Un disque rayé...

It's only been a few days since my last post, but I have something I really want to get off my chest.

Anyone who knows me well, and perhaps not so well, will know that I am a bit of a music nazi and don't like to expand my horizons to accommodate other peoples tastes. But I'm seriously beginning to worry about the future of British music. I've been brought up by a father who has a good taste in music and who has always encouraged me to appreciate natural musical talents above all else. For example, regarding those who can play their own instruments and write their own songs superior to all else. A mentality I have adopted to this day, and will express at any opportunity.

Today I decided to scour the top lists on spotify to find some new and exciting music to accompany the many nights I will spend writing lesson plans and planning my 6,000 word YA project. And on the top 50 list, there is nothing by a band. And by "band" I mean people who are capable of writing their own songs and music. Although this proves nothing about the state of British music, just that dominating demographic of Spotify is fans of hip hop, r'n'b and manufactured shite.

Of course I have nothing against fans of Rihanna and Usher, I just find it irritating when people who actually want to listen to new up and coming British bands struggle because our radio and television is full of X factor rejects. This year I made the decision not to watch it, because I'm fed up of shows like that building up young "talents" only to make them national treasures and then drop them as soon as the next big thing comes along.

This may shock people, but I actually can't get enough of Lady Gaga. Her outlandish fashion, her amazing voice and her songs. Which she has written herself. I was actually inspired when I found out she was the brains behind many of Christina Aguilera's hits that even I enjoyed back in the day. Due to confidence issues she gave her songs away and wanted to stay out of the spotlight. Everyone knows the rest of the story as she shot to fame for her ridiculous clothes. In a way, she is a real role model to young girls today (maybe not by wearing clothes out of meat), and not people like Rihanna who should be slapped for releasing a song called "Rude Boy". When I first heard that song I did a double take, I couldn't believe half of those lyrics weren't bleeped out! Frankie goes to Hollywood were extradited for "Relax". It's just extraordinary that these big label stars can get away with it, especially when her main audience is teen girls. Disgusting.

I'm fully aware that music is changing, and pop music refers to what is currently popular. I'm fully aware that this will change over the years and this years big thing will be next year's has-been. I just think it's a crying shame that the British music scene is currently dominated by big-label American acts. If people could only dig a little deeper to find good music, instead of accepting whatever Ferne Cotten brands a "tuuuuuuuuune!" as the best thing ever then maybe our music scene would be a little better.

God I sound like a right nazi. My apologies. I just know what I like.

In other news, my week has been much better. My schools are going really well and the kids are finally getting the hang of "my name is....", magical. Bingo and colours to come next week, watch this space for more moaning and whinging from your favourite music nazi.

Get it?

Mes cours commencent...

When I got back from my little trip to Dortmund, I finally got to start teaching the kids in my schools. To begin with I wasn't too sure what to expect, or what was expected of me. But I got off to a decent start, trying to force 6-10 year olds to repeat "my name is...", more often than not it came out as "my nezz eee". Oh the little Frenchies. After 2 classes, most of them has got the hang of it.

My bank card finally arrived, well not necessarily arrived because I had to go into the bank and practically break down in front of the woman telling her how awful my week had been and waiting 5 weeks to get a bank card was bloody ridiculous! So the woman looked really apologetic, scurried to the bank and came back declaring "c'est bon, c'est bon". I wanted to run over and hug her.

Best Cheesecake in the world!

It was Jessica's birthday on Monday so we all went out for dinner on Tuesday, and it was sooo nice. We went to a restaurant called The Berliner, which was seriously trendy and surprisingly quiet. It was a Tuesday, so I didn't think much of it. As soon as we took a seat, they played the new Interpol song. I have a new favourite place. They also had the best cheesecake I've ever eaten, EVER.

One of the main issues I've been having is my lack of speaking French outside school, and the amount I'm speaking it in school. Most of my friends here are English/American and this is great because I have met an amazing bunch of people. I just wish I could have the confidence to speak more French within social situations and with my peers. I'm by no means bad at French I just wish it I had less inhibitions. At schools it's been fine, I've been speaking loads of French, and a teacher even told me I was good today. Although my vocabulary is currently limited to sit down, shut up and behave!

