It's been magical! 4 months in France would even have turned the most cynical person all romantic. My stay in Poitiers was not only about eating cheese and drinking wine (even though we did lots of that too...) and enjoying the lovely sunshine...it was more about meeting some truly fantastic people that had the ability to even make a trip to deserted Siberia heaps of fun!

Rather than summing up what happened in the final part of our semester together - which basically included lots of exams, booze and farewell tears - I'd rather dedicate this blog entry to 4 people that managed to make me incredibly happy...

So here it goes - some really tacky declarations of love and gratitude:

Thank you, Ella - for making me laugh my head off, for lots of positive energy and cheerfulness as well as indulgent 8-hour sessions of soul-searching together.

Thank you, Ben - for looking after me, taking care of me, accepting me the way I am and making me feel like a delicate and precious little princess. A truly amazing experience.

Thank you, Stefanie - for offering me new perspectives, sharing your experiences with me, your support and for being there for me, but also for many not-so-serious shared glasses of wine and consuming about 10 kgs of sea food with me...

Thank you, Ruby - for never taking yourself too seriously, but always knowing what you want out of life! I've learnt so much from you. Thank you also for not hesitating to put me on a jello shot - champagne diet when I most needed it...



I am really proud of you guys and I feel privileged that I got the chance to get to know you so well!

Lots of love from hectic London****

A hop, a skip and a jump...and all too soon it's all over...

My last blog entry finished with the words: "But more of that in a little while"...I guess that has been kind of an overstatement...It has been QUITE a while. Once more, time appears to be a force that is simply unstoppable the harder you try. This semester in France is now galloping towards its completion and frankly: it scares the hell out of me. By now deep friendships have formed, filled with as much intimacy as premature nostalgia. In my view, there's been many enjoyable moments, much laughter and lots of happiness & joy. I'd love to simply grab these fragile days, hours & minutes by the neck, with all the force I can master and prevent them from transforming into mere memory. It seems that I allowed the Poitiers bubble to become reality. And this new perceived reality has sucked me up completely, whilst steadily approaching its end. I am already so full reminiscence – that I am kinda giving myself the ick. But all is not lost. My hope is that back home I have no time to be so bloody self-indulgent. London, I am sure will be successful in reinstalling some much needed cynicism, distance and objectivity in me...

But now – what has happened in the last few weeks?!

Well, for starters I had some awesome visitors from Germany that were willing to face the 18 hour drive to France. Sascha, Lisa and I spent 5 awesome days together that were predominated by...aehm, mostly eating. It’s always been a preferred entertainment option of mine, I guess. But here in France this tendency has reached a new plateau and has become more of a steady hobby. Another good reason why I shouldn’t prolong my stay in France much further – saves me from the embarrassment of having to book two seats on the train home. On the few occasions that Sascha, Lisa and I weren’t eating, we were discovering the area around Poitiers. To my own detriment, I suggested to drive to Amboise – a little town nearby with a stunningly beautiful castle. In my haste however, I overlooked the fact that Sascha has a keen interest in history. After 3 pictures and about 5 minutes in Amboise I was ready to leave – but thankfully the ice cream I got kept me going for a little longer.

The day after we went to La Rochelle, a beautiful little town that is situated around a harbor. We spent an enjoyable day there, even though we failed to pull-off the level of “poshness” that seemed to be expected of us. A few waiters sniffed out this weakness and consequently treated us a little bit like second-class tourists, which made our visit all the more fun.

By the time, Sascha and Lisa had to leave, they had grown accustomed to the beautiful weather and the highly-entertaining French rudeness that non-French occasionally experience...I think if they had stayed just a day longer, they would have fallen in love with this country to about the same degree that I have.

Once the mid-term break was over and all of my fellow students had returned to sleepy Poitiers, two camps seemed to have been firmly established: Team GMOOH (short for “get-me-out-of-here”) and Team NPINLAIAETLWOMSL (long for “No, Poitiers is not lame and I am enjoying the last weeks of my student life”).

