Aigues-Mortes Sucks!

Ok, maybe I'm exagerrating a lil bit. But not a lot. I'm so annoyed. We really should have stayed in Nimes when we had the chance. Surely had cheaper hotels too.

So it is New Year's Eve and J and I just got back from wandering this town for an hour or two. And it seems fairly interesting. It has a huge fortress/wall around it- towers, archery windows, the whole nine. But it is DEAD. We got here around 7 and I figured we could find a bar or club to party. Not a chance in hell. Everything (and I mean everything) is closed. Well, except for one bar, which is packed with very proper, upper class looking old people. We saw, I think, 3 private parties. But that is it in the whole town. Most of the place, you would think you are in a ghost town.

And people are not friendly at all. It is NEW YEARS EVE! And ONE person said bonsoir. No one said "joyeuse fêtes" or anything like that. The few people we walked by made a studious effort not to make eye contact. Seriously! wtf? That surely would not be the case in Lille- there would be shouting and bonsoirs, and joyeuse fêtes and comment ça va's. bah.

Don't come here with any thoughts of having fun in the evening.

So I guess I'm off to talk to J for a bit before bed, I really will post up about things soon... really I will.

In paris!!

So I got to paris, and then got sick. I am uber talented.

I spent the day in Chantilly yesterday, and it was really fun, but I noticed I was getting sick. But I came back to the hostel in Paris, and got myself settled in with the intention of getting up at 630 and go to Versailles. And then I tossed and turned all night with a fever. I went back to bed, and stayed there until 1. Got up, went and got medicine and some food. Came back, and went back to bed. It's 10 here now, and I think I've spent all of 4 hours out of bed today, total. And that may be over estimating.

I am in a mixed sex dorm, which is really cool. Sunday night there was a girl from Chicago there, and we talked a lot. She spent the semester in Spain and doesn't speak any french. She left yesterday, and 2 chinese guys came in. They'll be here for the rest of the week. They have been studying in Sweden. They are cool, we talk a lot about random stuff. Although the one guy flooded the WHOLE room last night. It was kinda funny. You see, the cleaning lady leaves the shower curtain on the outside of the shower, and apparently he didn't know it belongs on the inside... haha. the WHOLE room.


I am so peeved I spent the whole day in bed. I was going to go to Versailles and walk, and a museum or two, and... nothing. So now I have to remake my "itinerary" cuz I totally lost a day. I'm so sad. I don't know whether to cut Versailles and see more of Paris, or go to Versailles and cut some museums and the inside of some churches.

Will post more later, gotta get Chantilly pics uploaded.

The french are NOT afraid of committment

I went out with a friend to the gay club last night. It was fun, as usual. I like it there. Of course, S got lots of attention. He always does. And ended up spending most of the night with one guy in particular.

Only problem is, is S wasn't as interested in the guy as he was acting. And I had to rescue him, it was great fun. We were walking home, french guy included, and it was quite apparent he expected S to come home with him.

So I showed off my AWESOME acting skills. lol. I put on my uber sad, scared face and told S "I don't want to ruin your night *guilty look at french guy* but there is that guy that harrasses me when I come in, and you promised you'd come yell at him for me the next time he came" *extra scared eyes at french guy*

Seriously, I should be an actress. Although I think S did even better, cuz he even rolled his eyes at me and huffed. lol.

But anyways, before S even got home, the french guy had txt'd him to ask when their next date is. Haha. S has an "accidental" french boyfriend.


So if you come to france and go clubbing, be careful who you make out with, you may find that you suddenly have a very committed significant other. hehe.

Grades here are STUPID

Grades here are impossible. The french don't care what they get as long as they pass, and the professors feel the need to put us students in our place. Which wouldn't be TOTALLY awful. I do have really good grades in 2 classes. I dont know about most of the others. And then there's french, with that PSYCHO teacher. I hate her. And on friday... omg friday.

I had an oral exam for Ville et Mondialisation. I studied so hard, and I knew it. I had that stuff down. And I go in for the half hour oral exam. And he asks me: what do you think of france? Do you think france and the US are the same or really different? Were you surprised by anything when you came here?

So I'm thinking ok cool, we're gunna chat and he'll give me a good grade.

nope, he gave me an 11. It had NOTHING to do with the course, there wasn't even anything involved that was gradeable and he gave me a damned eleven. *grumble*

Btw, an 11 is either a C+ or B-, idk. Either way I am displeased. If you are gunna give a bs exam like that, it has to be an easy A. Otherwise, just let me take the real one. Cuz I was so ready for the real one. sigh.

Exams....

omg. i'ma cry.

If you come to Lille, answer some questions wrong on the placement test ON PURPOSE. Do not, i repeat, DO NOT get into Pascale's class. That woman is a psycho bitch. -grumble-

She put the passee simple on the final... which she said she wasn't going to. And the subjonctive, even though we didn't do it. And she doesn't know how to write an exam for shit. Oh, and the vocabumary section? It had almost 2 dozen fill in the blanks. All of them except 2 were looking for words off of our list of words to study for the final. The other two were random french words!!!!!!! Seriously? Really? Truly? WTF!

And while we went over the stupid thing today, people would point out issues, and she'd be like, oh c'est pas grand chose! Only, she said it 20 times!!! 20 pas grand choses = trés grand chose!!!!

So... that class didn't help my grades at all. Dum bitch.


Philosophy had a test today, and somehow I managed to miss the part where he told us it would be today. I think I got about half of it write, if he gives partial credit. Lol. Not a big deal, cuz he is a nice professor, and will let me do some kind of make up, and even if he doesn't, it's only a very small part of the grade, so i'll survive.


