Bohemian Banter

Well it hasn't exactly been long since the last post, but I thought that updates of my amazing weekend in Prague, as well as some Czech Republic related puns were needed. After a very last minute decision on my part to go on the trip, I used most of Friday to get ready, sort out some prague-ticalities and czech that everything was in order. We arrived at the meeting place just before 6pm where we met up with everyone and after a bit of a delay, we embarked at around 6.30pm on the longest bus journey I have ever made in my entire life.

19 hours on the same bus, travelling the best part of 1000km across France, Germany and la République Tchèque itself. Considering that some of the French lads in the group had brought plenty to quench their thirst, and that a lot of them were completely bourré by the time we got to Lyon, it made for some interesting times. I, however was luckily at the very front, away from the shenanigans with my legs squished under a table, thinking that I would never walk again. Chats were had, snacks were eaten and films were watched (including Star Wars V and a very violent Colombian film, among others) while the hours ticked away, and despite road accident delays, random food breaks in dodgy German service stations and some heavy snow, we made it finally to Prague at around 1.30pm on Saturday. Despite snow being quite a common occurrence in the Czech Republic, I, like some others, had forgotten to pack any decent snow shoes, which made for a weekend of cold and wet feet, but it didn't manage to dampen our spirits. We arrived at the hostel and czeched in with a very grumpy lady, before a few of us went on our way to discover what this Bohemian capital had to offer.

The first while was taken up with our extreme difficulty to read the map we were given, because not many of us were very competent in Czech, and en route we spent a lot of the time pointing at funny Czech words, taking pictures and pronouncing them in ridiculous accents (mine seemed to come out as my Soviet Russian accent most of the time. Aaah casual racism..). Luckily most peope seemed to have a decent grasp of English so we weren't in too much trouble. I did prague-tice some Czech that I learned, mainly "děkuji", the word for thank you, which some of us remembered solely due to its similarity to the word "Take-Away"... English speaking ignorance at its finest.

We decided to try out a very Czech looking restaurant that had a mouthwatering and quite frankly hilarious menu outside. Without saying a word, the waiter greeted us in English (must have been the look of utter confusion on our faces) and we sat down and ordered some Bohemian specialities. The beef with creamy sauce and bread dumplings was one of the most amazing things I've ever tasted, and we all got some classic Czech Pilsner to go with it, which turned out to be cheaper than any other drink, such is their fondness for their beer. After the lovely meal, a brief lesson in Czech from our waiter, and some difficulty working out the Czech Koruna /Euro price difference, we went on our way to discover a bit more of the town. One of our friends had arranged to meet his friend that was on Erasmus in Prague, and after visiting the old town with its astronomical clock and generally amazing architecture, we were then shown the Jewish quarter and a very good bar where we all warmed up, after most of the afternoon spent outside in the freezing, snowy, slushy city that Prague had become. We returned to the hostel and took a small nap, which we all agreed was the most prague-tical decision at the time, before meeting a good friend who had left us in Gcchuuunooblhh after Christmas to return to her native Bohemia, so a great catch up was in order.

We then went to this amazingly Czech bar, which was dark, smoky (no smoking ban here which was different from what we were used to) and full of atmosphere with pianos and fireplaces creating a very old-school feel, made all the more interesting by a couple of dogs running around and the two pigs playing with haybales in the corner. Standard apparently. I wonder what the reaction would be if we brought pigs into the local pub back home.. 

After feeling very cultural altogether, we then took a little tour of some historical buildings before making our way to Karlovy Lazne, which let us know from quite far away thanks to bright fluorescent lights that it was the BIGGEST MUSIC CLUB IN CENTRAL EUROPE. Despite being told that a concession had been organised, no such arrangement had been heard of by those at the door, so we had to pay the full 180Kc *problem with Blogger, if you highlight the white bit you can read it, not sure what the problem is, needs to be czeched out* to get in. 5 floors of the Czech Republic's finest Dance, Hip-Hop, Electro, Pop and 80s music awaited us, with a similar atmosphere to the previous bar, the smoky haze this time being accompanied by strobe lights and speakers to replace the pigs and pianos. A fun night was had, and we returned to the hostel in a flurry of 4am snow.

Prague Castle

Charles Bridge 

The following morning, despite sleeping in beyond our ambitious 9am wake up plans, we got up at a decent hour and a group of us from the room set off into town. Souvenir shops were the order of the day, as was another visit to the Old Town Square, the odd snowball fight, and then the magnificent Prague Castle and cathedral. We found the John Lennon wall too, where we left our own little message and then met up with some others to go to a very traditional restaurant to czech out some more national specialities. After a glass of some warm mead, which was surprisingly tasty and warmed me up immediately, I had a pork dish, again with bread dumplings and a delicious sauce which I can't even describe. 

