...

Les Aventures Parisien!

I've been home 3 weeks already (how the time flies eh?). The weekend before coming home we went to Paris for two days. Which was nothing less than amazing to tell you the truth. It was a very productive weekend. While there I overcame two of my fears, that I've been wanting to overcome for many years now; I climbed the Eiffel Tower and went on my very first roller coaster (it wasn't very big but ya gotta start small right?). On Saturday we spent the day sightseeing (and eating) in Paris city. It involved plenty of walking and many a metro trip. It all started with a three hour odd train journey. Then we went for lunch with my housemate who also happened to be in Paris at the time, and we all know how much I appreciate food. Then we took a stroll along the Seine towards Notre Dame, there were some lovely stalls with various Parisien merchandise. I bought some really pretty paintings. Here's a picture of the Notre Dame (and some random people who happened to be lurking around):

Paris is really pretty at Christmas time. All the lights make it really magical! OH! and we found a love lock bridge...

Looking sad because I know I'm goin' to grow old with my cats..

After the Notre Dame we made our way back down along the Seine towards the Eiffel Tower (or so I thought). But after a few minutes of walking my friends started running and shouted to me that if I wanted my Christmas present I may start running towards the boat. Me, being the daft yolk that I am was thinking 'Why the bloody hell did they put my present on the boat? That must've been a bit hassleful'. I was oh so very wrong, my present was the boat itself. Well okay, obviously they didn't actually buy me the boat. That would be a bit ridiculous. But they got me a boat tour along the Seine, I couldn't stop smiling. I probably looked like a right oul eejit on the boat. I was mesmerized. The lights were reflected onto the water creating a beautiful hue to the river. Everything was lit up as the evening became close. It was everything I thought and more. It was the best Christmas present to date (no offence to the other present buyers...but come on, you understand right?), completely incredible and I am so lucky to have been afforded the opportunity. Sure I'll throw ya a couple of photo's so you can get an idea..

After the boat ride, we hopped off at the Louvre with the intention of seeing the Mona Lisa. We took some hilarious photos of us which seemed like we were holding the pyramid of the Louvre by our fingers. It was good craic! Then we entered the museum only to find that it had just closed. (but hey, it just gives us a reason to return to Paris doesn't it?). Instead we browsed the shops (which we could never afford as ya know, we're mere college students) and got a hot chocolate and a cinnamon roll. (NOM).

We then proceeded to walk along the Champs d'Elysees (which takes FOREVER) so that in the end we'd reach the Arc de Triomphe (which is pretty cool I guess). During which we went to THE BUSIEST McDonalds I have ever ever seen in my entire life. Worse than Dublin on Halloween, or Arthur's day...or any of those mad nights. It was ridiculous...there were people hovering around with their food waiting for people to leave so that they could take their seats. It. was. cray.

Despite what this picture might suggest I promise I did not lean on an occupied car, this is an illusion. 

         

Finally, we went to the Eiffel Tower, with the sole intention to get to the top. We decided we were goin' to be very active and take the stairs to the second floor from where we could take the lift to the very top. Now. At first I was being enthusiastic about taking the stairs, being adventurous and whatnot. But by the time I got to the third flight I was like SWEET JESUS WHY ARE THERE SO MANY STAIRS? I honest to god thought they were never goin' to end. I'd never been so grateful to reach the top of stairs in.my.life. I'm not even jokin' when I say the French love stairs. They're EVERYWHERE. Enough exercise for anyone. We had to pay extra to take the lift the rest of the way up but I thought, why stop now? Best go the whole way while I'm there. How many times will this opportunity come around again? The journey up in the lift was adventurous in itself. It lasted less than a minute but it was packed like a sardine can. There was myself, my friend, and my housemate (who is also my friend of course). I've always had a sort of fear of heights so when we could see ourselves getting higher and higher I started to think maybe it was a bad idea after all! And my housemate really wasn't any help at all. She decided this was the perfect time to declare she 'had a feeling we were gonna die' and that she 'thought the person operating the lift might be suicidal'. GREAT. THANKS. It was okay though, clearly we didn't die. obviously. I'm still here to tell the tale. It was ridiculously windy at the top of the tower. It'd blow ya away so it would. But in the end it was all worth it when we saw the view, it was breathtaking. And this was at night time. Paris by lights.

