Plusieurs crêpes, et le commencement de Noël

So the past two posts haven't been wonderful and 'year abroady', I'll admit. The first time I posted in November, I basically just whinged for 905 words about how stressed I was etc etc [and really, they weren't exactly third world problems], and the second time was just an update to my things to do list.

But, I hear you all cry, 'what have I actually been doing?'

Well, read on, dear friends, because I shall keep you in suspense no more.

To start with? My mum tells me that my extended family are all under the impression, presumably from my Facebook account, that all I do out here is eat. That's not true, although this post is going to do a horrendous job at proving my point!

So: Mention of food #1: Pretty early on in November, we had one of the other QM/Paris girls and her boyfriend over to stay in our apartment for a while, and while they were around we found our way for the first time to Paris' Chinatown in the 13th Arrondissement near where we live, and had a very nice, very reasonably priced Chinese.

Mention of food #2: Also while they were staying with us, and also on the food front, we went to Rue Mouffetard in the 5th and bought a savoury crêpe each at a little place called 'Au P'tit Grec'. It had some pretty good reviews when we googled it and quite a line in front of it, which usually suggests good food, and it didn't disappoint! I can't remember what the others had, but I had a 'Bolognaise Gallette'. It was really very good, although I only managed to eat about a third of it - they're not expensive, but they don't skimp either, and the crêpes are very big, very filling, and absolutely laden with cheese. 

Au P'tit Grec, in the 5th Arrondissement. It doesn't look like much, but don't let appearances deceive you.

Really good food, and its really reasonably priced too :)

People visiting Paris, if you get a chance, I strongly recommend it. I'm personally waiting for a change to go back so I can try their Chocolate Orange crêpe with Grand Marnier. I'm drooling at the very thought of it...

Mention of food #3: Continuing with the crêperie theme, I also had a crêpe at Le Terroir, which is near Les Gobelins in the 13th Arrondissement. 

Crepe St Michel

Also very good, also very reasonably priced. This one is called "St Michel" and basically consists of Apples, Sorbet and Calvados (Apple Brandy) which was very strong (I felt like my tongue had been anaesthetised) but very moreish, and there were several other crêpes on their menu which are just begging for me to go back and try them!

(In the interests of full disclosure on the food (Mention #4) front, I also feel compelled to mention at this point that in addition to the sudden influx of crêpes, I seem to have taken up sampling the croissants of one or two local patisseries, on occasion, to see the difference between them. All on a purely scientific basis, of course. Not just because I happen to pass said patisseries and develop a sudden instantaneous pastry craving. Not at all.) 

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What else? Well tonight, I trekked over to the Champs-Élysées where the 'illuminations' (read: Christmas Lights) were being turned on. It didn't happen until nearly 45 minutes after the advertised time, and I'm fairly certain that I'm going to lose all my fingers from frostbite as a result. The lights were pretty, though.

The moment the lights were turned on, we were all covered in silver confetti :) I have to admit, it looked gorgeous!

Looking towards the Arc de Triomphe; there were loads of people on the top [of the Arc] watching the lights get turned on. I wish I'd thought of that - I bet it was really spectacular watching the whole avenue light up at once!

I love this picture. Makes me think of a proper winter wonderland..

Not sure they were pretty enough to justify my losing all my fingers from sheer cold, but still very pretty! :)

After that, I decided, with my cold addled brain, not to go to the closest tube station and therefore perhaps save at least my thumbs, if not my index fingers,  which would have been the sensible thing to do, but instead to wonder down towards Place de la Concorde where a Christmas market has set up camp (which admittedly, was the more fun thing to do). 

Christmas Market on the Champs Élysées

There, (prepare for mention of food #5), I decided to buy myself some Churros, which I was introduced to when on French exchange back in 2010 and which I now cannot resist on the rare occasion I see them for sale!

Churros are so so bad for you, but mmmm. Roll them in sugar and they're so so good!

There were some beautiful things that I was dying to stop and buy, but a) I was on the point of hypothermia, b) I'm a student on a very tight budget, and c) I'm going to be seeing a lot more of Christmas markets in the next month or so and it seemed a shame to blow out on the first one I came across.