Afterwards, a brief snowy walk through the town we headed to a very cool underground bar in the heart of Prague which was highly recommended by our token Czechs in the group. Everything about this place screamed awesome. Following a maze of Hobbit-like tunnels down deep into Prague, we found a table and much merriment and banter ensued all night. Goodbyes unfortunately had to be said, for the second time for our Czech friend who we'll hopefully see again really soon, and to her lovely friends who helped us a great deal over the weekend and were generally great to have around.

Unfortunately the following morning heralded the end of our stay, and so with heavy hearts, and a slightly lighter bus, seeing as one of the guys had gone missing during the night, we headed for home - a 15 hour journey this time which was to provide similar antics to the previous journey. We did watch a few more films, including Carjacked (pronounced so wonderfully as Caarhh jack-hedd by some of our French colleagues), Mean Creek and the extended edition of Lord of the Rings The Return of the King, which single-handedly gave us a good 4 and a half hours of relative peace and quiet. At one of our German stop-off points I decided to crack out some German. However only then did I realise how limited my German really was. Long story short, it went quite badly, and I ended up ordering the wrong thing, while speaking what sounded to me in retrospect like a mixture of French, Italian and Irish (somewhat confusing as to how exactly the latter made an appearance). Considering that making fun of German accents is a past-time of mine I assumed everything would go quite well. Evidently this was not the case, and I have since decided to make some prague-ress in learning some real German to prevent similar mix-ups in the future.

So it was with drained and exhausted faces and bodies that we bundled off the bus in Gcchuuunooblhh at approx 2.30am and made the short walk home. 

Moral of the story - Prague is amazing, and I'd highly recommend a visit. Beautiful buildings, nice people, and a very nice atmosphere in general. However I would also strongly recommend not getting a bus, because despite the conviviality, the films and German language experience during the stop offs, it was 35 looong hours of my life that I'm never getting back. So what started as an extremely spontaneous decision the night before turned into a fantastic weekend and a definite highlight of the year, also another great European capital czeched off the list!

Promluvíme si později !!

PS: More pictures coming right up

Prague Cathedral

A view of the Vltava from the Charles Bridge

A hilarious hostel notice which made our day

The entrance to the Charles Bridge, built in the 14th Century

The Jewish Quarter

The man himself, Franz Kafka 

The Astronomical Clock

Old Town Square

The bullet trams which went crazily fast

Even more alpine adventures...

So after my incredibly prestigious and impressive encounter with François a few weeks ago ( yes, we're totally on first name terms at this point.. If only...) normal life seemed quite difficult to settle back into again. However, a weekend away with the Erasmus group IntEGre provided an excellent opportunity to dive right back into the Erasmus spirit of meeting people, doing new things and generally having fun.

My first experience of cross country skiing was followed by an amazing tobogganning session, which turned out to be quite experimental.. but luckily we all survived. After being shown our home for the night, much food and merriment ensued, before the fancy dress theme "rêves d'enfants" had all the lads form a mad pirate crew, complete with tattoos, eyepatches, scarily creepy facial hair, scurvy and a hook that I may or may not have destroyed a perfectly good hanger to obtain.

After a great soirée, we had a chilled out Sunday before returning home to Gcchuunooblhh after a fantastic weekend full of nouvelles expériences and connaissances.

The next week or two went relatively smoothly, despite some pesky exposés to do and general work which occupied my time, however once they were done, life returned to it's normal tranquil, spontaneous, easy going pace. I drastically improved in snowboarding actually, and my Tuesday sessions soon had me move up a group and try some blue slopes, which I can safely say I was comfortable with. I did fall off a slope and down a 15 foot cliff at one point, however I now have enough confidence in my ability to say that it was a mixture of fog and snow-filled goggles that was mostly at fault and not my extremely dire spatial awareness. But it still hurt. It would be fine if the accidents had stopped there, but alas, no... 

When a friend came to visit the following weekend, we decided to try skiing, a decision which was welcomed by sharp intakes of breath,  winces and long, sleepless nights by those familiar with my accident prone history. While managing well on the bunny slopes, we foolishly decided to advance to a more difficult level, where suddenly all competence I had acquired disappeared and I found myself unable to prevent myself from hurtling down the slope at ridiculous kilometres per hour. My first bad fall was quite spectacular. Having not quite come to terms with the fact that my feet were now a metre longer than usual, and having not been instructed in correct falling techniques, I subsequently had a quite bad but quite hilarious (for those watching) fall, where my right wrist came out as the weakest link. Having already been quite familiar with X-ray departments at home over the years, I feared the worst, but after nursing my wrist with some ice (not that hard to come by up there surprisingly), I was back on my metre long feet... Until the next difficult bit. My braking once again failed me and then as I fell, my reflexes, not quite remembering that my wrist already hurt, planted me straight down on the same wrist again, banishing all doubt that I needed a hospital visit, and fast. 