This was the exact moment I decided that this is what I'd be happy doing for the rest of my life. (obviously not standing on the top of the Eiffel Tower, that would be cold. and lonely. and dangerous. nope .not that.) What I mean is, travel. I would be completely content with visiting different places and the famous landmarks for the rest of my life. I've never been one to want a desk job. I'd get awfully bored. It's just not me. All I need now is a way to fund these dreams. Where there's a will there's a way.

You know the irony of it all? I nearly got killed by an umbrella after my adventure to the top of the tower. Imagine that headline 'Girl dies by umbrella after descending the Eiffel Tower' Ha! What a story that'd be!

Sunday was the day we went to Disneyland and also the day we returned home. If I could live in Disneyland I would (let's put aside how unbelievably expensive this would be and dream a little). I felt like a child all over again. It's magical. And it never gets old. I had been there before but it was like I was seeing it all for the first time again. There was a MASSIVE Christmas tree which was very colourful (and I love colours). Here: 

I was in awe of everything, I spent the whole time taking mental pictures that I could keep forever. It was like we had walked into another universe and entered a dreamlike adventure. I LOVED IT. We started in the Magic Kingdom Park, which had many different worlds included....there were Alice in Wonderland themed things, we did the maze which was quite hilarious because we kept getting lost (this attraction is aimed at like three year olds). We saw the Christmas Parade (unbelievably amazing!), visited Cinderellas castle, the Robinson's tree house. and Davy Jones cave. 

Then the time came, the moment I had been trying to put off for as long as possible...I was going to embark a roller coaster (Thunder Mountain)...I was determined to do it. It was the one thing I had been telling myself that I was definitely going to do while at Paris. I was the picture of utter ridiculousness. The waiting time was estimated at forty five minutes, which was a lot of time to freak oneself out. My friends were laughing at me, as one can imagine, I mean, there were youngsters queuing up. I think I spent a good half an hour just freaking out, I would have turned around and ran back but the absolute effort of moving through all the people was just overwhelming (that and I knew I'd be so mad at myself if I didn't do it). By the time we got to the front I was very very hungry and at that stage my fear had subsided and I just wanted to get on. And guess what? I loved it. I spent the whole time in stitches laughing (partly at myself for being so stupid and also because it's a hilarious ride). When I got off I just wanted to go again...here's the aftermath: 

Then we decided we'd go to Planet Hollywood for lunch (when in Disneyland and whatnot). However, when we got there I began to question if it was really worth it...we had to wait for forty five minutes before we were even seated, then they had to take our order and deliver it and what not. But when the food came, oh my god it was like heaven in my mouth, if I go to heaven I'm pretty sure that's what it would be like. I really should start a food appreciation page don't you think? I just think food is the best thing ever...it's also essential. jeez, I have problems. Anyway, after that we went to the Walt Disney Studios Park, which was also pretty cool, we were going to go on this new roller coaster ride but the waiting time was too long and we didn't have THAT much time left before we had to leave for our train to the airport. I'm not goin' to lie, I was kind of relieved, I think one roller coaster was enough for one day, baby steps, us oldies can't handle too much excitement in one day ya know? We did go on this special effects train which was awesome to say the least, it stopped at various movie sets at manifested fire (yes, real fire) and water. It was way cool. Again, I was mesmerized (this seems to be a common sentiment throughout the trip doesn't it?). The wait for that one wasn't too bad, but the wait never feels long in good company, we had some...interesting...conversations. We learned that our friend is glad he's not a camel. Good to know for future reference I guess. And there was this man doing weird things with his clothes to entertain his kids, but also provided some laughs for us. It was funny! After this amusement we went to get some hot chocolate (which came with a free travel mug, bonus methinks) while we waited to go see a short movie.( which was also cool, I'm not gonna bother explaining what happens cause I've already said 'cool' far too much in this post). 

Afterwards we did some shopping and got our train to the airport, and then boarded our flight to the lovely land of green! Despite there being a delay on our flight it was one of the best trips I've had to date, and what made it even better was seeing some members of my family at the airport. Being away from them for so long makes you appreciate them even more, and my Dad was wearing a Christmas Tie, brought me some taytos, and a can of club orange, what a man! 

I write this because I can.