The sentimental first paragraph makes it blatantly obvious which team I reside in...So this is what the NPINLAIAETLWOMSLs have been getting up to:

· We went through approximately 100 litre of French wine and about 5kgs of yummy cheese

AND

· We spent roughly 25 hours per week in the park: often reading & studying, even more often just chatting & laughing.

Some of us were also eager for some excitement – and after one Paintballing and one Gokarting session, the risk-seekers as well as harmony-loves were clearly identified.

Other highlights of the last weeks included:

· Another trip to Bordeaux – this time I was accompanied by not 1, but 2 Stefanies. I had a lovely time with the girls – even though my credit card was upset with me for an entire week after that.

· A non-stop road trip through Belgium, Holland and Germany. I was dreading the drive at first, but I was wrong. I spent ¾ of the time asleep and the rest of the time being highly-entertained by my co-road tripers.

· Easter in Northern Germany. This stay alone would deserve 5 additional blog entries.

My favourite quotes were:

- “It’s lovely to see you again, Christin. But before I talk to you, I should let you know I just got married.”

- “It seems you are too well educated to cycle a bicycle.”

- “Seeing you again makes me think: This stamp on my wrist might potentially grant me more than just access to a club tonight”.

Yes, I was equally shocked when confronted with these remarks...However, when I didn’t suffer from verbal abuse (and just for the record that was the majority of the time) I really enjoyed getting the chance to spend some leisure time in Germany with people that I normally miss on a constant basis.

So that was the recap. And now this time of leisure & pleasure is finally coming to an end and will be exchanged with some good-old measure of anxiety & pressure. Oh, that even rhymes. So yeah, the exam season is about to unfold. And since I don’t want to make any more unsubstantial promises, I reckon it is safe to say that the next time I will get the chance/will have the discipline to write I will already be back in London.

Blonde girls get more chicken...

What a weird heading to a blog entry? Mmmh, maybe - but it's a cheap way to launch directly into my trip to Berlin&Paris : ) So the previously-announced secret mission started off on a Friday afternoon and was almost brought to a sudden, unspectacular and premature end before it had even begun...I was standing at the train station with my backpack and an additional handbag full of excitement and the bloody train just wouldn't come...I had to wait for 70 agonizing minutes. When the train finally decided to show up I was running so late that I had to jump into a cab as soon as I hit Montparnasse. The drive to Gare de l'Est was highly entertaining though (almost worth missing a train for). My cab driver sang loudly&unharmoniously , talked to himself and had the most creative approach to swearing I have ever anticipated. Good thing I only understood half of it or I would have turned proper red. At the train station I had to explain that the pre-booked ticket for the overnight-train to Berlin never made it to my postal address...and had to flog over my credit card to buy a new one. I was the last person that finally jumped on the train - so determined to go to Berlin that I had probably even jumped in front of it if that had stopped it from moving. Out of breath and red-faced I got to the cabin where a small bed was awaiting my tired (and probably by then rather smelly) feet, I thought...But really, the first thing I got was the rather unimpressed and borderline disapproving looks of a couple, both probably around my age. Great: me and these 2 lovebirds for a whole night in a cozy sleeper train. I was equally thrilled. Since it was clear that I was unwanted I grabbed my book and excused myself. This almost led to the next catastrophe - going to Berlin has never seemed so impossible before...I was reading peacefully when the train conductor came to check our tickets and took the opportunity to tell me that I was actually on my way to Hamburg...well, that part of the train was anyways. So I jumped up, ran all the way back to the love nest and told the couple that I had made a big mistake and would never leave them ever again. At least not before we would stand on Berlin soil.