After a restful period at the bottom (yes, I managed to ski down), we went to the medical centre and despite not having time to get an Xray there due to bus departure times, the attending doctor seemed to think that the massive scary lump on my wrist corresponded to a breakage. With a heavy heart, and a scary looking arm, I got the bus back with the others, and went straightaway to the local hospital in Gcchuunooblhh. They however, after a thorough and very French medical exam, declared that in fact it was not broken, but just some bad ligament damage. Happy days. The following morning we managed to find a pharmacy that was open (difficult on a Sunday morning, cheers France) and I got a support cast thing which I now have to wear for the next few weeks. The Winter Olympics unfortunately may have to wait.

Despite my injury, Sunday was a very good day, as myself and my friend decided to go to the lovely mountainous village of Autrans. Having managed to get the bus there and look around this lovely place, we were desperate to get home in time for the Ireland V England rugby match, as the bus times had messed us around. We eventually asked this lovely young family if they were heading that direction, and they obliged by squeezing us into their car in between their children and ski equipment for the journey back to Gcchuunooblhh. After a quick lunch, we hit one of the Irish bars in town, however the result of the match was less than impressive. Despite the result, banter was still very much had, but too soon it was time to say goodbye to my friend as she embarked upon a 15 hour bus journey back to the Netherlands.

The next week was full of fun, some work and college related stuff too but mostly just fun. An enjoyable Valentine's day soirée in one of our favourite haunts was followed by Gcchhuunooblhh's very own Masquerade party, where we all wore Venice's finest Carnevale masks, (which we soon discovered were actually made in China. Gasp) imported by some travelling friends the weekend before. After another hitch-hiking experience, we got home in the early hours, before a very eventful Saturday.

The IntEGre group were holding a Photo treasure hunt type event, which required lots of trekking around Gcchhuunooblhh, embarrassing photos and some very strange but enjoyable shenanigans. 

I then went to the south-west of the city to the Stade Lesdiguières, where I met some friends to go watch a rugby match between Gcchhuunooblhh (who were surprisingly good I had discovered) and Agen (who were not). Some of my friends from non-rugby countries required lengthy explanations as to what exactly was going on and why these big men were grabbing each other and chasing after a weirdly shaped ball. The home team won by a considerable 27-13 which was great for the atmosphere and general good humour in the stadium, and we all got the chance to run onto the pitch at the end to meet the players, something I haven't been used to since inter-school GAA back in the day.

A lovely Italian dinner followed the match, and then an interesting soirée in the form of my very first Toga Party, taken quite seriously by a lot of those attending, which made for some very Roman banterful times. My toga was quite historically innacurate, the good old last minute bedsheet routine, not exactly my finest Roman tunic unfortunately. 

This last week has been interesting, with a night of Japanese and Korean food dominating my diet, as well as some general group social sessions that tend to make my evenings here great. 

I have also spontaneously taken a place on a trip to Prague with the University, which leaves tomorrow evening (last minute or what!) and I cannot wait . I've always wanted to go there ! So no doubt, there shall be some epic pictures etc, which you should all Czech out. I'm also trying to find a perfect opportunity to use the word Prague-matic, but no luck as of yet, I'll keep you posted.

à bientôt mes amis !

PS: Voilà more images from recent days and weeks.

Agen penalty. They did lose so the least I could do was show their best bits.

And again, the view from just outside the door. Unreal.

2013, back in Gcchuunooblhh !

Well well, what a month. So Christmas chez moi was amazing, got to see friends and family again, speak English without feeling in any way guilty aaaand very importantly, pile another 23kg worth of stuff in my bag to bring back. The  latter did include some Christmas pudding, a fruitcake, Irish tea and chicken soup, which I have to say was much appreciated. I had just settled into family life again, which I had missed a lot I realised, before the calendar decides to go speedy gonzales and bring me suddenly to the 4th of Jan, home-from-home time.

This day will forever remain etched in my mémoire as the day I realised that travelling light is the best way forward in life. So there I was, 5.30 in the morning, wearing 3 jackets, with an overloaded suitcase and a very much illegal amount of hand luggage (which included a computer monitor - long story, involves copious amounts of sunflower oil and a poorly placed laptop..) trying to struggle through to departures.. After having to open up and empty some things out of my suitcase, reorganise my entire hand luggage at security and acquiring a massive scar-like welt in my shoulder, I made it to the plane, and subsequently to Geneva approximately 2 hours later. Just as I collected my baggage, the handle decides to come completely off in my hand, leaving me with no other choice but to engage in a very strange half-ducked-down-leaning-backwards-in-pain forward motion for the next few hours as I tried desperately to find my way home.

So I found the bus to Chambéry, then took the train down to Gcchhuunooblhh, which welcomed me with open arms / vaguely arm-shaped mountains... 

I'd like to point out that all this stress came at a time roughly 3 days before the start of my exams, which I had done absolutely nada for, and as such, the next few days were interesting.