So I didn't buy anything. But I may have to go back before the end of the year!

So that's most of my November in a nutshell. We've got guests again this weekend, but with my budget running rather low, I doubt I'll be doing anything terribly out of the ordinary or blogworthy, so this post will probably be the last for this month, although I will of course post if something terribly exciting happens, like I meet the président or something. Unlikely, but there we go. 

And with that, I realise that now we're nearly into December, and Christmas is really starting to feel close! My lovely mum sent me out an advent calendar and lots of chocolate (does this count as mention of food #6?) in the post, haha (and actually did it some weeks ago, so I've been well prepared for a while). 

My December is going to be awesome - I've got a lot of fun things on, so expect loads of blogging from me next month. Specifically, other than going home for Christmas, which I am so excited about, in the next few weeks I have two things planned which I'm particularly looking forward to, and there should be loads of pictures, which always makes a blog nicer to read!

Until then -

Vicky xx

PS. Despite the numerous mentions of food in this post, I am sticking by my earlier claim that I don't actually eat all that much, outside of regular mealtimes. November just seems to have been a bit of a blip...

Une liste: the update

Writing this post has been a massive headache for me, because I finished it, and then somehow managed to delete it all - so I hope you all appreciate it!

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Before I came to Paris, I made a post listing some of the things that I hope to do during my year in Paris (see 26/07/2013), but it was quite short, and it's easy to be relatively narrow-minded about a place when you're only thinking about it in the context of a Lonely Planet Guidebook!

I'm not sure you really know what you want to do in a city until you get there - since I've been in Paris, I'm constantly passing little restaurants or museum or seeing adverts for other things to do, and thinking that I really should add that to my list. So, that list has grown quite a bit longer over the last two months, and I decided it was time to post an update!

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1. Visit the Versailles Palace - I'm saving this for the spring/summer, when the gardens will be at their best to see :)

2. Go to Notre Dame Cathedral

3. Visit Les Catacombs
4. Indulge in la cuisine, including croissants, macaroons, and everything else French and/or Parisian. In particular, there are three places that I want to go to (or have now been to)
- Ladurée in the Champs-Élysées
- Pierre Hermé
- Angelina Tearoom - I'm told that this is the place to go for the best hot chocolate in the capital. Can't wait to go and see for myself!
- Eat seafood at La Bar a Huitres. This is the place that I went for my birthday, and it really was delicious. There's several of them in Paris - I went to the one in Montparnasse. They've got a menu that ranges from massive seafood platters costing a few hundreds of euros, to a nice fixed menu for 44 euros, which was much better for my poor student budget :)

5. Go to see the Pantheon
6. Spend time in La Jardin du Luxembourg

The next three I won't be able to actually do this year; the first and second because I'm going to be in China; the third because I'll be spending it at home. But I'm keeping them on my list because they're three things which ought to be done in Paris, and though I won't be doing them this year, I'll be making sure to do them at some point!
7. View the Bastille Day Parade
8. Finale of the Tour de France
9. Spend NYE 2014 in Paris

10. Go to the Louvre and see Mona Lisa!

11. Go to Disneyland Paris. Disclaimer: I've actually been here and wasn't going to include it on my list, but my "little" (he's 16) brother insisted that I include it, which was blatantly a not very subtle hint that I should take him.
12. Go to top of La Basilique du Sacré Coeur.

13. Stroll down the Champs-Élysées, and end up in the Place de la Concord

14. Visit La Sainte-Chapelle
15. Go to the Palais Garnier, which looks spectacular!
16. Visit Monet's garden at Giverny - this is another one I'm saving for the spring/summer, as I'm told it's a nice place to hire a bike and go for a ride :)

17. Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower
18. Visit at least 3 other European Countries. I don't know how realistic that is going to be, but it's a target I'll try to meet! I might as well make the most of being an Erasmus student by exploring the continent at least a little bit!
19. Go to the Christmas Market in Strasbourg
20. Spend the day at Parc Asterix :)
21. Go to Bercy Shopping Village - because, really, what's Paris without some retail therapy?
22. Les Invalides
23. Moulin Rouge
24. Spend a few days on the South Coast and in Monaco - this is another potentially unrealistic one, because it will probably be too expensive, but I really want to do it if at all possible!
25. La Marais
26. La Conciergerie
27. Visit St- Sulpice
28. Go to the roof at Galleries Lafayette - incidentally, I really loved the interior of this store. It's gorgeous!
29. Go the Musée de l'Orangerie
30. Go over to the Arc de Triomphe
31. Visit Lille
32. Canal St Martin
33. Browse the shelves at the bookshop, Shakespeare and Co

So that's my list. Considerably longer than last time, and probably will get considerably longer again before I leave Paris in June. I'll make sure to do an update or two before then though - at least three of the things on this list I have already arranged to do, and I will be posting about them very soon...

As always, if anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to comment, I'd love to hear some.

Vicky xx

Deux mois d'Erasmus - La réalité

I've now been in Paris for just over two months, which I honestly cannot believe. My time here is going so fast, it's unreal, and I'm pleased to say that I've managed to fit a fair amount in in that time.

Before you go on a year abroad, it's usual to talk to the people who've done it before, and they gush about how wonderful a year they had and how they wish they could do it again. Or, as in my case, they tell you that it's unbelievably hard work and that they didn't have a lot of time for fun, which was not very reassuring, I can tell you. 

So at the two month mark, what's the truth?

Life wise, I'm quite happy. Paris is a great, if very expensive, city to live in. It's almost impossible to get bored - the Louvre itself merits at least three visits to be considered 'done' properly, and that's not even scratching the surface, not even a little bit. [I'll admit, though, that I still prefer London and I can't wait to get back to the Big Smoke next September]

I've met loads of new people, even if they are practically all English and none of them French, I get to scoff freshly baked croissants and baguettes as often as I please and being in a major transport hub, I've practically got the whole of Europe on my doorstep.

So far, so gushy.

Unfortunately, the people in the year above me at Queen Mary weren't exaggerating. 

I would never go so far as to say that in England, we're spoon fed, because that wouldn't be fair. We still have to do all our own reading and research etc. But I feel a whole lot more supported there than I do here. 

To some degree, that's an element of feeling thrown in the deep end. The tutorials are supposed to provide some of that support, but I'm having trouble getting much out of them because the speed at which people speak is sill a huge issue for me, and they also count towards my final grade, unlike in London, which adds quite a lot of pressure to a session in which i'm supposed to become less stressed and confused rather than the other way around! For instance, in my obligations tutorial this week we are going to be subjected to an 'interrogation' which I can only pray won't be as ominous as it sounds!

In any case, the tutorials are only available in 2 of my 5 subjects. The other 3 are lectures only, which means there is next to no additional support if you don't understand something. Lecturers here come in, speak, put down their microphone and leave. The door is banging behind them before you've got time to register that the lecture is over, let alone anything else. Questions just don't get asked.

And my nice, English education just hasn't prepared me for the strict formula that essays have to follow here, or any of the strange nuances of the French system. For example, at home, we structure our essays, obviously, but we basically do that however we want. 'Creativity' is in the mark scheme. Not so here. Here, everyone follows the same, strict structure, no deviations, no creativity. Your opinion is irrelevant; the only thing that matters is the law, and that's something I just can't seem to wrap my head around. The other issue, of course, is that I'm used to a common law system, not a civil law system. 

So whilst life is quite fun and wonderful, study is, quite frankly, the bane of my life at the moment, although I suppose the upside to that should hopefully be that my final year will look like a piece of cake in comparison.

That's not to put anyone off of doing a year abroad, not all all. Instead, it's something to be aware of so you don't get caught out and feel as stressed as I do right now. For instance, I can't stress enough how important it is for your listening skills to be up to scratch. The lectures are the one place at the moment I feel somewhat productive. 

Tonight, I've been venting over FaceTime to my Mum, Dad and Brother, who have all been appropriately sympathetic and helpful, and this post is much more positive now than it would have been if I had written it three hours ago! I know I'll get there. Everyone always says that the first three months are the hardest, and the first three months have been hard, it's true, but I wouldn't change my decision to come to Paris. I do wish I'd been a bit more prepared, but that's water under the bridge now. I can only go up from here!