From that moment onwards it was smooth sailing though and I found myself in the lobby of the Holiday Inn, Berlin Mitte the next day...But why was I there again?! Well, enough secrecy - I was there to work as a compere at an event that was put together by an ad agency that a friend of mine works for. The client was Pokemon and the launch of 150 new characters was aimed to make a splash with the help of a massive, interactive light projection. My role was to keep the people in the queue entertained as well as reading out the scores of the people that were having a go at the new game that had been especially designed for the day. It was really good fun - even though the the first 30 minutes were agonizing. The sun hadn't gone down yet and the light projection wasn't visible. So I was given the instruction to "just talk"...without anything of interest happening around me. Once I recovered from a small stroke of inhibition, I started not only talking - but to my own amazement - I started chanting!!! In retrospect this was probably the aftermath of working as a camp counselor in the States in 2008. But yeah, there I was - me and my microphone - chanting at the sun to please set quickly so we could start playing. Luckily, everybody failed to notice my state of temporary insanity - instead lots of people merely joined in. The kids loved it. We actually managed to make enough noise to secure a sufficient number of resident complaints for the police to come as well as the office for public order. The marketing manager from Pokemon got in touch with me a few days later to thank me for drumming up so much business and keeping people patient (some had to queue for 1,5 hours). His exact words were: "Well done in getting so many complaints from the local residents!" In all other circumstances that would be the most peculiar thing to say - but this was actually a compliment and not an ironic statement : ) It even looks as if I will be moderating the Pokemon Championship in Cologne in a few months time...Will leave out the chanting bit though - fingers crossed I won't depend on the sun again to get the right lighting conditions.

I was really relieved that everything had worked out so well. I might have lost a little bit of my dignity that day - but my real concern had been that I would suck so much at this that my friend would loose her job. Okay, that's a bit melodramatic - I really didn't want to embarrass her in front of her client and work colleagues though : )

The next day we spent strolling around Berlin - without effort or purpose. I munched away on an ice cream and couldn't believe my luck. A month ago it was still snowing in Berlin, but that day it was perfect sunshine and a no-jacket day.

After another night on the train - this time unfortunately no couple to annoy - I was back in Paris. This time not in a rush, but with the whole day in front of me. I wandered around, took lots of pictures. Backpack, camera in one hand, map in the other hand and the word "tourist" written across my forehead. I was eagerly waiting for some rude Parisians to bump into me-but it just didn't happen. Instead they simply kicked this little stereotype's ass...For starters, they just wouldn't allow me to loose my map even though I seemed determined. On several occasions I would put the map to the side and take pictures, wandering off completely oblivious to the fact that I had left my sense of direction behind. And every single time -to my amazement-someone would run after me and stuff it right back into my hand. They made it impossible for me to get lost. I was still thinking that they were probably acting in their own self-interest...since this way I had no excuse to bother anyone by asking for directions ; ) But this didn't remain the only gesture of kindness...Every time I sat down to have a meal, somebody would start chatting to me, asking me where I was from, what my plans were etc. One waiter went as far as to take my plate away mid-chew, only to return with an extra portion of chicken on top of my salad. Reserved? Arrogant? Rude? Nope - not the Parisians I had the pleasure of meeting. I probably shouldn't ever return to Paris - after this experience, it can only go downhill : )

Back in Poitiers things were as always - just better. The happychappy Poitiers bubble seems an even happier place. Or maybe it's not the bubble, but me in it. By now I genuinely love the people from my course I hang out with. They make me laugh all the time, make me think differently, make me wanna cuddle them, make me not want to ever stop living this student life in this lovely, sleepy town where I spent half my days in the park. Of course there's deadlines and uni work and a few worries and also some annoying stuff. But mostly I am enjoying to be around people that are kind to me, in a place where nobody ever feels lost or alone.