I've never crammed so much in my life, but the exams turned out ok for the most part ! Despite the French, the lack of preparation and a confusing exam timetable I think I may just have passed everything...results won't be for ages though apparenty, it is France we're talking about here I suppose, far more forms, passports and birth certs will need to be provided before that happens.

Several post-exam fêtes have been the order of the day since then, because as we all know, the Erasmus student must be rewarded for his 3 days of solid work per semester. Classes also started back, and my current favourite has got to be Outdoor Multi-Activities, where despite early mornings on Tuesdays, we get to go snowboarding, cross country skiing and rock climbing as part of our average college timetable. I'd imagine the European Studies department back home will be more than delighted that I decided to fill up my academic credits by perfecting my snowboarding techniques in one of the most beautiful sporting locations imaginable.

The word "perfecting" there was purely hypothetical, as I soon discovered after 5 minutes that my snowboarding ability corresponds to what the French would so aptly describe as "nul". (Pronounced "nooohl", generally with a sour and condescending facial expression, often with emphasis on the oooh if something is extremely bad. In my case, there was emphasis everywhere.) 

After week 2 on Tuesday I like to think I'm improving, although my aching bones and incredibly sore backside might beg to differ. Skiing is next on my list, so fingers crossed the hospital won't be getting any visits anytime soon. 

The Jeunes Ambassadeurs programme soon got up and running again, with a trip to Lyon for a conference with the head of the organisation, where we all wished each other a happy new year and generally had a nice time. The food was excellent too which, let's be honest, always helps. 

The week previous to that I received some interesting post, in a pristine, formal white envelope with no markings...I opened, very curious and found this:

Essentially an invite to a speech he was giving in Gcchhuunooblhh to young people, apparently it's an annual thing. I discovered later that I had been chosen as one of 10 Ambassadeurs to attend...as you can imagine I was deliirah !!

The next week or so passed in a flurry of snow, parties and classes, and unfortunately a few goodbyes had to be said to some great friends...however the goodbyes are only temporary, as I will hopefully see some of them très bientôt.

The day arrived, and having been treated to a very nice lunch by my coach, during which we discussed our Jeune Ambassadeur project (we're thinking of ways to promote both Ireland and the Gcchuunooblhh region, I'll keep you updated), I made my way out to the Maison de la Culture all suited up and generally feeling great. I sort of got caught up in a big anti-government protest outside at first but I managed to disentagle myself and re-iterate my complete neutrality on whatever issue they were screaming about. Myself and one other Ambassadrice were among the first batch into the auditorium, and as such managed to get front row seats !

Then, after a long while chatting and watching everyone pile in, the show started. 15 young people were up on stage, reading out their wishes to the President about this that and the other, most of which I agreed with, although further demands for housing aid seemed a bit steep to me with all the millions the government are already giving away in CAF for no particular reason other than to be unnecessarily sound.

I would also like to point out that I was pretty much the only young person out of several hundred there in a suit...the guys on stage were all in jeans and t-shirts, with one dude even in an Adidas tracksuit...like seriously??! Being young does not mean being rebellious for the sake of it and wearing what you like, when you like, as people seem to think.. just suit up !! Same goes for interviews etc. back home...bit of effort doesn't go amiss. I won't rant on and on, but the President of France like..oh well, at least I personally felt awesome.
It did come in handy though, as I'm pretty sure the bodyguards thought I was one of them when he was being escorted out through the crowds, so I ended up right beside him at one point. And yes, I got a handshake. Never washing that hand again. He's also not the tallest of men, must be something about French Presidents I think...I was also roped into taking photos for my friends with him so alas, I didn't get one myself. 

Here's a few little snippets of what he had to say to us all:

The last month, despite the exam/airport stress has been very enjoyable and I hope I haven't forgotten anything important.. I'm off on another IntEGre weekend on Saturday which judging by the last one should be incredibly fun, and should take my mind off those exposés coming up !

à bientôt mes amis !

Alsacien aMusement

Well well well... despite it being a mere 13 days or so since that last post, I feel that this last two weeks has been quite significant. Firstly, I have recognised the symptoms of my very own banking crisis, quite similar to Ireland in 2008. Scratch that, more like Greece. I'm in the process of searching for a student version of the IMF but no luck so far. Unfortunately unlike Greece, blatantly lying is not an option, neither is defaulting...faking my death could work however. I'll keep you updated. The next post may reach you all from the Cayman Islands or somewhere.