La Piscine

Stickers

A highlight for me, was Hannah, Chloe and my trip to La Piscine museum in Roubaix. It used to be a swimming pool, and they still had a shallow pool in the main hall with statues and carvings around the walkway round the edge. It was so pretty, as there were giant stained glass window at either end which reflected in the pool. The only creepy thing was that every now and again they played sounds of children playing and splashing. It was pretty disturbing really. Their exhibitions were amazing and certainly worth the 7E entrance. And that's without the Degas exhibition which has been plastered all over the metro stations. I have to admit, it was a total let down. it was a collection of bronze statues, which were beautiful but the atmosphere of the gallery was horrid. Full of tour guides and German tourists it made it difficult to appreciate the art, unlike the rest of the museum which was quiet. Outside there was a lampost which was covered in the stickers you are given at the museum, I thought that was worth a photo.

Thursday was a jour férié, which is essentially a public holiday, because it was remembrance day. So on Wednesday night Cait and Louise had a party in Roubaix. It was soooo much fun and it was really nice to chat in French with people, so things are definitely improving on that front. We drank tequila and wine and we danced to Gwen Stefani and it was amazing. I'm glad I left when I did though, because I felt seriously ill the next day. And I had to miss out on Hana and Hannah's trip to Ypres for remembrance day, which really sucked.

Over the last week I've had a serious moral boost, but I'm really looking forward to Christmas and seeing my family. The countdown starts here.

Clare, Hana, Moi et Nick chez Cait et Louise

Je reviens...

I arrived back in Lille on Monday to a bit of a harsh awakening. The boiler had stopped working and it rather rather chilly in our flat. We called the landlord but he told us that it was going to take a few days to fix, and I had lesson plans and lots of things to sort out. It was very irritating. To make matters worse the bank still won't give me my bank card, apparently they haven't had confirmation from the post office that I signed for their letter confirming my address. STUPID SYSTEM. I don't want everyone to think that all I do is complain, but it has been hard to be constantly knocked down by the French and then feel like you've got back on your feet only to get knocked down again. Okay, no more moaning. Here's a bit of a play-by-play of what I did in Dortmund with Rowan.

So I got to Rowan's flat on Monday afternoon. The drive there was lovely as I passed through Belgium, Holland and then Germany. It was all very pretty. I got a bit lost at Eindhoven because the roads were new and my satnav still had the old roads. But I found my way eventually. Rowan cooked me a dinner of fish fingers then we went to bed.

On Tuesday I got up and Rowan took me to his union (which is very similar to English) where we had lunch. You got like a whole plate of food for hardly any money. But it was all a bit odd. The first day I was a bit overwhelmed by the whole system and I went for chicken dipper things which came with a delightful mushroom sauce (NOT!). Then I sat in a café and did some lesson plans whilst Rowan had his French class. We then went back to his house and chilled out.

On Wednesday we did the same, but I met him at his union and found some normal food to eat. Then we went into the town to have a little look round. It's a really pretty town and there were lots of nice shops. But I was trying my hardest to be good and not spend lots of money. I can imagine it being really pretty when the Christmas markets are on. Afterwards we went to meet Rowan's friend Leo who is German. He was very friendly and we went to a table football tournament hosted by the Stats department at Rowan's uni. God do the Germans take table football seriously. Apparently there is an actual league.So me and Rowan teamed up and totally got our arses kicked. It was very embarrassing. We drank plenty of beer to drown our sorrows, but then on our final game, we won! And we won epically I might add. We then went home and watched some of the Office.

I can't really remember what what did on Thursday, so I'll have to fill this out later!

On Friday, we went to the zoo. I was literally so happy because there were cute animals everywhere! We saw penguins, otters, sloths and lions. It was very cute! Rowan has also nicknamed me Faultier (lazy animal in German) because I am always tired. The penguins were amazing, they all swan in formation with one stood on the side pointing (sort of) and they all swam in that direction. It was amazing. After the zoo we went to the cosy little café at the zoo and had hot chocolate and sat on the comfiest leather sofas ever.