That was the case till Friday anyways - since then literally everyone has deserted me. Not without keeping tabs on me though. I haven't been looked after this well for ages. So I'm using this week-long break to catch up on my reading as well as meeting some new people. Today I met the Couchsurfing peeps and we drove to Saint Savin. What a cheerful bunch...determined to enjoy the moment whatever life throws at them. I was especially impressed by Cedric who had become half-blind in a near-fatal accident and got out of it with a new thirst for life. Isabella was similarly inspiring. Her husband that she loved so deeply had left her for another woman recently. Juggling her job and two kids during the week and spending the weekends by herself whilst her daughter and son stayed with their father didn't seem to be her dream scenario. Yet, she was positive, chatty, bright and smiley. I laughed a lot today and really appreciated that even though I was the only non-French, everyone spoke in English.

Sascha&Lisa will come to visit this week...I am really excited about it and very much hope that the long drive from Germany will be a worthwhile effort in their view. We already have a few things planned...but more of that in a little while : )

One pizza with fries please! Aka I put a salad leaf on my croissant – please don’t judge me.

About 4 weeks ago I borrowed a book with the engaging title “Living and Working in France”. I really and truly wanted to make an effort to get to know la France. Reading it made me realize two completely contradicting things: Firstly, there is no way you can describe a country and its inhabitants by stating a few common behaviours and turning them into facts. Secondly, you absolutely can... or so it seems. I always felt disappointed when clichés turn out to be accurate...but maybe I totally misinterpreted that! Maybe clichés should merely be perceived as helpful guidelines and not annoying predictions that totally kill any element of surprise. If I was to write a small guide as to how to survive in France it would include the following three statements:

1.) Don’t mess with somebody else’s lunch break.

2.) Don’t buy a pastry without asking what’s in it...you might be in for an unpleasant surprise.

3.) Opening hours are not binding and you shouldn’t rely on other individuals to stick to them.

So how did I gain these valuable insights? Well, there are derived from my own extremely subjective experiences. Meaning, there are as valid as an expired parking ticket. And I think this is exactly the basis of books such as the one I borrowed in my attempt to be open and learn something about a different culture. Just because some people only want marmalade on their croissant cause this is what the French do, does not make them purely French. At the same time just because I seemingly ruin a croissant by putting a salad leaf beneath it and some French cheese does not make me ignorant. It’s not as simple as that...in order to be truly ignorant you at least need to put ketchup on top, too. Ketchup is like the one ingredient that makes you look ignorant almost anywhere in the world. I recommend if you aim to provoke, carry a small bottle with you wherever you go.

However, I must say that as charming as Poitiers is, it is also truly inflexible. If it wasn’t, it would have made more of an effort with me by now and at least borrowed a book with the title “Accepting and appreciating Christin”. I made the effort after all!

Re-reading the paragraph above makes two things clear to me. Firstly, I have way too much time to think in Poitiers. And two, these reflective diary entries that I have to write for uni have some serious side-effects. Arghh!!! But since I am at it already and not much else is happening, I am gonna continue to reflect away...I have one more amazing revelation:

I realized that: The less you have to do, the less you do do.

Since being here I am seriously questioning myself how I ever managed to earn a living whilst studying full-time. I wouldn’t know how to cramp in a job in between going for coffee with friends, playing badminton, going for a run in the park or spending another day in my bath robe. I thought I have all this time to write my dissertation, already start my job hunt and all the rest of it whilst here. But really, I am as busy as always, substituting my normal working hours with colouring in my nails or watching another episode of “Who’s the Boss”. I didn’t even manage to return that one book I borrowed in time...this has never happened to me in London! But no, I don’t actually feel lazy – it’s the last few months of being a student after all and I am determined to spend as much time as I can sleeping in and turning up late for lectures. Okay, that might be a little exaggerated – but the tendency is there ; )

But now a few a little more exciting things that happened over the course of the last 2 weeks.