Another significant event is my discovery of a lovely new city in the form of Strasbourg. I made the 5 hour train journey up on Tueday evening (during which I got quite a bit of study done, I'd like to add, so critics, consider yourselves momentarily silenced...even if ultimately you are completely justified) and the trek via Lyon went without much difficulty. I do have the enviable ability to sleep where and when I like, so that shortened the journey somewhat, even if my neck doesn't tend to thank me afterwards. So I arrived at the gare at approximately 23.37. Yes, approximately. I'm aware that my usage of that word is questionable. It was also pointed out to me recently that calling things "very fun" is not considered wonderful by English language enthusiasts, so I'll try my best to avoid that if I can, as I do be doing that a lot. To avoid any wild tangents, back to the gare. I met my brother and then took the tram to the very Germanic sounding suburb of Ilkirch Graffenstaden. He has a similar fondness for free transport where possible, and he assured me that it was night time and that the bad tram people had gone to bed. In Gcchhuunoblhh however, they are of a different kind. They never sleep.

The following morning, my brother had a very complicated sounding exam, however afterwards I joined him and got a little tour of the Space University. It's impressive, even if I don't understand 99.99999% of the discussions taking place...in case you were wondering, it's all in English. Just a dialect utterly unfamiliar to the everyday Arts student. We then ventured into the centre ville and wandered the Christmas markets, which really were something else...the massive cathedral is considerably larger than your average massive building too, and as such, was extremely photogenic. Evening approached, which could only mean one thing. Time to make the trip out to the very west of the city for the reason I had come all the way from my lovely mountainous haven I currently call home. MUSE.

We got there in good time, getting a decent view of the stage, and after a considerable wait, the supporting act came on. They weren't bad at all, but the awkward part was that they never told us what their name was. Around 12,000 French people to plug your music to and you forget to tell them your name. Fail of the week.

But, nearly an hour later, this happened:

and then, all this:

Needless to say, it was 2 of the best hours of my life. And, having bought a poster from a less than legitimate salesman outside the venue, my life was complete.

The next day was another story.

After roughly an hour and a half sleep, I was woken at 5.30, as my brother had a train to catch, meaning that I would spend most of the day tout seul in Strasbourg. We made it as far as the tram stop, before I realised I had forgotten my phone. He gave me his key and I dashed back as fast as the icy morning breeze could take me, telling him not to wait and that I could catch up if necessary with the key. Alas, he had left, and so began an epic James Bond style 6.30 in the morning dramatic dash to the station, just with a few less guns, explosions and obstacles to jump over. I made it to the platform, gasping for breath, but just as the train pulled away... which turned my Bond-like adventure suddenly into a romantic tragedy.. with admittedly less handkerchief waving and wails of despair on Matthew's part.

In my inconsolable grief, I promptly took a nap in the station, before venturing out into unknown Strasbourgeois territory on my own. I spent a very fun (sorry, it was inevitable) and cultural day in the markets, stopping at regular intervals to fully exploit the free WiFi at the local supermarket, and generally having a nice time. My Covoiturage car-sharing guy that I had reserved messed me around a little time-wise, changing the location and time to 18.30 instead of an hour earlier. 

After briefly seeing the European Parliament HQ, I turned up as one does, on time, at the designated tram stop. At 18.37 I popped him a text, saying that I was here with detailed coordinates etc, a gentle reminder that it was kinda cold and wet. At 19h, still without a reply, I was a teeny bit annoyed, so I sent him a very demanding "where are you" message. No answer, and at 19h15 or so, I told him that I'd been waiting over half an hour etc and vented my frustration a bit. I might add by this point I was thoroughly soaked and the word 'exhausted' would be an understatement. He eventually replied about 20 minutes later saying that they would be there in 30 mins....to which I thought to myself "ah here", or in the spirit of that hilarious Dublin woman "aaah heeyyoohhh!!". 

I decided to head to the station to see if there were any trains going back at that hour. There were not, and so thanks to a sudden brainwave, despite my frustration, I decided to use the key that was still in my possession by a stroke of unbelievable good fortune, and make the trek back to the apartment to stay the night. I've since given the driver a BAD review, which are a big deal in the covoiturage world, so there.. that showed him.

So I then got the very expensive 9am train back to Gcchhuunoblhh, but by then I cared little for anything except getting back to the comfort of my 12m2 down south. Ok, 'comfort' may be pushing it, but it's home!

And thus ended my time in what I have begun to call Stressbourg.

The next 24 hours were a sigificant development in their own way as I became fully aware of the difficulties associated with having zero Christmas shopping done on the 21st of December. And the Ancient Mayans weren't too cooperative either on the day, was hoping to get away with it. Once I had helped a friend pack and go on her way, I was pretty much the only person left in the Résidence. I didn't have too long to wait though, as I made my way to Gcchhuunoblhh airport (which is almost closer to Lyon, poorly named really) on the Saturday afternoon. Ryanair did their utmost to ensure we felt like cattle at feeding time, and about 2 and a half hours later, we touched down in the Emerald Isle. I've never been happier to see the word "Fáilte" in my life, (the ridiculous Irish translations e.g bagáiste didn't even annoy me) and it wasn't long before I was in the car, reunited with my family, recounting my recent harrowing experiences to a new audience.

