Learning how to cover an event.

So, for just under a year I've been blogging as DLP Town Square - and this post is no representation as to how I blog on there, this is much more conversational - the twitter account launched late June last year, and the website on July 4th (Almost a year ago now! How time flies!). Now, the first website was pretty rubbish - in fact, it still remains online here - but I wanted to write about something I enjoyed. I started a hobby, I could write and enjoy myself. Stats never mattered, and they still don't; although I am looking to increase numbers of visitors, again though, more of a hobby. I was inspired by the likes of Dedicated to DLP, Le Parcorama, DLP Guide, Photos Magiques and more! And on a twitter front, I was inspired by the likes of CafeFantasia, InsideDLParis and so on. I never imagined that I would ever call these guys friends one year on. Neither did I imagine that one year on, I'd have over 1,400 followers on twitter - talk about crazy!
Late last month I received an e-mail from Disneyland Paris inviting me to the Ratatouille Fan Press event.

What an achievement I thought- One year on and I've been officially recognised by those that I blog about. I never expect anything, I'm the first to criticize my own work - some of the stuff I've written on DLP Town Square I feel is complete rubbish - but this time, I had to get it right. So a nervous month wait began, amongst spiralling costs - the Eurostar alone was £129. The main thought on my mind? Don't mess it up. I've live tweeted from Disneyland Paris before, I've come back with content before. However this time, there was a level of expectation on my shoulders. So, lets run through it all. For those wondering how I approached this event, the lessons I've learnt and what I'd change next time; hopefully this blog post will leave you knowing more.

The Build-up

So, as I said - this invite came late. About a month to the day before the event itself. This left a heavy cost on our shoulders. Unlike the standard press, the fan press were expected to pay their way. I had no problem with this, and off I went on the hunt. First step, getting there. Eurostar to Paris Gare du Nord (Where I usually get the train to) was insanely expensive. £70+ each way. Even the train to Marne-la-Vallée was expensive on the dates I initially looked at (Friday-Monday). So, I looked for the Thursday. I got a £64 train each way. It came to £129. Double what I usually pay, which is about £69 return. Next stop, a hotel. I wanted cheap - I had only been to Disneyland Paris in April. Hotel F1 in Noisy-le-Grand had served me well in November. Guess what? Fully booked for the first night of my stay.  So I booked the following 3 nights for £80. The first night I booked myself into Hotel B&B in Bussy-Saint-Georges for €66. I'll certainly stay there again, it was nice. 

Next stop was awaiting an agenda. It arrived the Monday before the event. A packed agenda including a presentation in which photos and videos were restricted. The kit I went with? Canon 550d with two lenses. Camcorder and a dictaphone. I also grabbed some reporters notepads from Tiger (which were useless - go with a larger notebook, these notepads were far too small). I also took my iPhone 5C for live-tweeting equipped with an Anker charger so that I could charge my phone on the go. To charge this all? I grabbed an extension lead with a continental adaptor plug that I could use in my hotel room. 

How to Live-Tweet from abroad.

Now, this is tough. I think I could go grey from the amount of stress live-tweeting puts me under. So why do I do it? Each time I do, I get lovely comments from people telling me it feels like they are there with me. That is a huge compliment, and I'm glad they appreciate it. When everything works well, I love doing it! So, why the stress? Disneyland Paris' mobile signal is terrible. Main Street USA is usually OK. But the busier it gets, the more stress the network is under and the more it breaks. Fancy live tweeting from a peak summer day? Forget it. This weekend was tough. The signal was the worst I've ever seen it. This added a real challenge to the weekend. 

Right, let's get down into costs. I'm on a 4G EE plan. Data Roaming abroad with them is pretty decent. When it works, I can use French 4G signal. A 100mb package which lasts 24 hours will cost £3. That's ample for a day in Disneyland Paris. I used to use Vodafone, which is also £3 a day to activate your UK contract. Any data you use will contribute against your data at home - with EE, this is not the case. 

Other options I've investigated? Get a Lebara mobile sim abroad and spend €8 on a top-up for a 1GB data pack. I'll be doing this next time. Data costs a lot. 

Now, when in Disneyland Paris - I usually stack up a few tweets. I vary between photo and text-only tweets reasonably often. Now, take photos on your phone often - then every so often post it. I actually posted my Place de Rémy stuff quite late on Sunday. Also, do take advantage of WiFi where possible. I posted a load of tweets on Saturday in King Ludwig's in Disney Village. 

Just plan your tweets a bit. And expect it to go all wrong. Because it will. 