For instance that eagerly anticipated trip to Bordeaux: We were incredibly lucky with the weather as well as it turned out... the city. Bordeaux is breath-takingly beautiful. I was not at all prepared for that! I didn’t have any expectations and must have annoyed the hell out of my travel companions since I practically started shooting away with my camera once we hit the platform at the train station in Bordeaux. This resulted in the taking of 700 pictures over a two day period and a borderline-obsessive Christin that was so happy that she was determined to capture every single moment. A description that I kept on using was that Bordeaux was as pretty as Paris, but minus the attitude. And I am sticking to it! I loved every minute of it. My highlights included a 3-course meal including mussels and snails in open day-light and for a mere 15 Euros, a colourful carnival procession with lots of awesome costumes and happychappy kids and Ruby’s and mine wine tasting experience. I might have felt sophisticated for a second then munching away on cheese and drinking out of extravagant wine glasses, but I compensated for that later the same evening when I spent the night sleeping in the bath tub. Well, if you are on a student budget you better be ready to share your hotel room...good thing I am so small ; )

The other exciting thing that happened was that when back in Poitiers we found a restaurant that served pizza with fries on top. A truly life-changing experience...I considered whether becoming excessively overweight might not be totally worth the shortened life-span and breathing difficulty if only I could have pizza with fries every day for the rest of my life. The only thing that is holding me back is the fact that I really want to pay back my student loan before I develop self-imposed diabetes.

Quite literally “too cool for school” was our professor for our negotiation work shop this week: An aging Harvard alumnus that seemed to never have kicked his habit of smoking "wheat" ; ). He would turn up 30 minutes late for every lecture with the promise to finish the class early. We didn’t exactly protest since the sun was shining all week. But I think it is safe to say that we took his class a lot more seriously than he did himself. That was until we found out that our exam would be to write a journal about how we felt about negotiating...I think the ideal preparation for the exam would actually be to consume some illegal substances in order to be on the same level playing field as our lovely professor...One less exam I am dreading!

I also tried to make a few friends outside the university walls. I found out that there is a rather active Couchsurfing group in Poitiers. On the way to meet one of them, a guy called Will, I ran into 3 of my course mates which really made me think: I have to meet new people ; ) Anyways, Will turned out to be extremely pleasant and sweet. He drew a map for me that neither he nor me could decipher anymore in the end – but it is a piece of art that is totally worth framing. A few other Couchsurfers with cars are planning to take as Poitiers newbies on a trip in 2 weeks time...so I am excited to see what else the area has to offer. Such pleasant people, the Couchsurfers!

Other than that I am leaving France on Friday to go on a secret mission to Berlin...I am incredibly excited about that...but till I’m back my lips will be sealed : )

The city of dog poo

Two more weeks in Poitiers...and people are still not cleaning up after their dogs...walking to uni is like making your way through a minefield...Despite that and surprisingly enough, I am still loving it. Ithought that by now I would be desperate to go to Starbucks or hold a newspaper in a language I actually understand - but actually, I am not fussed at all. Instead it makes me ridiculously happy to continuously run into the same people and talk about exactly the same things every day in this lovely and charming little French town. As soon as I set a foot out of the door I am more or less prepared to socialize - something like an anonymous stroll in the park is out of the question.
Life is simple and good in Poitiers...and I feel people are taking really good care of one another - maybe it has something to do with the fact that there aren't so many around- beggars can't be choosers ; ) But no, I don't really think that's the case. It's more of a "We are all in this together" feeling and it's a bit as if we have established a little "International Marketing Communications Family" by now - that's my vary romanticized view of it anyways. Living in Poitiers can be described as the more intense version of "Big Brother" - only that nobody can be bothered to film us all the time.

We are faced with some truly mind-boggling challenges however...for instance: What to do when you have been to the two good bars in town and have already watched the movie that is showing at the local cinema...This is followed by the full comprehension as to how truly limited the entertainment options in Poitiers are. At this point the sensation of panic enters most individuals. It is then necessary to map out an effective strategy in order to overcome those fears...My approach was to start appreciating how truly liberating it is not to have many options for once...In London I was constantly missing out on stuff left, right and center...never doing anyone or anything justice. Whereas here, even if I wanted to - I just wouldn't manage. On the downside, you can't say you are busy as an excuse...since it is obvious that you are not ; )

So what did I do the last 2 weeks after I went to the cinema and the legendary 2 good bars?!

