Thank you all for taking an interest and reading my blog!
Unfortunately, I am going to stop posting with Blogger and instead I am going to keep up my WordPress blog instead. Simply because my WordPress got more activity. I started two identical blogs to see which one would be more successful.
My WordPress blog can be found here:
http://myerasmusadventure.wordpress.com/
I hope you will continue to read about my adventures!!
Thanks again.
Chynna
The Great ERASMUS Adventure
Wednesday 10 October 2012
Wednesday 5 September 2012
Chapter One Begins
I’ve already been in France for a week, it’s incredible how
much I have done and how little time I have had to write my first blog entry
actually in France. I can sense that
this is going to be a long one…
So Chapter One begins! My arrival in a strange and foreign land.
Within five minutes of getting off the plane and picking up
my luggage I was handed a REAL French croissant by my friend to welcome me to
this new place so I don’t think things could have started off any better. In return of course she received a 5 pack of
Curly Wurlys.
For the first few days I was staying at her family home out
in the countryside where the only neighbours were maize fields and the only
sounds at night were of bugs and insects going about their daily business. Although my friend speaks English, it’s
obviously important to me that I speak French as much as possible since the
reason I am here in the first place is to improve my French. At first it was a bit strange because all of
a sudden I was speaking French all of the time instead of English. It wasn’t as difficult as I had thought it
might be, but I can’t say that it was that easy either. What’s most important initially, I think, is
not that your French is perfect but that you feel understood so at least it
gives you some confidence in knowing that people understand what you’re trying
to say. I got the opportunity to watch
some French TV too (since there isn’t so much to do out in the country) which
meant Futurama dubbed in French but I’m not sure that counts as a good source
for new vocabulary – cabine à suicide certainly made it as my mot du jour
though.
We moved into the apartment in Bordeaux on the Saturday so
that was my first time I really met Bordeaux.
We went for lunch and I was surprised to find that we went to a vegan
café/restaurant not far from our place!
I am neither vegan nor vegetarian but I do not eat beef or pork which
poses some problems in country renowned for their saucissons and du jambon. My flatmate for example will add some kind of
meat to pretty much anything and before she lived with us I think she thought a
meat free dinner wasn’t a dinner at all.
What was most striking about my first impressions of walking
around Bordeaux was that all the buildings are around 4 storeys tall and there
are almost no hills, as though the city is completely flat. It made it very difficult to understand where
exactly you were situated at all times when there is a church in every quartier
and the streets are all made from the same golden stone. When we walked out to the Quai by the river
though that was when I felt most relaxed – you could see into the distance and
you could take in Bordeaux much easier. The Quai is gorgeous. I believe it has been recently renovated and
so it’s got sports facilities like basketball courts and skate parks all along
the river and beautiful rows of flowers with plenty of places to sit in the
sun. It is also very worthwhile visiting
La Bourse which you will find along the Quai and also the Mirroir de l’eau
which is situated in front of La Bourse too.
All next to the tram line of course which is amazing…
Five days later and I feel like I know where I am going that
much better than before. Today was the
day we went to the university for the very first time but luckily the tram
system is so easy to use and just so efficient.
Not to mention if you had trams as good looking as that in the UK they
would be covered in graffiti within minutes.
I’ve walked around the city many many times and squares and rues and cours
are starting to make sense. My French
already feels much more natural and I feel like I can express myself how I
wish. Language can contribute a lot to
your identity as a human being so speaking a foreign language can feel
restrictive when it doesn’t feel natural and you can’t always say exactly what
you want to say. It’s getting better
though.
Tuesday 28 August 2012
Tomorrow is Judgement Day
This will be my last blog post from this side of the channel
for a while since tomorrow is the day I leave for France!
It feels like I’ve spent the last week trying to pack my
suitcase whilst trying not to go over the 20kg allowance, looks like I’m going
to be wearing my winter coat and boots through check in. Considering my friend informed me that the
other week it was up to 43°C I am not even going to need my coat and boots for a few
months… and I am going to melt. She told
me she has been getting a tan just from sitting in the house! I on the other hand do NOT tan, I simply
burn. My Celtic ancestry obviously did
not evolve to have sun-soaking skin and due to lack of exposure seems to be
completely allergic to the sun.