I've been staying in a fair amount lately trying to stay on top of my rapidly snowballing workload, and I haven't managed to cross much more off of my things to do list [which I've updated and will be re-posting about very soon] but I'm going to make sure I get out and about this weekend. I'm sure I'll focus better if I manage to switch off for a few hours!

So until next time, when I'll hopefully be feeling significantly more positive than I do tonight [hey, a depressing post or two was sure to pop up eventually] - 

Vicky xx

Quelle est la date de ton anniversaire?

Did anyone else have to sing a song in which that line was sung, repeatedly, to quite an annoying tune, when they were learning French in school?

I mention only because this weekend I turned 21! That's right, the last big birthday anyone experiences before you hit the big 3-0, and it all goes downhill from there ;)

As I think I mentioned in my last post, I went out - not last weekend just gone but the weekend before that - to celebrate my birthday in Paris with the 3 other girls from QM and a few others, when we had a meal in the very gorgeous looking seafood restaurant, La Bar A Huitres in Montparnasse (although there are a few more elsewhere in Paris, I think)  

The outside fish bar at La Bar a Huitres looks so tempting... *drool*

We had a lovely meal. At €44 for three courses, I didn't think it was too badly priced actually, although (somewhat sinfully given we're living in France) we passed on the wine which almost certainly would have considerably pushed up the bill.

I had a risotto for starter, with mussels and octopus, and it was absolutely to die for. Really, I probably could have eaten another one, it was cooked beautifully and very moreish! 

Me with my Risotto :)  -  Pic taken by Rachel

For main, I had Moules Marinière which was also very verrry nice, and they weren't skimpy on the portions either, hooray!

These. were. delicious.

And for pud, I had (my first ever) créme brûlée which was set slight at our table and was also very nice (if a little alcoholy still, even after the flames had stopped).

The others tried a range of things as well... Fish Soup, Giant Shrimps, Cod, Monkfish and lots of other gorgeous looking meals were delivered to our table.

In which Paris lives up to its name in terms of excellent Cuisine. Pics all taken by Rachel

They also serve up some amazing (if pricey) seafood platters which were were all eyeing up a bit enviously, and generally there's just so much more on the menu (given to you on iPads!) that I want to try, so I'm planning to go back in February when my best friend comes out to visit :)

After the meal, we headed over towards Bastille for drinks and then our newly-enlarged group headed over to a club called Wanderlust.

It was actually a pretty cool club, but not having entirely thought through my choice of footwear for the evening, my heels had basically crippled me by this point and most of my energy was going into staying standing!

That's not to say that I didn't have a good time at the club, I did. A large part of it is outside, right on the banks of the Seine, and the music was really good.

Anyway, to cut what could be a very long story short, I had a wicked good night.

Then, this weekend just gone, I made my firs trip home since I left on August 31st for my actual birthday! I flew back to Southampton from Orly (which, I'm sorry, is a humungous pain to to get to. The Orlyval is so expensive. I may have to try the OrlyBus next time instead).

Travel Essentials. Who needs a toothbrush?

Anyway, at home I had an absolutely brilliant birthday. I completely spoiled by my family, and I was surprised three times on the day itself when my Grandma, Aunt and then later my two absolute best friends (who I wasn't expecting to see until Christmas and February respectively) all turned up to surprise me at one point or another.

I am a very very  lucky girl!

It was such a brilliant weekend that it made it really hard to head back to Southampton airport and fly back to Paris yesterday afternoon, probably harder than it was to leave for Paris in the first place!

Still, I'll be home again (by Eurostar,5£&/ time) at Christmas which in all honesty, isn't that far away - we'll be in November come Friday, which I cannot believe. And when I'm here I do have a good time and I've got lots of fun things still to look forward to.

So, that was my birthday, done both Paris style and UK style. Hope everyone else had as good a weekend as I did, and I'm sure I will post again soon!

Vicky xx

PS. On a side note, the Bar Society president from my first year at Queen Mary has been missing since Friday. Posting it here on the off chance someone reading this knows something that could help - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-24733082 

Le stress et le feu d'artifice

I knew it was coming, it's taken a while, but it has finally happened. My first year abroad "why am I doing this I must be crazy oh my god" meltdown has occurred.