Here I am again mes amis! So last time I posted was just before we went to Toulouse! Suppose I should fill you in on that oul adventure while I'm at it. I was very excited to go and see my friend for her birthday who I hadn't seen in I'd say almost five months, one would say that's a pretty long time to go without seeing one of your closest friends. Too long almost, and I wouldn't disagree with them either. We had booked a train for around 12pm, and we were all pretty much ready to go so on we went on our journey but unfortunately it was not as smooth sailing as we hoped it would be! You see folks, the problem with us is that we overestimate how close the train station actually is so when we realised that we were in fact running late we started to walk a bit faster (I thought it was grand but I have that attitude to everything so I'm not a very good person to rely on), we even ran some of the way (don't laugh, I actually did run). After finding the platform our train was stationed at we made our way there, and you can imagine the relief on our faces as we saw that the train hadn't left yet. Out of breath and tired already we made ourselves comfortable for the journey ahead. All was fine, we were glad we made it and chatting away until my friend noticed...THAT IT WASN'T THE RIGHT TRAIN! *facepalm* What did we do? Well we gathered our things, faster than we've ever gathered anything in our lives and ran off the train. Turns out the train we had boarded was in fact destined for Marseille...imagine if we had ended up there! Quite a bit far away from where we had intended to go. Being the person I am, I thought the situation we had landed ourselves in was nothing other than hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing! Come on, how common is it that three adults (technically) miss two trains in the space of a couple of weeks?!?! It's pretty darn funny. Anyway, one of the nice people who work at the train station confirmed that we could get the next train, which we did do. This day has certainly placed itself in the little box in my brain reserved for the funniest moments! I mean, nobody died, we still got to Toulouse. All good in the hood I say!

We spent a nice time in Toulouse, I stayed longer than the others. As the friend that we visited is Italian, it was no surprise that she also had plenty of Italian friends, which is great! Apart from the fact that we don't speak Italian, but we all had the common language of French (sometimes English) which was a lifesaver. Toulouse is a pretty big city, and I liked it as a place to visit but I'm not sure I'd quite like to live there but that didn't stop me having fun. The second night I stayed there I went to a 'retro' party, I wasn't exactly sure what this was so I just threw some random pieces of clothing on and away I went; leg warmers, converse, tights and a bright blue top. I didn't think it through because IT WAS BLOODY  COLD! Oh and I almost forgot to mention, on my travels I also met these too guys who knew my cousin, okay yeah that's not so strange right..but they're in the exact same course as her. Tis a small world, even in France! All in all a great weekend was had and I certainly wouldn't be opposed to going back again for another few days. But before that I've got many other planned adventures!

Since then I've not really been up to much else. I've had a lot of exams and whatnot to get done but I know you don't want to hear the sordid details of that. They've put up all the Christmas decorations over here now which has made the place extremely festive, I love it. Christmas has always been one of my favourite times of the year! The atmosphere is indescribable! I will admit, it's strange not being at home during this time of year, seeing all the photos on Facebook of the decorations in Kilkenny is a bit weird. Christmas is always a thing I associate with home and family, so not being there feels a bit odd, it's not bad, it's just different. It's nice to experience how it's celebrated in another culture, there is a Christmas market in on 'Place de l'horloge' and it is filled with so much goodness, from gingerbread to snowglobes, theres something for everyone! There was also an extremely random antiques market on 'Place Pie' yesterday, I had a gooch around and it was fantastic. That's one thing I love a lot about France, it's so wonderfully random and it provides endless entertainment. I mean, there was a price list from a butchers, who would want to buy that you might ask? Well I for one would certainly consider it for the simple reason that I could say I owned one! They had plenty vinyl records, which makes me want a record player just so I can buy them ALL (okay, only some). Then they had this box of postcards that were written like yonks ago. It's all so fantastically amazing and I will forever be in awe. I wish we had markets like that back home. Like, they just set up and many of them just lay the goods on the ground, no hesitation as to whether anyone would steal anything. The lot would be gone in a flash back home!

I have a week full of exams next week, which is going to be mad craic altogether! But I'll sit them in sheer anticipation of my trip to Paris (including DISNEYLAND) which will be a great end to an even greater semester. And this is where I shall bid you adieu my lovlies.Until next time, whenever that may be!

