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!

A law student abroad

It’s Sunday night and as a way of putting off my work for droit constitutionnel, I decided it’s about time I wrote another update about my year abroad. I’ve been in Poitiers for about seven weeks now – it seems to have gone by quickly and we’ve all settled into French life now, though of course there are still days where I miss home and need to call my mum! But most of the time it’s just a lot of fun, meeting new people every day and doing things you would have the opportunity to back home.

I was initially going to write a little bit about different aspects of French life that are really different, but I ended up writing so much about the university that I’ll have to put off the other ones until next time. A thousand words later and you’d all be bored to death! So here we go…

Uni is the most obvious thing to start with. On the first day we filled in a mountain of paperwork (France living up to its stereotypes from the get-go) and picked up the generic timetables, then it’s down to you to pick your modules and make sure nothing clashes. A few days later when proper lectures started we went to what we thought was European Organisations. Obviously nobody had told us that the timetables change a bit and you need to check every few days. So we ended up sitting through 90 minutes of indescribably dull public finance until a fire alarm went off and we made our escape. Saved by the bell!

At Bristol we’re so used to the routine of literally seven or eight hours of teaching a week, that coming here and having about 25 hours a week was a shock to the system! Lectures start at 8 most days; never again will I complain about one 9am lecture a week back home… On Tuesdays we have lectures 8am – 6pm with a break for lunch, more hours in one day than I’d have in a week at Bristol! No excuse for not picking up the language quickly then.

The other main thing is that the lecturers speak so fast and once you get behind you’re pretty much stuck there (as if it’s not already hard enough in another language). Some are alright and the lecturers repeat every sentence, but others just speak as if in conversation and you don’t stand a chance! Our tactic is to sit behind French students on laptops and copy them when we fall behind on the dictation – and it really is a matter of dictation. Another Bristol Erasmus student pointed out that we were including phrases like quoi qu’il en soit in our lecture notes (which translates roughly to ‘be that as it may’). Don’t think I’ve ever started a sentence with ‘Be that as it may’ in English, but here it is apparently the conjunction of choice, if there can possibly be such a thing

What I find very weird is that all our exams except one will be oral rather than written; this seems an odd way of doing things but hoping it will all work out when it comes to exam time! To get the diplôme from the uni we have to do one TD (tutorial) and even these are totally different – each week we have a test, but instead of understanding case law etc, you have the questions (like ‘what is the Magna Carta’) in advance and basically Wikipedia and memorise them. Not a case reading in sight...

So many things to experience and get used to and that’s only with the uni; I wanted to write about clubs, friends, food etc but that will have to wait till next time – probably more interesting than me rambling on about law lectures! A bientôt xx

Poitiers

This year I’m studying law in French at the Université de Poitiers with Erasmus. I’ve been in France for nearly two weeks now – though it’s still weird to think that this is going to be my home until next summer!

There has been a LOT of admin stuff to do, first of all. The French love a good form or twelve, which makes things like registering at uni, bank accounts, insurance etc. quite a bit of hassle! I was glad I was warned about this in advance so I knew to bring every possible document or certificate that I’d ever obtained, basically. Fantastique.

Chauvigny

Luckily my parents drove over with me and stayed for a while to help me organise everything and drive me around. This had the extra bonus of not needing to worry about the amount of stuff I was taking to France, but it is a bit cramped in my little room! Or cosy, as I prefer to call it. We also had some time to check out the area – getting to know the city and exploring the pretty nearby towns of Chauvigny, Parthenay and Saint-Savin – and absorb lots of the culture (read: wine). One day we took a trip up to Tours, a city about an hour away, which was a vibrant place set on the Loire with lots going on. We also drove over to Île de Ré, off the coast of La Rochelle for a day of relaxing and sunbathing in the incredible weather we’ve been having over here so far!

Perfect weather in Ile de Re

Sunset on Ile de Re

Back in Poitiers, after moving in it’s just been settling in, deciding what courses to do and rendezvous-ing at bars in the city centre, which are fun but expensive! We anglais from Bristol managed a three-hour introductory lecture this morning. Better get used to it as we found out lectures start at 8am here… It’s hard enough making it to the 9am ones at home… I’ll keep you posted!