Yesterday, I had my first travaux dirigé, in Droit des Obligations. Two hours before said tutorial, I was alternating between staring at a blank word document and a question sheet which I did not - do not - understand. 

In the tutorial, my tutor seemed to speak really quietly and at about 500mph, all at the same time. I didn't understand a word, which really worries me because this year, for the first time since I left college, I have January exams to worry about and if things keep going at this pace, I'll be moving backwards, not forwards. And to top it off, there was a girl with the same name as me in the class, and everytime he said her/my name I was like, "please be talking to her, please don't talk to me". It's something I'm absolutely going to have to get over, and soon.

Anyway, the sum of it all was that I have never left a class quite so traumatised in my life. And that's not (much) of an exaggeration. 

Don't get me wrong. Three of my five subjects are going fine. I might not be completely understanding what I am being told, but I am understanding enough, and I'm getting better. Excellent.

Unfortunately, Obligations (and Droit des Affaires, in case you're wondering) do not fall in that category. Nuhuh, no siree. I understand *nothing*. 

Hence yesterday's little meltdown and all the self doubt it's dredged up. Still, I can't afford to wallow, that would be completely counter productive, so there's only one thing for it - I'm going to have to relisten to all the lectures again until I pick up what I've missed (thank goodness my parents had the wisdom to buy me a dictaphone last year)

It's disenheartening, but the year is still young and I never expected to waltz in here and understand everything.

On the plus side, my 21st birthday is in nine days time (I'm going home for it, woo!) and my mum gave me some money to spend on myself as an early birthday present, so to cheer myself up after yesterday's disaster, I popped over to the Champs-Élysées to buy myself a new dress to wear out for my birthday and to pick up some good ol' British comfort food in Marks and Spencer :)

Study problems aside, I have been making sure to go out and enjoy myself as well. Earlier this month, me and two other QM girls headed over towards the Louvre on Nuit Blanche to watch the fireworks put on by whoever it was to design the fireworks for the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics, which was pretty cool to see. 

Paris at night is so pretty. We walked right down beside the river, which you can get so close to, not like the Thames in London, although that's probably because it's tidal, and the Seine is much much calmer than that. 

And it helped that half of Paris was also out for Nuit Blanche, so there was a buzzing atmosphere. I would have liked to have gone and seen some of the other all night stuff they had going on for it, but I'd managed to catch a horrendous cold and I felt pretty hideous, so I retreated for the safety of my bed!

This weekend, I'm going out to celebrate my 21st with a few people. We're going to eat first, at La Bar A Huitres, in Montparnasse (which looks absolutely wicked. They have a fish bar outside which makes me want to eat there every time I pass) and then we're going out, back to Bastille, where we were a few weeks ago, so that should be good :)

I'm still planning to go visit (amongst many other places) the Catacombs, but something has come up every time I've tried so far! Me and my flatmate are also planning a trip in December (I'm all for Strasbourg, but she votes Lille) to a Christmas market :) - if anyone knows anything about either of those places, please comment. I'd love to hear a few opinions!

On which note, I'll sign off. 'til next time -

Vicky xx

Ah, les anglais.

I've been reliably informed by my flatmate that I have picked up the (somewhat unfortunate) habit, when cooking, of adding '...of course, they're not as good as the ones we get at home' to the end of many a sentence - according to her, most recently I have complained about French Strawberries and French Stock Cubes...

Still, my strange complaints aside, this got me to thinking. There's a lot of stuff I will probably miss about France when I eventually return home,, and I might post about that at the time -  but today's post (slightly different from the usual agenda) is a list, in no particular order, of stuff that I miss about England...

1. CHEDDAR CHEESE - I'm sorry, but Cheese on toast is not cheese on toast without a good ol' bit of Cathedral City, and emmenthal just isn't the same. Not even close. 