In the parks

It's hard to get content. I always arrive home and look at my photos and regret not taking more. If you want to write about the castle, go with that in mind. But take photos of anything and everything relevant. You never know when you'll want to pull it out of your photobank. 

Oh, and have fun! You're on holiday. Put the camera away, put away your phone. You're in Europe's number one tourist destination - you need to enjoy it too! 

Press Event

Oh boy. Approaching this was brand new to me. I arrived knowing some of the biggest names in Disneyland Paris communities were going. How could I even get my word out amongst all these. I just didn't stress. Did I do the event right? Probably not. But I worked with what I had. I tweeted a bit, I took photos, I even made mental notes (which became paper notes a little later on) and I enjoyed the ride. 
My approach? Going into the day, I was going to voice record the presentation. This changed. I let others around me do that. I took out pen and paper and made notes. - And I didn't tweet. 
Arriving in La Place de Rémy, I wanted to tweet instantly. This didn't happen (Blame the network). Instead I posed in the group photo and then headed onto the ride. This first ride was sans photo, sans video. It was for me. I looked around, took it all in. I think this helped write my review. 
The dinner, again, I just enjoyed. I left photographing the restaurant until afterwards - and then I took photos of everything. Again, after the meal I photographed La Place de Rémy. Then did the ride.

What I did well?

I think my tweets went well. I spent enough time taking everything in meaning I can write decent reports. 

What can I change next time? 

Well, first of all we are assuming there will be a next time. This I doubt, it was an exceptional event. 

• Make a plan, then stick to it.  I improvised a lot. 
• Don't be timid. You want to say hello to somebody, or ask a question - just do it. (Easier said than done, I'm a reasonably timid person).
• Take more equipment, and yes - that does mean investing in more. 
• Stay closer to the parks. I was shattered by Sunday night - a Disney hotel would have allowed me to relax after the event much quicker.
• Don't rely on WiFi - but seek a hotel with much better WiFi. 
• Make a badge or something - stand out as DLP Town Square
• Photograph everything, and make videos too.
• Most importantly, do everything with your audience in mind. You have one, they have expectations on you when you've been invited to an event. Bring back what they want - not what you want. 

Top 5 tips for a good event:

1. You need to find friends - chatting to people will help you form an opinion, and they'll give you tips on things you may have missed. You are one person - two minds is better than one. 
2. Make an effort - Live-Tweets don't come naturally, especially in Disneyland Paris where little changes. But people just want to feel part of something, or that they are there. 
3. Answer Questions - People will ask your opinion. Answer it, you've been placed in this position because of your followers/audience. Treat them with respect. 
4. Pack everything you'll need. - Anticipate anything and everything. In hindsight, I wish I took my tripod. It's a press event, why didn't I try to anticipate it? I'll never know. 
5. Expect the Unexpected - So many variables. Mobile signal, cameras, phone chargers not working. Everything could go wrong. Some stuff did go wrong for me (Guess what?). 

But, all in all - it was a successful weekend. I met a lot of Disneyland Paris fansite friends, and I really hope I meet more in the future. The event was great fun, and ever since I've been on a bit of a comedown. I've been fortunate over the year to have made some great friends, I count all my followers as friends and I would be delighted to meet them all - donc, à la prochaine!

Staying Connected

It's been a funny old weekend. I, like millions of others, have spent this month tuned into what is occurring on the roads of France in the Tour de France. France feels homely still. I have always felt a sense of allegiance to anywhere in which I have spent a great deal of time, be that here at home in Flitwick, or at University in Canterbury, or now indeed in France. When something happens in one place, I feel affected by it. I immensely enjoyed my year abroad, and I know that the same can be said for the large majority of those who have done the same experience. Yesterday was the 14th July, or Bastille Day; the French national day where everyone is 'en fete', they sing and dance and enjoy spectacular events.

However, the weekend began in tragedy. On Friday night a train crashed on the outskirts of Paris just as people were heading home to celebrate the holiday. This weekend I spent the weekend in Shropshire visiting a friend, but on the way I picked up a French newspaper 'Libération' which moved me to tears as I sat in Kings Cross station. I've translated the editorial from the newspaper:

A train accident as bad as the one at Brétigny, the day of the start of the holidays, represents a national tragedy. For their victims and their families, for the railway community but also for the entire country. We'll remember the emotion on Guilaume Pepy's the CEO of SNCF for a long time and his tears live on television as he visited the accident site. The train, more than any other form of transport, belongs to the history of the nation, and this tragedy touches all the French, who are all, one day or another passengers on the SNCF. The train is taken daily by tens of thousands of us without concern of its safety. And, in that aspect, the SNCF has an excellent record which it, and it's workers take in pride. Fatal accidents have been quite rare over recent years, which makes the exceptional accident at Brétigny even more tragic. At the moment it would be inappropriate to speculate what the cause of the accident was, and a full and transparent inquiry must be held, not to do so would be to damage the confidence of the SNCFs users.