Saturday came and we decided to get out my the town and go visit somewhere else, we decided Essen would be nice. So we got on the train, where we sat chatting and the man opposite said "are you speaking English?", "Yeah..?", "oh I'm Irish and I've been in this country 3 weeks and no one speaks English"...... we wondered if he was thinking of the right country? Everyone in Germany speaks English. He was clearly pissed and said the F word after every other word. So we made the decision to get off the train at Bochum so we wouldn't have to carry on speaking to the drunk, crazy Irish stock taker anymore. We decided to go and get some lunch, Rowan forced me to eat schnitzel and then the football came on. Apparently the Germans like to confuse themselves by watching 6 football matches on one screen at the same time and just cut between each game. Thus missing most of the action. It was an interesting experience.

There was an important Dortmund football match on Sunday, first place Mainz v second place Dortmund in the Bundelsliga.We went ot a fan pub to watch it with some of Rowan's friends. It was really good and they gave us free beer before the game started. The atmosphere was amazing. It ended up 2-0 to Dortmund putting them back at the top!


We went to a house party on Sunday night for Halloween with Rowan's erasmus friends, it was really good fun but the host Gigi ended up in bed by 11 because she'd mixed her drinks really badly! Oops. Then we went to the bar in her building where there was another halloween party. All the girls got hit on by this creepy German boy who couldn't take no for an answer. He kept stroking our hair and running his hands down our backs. It was very very creepy. Later on I had a massive go at him because he was grabbing this girls chest as she pushed him away because she was with another boy. I got so annoyed because what makes him think he has the right to do that to her when she makes it clear that she doesn't want him to touch her? I said this to him and his answer was "she's been with 4 other guys tonight", but as if that is an excuse for you to touch her. She said no, it means no. I was literally so mad.

On Monday we decided to drive to Hamm to see this giant glass elephant they have. It was pretty dissapointing to be honest but we bought a mega bucket of popcorn and discovered that Hamm is twinned with Bradford. Rowan was brimming with Yorkshire pride. We got back to Rowan's and watched loads more of the office and the Christmas special.

I got back to Lille on Tuesday afternoon. Literally can't wait for my next Dortmund trip.

Je m'installe.....

So, after weeks of torture and torment with French agencies, private landlords, scams and leboncoin, we have finally found somewhere to live. It's a lovely appartement on a really nice street. If anyone would like my address they may message me for it, I'm not about to give the whole world my address :) I'll also attach some photographs (baring in mind it was unfurnished and we're currently trying to get it looking as homely as possible)

I'm feeling much more positive about life this week. I'm visiting my boyfriend Rowan in Germany, because I have a 10 day holiday from school and thought it would be a good opportunity to travel to Dortmund to check out his way of life. It's all very nice and leafy, I will post another blog about that when I get back to Lille.

As for the past week or so, things have really been looking up. Not only have we found a lovely, affordable flat but the bank have started being nice to us and finally sent out letters for us to sign so we can get our bank cards. Hopefully mine will be waiting for me when I get back from Germany. Me and Hannah have spent a lot of time in Ikea recently, trying to work out what to do with the empty space of an apartment we now live in. So far I've bought the world's most uncomfortable 39euro mattress, and bed side table and a kitchen chair. Our landlord has agreed to go to Ikea and pick up bedframes and desks for us, because my car is too small and Ikea's delivery is like daylight robbery. I would be really grateful of any cheap solutions to make my bed comfier? Our kitchen was practically empty as well. But after some debating with the landlord he agreed to put some counters in and buy us some electric hobs so we can continue our wonderful diet of pasta and veg. Yum yum.

The biggest task, finding a fridge. We looked on leboncoin to see if anyone was wanting to sell fridges, but they all looked a bit dodgey. So one night over a bizarre Brazilian chocolate concoction, one of the Belgian girls we met in the Foyer told us about a second hand furniture shop near the local supermarket. So we went there the next day and found a little fridge freezer for 90euros. Without hesitation we bought it, mainly because we knew it would fit in the car. So we set off, then thought how on earth are we going to get this up the stairs into the apartment? Luckily the landlord was visiting us that night to take more rent money off us. So he agreed to carry it up for us. Then he asked where we'd bought it from and we told him. And apparently that place is run by ex convicts and prisoners who are paid to restore broken appliances. This did worry me quite a bit but he assured me that it wouldn't be a problem and it was a serious rehabilitation program.

