I went to a French meetup last Saturday for the first time. Before I could RSVP “Yes” I had to pay £10 by Paypal (it’s an annual fee). The meetup itself took place in a pub in central London. I wasn’t very impressed, as it was just people sitting around two tables speaking in French. Which begs the question what is the £10 for exactly? There ( Read more... )

When I went to Japan on the JET Programme my Mum gave me a picture of her favourite saint, Thérèse of Lisieux to take with me. Catholics often carry or give to others icons like this. Despite going to Catholic schools from the age of 5-18 I knew virtually nothing about Saint Thérèse. Anyway, we were watching TV the other week and it turned out ( Read more... )

A friend introduced me to the website Meetup.com a while back and I finally got around to joining a few groups. The first one was a badminton meet up and I went for the first time last Saturday. I really enjoy playing badminton and it was good to play again after so long. The only problem is I kind of overdid it and the next day my arm, neck and ( Read more... )

I’ve always been a really big Michael Jackson fan and defended him through the child abuse allegations, baby dangling etc. I grew up listening to his music and my Dad was also playing the Thriller and Bad albums in his car. And if a Michael Jackson video was being premiered on TV our whole family would gather round to watch it. So understandably ( Read more... )

I went to Rome two weeks ago for four days with my Mum. We had a really good time and managed to do and see most of the things we wanted to. The trip was uneventful in a good way (apart from my mobile phone going “missing” from my hotel room). We had no real communication problems, as I had tried to learn Italian pronunciation before we left and ( Read more... )

I had to stop going to French class temporarily, as there weren’t enough people to continue doing the intensive class at my level. When I got back from Rome I got a message to call the French Institute’s course administrator. She told me that I still couldn’t do the intensive class, but there was another evening class running two nights a week ( Read more... )

One of my colleagues went to Japan on holiday and brought us back some treats, including some limited edition KitKat. They’re described as “University Sweet Potato Flavour”. Apparently KitKats are often given to Japanese children studying for exams, because the name resembles the Japanese phrase “きっと勝つ” (you will succeed). Also, sweet potato was ( Read more... )

I went to France for five days after Christmas, as a friend I had met while studying at Yamasa invited me to visit him. I had to take a plane from London Stansted to Nantes in the northwest of France. My friend came to meet me at the airport along with his brother (who is actually studying Korean) and a friend of his. We then drove for about two ( Read more... )

I had my work Christmas party two Fridays ago. I had been looking forward to it, as we were attending a murder mystery evening. I'm the sort of person who as a child used to watch murder mysteries with their parents and tried to work out who the killer was. Also, Christmas parties are a good chance to see another side to your colleagues. Well, ( Read more... )

When I was in high school I had a "friend" who used to make fun of me for "speaking posh". I remember another friend advised me to try and not speak so posh, because then I wouldn't draw attention to myself! Even though like any teenager I could be self-conscious I ignored both of them ( Read more... )