The newspaper did not make for easy reading with headlines such as "Dans ce wagon, il y a surement des enfants". But major events, both good and bad rally a nation together and this was seen in France (in the negative event situation) and at the Olympic Games in London (in the positive aspect). It almost made the celebrations to come over the weekend much more poignant.

In truth, I've always liked France, their language and their culture (I'm in the wrong degree if I don't), and so have always tried to read French newspapers. But now I feel in a small way I share in their events both good and bad. On the night of the 14th July I watched a wonderful classical music concert at the base of the Eiffel Tower 'Le Concert de Paris' on TV5Monde which was followed by a wonderful firework display, despite feeling incredibly tired, I felt a feeling of joy.

I don't know if others feel a similar way, but perhaps once you've lived somewhere and you've moved away, you've never truly left. A piece of you remains, and a piece of it remains in you.

Wrapping up an extrodinary year

Well, I'm sat at home, in the United Kingdom. The adventure is over, well I guess if you look at it another way, the adventure is only just beginning.
First off, I had computer issues, but all good now (that stopped me from writing a blog sooner, then I had a busy last couple of weeks!)

First up, it was sunny towards the end of April/Early May in Paris, and I took the opportunity to go take photos in the city. Well, I say take photos, the plan was to go to the Eiffel Tower, then grab the RER further down the city to somewhere else. I ended up walking from the Eiffel tower to Bibliotheque Francois Mitterand (10km apparently). It ended up being a lovely afternoon, I even managed to sneak in a museum where I saw the original ruins of Paris, then sat on the riverbanks of the Ile Saint-Louis. It was quite tiring towards the end, but a memorable day in which I saw practically all the main sights of the city.

I followed this up with a visit to the Chateau of Fontainbleau which was a bit of a long way and saw me going via Gare de Lyon. When I got there I was faced with a 15 minute bus ride, but wow was it worth it. I was faced with this massive palace filled with rooms that were so beautifully designed.

It was the way home though that gave me my strange story of the day. I got back to the Gare and the ticket inspector stood and watched me validate my NaviGo, it made the accepting ding noise and then, immediately. 'Monsieur, veuillez presenter votre titre de transport pour une inspection'. I obligied, but I wanted to say 'BUT YOU WATCHED ME VALIDATE IT!!!'. But onwards I went.
The next week or so was spent saying Goodbye to places and people, and then I ended up in a reflective mood of what a wonderful year I've had. I might even pop back and spend another year here after my final year of university.

Then came the big test, I had to pass an interview in French. I won't go into details of it (let's face it, it would bore you!) but I passed and ended up on what is essentially a waiting list for a contract to free itself up. What a fantastic end of year!

So, that's it, the year abroad is over. I've had a blast and would snap up the chance to do it again. Thank you for reading this throughout the year and I'd love to keep up the occasional blogging.  So, this isn't the end. It's just the end of the beginning. 

Hurray for Clichés.

A city of culture, still just waiting to be explored.

Take the average tourists Paris to do list. On it will be the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Sacré Coeur, then a little museum called the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay is likely to make an appearance and for very cultural tourists the Centre Pompidou is probably on there too. For the people who know Paris they're probably going to check out what's going on at the Hotel de Ville since they always seem to have an exhibition about something or other, there's the Espace Dali up in Montmartre, the Cité des Sciences seems to be up and coming these days. In short, in Paris there is lots to do.
Last week I decided to visit the Louvre, luckily so did a UKC friend Michael. So we went there, saw some sculptures, Napoleon III's apartments, the Mona Lisa etc etc. We also wanted to see Liberty leading the people, which I remember seeing when I went to the Louvre a while back. However the powers that be have moved it to the Louvre Lens, dommage.

The point in this is, I hadn't really once thought of visiting the Louvre whilst I'd been here this year, and then I got thinking; what else is there to explore? Paris is one of the cultural capitals of the world, I've always loved the place. Whenever the question came up where I wanted to go on holiday, it was Paris. I'd holiday-ed in Paris a fair few times and not seen it all, I've spent a good 7 months here now and I've still not seen it all. There's so much waiting to be seen, and not long to do it in. Time to get to it. But I know I won't see it all, it's impossible, Paris is a city that is constantly changing, perhaps that's what I find so exciting about it, and perhaps that's why I'll always keep coming back.