P.S. Here is a pun that I came across the other day, I kid you not I laughed for hours just at the mere thought of it. It's just so darn 'punny'!

Random tales from a random brain!

Salut tout le monde! I hope all goes well where ever you lovely folk may be. This really isn't a post about anything remotely specific or interesting, merely a series of photos that display antics that occur in my daily life. I don't know why I willingly choose to display my ridiculousness across the internet but I do, and I have no regrets about doing so either.

On Monday I decided I'd be slightly domesticated and make Banoffee Pie (because let's be honest why study when you can make things?), anyway off I set to the supermarket to buy the ingredients. It hadn't occurred to me before setting foot into the supermarket that they would not supply the same products that I would normally buy in Ireland, I thought about just throwing in the towel and giving up on the idea of baking, but then I thought 'No, I can totally do this, I just gotta look carefully for the things I need'. So bananas, they were pretty simple..I mean they look the same in every country. Digestive biscuits, lucky for me they sell McVities so that was a pinch of salt. Butter and cream, same old story they have those in every country (as far as I know). Then it came to buying the sugar and the milk for the caramel, I needed brown sugar and condensed milk. Normally, as I said before I would have used Irish product but now I was forced to compromise. I resorted to choosing a sugar that definitely was not white, but it was not brown either, it was somewhere in the middle...I decided I would do. The only thing left to buy was the milk, at the time I didn't know what condensed milk was called in France and I had not thought to look it up before leaving my house, which in hindsight was a pretty amateur move...I should always be prepared. I headed to the baking section where I stumbled upon milk in a can, I took it upon myself to decide that this was condensed milk and to hope for the best. It turns out I was correct in my selection (for future reference its called lait concentré sucré, just so ya know), although while in the process of making the caramel I thought it tasted more like custard, it didn't stop me making it though (sure I thought what's the worst that could happen? we'd only have a vile tasting pie, no biggie, be grand said I) and nobody died; I call that a success. And we all had fun eating the end result (I know it's in a pot but it was the closest thing I had to a dish, life of a student eh?):

Another story (just humour me and pretend you care). So there's this plant that just randomly sits on the little wall thingy beside the kitchen sink:

Up until today I honestly thought it was an ornament (it looks like one right?) until my friend accidently knocked it into the sink and noticed that the soil was dry. I didn't even know there was soil. I didn't know I was supposed to water it. I didn't even bring it here. It came with the house, part of the package and all that. After further inspection we came to the conclusion that it is in fact a very real plant, of which type we do not know, which is on the verge of dying as a result of neglect. Nevertheless, I have tried to save it by watering it now, although I feel it may be a tad late for the littl'un. I will make it my absolute goal to see it through to the end of the year. I fear what might happen if I had something utterly important to look after, 'Oh I was supposed to feed it? I thought I just had to watch it'. I really am tragic.

The ridiculousness does not end here my friends. As you all know (I hope, unless you've got a TERRIBLE sense of time) Halloween has passed, and what does that mean? The Christmas season is upon us. So naturally, you want to celebrate no? We decided we wanted to buy some Christmas trees, put aside the fact that I will have to leave it behind and I already have one of my own in Ireland it's completely logical to buy another, after all it ain't Christmas without a tree. Obviously, a trip to IKEA was in order, you know to stock up on Christmas things. (and to buy a tree). So on we went through the usual routine of following the arrows on the ground until you reach the section you actually want, the IKEA folk were very clever by placing all the Christmas festivities at the end of the path, but not without teasing you with randomly placed Christmas trees and such. 'Tis a downward spiral when you enter the world of IKEA, there's just so many things that you want to buy. Actually no it's everything, I definitely want to buy everything. You go in to buy something specific and before you know it there's a rather large dent in your bank account. And the best part? You regret nothing, everything you bought is just so wonderfully useless that it's justified. Anyway, we got to the Christmas tree area to find that they only sell one size of tree which costs 40€ (whut?), this was rather disappointing, I mean what about the people who don't have large enough living areas to buy a big tree, or those who prefer to be a little more reserved in their Christmas celebrations, or students who merely want to spread their Christmas cheer while remaining inside their financial box, I strongly feel that IKEA has overlooked these major factors. Think of all the money they would make from very happy twenty something year olds, like ourselves. Anyway we pushed on through our disappointment and continued to browse the Christmas decorations, by the end of which we had decided we would buy some decorations for the non existent tree, so now I am left with these:

and no tree. But fear not. I have a plan, like all good things I shall order one on ebay and get it delivered to my house. ebay is my friend. You know when you start saying that ebay and google are your friends that you got to get out more, but if it brings Christmas to my house I could care less about being so ridiculous. It's innovative buying a Christmas tree on ebay, how many of you folks could say you've done the same?

