Passport photos, some new revelations and a cheeky wrestle with a duvet

Eh, Mail? Whats this?

Yes, despite the Saint Denis post office consistently telling me that any mail that I expect from England is likely to have been lost on the other side of the channel as their system is so incredibly 'inefficace' I don't really quite buy it as none of my post from within the hexagone arrives either.
However, a few days ago I opened my postbox to find a letter! Excitement... until I find out its a letter from the accomodation service stating theres a missing part of my dossier. Upon further reading, it turns out they are not happy with my passport photo, as its slightly too small. I've paid my rent in advance, accepted and deep cleaned a room which was in a rather disgusting state, accepted that despite the fact my microwave is broken, only 2 of the hob rings work and my light shade is falling off this is France and no-one can be bothered to fix it, signed a contract longer than the treaty of Versailles and given them photocopies of my income from the last 3 years BUT I still cant have my deposit back as this photograph is 2mm too small.
I brought 8 with me, the last of which was used 2 weeks ago, so now I need to get more done!! Why they need to see my beautiful face is frankly beyond me, oh.. I think I just got it!

Revelation 1: French people LOVE passport photos.

Have also been more or less teased NONE STOP about my accent since I got back. Been hanging around with a lot of Americans/Canadians and Italians, who just seem to find it hilarious and think I sound like a 1930s Mary Poppins esque chimney sweep. Chim Chim Cheroo indeed. Everyone loved it last semester, now I feel like a bit of a running joke! C'est ma vie.

Revelation 2: My accent is funny

After a week of language visits from uni, which seems to be pretty much going out on the lash or out to posh cafe's with the lecturers on Uni expenses I found out the lecturers read these! So HI if you are reading. Bit gutted I chose Saint Denis for the meeting place when I found out Uni was paying... most expensive coffee here comes in a plastic cup and costs 65c.

Revelation 3: Lecturers have computers; French lecturers dislike mildly racist blogs(DAD!)


'Le depart du TGV, numero 8808, destination Angers Saint Laud, est imminent. Attention a la fermature du ports'


What would Scooby Doo?


You can't tame the J-Dog


25.3.12-National cleavage day

So hopped onto the TGV to head down to Angers for the second time this year to visit Jdog and Barch, this time accompanied by Rawlings and Dad. Le gang est arrive!! Was truly memorable, for both all the right and all the wrong reasons. Hired a tidy little apartment right in the centre as J-dogs landlord is a complete twat, and last time I stayed at Barch's I was practically thrown of the premises for having a dick.

Trip started by meeting the Jdog at silly oclock in the morning, as early trains are cheap and I am a cheap skate haha! Met Jen and went to a cafe, where the infamous words... 'I need to either faint or be sick' were uttered. Thats what every casual coffee drinker wants to here whilst sipping on their cafe au lait. Chilled around the lovely old town for a bit, then went out for dinner and onto a bar. Realised what cool people we were around 3 in the morning when Dad was munching on a kebab topless, Jen was angrily cursing stood around in a bra and I was wrestling with a duvet cover, only to give up and start exotic dancing. All. a bit. too. much!


Saturday we went and saw the chateau and onto this lakeside beach, where there was a twisted theatre of a group of kids attempting to hack the head off a large fish. Once its entrails were everywhere they gave up, then the cry came up "Un autre poisson, un autre poisson" and they pulled another dead fish from the water and proceeded to hack that to pieces too. Brutal. The parents seemed oddly proud.



Also experience a refreshing reminder of how similar we really all are at an aperitif at a French friend of Jade's; her boyfriend, with his limited english had nodded bemused for the whole evening before Dad and I cracked out the French and proceeded to talk about football. Suddenly, he looked a whole lot happier.

Perhaps we aren't that different after all... should have asked his opinion on passport photos.

A bientot
Will x

SO.. I'm back

Paris... did you miss me?

February 2012 will always be to me the month that my life took a little break. I was not really well enough to do much at all except plough through the BBCiplayer, Youtube, and watchseries archives. The great thing about being ill however, is that when you are better, you really appreciate your health.

Coming back into my old environment has been so bizarre, so heres the big secret about Erasmus, its REALLY SHORT. Doing a year abroad from university means that you leave the friends you have made and the life have built in your uni city early, leaving it to carry on behind you. But then you come here, build a new life, new friends, new habits, then after a semester, I would say a good 50% of people up and leave! This throws you a bit, then when you add into the mix all the new people are settled in, and think you are new, the whole thing becomes very confusing. However, having said that, I would really like to thank everyone who was so happy to see me back, i really felt valued by some people I had only known a few weeks which was great :)

My first day in Paris, I went up the Montparnasse tower, something I have wanted to do for a while. It contains the fastest lift in Europe, 16m/s!! Ridiculous! You could feel the G's, i stifled a slight 'oooerrr' expression as it accelerated. However, possibly the best 3 euros I have ever spent, was up there for sunset, and was an unbelievable welcome back from my adopted city. Absolutely stunning <3
I also lost against a Russian in a game of chess, but I do not feel there is any shame in that...


Other than that, I've been working pretty hard, went to the flix with English lot and saw the Cartier advert (there was some film on too, Project X but I swear the advert was longer). As I have kept saying, catching up on 5 weeks work and working on a dissertation takes a bit of time!! Also did one of the top tourist attractions in Paris.... going down the sewers. I thought it would be an old sewer or something. But no, full on, working sewer mixed with bizarre demonstrations of cleaning techniques. Interesting? I dunno. Smelly? Definitely.




This blog is mainly in jest, but as a young person one can feel invincible. However, being tested and scanned for potentially life threatening conditions was certainly a reminder about the nature of life. In a non-morbid, positive type way, I started a photo blog, hoping that I would find something good in every day to document, something worth living for every day that I spend on this earth. I'm going to try and do it for a year, please check it out I'm about 3 weeks in and really enjoying it :)


http://willmcstayonephotoaday.tumblr.com

Anyway, better get back to the old Year abroad research project, taking the weekend off it to see the ol' gang in Angers (Barch, J-dog, Dad and disaster) Shoud be sicko!

All the best
Happy to be back France, cant believe theres only 8 weeks left now!