Still not a very good day though.


Thank god for sitting in friends room and eating chocolate.

Musical classes

I posted this on tuesday, but accidentally to the wrong blog. lol

GRAHHHH!!!

So I was sitting in the hallway, waiting for my cities and globalization class, when the professor walks by, and tells me that the class got moved to 12 for today, and I missed it. How? How can a school move a class and not let us know!!

At the beginning of the year they told us to check the billboards everyday to look for changes to classes. I actually, didn't do this, but when he told me that I missed it, I went and checked.

There was no notice.
None of the other international students knew either.

APPARENTLY we needed to check icampus. Nothing else is on icampus. They never told us we need to check icampus everyday. They never even MENTIONED icampus. They told us such things would be on the BILLBOARDS!



grrrrrrrrrrrr. I can't afford to miss class 2 weeks from finals.

I'm missing it!

My little brother brought home his first girlfriend!! He's had them before, but never brought one home. And i'm missing it.

Omg, i can't believe i'm missing it! :'( He's more like a friend and son to me.. and I don't get to see his first girlfriend. Apparently they spend most of her visits making out on the couch, oblivious to all teasing and making slurpy noises.

I want to be there to tease him and make his life hell darn it!!

He better have a girlfriend when i get back so i can drive him nuts :-D

It's 4am, do you know where your children are?

So ya. I went to the residence where most of the international students live, and we spent the whole night "studying" And by studying, i mean playing on facebook, youtube, and anywhere else for most of the night, and at the same time somehow managing to get a lot accomplished. lol

Good stuff.

The only down side: it's now 4am and I have to walk 20 minutes home before I can sleep...

Ireland Part I

So, I should be writing a paper right now, but I just can't focus, so I thought I'd start my Ireland story. Enjoy!

So I left on thursday night from Lille, because I had no faith in my ability to get there in time if I left friday morning. (I found out sunday that there is a shuttle from Lille to the airport that I could've taken, but somehow I didn't find it. So I took a TGV to brussels, and a train to Charleroi, and then a bus to the airport. I got there around 9. I spent the night at the airport, which seemed like a great idea. And honestly, I was feeling very adventurous. I mean, on my own, sleeping in an airport like a backpacker. Go me. And then I tried to sleep... haha. The only place to do this, is on the wide, cement window sills. (there were probably 10 people doing this). But omg, the concrete was freeeezing cold. I slept on and off for 4 hours and gave up. By then, people were coming in for the early flights anyways.

I was quite tired, but very excited. I haven't really travelled alone, and I was quite proud of myself thus far.

When I finally got through the security and what not (they took my toothpaste :( ) I was quite early, so I got a nice nap while waiting for the plane. (those seats were quite comfy.)

The plane was not nearly as bad as I may have feared. It was plenty big enough, 3 seats on each side, and the staff were friendly enough. (I flew ryan air in order to save money, prices were quite cheap, but no seat assignments, and you have to buy drinks etc, pay to check luggage, and pay to check in at the airport.) I love airplanes! Flying is fantastic, i love to see the clouds and the land and everything. And as always, it was awesome. When we landed in Ireland it was pouring. (appropriate i think, since it is ireland.) but a quick sprint to the building and it was all good. As I have discovered seems to be the norm here, I got my passport stamped, but nothing asked about what I was bringing in blah blah blah. Going to Belgium (and amsterdam) we didn't even see a border check of any kind.

I caught a bus from Shannon Airport into Limerick City. I was still uber excited, and a bit worried about getting off at the right stop. But I did, and after a quick look around, I checked my map, and started down the road to my hotel. The map said it was about a 10-15 minute walk (google) so I didn't expect any problems, even though it was sprinkling. 20 minutes later it was raining steadily and I still had no idea where the hotel was. I kept walking. I asked every third person if they knew where it was. It started to pour. And I kept walking. And walking. And walking. An hour later I found it, well outside of town. I was soaked from my toes to the hem of my coat. I kept having to wipe the water off my face, my hair was dripping wet. Luckily, the coat was water proof. The front desk lady was astounded when I told her I walked (i thought it was apparent based on the fact that I was soaked through) and then charged me ten euro for checking in early.

I spread my wet stuff around the room, went and got a chicken ceasar salad (which, by the way, I have not seen since I came to the states, so I was quite happy to find it). I then soaked in the tub, twice. It was relaxing, and I was tired and feeling a bit defeated, and thus didn't really do anything that evening. I rather wish I had, but I still managed to see a lot over the next two days.

Coming soon: saturday, and the tour to the cliffs of moher

Voyager en France

I'm planning my trip for winter break!! I'm soooooooooo excited. I should have done it earlier to save money, but i haven't had time (big surprise).

I have a giant guide book which I went through at least 3 times highlighting places I want to go.

I have a map ( ) with the pins of allll the places I want to see. It had a lot more, but I slowly weeded out the one's that were less important, or that were way off out of the way.

So now I've put it in order, I even chose the hotels for the first for days, and am ready to buy one of the train tickets... I am going to contact some people about couch surfing ( www.couchsurfing.com ) for a few nights. And I found this really nice paris hotel for HALF PRICE. It's cheaper than a lot of the tiny, yucky ones. http://www.hotel-in-paris.com/ lists all the hotels that give you big discounts by booking online from their site. It's very cool. We're staying in... Hotel de Chateaux I think.

And over ngiht trains are great. Only problem is they don't appear to go from the south to the north. Still, it saves a hotel room cost. We're going to take one from Paris to Nice.

I'll post up my itinerary when it's a bit more realistic