And this is where I leave you lovely peeps for tonight. What have you gained from reading this post? Absolutely nothing. Actually, I'm pretty sure you just lost five minutes of your life. I did warn ya. This blog is nothing but a look into my random thoughts and nothing more. It's bound to be mundane. Sure it might have given ya a giggle all the same. 

I'm off to Toulouse tomorrow and I shall inform you of all my adventures next week. Until then my friends.

Surprises and Adventures!

I think it's safe to say that I've been less than slacking on my blog updates. I've just been so damn busy with life you guys! Time is slippin' away from me faster than you can say boo! I am lovin' it though, France is definitely far better than I thought it would be before I came. To be completely honest I was extremely skeptical about coming here for a whole year but now I find myself wondering where the bloody hell the last two months have gone! So last week was Halloween. What did I do? I only flew home for a flying visit. The best part? I told nobody apart from my parents and two friends. (well SOMEBODY needed to know I was coming home in case something happened and I was lost in the world forever. ya know?). Anyway, nobody knew I was coming home and I wish I had been able to record their reactions. Endless cries of 'Oh my god' and 'Why are you in Ireland?' 'This isn't France' and 'Denise is in your kitchen', it was priceless. I'm pretty sure they thought it was a dream. I mean they weren't expecting me to be randomly standing in their kitchen or in their yard were they? I don't mean to give people near heart attacks. It just happens. Soz.

And if that wasn't enough I got to go back to a Dublin night club. Oh how much I had missed it. I don't normally like going out on holidays such as Halloween but since I hadn't been back in a while nothin' was going to stop me! Of course it was more packed than a subway at rush hour in New York (I have no idea what that is like but I imagine its similar to sardines in a can), and you know it was difficult to move but I had a good night. I dressed as a Pirate Captain....although at random points in the night I remember people coming up to me saying 'let me guess...slutty pirate?'. I'm not quite sure where the slutty came from, maybe it was the fishnet tights. Who knows? Who really cares all that much? Anyway. Twas a good night with many wonderfully random costumes. There was this one guy in particular who dressed up as Facebook. GENIUS. A very strange night was had by all, so strange in fact it was brilliant! You forget how much you miss the simple things when you've been away for awhile, but all the same I welcome the change in my lifestyle. It gives me room to grow and all that jazz. It's interesting to notice the little changes that have happened in such a short space of time. Who knew it was possible eh?

After my amazing trip back to Ireland, myself and two of my friends spent the day in Paris. I can honestly say that in that one day I spent more time on trains/metros than I ever have in my entire life. Blue lines, green lines, yellow/green lines, red lines, light blue lines. Dear lord, so many colours, so many lines. So many people. It was good though I love the hustle and bustle of it all, I'm strange like that ya know? We figured it out eventually though. Of course you can't visit Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower, I mean it's practically visible from most positions within Paris, the best part of seeing it was my friends reaction 'Is that it?'. It is safe to say that the Eiffel Tower was very underwhelming for him. and not the right colour either. But it's okay, because he says its grand like. We didn't go up it this time because the top of it was under construction but when we go back at Christmas time we will, at night time. WITH SO MANY LIGHTS! *if you could see me now you'd see my eyes light up with excitement like a child on Christmas morning*. We also walked up the Champs d'Elysee (there are plenty of shops there that we certainly can't afford, but they're nice to look at right?).

I think it's right to say that last week was a pretty eventful week for me, I loved every bit of it, from my friends' shock of my arrival to the sights of Paris. It was amazing to say the very least. I can't wait to get started on more traveling. What's life without a little adventure eh? Now I know this has not been the most exciting post in the world (I promise the next will be better) but it has come to my attention that maybe I find puns a little TOO amusing, so with that my friends I'll leave you one to giggle away at. Love to you all!!