 Another must-have when living in France is home insurance, or assurance tous risques locatifs. which we were dreading buying because in England it wouldn't come cheap. It's the law in France to have insurance. We managed to get a quote for 60 euros between us for the year. BARGAIN!

To celebrate a successful week, me and Hannah went on a little afternoon out on Sunday before we headed of on our travels on Monday. We went for lunch at this restaurant Hannah had been going on and on about since we arrived because she had been there with her boyfriend over the summer. And let me tell you, it didn't disappoint. I had a tartine, with vegetables and loats of parmasan mmmmmmm. Then we went into Vieux Lille to have a walk around and take some photos. (I'll upload them to Facebook) It was a lovely little day out, and felt like a true reward based on the weeks successes.

One stressful day...

Today has been a bit of a rollarcoaster day if I'm 100% honest. I woke up pretty late after a really good night out with my friends in Lille. Then spent most of the afternoon scouring the internet to try and find somewhere to live, which resulted in us setting up two viewings for the next few days. Which I'm really really hopeful about.

I had a really nice afternoon, went to visit a friend, Emily, to look through some teaching resources and drank proper english tea which was delightful. But then I got home and got some terrible news which has really really upset me. Basically I have some psychotic neighbours at home and they have really been making my parents lives hell. It's really getting me down that they can be so evil, and now they really have taken it all too far.

So what started as a wonderful day, ended with me feeling a little all over the place and wanting to go home...

J'arrive...

I've been meaning to set up a blog for a very long time now, what with being a journalism student it kind of comes with the teritory. I've never really seen myself as being a journalist but over the past few months have had this realisation that actually, yes I do want to throw myself into it. So here is my shiny-new blog. Hopefully people will actually read it.

I'm currently residing in Lille, France. It's a very beautiful city in the north east of France just a stone's throw away from the Belgian border. It really is amazing and I love everything about it. Except trying to find somewhere to live. I arrived in Lille on the 20th of September with a friend I picked up on the drive over. The ferry crossing wasn't amazing as it was rather choppy and the realisation I made upon disembarking that I would now have to drive on the opposite side of the road was enough to make me want to turn back. 

We arrived at the start of la rentrée, which is when all the University students return to work, only to frequent in strikes and protests. All the students took all the accommodation and me and Hannah had a very hard time finding a flat. We had the choice of spending a fortune or renting a flat that's not furnished and get on down to Ikea to buy stuff. So there wasn't an easy/cheap option. Next stumbling block was trying to get past the obstacle of a financial guarantor. French agencies demand a all tenants have a French guarantor, whether you are French, English or Chinese they will not accept anything less than a Frenchie to guarantee you'll pay your rent. I don't even think they'd accept an English person who earned millions. It's a stupid system and caused countless problems for us. 

So the search was unfruitful, and of course we are still looking but at least we have a temporary base. We are now living in a foyer, which is basically a glorified youth hostel. It is similar to student halls except you don't really have to be a student to live here and it's a lot grimmer than most student halls I've ever seen. Since living here I've had witnessed random fights in the corridor, a fire in the block where young families live and had to contend with competing French rap/reggee/folk music in the surrounding rooms at all hours of the day. I knew what I was getting myself into so I really shouldn't complain. 

The rooms are basic but decent, there is a long desk which runs across the window and a wardrobe and single bed. Then a partition which leads to more storage and a shower and sink. The room's main downfall is it's lack of a toilet and having to wrap up warm to go for a wee in the middle of the night. It's especially in convenient as none of the toilets on my floor have toilet seats. It's such a charming place.

We have also been almost-victims of our fair share of internet scams. We seem to always find them, and always get drawn in. Such announcements will appears on housing websites with no contact number, so after an email and them asking to be sent 1000euros by urgent postal mandate it's safe to say the flat doesn't actually exist. 

So my new best friends are leboncoin.fr vivastreet.fr and any other housing website I stumble across. If anyone out there can help me find a two bedroomed furnished flat in Lille with a private landlord then please get in touch!