It wasn't long before I got into the swing of life back at home again, and it was great to see everyone. Last minute shopping was done on Sunday (Yes. Sunday. France, watch and learn please) and I eventually got everything sorted before the big day. Christmas eve and Christmas day were special, as always, started off by some amazing choir singing in the Pro Cathedral. Santa was also very generous this year, as were the portions of delicious Christmas dinner which made the flight home and every less-than-good experience I've ever had completely worth it.

I'll be back in Gcchhuunoblhh on the 4th of January, before which I have a busy schedule of socialising, sleeping, eating, and some might say studying...yeeaaah I should really get around to that soon.

The last 4 months of 2012 have without doubt been the highlight of my year, and here's hoping the first half of 2013 will bring just as much fun and enjoyment !!

Joyeux Noel et bonnes fêtes à tous !

Bisous :)

PS: Here are a few photos from Strasbourg.. I forgot to add that their tram-stop-announcing is hilarious on the tram, as they have not only a different voice doing each one, but sometimes in really funny voices. One guy even started singing. Genius. Really lightens the mood on the long commute. :)

     

In The Not-So-Bleak Mid-Winter...

This page has been suffering from a severe case of abandonment of late, and I now plan to change that. This last few weeks has been very eventful to say the least, with excursions, exams, severe yet hilarious problems, but most importantly, much enjoyment being had.

Since the last instalment, my Gcchuunnoblhh life has continued on its path of awesomeness, despite the odd roadblock and their efforts to guide said life off said path. In the last weekend of November, I spent an unforgettable weekend in La Grave La Meije (never sure which one to call it), a refuge in the middle of absolutely nowhere, right up in the Alps, surrounded by incredible scenery. There were about 40 or so of us that went with IntEGre, one of the Erasmus groups, and we stayed in a refuge in a tiny little mountain village that looked like something out of some old movie or something. After an arduous but very snow filled hike that followed our arrival, we busied ourselves with the important issues at hand, the complementary fussball table being one of them, the ping pong table the other. After a lovely evening filled with chats and new acquaintances, we played a musical chairs type game where contestants had to run around the chalets looking for various objects...it was the search for a toilet roll that eventually knocked me out, 4 from the end...they're surprisingly hard to pry out of those big roller things so I discovered. Sad times. 

After a merveilleuse soirée, the following day we went tobogganning in the snow, and some very fun antics were the order of the day, because as we all know, once snow arrives, all previously gained maturity and about 10 years of your life just go out the window in a flurry of freezing cold hilariousness. 

aaaaaand below, my election poster if I ever decide go into politics..."get berkeled" is the current slogan, however any further ideas are appreciated.

The weekend, full of new friends, fun and frolics, was followed by an unfortunate mishap with the auld ordinateur, somewhat related to the lack of recent blog activity...after about a week of being tied to the very small computer room for social interaction, I acquired the restauration CD for my laptop, and the tech-y guys in Sciences Po obliged by fixing it...and wiping aaaaall my memory en même temps. Oh well.

The week that followed brought lots more fun things, more ice skating, more fêtes, including a very Scottish St. Andrew's day celebration (any excuse for a fête I guess, roll on St. Patrick's day!). With all the fête-ing came a rude wake up call in the dreaded form of e-x-a-m s....(insert horrified face here). Italian went well, very happy with the result, and the massive History one which I had dreaded turned out ok too !! The French result is still pending, as is the panic leading up to my next 4 exams, which one would think would require me to start studying....one would think.

I bought a bike recently actually, from this lovely lady that advertised on le Bon Coin, which is actually very handy for getting stuff assez cheap. When I met her, I wasn't expecting the bike to be quite so...how can I say...quite so.....   pink. Yes. Very pink, very purple, however she did verify that it indeed was a man's bike, and that her boyfriend had picked it for that very reason, so nobody would steal it. Fair point I guess, it is rather, as I said, pink. I decided to be manly and buy it anyway, and I soon developed a way of cycling that screams "I'm a straight man and I'm comfortable with it", which I'm hoping is the message that's being given. Fingers crossed. I spent a good two days or so going round on what my friends have now dubbed "Princess Sparkles", (originally in an effort to make fun of me but I like the name so much that their efforts somewhat failed.), until one particular day I stopped by a local favourite supermarket Dia. I tied her up, as per usual, but two minutes later, when I came out....the key no longer opened the lock...so yeah despite using three different types of oil (including sunflower oil, decided to be ambitious at first), poor Princess Sprakles is still outside Dia, enduring minus temperatures and severe snowstorms for the last week. Someday perhaps.