Gets me every time. 

Ramblings of a traveling student...

Because of the fact that I can't sleep and am just laying in bed staring at the ceiling I decided to make better use of my time and inform all you lovely peeps how my stay in France has been so far. So I've been here for just over three weeks now (I know time flies eh?) and I can honestly say that without a doubt the most hardest/horrible/funny now but not at the time moment that I've had was the journey we took getting here. I mean I cannot describe to you how utterly ridiculous we looked, we obviously had not thought that far past the plane journey. Let me put it into perspective for you: There were three of us, I had two pieces of luggage (one small suitcase and one large), each of my friends had three pieces of luggage (both had a large suitcase, one had two more small suitcases and the other had a backpack and a small suitcase), that equates to three people and eight pieces of luggage. I'm pretty sure we looked something like this:

Now you have the image, multiply that by three and there you have us. So now you're probably thinking okay grand, it was just a plane journey and they were there. No. I wish it was that simple. We got a plane. Then a bus. And after much conversing with the staff at the train station, a train. Then another train. Then we had to walk. With. all. our. luggage. And can I ask one simple question. WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO HAVE THAT MANY STAIRS?? I mean come on. Three people. Eight pieces of luggage. Several flights of stairs. Surely you can see the picture I'm trying to paint right now? We had to make a random friend named Sammy at the train station to help us. Even the train had stairs. What is this? I'm not exaggerating either. French people really love the bloody stairs. 

After that less than desirable trip to the city of Avignon, I find myself standing alone (my friends had to go to their accommodation, at a train station, with just the address of my house, waiting for a taxi, that never came. I decided I'd take a stroll up the street to see if anyone could help me, thankfully some kind man directed me to the tourist office where he thought they would be able to help me. Off I go on my way to said place, creating absolute havoc along the main street of Avignon with my two suitcases. When I arrived at the tourist office the lady was able to provide me with a map and directions, which I was very grateful of. But since I was late to meet my landlady and I was swamped with luggage I asked her if there was somewhere I could grab a taxi, she replied with a mere 'you don't need a taxi, it's 20 minutes walk away'. This was not an acceptable answer to me so I tried again. Nope. She replied with the same unhelpful answer I left thinking did she not see all that luggage? Finally after much difficulty I arrived at my landlady's house. What did I find? SHE WASN'T THERE. I had to wait outside her house with my two suitcases looking like a stalker for an hour and a half until she arrived home to inform me that I couldn't actually stay in my house for another week because the electricity was cut off. Surely that was something that they should have checked no? Exhausted and Fed up with the days events I barely managed a nod to all her questions and settled into my guest house. To say that the day was a bit of a nightmare would be an understatement, although it has provided us with a good story about our arrival. 

The rest of my stay has been quite enjoyable though, regardless of the few random days when I feel a little homesick in which case I just eat some spuds and I'm grand cause, ya know,  I'm Irish and all that. We've had a lot of time to do various things too though, which I will present to you in a series of pictures that will give you a snippet of the goings on, I'm not going to write it all because I'm too lazy and it would be far too boring for you. And let's be honest....who doesn't love pictures?

So here we are just chillin' by 'Pont d'Avignon' as ya do:

It's the place to hug tree and poles, I mean, why wouldn't you given the chance?

                         

These have 'Fanny' written on them. Like...why? Avignon is quite random..

I've eaten a ridiculous amount of bread and cous cous:

     

Crepes and BN's, I'll be a whale when I return:

                        

We even visited the Pope's Palace:

                              

I got interviewed (you can tell by my face I'm not very comfortable):

And the best part? We danced 'Sur le pont d'Avignon'...now how many of you can say you've done that?

Somewhere between all the picnics, visitin', and banter we've started into actual college work, but that doesn't mean we're going stop dancin', huggin' and explorin'...there's a plenty more for us to do. It just means we've got to be ninjas and juggle uni work and the oul travels, but hey, no mountain too high, no river too deep right? 

So there you have it people, a brief summary of what I've been up to the last few weeks (even though most of it was about my journey here)  and proof that I'm still alive, I'll keep you posted on the happenings in Avignon. 

À la prochaine mes amis.

P.S. I really need to remember that they drive on the other side of the road....this could become a great problem....