Wondering how much I will miss the UK, I do love it here but
I wonder if it’s only because I haven’t lived anywhere else. Of course I have visited different places,
but visiting is completely different to experiencing everyday life in a place. Will living in France make me partially
French? Will my British roots leave a
mark on the people I meet? Although
we’re geographically part of Europe, we’re not exactly referred to as Europeans that often. Maybe that little stretch of sea is enough
for our British identity to come through much stronger than that of our
European identity.
So goodbye Britons, hello Europeans!
See you on the other side.
Monday 20 August 2012
I now officially live in France!
Today is the day of the hand over... my official address is now in France! I am still not heading over until the 29th but that's not the point!
How exciting, I can’t wait to get over there now.
Until next time.
Wednesday 15 August 2012
Two Weeks to Go!
Just a short one to mark the occasion.
Something which once upon a time seemed so far away is now
creeping up on me. I’m not sure the
enormity of it all has sunk in yet, I’m not normally a nervous or anxious
person so for now I am just excited!
There haven’t really been any further developments in regards
to moving over there, I guess it’s all planned now. Still waiting to hear about my study options
for now.
Until next time.
Monday 6 August 2012
Why Study?
So it’s been a busy couple of weeks! I haven’t posted in a while now. I’ve been majorly distracted by the Olympics
for a start, we did a pretty good job of it!
All the recent patriotism has reminded me how much I love the UK and how
much I am going to miss it when I am abroad.
It’s the little things that define a country, the little
peculiarities.
But first I have to sort through all this damn bureaucracy…
my printer has collapsed under the pressure.
What I am talking about are all the forms that need filling in and
signing and sending off. As I’ve said
before we have an apartment sorted but I had to read/fill in/sign 55 PAGES of
forms and contracts and pop them in the post.
Mental. Even my printer thought
it was too much and almost collapsed. He
is currently in rehabilitation and doing well.
Another formal aspect that I have to really consider right
now is what I want to study when I am in Bordeaux. Surprisingly, for students in the UK what you
study during your year abroad doesn’t count towards your degree and so I can
pick and choose any modules from different courses at Université de
Bordeaux. I am excited to find that I
may be able to study a Japanese language module since I used to go to evening
classes when I was at college. Other
modules that I am leaning towards are the cinema modules on offer since this is
probably my strongest area in regards to culture modules (what you study
alongside the language modules). The
reason I chose to study whilst abroad is because I think that it will benefit
my personal language development much more.
I am quite a sociable person and I think being in an environment where I
am with other students will mean that my language development will probably
come from those social interactions. I
also chose to study because I want to keep in that studying mind frame so that
I can go into my fourth year feeling confident and prepared!
I better get deciding what I want to study then…
Until next time.
Sunday 22 July 2012
Losing Weight. Suitcase Weight.
This week I’ve been trying to think of different ways to
make my life just that bit more portable – after all, I can only take a
suitcase weighing 20kg and one piece of hand luggage on my flight. Although I have to admit I’ve been heavily
distracted by the release of The Dark Knight Rises at the cinema this week,
maybe even more so than my year abroad!
Back to my weight loss battle… everything is so much easier
now thanks to technology, yay! Some of
the bulkiest items can be transformed into teeny tiny bits of electronic information
that you can take anywhere. One thing
that will drastically reduce the amount of luggage is my Kindle – there is no
doubt that this will weigh MUCH less and take up less than lugging around even
just one larger book. I’ve had it around
8 months and it is a lovely little thing. Another possession I will have to say bye-bye
to my Xbox 360. At least I will still
have games on Steam which I can access anywhere and even play them with my
boyfriend.
I don’t even have to pack my friends into my suitcase thanks
to technology! They’re all in my laptop
too. I introduced my Grandad to Skype
the other day since he recently got a laptop and he was saying it’s like
something out of a sci-fi film so I think he was pretty impressed. To be honest, our computers are already much
better than anything they had in Star Trek, we just haven’t quite mastered
teleportation yet.
Clothes seem to be at the back of my mind at the moment, I’ve
been thinking more about food. Food can
be a huge part of culture and I wonder just how different it might be. Let’s consider Marmite for example – it’s a
pretty British thing and it’s something I’ve eaten since before I can
remember. But in France however… it’s an
alien product. How can Marmite be in the
International Foods section!? Maybe I
will have to use all that space I’ve saved on books and video games on Marmite.
Until next time.
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