I'm lazy.
I didn't think I was so bad at this kind of thing but when you look at the date of my last entry I suppose I should stop denying the fact that at times I can be a lazy cow.
Glad I got that confession out the way.
So then... December! Yea! It was a good month. I rounded off the last weekend in November with a trip to Aix & then stayed with my friend Charlie in the middle of nowhere. Esconced in the heart of the French countryside, I kicked off the festive season a bit prematurely by consuming rather large quantities of food & wine before vaguely attempting to walk it off the next day by going for a brisk walk in the countryside.
When December finally arrived good & proper the Christmas market opened in Nice. Well, I call it that but with the suspicious absence of christmas songs, mulled wine & mince pies I'm not really convinced. There was also an ice rink, but on the particular day that I was there it was out in direct sunlight & half melted. So not a massive success then.
Still, I had my friend to visit, the one that goes by the not-so-catchy title of "my old french exchange partner" and we too had a grand old time. The weather was beautiful (hence the melting ice-rink) so Nice was at it's very best. This allowed me to do the standard tour around the Chateau that's not a chateau, have a beach on the picnic, eat socca & talk about the world.
My last week here was a bit of a blur, as work was very chaotic & I was running around trying to see people before I left. We had the work xmas party which was, er, interesting (the Japanese got drunk on Saki after 30 minutes, I managed to pilfer an absurd quantity of cheese & pineapple on sticks, drank irish coffee & then scarpered before the boss could ask me to take charge of clearing up) & there was, to sum it up, a fair bit of socialising to be done. It was good because it reminded me that coming back wouldn't be so bad really since this place does kind of feel like home now. Plus, not having enough time to go xmas shopping wasn't such a bad thing really considering the abismal exchange rate (don't get me started! It makes me tearful.)
Home was still amazing though. So many familiar faces. It was so good having enough time to go up to Manchester too & of course I will always love Braddy. Going down to Cornwall as well made it a fairly busy 3 weeks & it flew by... but yes, it was good stuff.
I didn't know quite what to do with myself when I first got back because it hit me how long it's going to be until I go home & get to see everyone again. I missed people like crazy for the first few days but I knew I had to snap out of it when I found myself mournfully going through a block of cheddar cheese I'd bought back thinking stupid thoughts. Recognising that that was perhaps a bit unhealthy for both the body & the mind I topped up my skype account & soon got back into old habits a la francaise. I even tried something completely new & went skiing for a weekend, which left me bruised but was nonetheless better than I expected, & since I didn't spend most of my time sat on my arse half way down a mountain I consider it a success (too much of a success even, for I got so obsessed by skiing that I didn't find time to build the world's best snowman).
And there is a lot to look forward to. I have a few mini adventures planned for the coming weeks, and then I have a massive void between the end of my placement & when I have to go to uni when I have NO IDEA about what is going to happen. All I need to do is hatch some grand money-making scheme, perfect my French & travel the world.
Shouldn't be too much of a challenge then.
xXx
Glad I got that confession out the way.
So then... December! Yea! It was a good month. I rounded off the last weekend in November with a trip to Aix & then stayed with my friend Charlie in the middle of nowhere. Esconced in the heart of the French countryside, I kicked off the festive season a bit prematurely by consuming rather large quantities of food & wine before vaguely attempting to walk it off the next day by going for a brisk walk in the countryside.
When December finally arrived good & proper the Christmas market opened in Nice. Well, I call it that but with the suspicious absence of christmas songs, mulled wine & mince pies I'm not really convinced. There was also an ice rink, but on the particular day that I was there it was out in direct sunlight & half melted. So not a massive success then.
Still, I had my friend to visit, the one that goes by the not-so-catchy title of "my old french exchange partner" and we too had a grand old time. The weather was beautiful (hence the melting ice-rink) so Nice was at it's very best. This allowed me to do the standard tour around the Chateau that's not a chateau, have a beach on the picnic, eat socca & talk about the world.
My last week here was a bit of a blur, as work was very chaotic & I was running around trying to see people before I left. We had the work xmas party which was, er, interesting (the Japanese got drunk on Saki after 30 minutes, I managed to pilfer an absurd quantity of cheese & pineapple on sticks, drank irish coffee & then scarpered before the boss could ask me to take charge of clearing up) & there was, to sum it up, a fair bit of socialising to be done. It was good because it reminded me that coming back wouldn't be so bad really since this place does kind of feel like home now. Plus, not having enough time to go xmas shopping wasn't such a bad thing really considering the abismal exchange rate (don't get me started! It makes me tearful.)
Home was still amazing though. So many familiar faces. It was so good having enough time to go up to Manchester too & of course I will always love Braddy. Going down to Cornwall as well made it a fairly busy 3 weeks & it flew by... but yes, it was good stuff.
I didn't know quite what to do with myself when I first got back because it hit me how long it's going to be until I go home & get to see everyone again. I missed people like crazy for the first few days but I knew I had to snap out of it when I found myself mournfully going through a block of cheddar cheese I'd bought back thinking stupid thoughts. Recognising that that was perhaps a bit unhealthy for both the body & the mind I topped up my skype account & soon got back into old habits a la francaise. I even tried something completely new & went skiing for a weekend, which left me bruised but was nonetheless better than I expected, & since I didn't spend most of my time sat on my arse half way down a mountain I consider it a success (too much of a success even, for I got so obsessed by skiing that I didn't find time to build the world's best snowman).
And there is a lot to look forward to. I have a few mini adventures planned for the coming weeks, and then I have a massive void between the end of my placement & when I have to go to uni when I have NO IDEA about what is going to happen. All I need to do is hatch some grand money-making scheme, perfect my French & travel the world.
Shouldn't be too much of a challenge then.
xXx