2. I know that the French and the Belgians are well known for their chocolate, and when it comes down to dark chocolate, I agree. And I know that the Europeans are sceptical that what we Brits call chocolate is actually chocolate. But I don't care. When it comes down to milk chocolate, I'll choose a DAIRY MILK every time. I actually asked my mum to send some of it out to me, I'm not ashamed :) What I am ashamed of is the abysmally short time it lasted....

3. ENGLISH TEA - you can buy this out here - I've got a box of Twinings - but... I don't know whether it's the water, or the milk, or what, but I just can't get it to taste the same as it does back home. 

4. Although the Carrefour near me does have that one lonely little shelf devoted to English products, MARMITE is inexplicably, not on it. Love it or hate it (and I love it), it's not really an English section if the marmite's not in it! Boo :( 

5. NETFLIX. Can't get it in France. Whyyyyyyyyy?!

6. EASY COMMUNICATION. Okay, so France isn't exactly third world is it - I've not been cut off from all forms of civilisation - but it would be nice to send a text without worrying about the phone bill, or to make a FaceTime call without getting frustrated because the wifi is cutting out and people are not hearing about a third of my sentences!

7. GOOD MUSIC. Apparently, there is some kind of law here that the radio stations play X% of French language music as opposed to English language stuff. And (this is purely my personal opinion) French music tends to leave much to be desired... (also, it has to be said - French adverts on youtube are waaaaaaaay more annoying than French ones!)

8. My MUM'S COOKING. Get me home and get me a roast - 'nuff said.

9. The PUB. Call me stereotypical English woman, but I like strolling down the pub for a drink. The French do things differently - what they have is great as well - but I still miss the pub.

10. I've technically borrowed this from someone else's blog, and I can't remember whose it was, but it totally stands even if it is a little bit (very) unclassy and should probably remain my dirty little secret for all eternity - whisper it now - screw top bottles of wine. They're just so convenient! 

Til next time - 

Vicky xx

Je suis une etudiante de Paris...

...and I have the student card to prove it. Last week, I had my semaine d'integration at Assas, which basically consisted of a 5 lectures on the history and basics of French Law, along with two afternoon sessions on the methodology of French law - basically, how to do the tutorial exercises.



It's only now that I'm actually realising how different education in France actually is. I remember thinking something similar a couple of years back when I went on an exchange and spent two weeks at a lycée - and the differences follow through into higher education. Even down to simple things, like lectures, it is clear that they're conducted differently to how they are at university back home - they're very formally structured, and asides from anything else, they're conducted on a much grander scale than I'm used to.

I started my electives this week-  I'm taking 5 per semester - and at a lecture I went to yesterday morning, I was really surprised to see the sheer number of people - and it wasn't even a compulsory subject! It makes UK law schools look like complete midgets in comparison. People had told me in advance to expect something like this - as I understand it, universities here aren't selective, so anyone can sign up, and each year just gets smaller as people either drop out or fail - but it still took me aback. There was easily 1500 people at that lecture, if not more, which is easily double my entire year group back in London.

The biggest problem I've had so far is taking notes. The lecturers, to my ears at least, seem to talk at about 100mph and whilst my French isn't bad - I wouldn't be here otherwise - when you only understand so many words in 10, that's not helpful. Still, it is only my first week and I think that with practice, I'll get the hang of it.

This week being the first week, it has obviously been lectures only, but the TD's - tutorials - start next week and I'm really interested to see how those differ as well. I've been told that size is, again, a large factor - my biggest tutor group back home probably had 15 people in it, tops, but apparently its more like 30 here. I guess I will just have to wait and see!

In other news, I have actually been doing fun stuff as well. Recently, a group of us went on our first proper night out in Paris - weird that it took us so long to get around to, but there we go - in the Bastille area, which was a really good night out, ending with a late night/early morning McDonalds.



Casually setting fire to the bar - as you do.

I've also been back to the Louvre, and we managed to see a little bit more this time - for instance, we actually managed to see the Mona Lisa. 

I'm not the best photographer - but...

If you've ever heard that this painting is a lot smaller than you expect, well, it's true. I think the fame surrounding this picture encourages people to expect a lot more than is actually there! Not to be a complete downer on Da Vinci's work, mind you - the lady with the mysterious smile is famous for a reason!

Vicky xx