Catch-up!

A little catch up of some photos that hadn't made it to my blog yet...!

DisneyLand Light Show :)

Easter treats at home

Easter in London

Brunch at The Breakfast Club!

An early summer by The Seine

Historical Paris

Enjoy :)

À Bientôt !

x

Cultural Clichés

Yesterday, I finally ventured into the bar across the road with my tandem partner (language exchange partner for anyone not fluent in Erasmus-speak). We ended up talking about one of my favourite things - cultural cliches. This is such a winner as a conversation starter - so if you're panicking in a conversation with someone you've met abroad I guarantee this will get everyone giggling and break the ice. Here are some of the things I've gathered from my very scientific research with French friends...here goes!

1) "English people like to take a very long time to say what they mean"

I can fully vouch for this one! I find it impossible to start a letter without writing: "Just a little note to say blah blah", and emails without typing something along the lines of: "I was just wondering if I could ask you a question about so & so". I've heard this cliche from two different sources, so who knows...it's probably true!

2) "England invented the rain"

To which I retorted, - "No, Scotland did!" Judging by the rain pattering down on my window at this very moment, I have a hard time stomaching this cruel cliche about Great Britannia! 

3) "English people eat their dinner too early"

Not so much a cliche as something that the French find bizarre. I'm told that the frogs eat their main meal at midday, so perhaps that's why they find 6.30pm an extremely premature dining hour!

4) "England just love to be different from everyone else"

I can't deny this one, as we drive on the left-hand side of the road and use Pound Sterling instead of the Euro. Maybe our kookiness comes from the fact that we're out on a limb on a tiny little island. Who knows!

5) "English people all love, watch, and speak like the people from Downtown Abbey"

I haven't watched it, so maybe that will help to stall this idea. Onto the next cliche, tally-ho!

6) "English girls dress very scantily on nights out"

100% true. Sadly!

True or untrue, these certainly made me laugh! Let me know if you come across with any other ones :)

À Bientôt !

x

Prête pour Paris ?

In exactly a month's time, it'll be the night before the big move to Paris for an entire university year...

Terrifying? Yes. Exciting? You betcha. I've downloaded an app (excitingly called French Vocab) onto my phone to try & rapidly recover the French vocabulary that should be on the tip of my tongue. As I write, I'm trying to absorb French via France Info Radio playing in the background. The first few weeks are going to be interesting!

(remarkably useful vocab ^)

So many things to do before I go – finish up my internship at a tiny publishing house, see friends, go on a family holiday to Rome (very excited!), pack & make sure I'm fully armed for tackling French bureaucracy head on. I've been advised to turn up with about 30 passport photos of myself, which gives me some kind of worrying idea about how many forms I might be expected to fill in!

Despite my hopes & dreams I will never look like a yé-yé girl...

I heard this read out yesterday at my family's church:

'Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such & such a town & spend a year there & trade & make a profit” - yet, you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time & then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live & do this or that”. (James 4v13-5).

It just made me think. I'm going to be a very small fish in a ve-ery big pond and I can't guarantee that this year abroad will be an amazing experience. I've just got to trust that although I'm not in control of what is going to happen in Paris - it's part of a bigger plan!

driving home last night with Tommo

I'm thankful that I've got my little room sorted, in more or less the centre of the city. I know (vaguely) of a few people who will be nearby..

The next time I post, I will probably be in Paris – eeeeeeeeek!

À bientôt ! 

x