Well, my highlights were the following:

a.) spending an entire day in my bathrobe
b.) throwing a house party

Well, a.) actually happened after b.) coming to think of it....Anyways, the night before the bathrobe day was absolutely fantastic!!! It started out innocent enough with my house mate Darina and me going to the local super market and buying a few drinks and snacks - thinking we would only stay at mine for a couple of hours and then go clubbing. But I think as soon as Jens brought some loudspeakers and people started dancing, it became obvious we wouldn't go anywhere else that night. I was filled with pride that my little studio managed to accommodate 30 odd people and entirely grateful that my neighbours did not file a noise complaint. Even though in my head I had already budgeted in the 150 Euro fine and was wondering whether French cops were cute or not...




But yeah, full on success - and I blushed a little when I was told: best house party so far...kinda thought in order to have a good house party one person has to get mildly injured (to add some emotional distress) and another few have to be found shagging somewhere (to create a certain sensation of sexual excitement)...but apparently that was just the recipe for our New Year's Eve party last year ; )

So yeah, that was a fun weekend - the best thing about it is, that I can still remember everything...whereas this weekend I kinda turned into an overexcited teenager again and thought it was fun to engage in some ridiculous binge drinking. Note to myself: Don't challenge a man twice your size to down drinks with you...Where the hell did that urge come from? Drinking is a discipline where one ought not to be competitive...I learned that the hard way ; )But again, everyone was really sweet and I was taken good care of. The day after I didn't touch anything even mildly alcoholic - but I had the best of times with one of my course mates, chatting away in a coffee shop for all of 6 hours. Time flies when you are happy. And Poitiers seems to be a time for cool friendships, great living quality and a bit of general awesomeness...but just as in Big Brother - it's like a bubble. However, before it bursts, I am gonna soak up as much fun as possible - starting with breaking free of Poitiers and going to Bordeaux this week...

A detailed description of Poitiers' awesomeness...

It's been such an awesome week!!! Whoop!! Whoop!!! It started off with the most entertaining lectures ever...the first professor we had, spoke as well English as I speak French...meaning he was by no means equipped to teach a class. He nonetheless really made an effort and at the end of his 3 hour slot he sounded totally exhausted when he announced: "You do this theories alone and tomorrow, we game!" Bless him...This was followed by a very different type of lecture in the afternoon...Robert works as freelance brand management consultant and seemed to have an endless amount of contemporary business examples and lots of other tricks up his sleeve...He did by no means fail to impress us with his extensive knowledge and interesting way of telling us about his clients, campaigns and work experiences...However, the really entertaining bit was that he seemed to totally mistake us for small school children. In the first lesson he "caught" someone with a phone...and "threatened" to collect it. I was already expecting him to ask me to spit out my chewing gum before I enter the class room. But instead of that he said a few even more ridiculous things...When one of my course mates stood up to go to the restroom he asked her where she thought she was going. Really, she should be able to control her bodily functions better...Yes - that's a quote! Followed by the question (also quote) whether she at least had an excuse: "Do you have diarrhea?" And then to make things even better - he asked her to please bring a bucket to class from now on! I was gobsmacked...I first didn't know whether to laugh or cry...but quickly opted for the first! How hilarious! We could have filled him in at that point in time that the majority of us was in their mid-or late twenties and had taken out a student loan worth the equivalent of buying a small flat outside of London...but actually, being treated like school kids for an entire week was much more fun!!! This way we also got away with giggling away when he told us that the reason Pampers Kandoo moist toilet paper for children smells of sweets comes down to Freud...according to Psychoanalysis, establishing an association between oral and anal aspects is key in order to successfully market to toddlers...Well, not sure about that one...but it surely was an interesting concept!
So classes were extraordinary entertaining as well as really educating (in various ways...) and most importantly: lots of fun! Since this stay in France costs me an arm & a leg on top of irreversible damage to my bladder, I better enjoy it ; )