The next serious issue is the loss of my French phone...it seems to have vanished into thin air, somewhere I'm guessing between the tram and the college computer room, but it's making communication quite difficult. I visited the tram HQ this evening and asked if anyone had dropped anything in...she gave me a number to call in the morning... .... seeming to be completely unaware of the fact that one usually requires a telephone of some description to make such calls. Aaah the irony. I forgive her though, she is French, and it was coming towards the end of a long hard 35 hour week. But sure she'll probably retire at 60 as well. The cheek.

Last Saturday we all got the bus to Lyon, again with IntEGre, this time for the annual Fête de Lumières which I hadn't heard about before despite it apparently being a big deal. It was.

We toured the old town in Lyon during the day, stopping off for regular vin chaud, which was a lifesaver with the cold, and then went into the city itself for the lights shows. I've never felt so claustrophobic in my life. Apparently there was an estimated 3 million people in the city for the event, and I think I was probably shoved and stood on by every single one of them. The lights we did get to see were incredible, and very very well done. There was also a massive light-animal parade, as well as flying glowing fish over the river, and finally a massive fireworks display which was just brilliant. All in all, all the cold and clautrophobia were totally worth it. Voici quelques vidéos of just one of the light shows..

So a very fun, eventful day was had in Lyon, which is a great city, despite its one massive flaw compared to Gcchhuunoblhh....the lack of mountains. I don't think I'll be able to appreciate a city without these mountains for a while yet...the Christmas market is up and running in Gcchhuunoblhh which is lovely, especially at night, plus with my laptop being fixed, Christmas FM from home is now available, and coupled with the Christmas lights now in my room, I can safely say I'm feeling quite Christmassy. Pity my shopping has yet to commence. Procrastination affects many areas of life it seems...

I'm majorly looking forward to Strasbourg next week, by all accounts it has the biggest Christmas market in Europe ! Hello new bank loan. Muse should be something special too.

That's all for now, I dearly hope I haven't forgotten anything major...the memory sometimes has trouble keeping up with all the fun.. 

à bientôt !!

Quoi de neuf??

Oooh la laa it's been a while. The last two weeks have been quite fun, quite studious actually, (I know.. me? studious? Erasmus? what?? - oxymoron central) with books to read and dissertations to write and what not. A fair while was taken up by the whopper book review I had to do for history...which I finally got done! My result was pleasantly surprising too, so I'm delighted. I think the prof was even surprised, the way he said "bon travail" to me suggested that he wasn't aware that foreign people were capable of such a feat and that he was still very suspicious...

I didn't have too much time to bask in the glory that followed finishing it though, as another book-essay double team started embêtting me from then onwards. Having read for several days about how bleak French society can be and how the author used this and that experience to write such an epic book, the essay got done, albeit several hundred words over the word count. Such is life. If there was a leeway of plus or minus 70% I could be ok. Fingers unenthusiastically crossed.

The social life, while taking a little bit of a hit with my work etc, (a hit, I realised the other day, corresponds to a period of 3 days or more not spent out until all hours..) but it's still been very fun. We had a very spontaneous come-dine-with-me-esque week in residence, having a string of deliciously healthy meals tous ensemble, which for some of us i.e me, is a great way of keeping the auld nutrition going, which when left to my own devices...well, let's just say it's not quite as frequent.

Last weekend I went on my first hike in the Alps! A bit shameful really considering I'm here nearly 3 months...but still, it was amazingly fun. We went to Le Col Vert, which is kind of to the south-west of Gcchhuunooblh, and at a height of 1,700 and something metres, meaning about a 2 and a bit hour trek up, not too challenging for some of the pros in the group but just about enough for me for my first time since 4th year in school. And even at that, the Wicklow mountains don't reeeeaaally compare to the unbelievably magnificent French Alps. Much fun was had, and amaaazing views seen, which the photos don't even do justice. I could have happily spent hours up at the top, however time was against us with darkness fast approaching...but we all survived, despite a few close calls on a particularly steep bit where I nearly plummeted to my untimely death a few times. But I didn't so all is good.

On top of the world.. many breaths were taken

Aaaand a video, which should hopefully be more representative of the breathtaking-ness.

On the Saturday, I met up with some of the guys to play football, however we were all aware that a certain event was taking place in the city around the same time, one that we all secretly wanted to be at...so after 45 minutes of unenthusiastic football, we packed up and trekked across the city to be there on time. The Gcchhuunoblhh's very own Gangnam Style flash mob.
Needless to say, it was excellent, as hundreds of people tried out their best Psy impersonations in the main public park, while being guided by the "experts" up on the bandstand. As some have been quick to point out, it wasn't a real "flash mob", due partly to the fact that it was organised at all, but it doesn't take away from the fact that it thoroughly made my day.
Here's a snippet, great craic altogether.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNzsKViPSEc&feature=related

So the days passed in a flurry of French and long lectures. Another Jeune Ambassadeur thing was on Thursday, this time a business presentation by a large company proposing changes to Gcchhuunooblh, which was very interesting. It was a bit of a trek to get to though but after a walking tour of the entire west side of the city, myself and the random guy I met from Argentina eventually found it.

