A quick update...

Bonjour and happy February to you all!

I don’t know about you, but so far 2014 has been very busy for me! I started off the New Year at home, and then went over to Northern Ireland for a few days to spend time with family. When we returned I had a lovely early birthday celebration with friends from home before heading back off to Poitiers.

Stranded at Daft Eddy's. There are worse places to be stuck for an afternoon.

It was straight back into lectures at uni and trying to revise for my last exam at the same time. Luckily I’m doing some very interesting and relevant political-based units this semester, such as international relations and methods of political science, so I’m enjoying the lectures, which always helps!

Last week marked my 21^st birthday, and after being very spoilt with a meal out and some gorgeous presents from the Poitiers group, off I went to Paris for the weekend to spend a fantastic couple of days with friends from home and Bristol (well, you do only turn 21 once!) We managed to pack loads into the weekend – naturally, all the tourist trips to the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Galeries Lafayette and Versailles as well as a hilarious birthday night out. I’d never visited the Palace of Versailles before and loved it – plus it’s free for EU residents under 26. If I was there in the summer I could easily while away a lazy afternoon wandering around the palace gardens. Another recommendation would definitely be the Le Marais area of the city, with its quirky streets, cute cafes, unusual art and, most importantly, the BEST falafel I’ve ever eaten.

Excited for falafel

From the Eiffel Tower

Versailles. Let us eat cake.

Sleep, of course, was sacrificed. You can’t have it all!

Back to books and the blog then, and I’m just getting through Austen’s Emma at the minute so will be blogging about it in the next few days. Next on my list will be something by William Boyd or Ian McEwan, both two of my favourite authors, so keep your eyes peeled!

I’ve also got a bit of exciting news (well, exciting if you’re into your poetry, anyway). I entered a poetry competition last year and just before Christmas was sent a compilation book called Between the Lines with my work in it, published by United Press. If you’re interested in this sort of thing, get in touch – I think competitions are a great way of getting your work noticed as well as motivating yourself to get writing!

Paris and some home comforts...

So I’m now back at home in Bucks for the French uni half term – it’s so lovely to be back enjoying home comforts like bubble baths and OVENS (yes really, apparently it’s normal to not have ovens in France at home, so bizarre). Looking forward to spending time with the family and catching up with some pals!

The last month has just flown by and I can’t believe we’re nearly into November! Poitiers has been its usual sleepy self but I’ve been loving the Erasmus year so far. It’s getting much easier to understand French (though speaking it is still another matter), and we’ve spent many hilarious nights at either the student bars in town or friends’ houses. There’s not as much of a ‘clubbing’ scene in Poitiers – most of them are a little bit out of the centre and the French don’t get to the club until about 2 or 3am, which is hardly conducive with our 8am lectures! We’ve only been out to clubs a couple of times, and have made it our business to try out some more after the holidays. Instead everyone goes to the main student bars in town which are open fairly late, or house parties.

Last week a few of us made a very last-minute decision to buy Jay-Z tickets and head to Paris on Thursday after lectures – it was the most manic plan ever but we had the BEST time! Two of the boys drove us all up in their cars, and we had literally organised nothing so we were calling hostels on our way up and found a great one, very central, for 30 euros each for the night. After checking in there was time for a quick change before heading to the metro station to get to the Bercy stadium, via a quick detour to the Eiffel Tower. Jay-Z was of course INSANE and we were all loving life as you can imagine! He had just the right mix of Magna Carta and older stuff, and the crowd was absolutely buzzing.

After the concert we went in search of junk food and a bar, and eventually wandered back to the hostel at about half 3. The next day we got up relatively early to cram in as much sightseeing as possible – the Sacre Coeur and Montmartre, Moulin Rouge, the Eiffel Tower and the Jardin des Tuileries. I’ve wanted to go to the Louvre for ages but by the time we got there it was mid-afternoon and I’ll definitely be making another trip there next semester so it’s something else to look forward to!

This week, I’m glad to be chilling at home – I’ve got a couple of days’ work experience lined up and some uni work to get on with too. I was meant to include lots of Paris pictures in this post but forgot to upload them before I flew home, so I’ll be doing a photo post when I’m back in France! For now I'll leave you with this one I've nabbed courtesy of Milly...

 I haven’t forgotten my book reviews either and I’ve got a couple up my sleeve so watch this space!