Strict teachers' aside, people remain to be extraordinary helpful. One girl in my class researched which gym was nearest to my house and send me an email with various suggestions, another French guy from uni helped me to fill out numerous documents that I needed in order to satisfy France' strong appetite for bureaucracy and somebody from the library came running after me cause she had been told by a colleague that a blonde German girl had been looking for some books she could practice her French with...and since there is only so many blonde Germans walking down the corridors of ESCEM she found me straight away&offered her help.
Really cool - after the rather harsh treatment everybody has to get used to when living in London - this university feels kinda cuddly : )

My other highlights included the beautiful February sunshine (it actually looked reasonable to run around with sun glasses & not stupid+pretentious as normally for this time of the year) and my run in with the French boys...They could very well be Italian if you asked me...one of them pulled it off to invite me to come with him to Paris and ask another girl for her number at approximately the same point in time. I am not sure whether that is supposed to represent good or bad time management skills. Either way, I was quite amazed ; ) And then there was the invitation we received from the mayor of Poitiers himself...All the international students were invited to a reception at the town hall - we are seemingly the VIPs of Poitiers! If that isn't something! But what a sweet gesture - even though the cocktails they had promised turned out to be mixed fruit juices.


But my biggest highlight out of this action-packed week was the massive parcel I received from Germany...which included lots of chocolate, comics, a game, a really cozy bath robe and most of all - lots of love from the best friend one could ever imagine. Sorry to get a little tacky and tearful here...but I can't help it! That parcel will go down in history for being the coolest parcel ever and could have only been topped by Sascha actually being in it!



Just one last revelation of France and the French...they use unisex toilets! I don't know why - but I hadn't be aware of that at all...It's the best thing ever - if you wanna make some friends just hang out at in the restroom at a bar! The only downside - it makes sex in public toilets kinda less of a challenge ; )

Vive la France

Wow...it's been quite a week. A week of "firsts" for me...



1.) The first time "paranoid-me" didn't check the departure times 5 times in advance and almost missed the train to Paris.
2.) The first time "sleep-deprived" me got close to having her entire luggage stolen...(usually it's only been my wallet)
3.) The first time in a long time that I didn't have Internet access for a week and felt I had dropped from the digital surface of existence.
4.) The first time I spent a good 60 hours inside the university building.
5.) The first time that I failed an assignment without even standing a chance to pass or caring much about the consequences.
6.) The first time I asked whether credit cards are accepted in French...
7.) The first time I went clubbing in France.
8.) The first time I paid 3 Euros for a small coffee to go.
9.) The first time I ate nothing but junk food for an entire week (and that despite spending 3 months in the States)
10.) The first time I bought a broomstick.

Well, a weird mix but you get the idea - it felt like an awful lot of firsts considering I moved into a small French city where not much seems to happen...

After celebrating the most awesome birthday ever (true in comparison to last year it didn't take much to make it a success - but man, I loved every minute of it) I was already a bit sad to leave. It didn't help much that Uli and Lollo didn't leave my side and came to pick me up from work to celebrate my last weekend in London with me and the "Beerhouse family". With no deadlines or uni work for once I got the chance to just be for a bit and I very much enjoyed this carefree weekend around awesome people. In fact, I enjoyed this newly-gained carefree state so much that I almost forgot all about my departure on Sunday morning. After a mere hour of sleep and realizing that I had to check-in 30 minutes before departure in order to get on the Eurostar I kissed the inhabitants of Kiver Road a rushed goodbye and jumped into a cab.
I have no idea what exactly I was thinking - but a few minutes later I found myself with all my luggage - backpack, suitcase, laptop bag, traveling bag and hand bag in front of St. Pancras. I basically had the word "victim" written across my forehead...but I managed to get on the train alright - nobody tried to take advantage of my helplessness until I got to Paris. And even there I succeeded in fighting off the guy who had his eyes on a few of my many bags. To be honest - I don't even blame him, I was practically asking for trouble.