Very few other weird or wonderful stories to report, another soirée and another ice skating session await me this evening! Aaand I'm going away in the morning for the weekend to the middle of nowhere in the mountains, with the Erasmus "club", (well, one of the many that seem to be springing up and bombarding my facebook news feed) and should hopefully be filled with some serious fun, and snow, which tends to help a lot with the former.

Bon, je vais y aller, à bientôt mes amis !!

Une semaine de vacances..

Last Saturday morning marked a great day in my year abroad, and the start of a new season. SNOOOOOOOOOOW!! Yes, tons of it. Unfortunately I slept it in and therefore missed most of the falling-out-of-the-sky part, but there was still enough left for a relatively epic snowball fight, mainly thanks to the large amounts still lodged on the parked cars.. which were not all empty as I awkwardly realised, coming face to face with a small, angry Frenchman with loathing in his eyes.

Speaking of falling-out-of-the-sky and such things, the new James Bond movie was fantastic - the well portrayed battle scenes, along with Daniel Craig's teenage girl duck-face impression made for excellent viewing. We watched it in its original version, as we figured that hearing a French dubbing guy say "zero zero sept" wouldn't be quite as awesome.

The Friday morning was interesting, as I was invited by my Jeune Ambassadeur "coach" to a luncheon with the Commission of the Chamber of Commerce in Gcchhunnooblh. Turned out I was sitting in on a very important board meeting, which got highly awkward, and I prayed for the whole hour that the lunch I was nibbling at would swallow me instead. It didn't though, so I stuck with my plan of feigned interest and fascination as new projects were unveiled and general commercial banter was had. It was a good experience all in all though, and despite feeling about 40 years too young, I'm glad I went.

The next few days were fun, as shopping trips, collective dinners, cool pub evenings and general merriment filled my time. Most of my friends had planned trips to all sorts of weird and wonderful places during the holidays, and due partly to lack of preparation, I stayed mostly in Gcchhuunooblh for the week - except for Thursday!

Another milestone in my life was reached, as I visited Italy for the very first time! Myself and Will went to Turin (I prefer 'Torino', especially if accompanied by wild hand movements) by covoiturage, the French car-sharing website, with two young Environmental Science students and a random old Arabic dude, whose phone kept ringing really loudly (I must say though, Arabic is a hilarious language to listen to, and now I honestly think the Germans get a rough deal with the cursing/violence/threatening language stereotype - they're not alone).

 

Our journey through the Alps was unbelievable, snow everywhere, massive mountains, crazy steep cliffs...it was very fun.

Once we crossed the Italian border, the general driving of those around us steadily got worse, as it seems that random U turns at junctions and a complete disregard for traffic lights are perfectly OK! We were treated to a full-on gymnastics show at one particular set of lights, as it seems the simple days of cheeky window washers and newspaper sellers have gradually ended in Italy.

But, having found a McDonald's at the train station where we were dropped off, we knew we were safe.

I cracked out a bit of the auld Italiano here and there to keep us going, and despite my hesitance and bad accento, I was understood and not looked at too strangely! We visited the Palazzo Reale which was very cool, the piazza outside alone was very impressive, and very very Italian. We bought a massive and amazing gelato each, and while waiting at a tram stop, I'd imagine the locals didn't have too much trouble in their "spot the tourist" games, looking at us two proudly flaunting our gelatos in the month of November.

One thing I did noticed is how bad the customer service standards were in the train station. I asked where we could buy TGV tickets to get home, expecting at least some sympathy and a point in the right direction. What I got was a stare and a disinterested "dunno", on more than one occasion, which resulted in us having to just hop on the train with no ticket...which got interesting when the conductor came around. We had to fork out a horrific amount of money to buy one on the train itself, which left us reeling financially and thinking not only that a fine would have been a better choice, but that we definitely should have organised a hostel or something to stay a bit longer..

We made it home eventually, via Chambéry, although we could have easily ended up in Paris, as the lovely TGV decides not to tell you where the hell you are at any given moment, leaving your destination very much up to wherever the most amount of people seem to be getting off. Despite such issues, a very enjoyable day was had, and we learned the need for proper planning, which tends to be slightly less expensive than pure spontaneity.

The rest of the weekend was quite chilled out, apart from my workload which diminished incredibly slowly as I still try and trek through that history book...the mutinies in the First World War are very interesting, but there's only so much enthusiasm one can have when trying to force-read a 600 page book in a few days..

Back to college today and great to see everyone again. Well, except the lecturer of my Right-Wing Populist movements class...although I must say his beard is looking well.

That's all folks! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-ceg763Voc 

PS: Another musical recommendation, this girl (Joe BeL), was playing at a bar we went to during the week, apparently she's from Grenoble too, she's pretty good!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgaSTQm3S0s&feature=related