I made it all the way to Poitiers - only to find three staircases in front of me...this was around the time where I finally gave up on the idea that all of my books and my printer would make it to the apartment in one piece. But I needn't have worried - since a French guy came to my rescue...I am almost sure it was the same guy that offered me a new plastic bag after he saw me collecting my entire shopping from the floor a few days later...Poitiers is small after all and there are only so many cute French guys that made it their hobby to get me out of awkward situations I believe.

Anyways, so I was standing in front of the train station not quite knowing what to expect when this really nice lady arrived, chatting away to me in French. From what I could make out she was Monsieur Moreau's wife - so my landlady for the next 4 months and she had just bought lots of new crockery for me. She also seemed to evaluate just how sane I was judging from the amount of luggage I had been trying and failing to carry by myself...Even the two of us had problems to get everything up the small staircase and into my new home. And what a new home it was...there was practically still a price tag on the toilet seat - everything was brand new, clean, modern and BEAUTIFUL. What a pleasant surprise! The pessimist in me took the fact that I didn't get to see any pictures of the place in advance as a bad sign but I couldn't have been more wrong! The only downside - the studio came without any warm-hearted & chatty housemates...as soon as Mme Moreau closed the door it was awfully quiet.

And it has remained this way. Poitiers in general is quiet. I thought it would depress the hell out of me. But to be honest it is such an extreme contrast to huzzling&buzzling London that I am kinda loving it...for now anyways.

The historic city centre is a 10 minute walk away, the university 15 minutes...And on the way I am always running into at least 3 people. There's 60 people on my course - and with not many other place to got to, chances are you meet at least one of them in the supermarket and another one at the bakery.

What I find hilarious is to see all these people running around with baguettes...it is so clichee that I am somewhat expecting the Tourism bureau to be paying for this as a light form of entertainment dedicated to Poitiers' 3 tourists. Anyways, Poitiers is lovely&small and as French as it can get. Even though there are lots of international students and 30.000 students in total, only a minority of people speak English. Without the help offered by the university, opening a bank account and buying a new sim card would not have been a lot of fun...but especially the French people I am studying with are really making an effort to make us feel comfortable and help us to settle in quickly. One of my course mates invited us to his at the weekend and was literally driving back and forth 3 times to get everyone to his house - what a kind and awesome gesture.

Apart from all these new and mostly pleasant new impressions the first week at uni was utter hell. We were doing a business simulation. A task that was extremely time-consuming and involved an awful lot of spread sheets, tables and numbers...We really spent the entire day, starting at 9 and finishing at 9, trying to evaluate market trends, trying to develop pricing strategies, trying to understand what our competitors are getting up to...I say trying because we failed miserably. The good thing was that in my group nobody knew what was going on and for that reason we didn't have a single argument during the entire week. The bad news was - we totally failed. When I realized that there was no way around this I kind of took it in my stride. It's not as if I didn't know that I really suck at numbers beforehand. I just bloody hope that this course will move away from the finance-side of things quickly and we do more marcomms stuff soon. I don't reckon I will fail this strategic brand management course entirely either because luckily enough we were asked to evaluate the advertising strategy of the business simulation and present the results as a second form of assessment. And even though we don't have the results yet I am sure that it went well - that was basically like asking me to do a presentation about what happened in Sex in the City...there are few things I know more about. The other groups had topics like market share, pricing strategy etc. - so yeah, our topic was a godsend!

After this rather stressful week at uni we had the entire weekend to ourselves - with nothing to do but settling into Poitiers, meet up for drinks and go for a walk in the park...a weekend regime I really don't mind getting used to. Unfortunately, Poitiers is a lot more expensive than expected - une biere - six euros s'il vous-plait! Merde!!! Aw well,that means less drinking and more studying I guess...

But all in all - I don't hate the quiet! If only I could fill it with the BBC News once in a while... ; )

Bisous from France*