So, that's my short blog. I don't know why I felt the need to write this, perhaps to motivate me to go out and do more things!

Marching into Spring.

It's been an entire month since I wrote a blog! Yikes!  I've just been so busy I've forgotten. I'm just going to give an account of what I've done this month... so here we go!

March is the traditional start of the cycling season in Europe with one of the best (in my opinion) races of the year. The 'Course au Soleil', the Paris-Nice.   I went down to see the Prologue in Houilles which is a nice little town in the Yvelines departement. I arrived in the town, not knowing where the heck I was going.  I ended up walking about 2,5km of the course.  It was a cold day, but an exciting one where I got to see many of the riders close up, one by one.
The stage was won by a young Europcar rider Damien Gaudin who has basically come out of nowhere to win.  But it was a French win so the local crowd was (obviously) delighted.

The next day I took the long trip to a town called Nemours in the Seine-et-Marne departement, this town is some 100km outside of Paris, a town that has inspired writers such as Honoré de Balzac and Victor Hugo.  It's not too hard to see why, the town has a beautiful river, church and small chateau, it was a ideal setting for the finish of the first road stage. Again, this one was won by a French man, Nacer Bouhami (who went and crashed out the next day) in a sprint finish.Those of you reading who may follow cycling will know of a man named Jean-Francois Pescheux who is the route director of the Tour de France and other cycling races owned by the ASO, the Paris-Nice being one. As he was born in Nemours, there was a small presentation to him on the podium after the stage.
Then I had visitors for an entire week, we went to Disneyland, The Eiffel Tower, Versailles amongst other things.It was lovely seeing some friends from Canterbury and doing some very touristy things during my Vacances d'Hiver. Though I felt exhausted at the end of the week.  We were blessed with beautiful weather, even going as far as not taking a coat out!  (This however, would not last the two weeks of my holiday).
Once they had left, I took a few days to rest up, boy oh boy did I need it. Almost 8 full days of walking around had taken their toll, I was exhausted! Then came Tuesday. By far the most eventful day of the holiday.  It snowed. Again.

It wasn't too bad actually, we've had worse snow.  However, I got stranded. And had to go from Marne-la-Vallee to Paris, Paris to Meaux to get home! And I was on one of the last trains to make it out of Paris.  Lucky me huh?
The rest of the week, I devoted to getting my year abroad essay research into a 800 word summary to submit.  Whilst I think my research is at an 'ok' level, my summary was pretty poor and I'm not expecting a good feedback piece on it.  But I write my essays by doing all my research first, then all my writing. It's how I work best, I'm not changing it for this piece of work.  Especially this piece of work.
Then came the weekend, on Saturday I was visited by my Grandma and Auntie who I met at Gare du Nord at lunchtime, we had lunch, saw the Waterlilies painting at the Orangerie gallery at the Jardin des Tuileries, then had dinner.  The next bit is sort of strange, we went to the Moulin Rouge. This was something I'd never really considered doing, but turned out to be pretty great actually.  Once you look past the obvious, the costumes and the choreography were top notch. As was the atmosphere. Would I go again? Yes! I laughed, was amazed and entertained for a few hours.  It was a great night, ruined by surprise engineering works on my line. It seemed to caught us all out as I went from Paris to Marne-la-Vallée and then caught the 01:20 bus with a full bus of other people. (No photos, sorry folks. Cameras are banned from the Moulin Rouge).

The next day was St. Patricks day, now me not being Irish, I don't really care too much for it. But upon hearing their were some Irish cultural performances and fireworks at Disney, I decided to pop along. I was not disappointed. Well, if you were Irish you'd have noticed their 'pipe band' were actually Scottish, but let's look beyond that! I saw some Irish dancing and stuff like that. I was very entertained by their Leprechauns (who were French of course) who went and turned a mans jacket the wrong way round as his lining was green. 'C'est vert, C'EST SAINT PATRICK HEIN?'. The day had a sour note when I had to argue with a person (in French), as I had to tell them off for pushing in front of me who had been waiting for something for 25 mins, as opposed to their turn up half way through tactic. I had a lovely meal in a restaurant

In short, I had a brilliant day, topped off with some amazing fireworks, followed immediately after by even more amazing fireworks.

The next week, I was back at work having a busy week, but I managed to see two movies during the 'Printemps du Cinéma' (Which is basically where every single cinema place is €3,50). Jappeloup and 20 ans d'écart.  I wanted to see French movies to see how much I understood.  A good amount, I came out satisfied with my understanding in each film.  Jappeloup was very good though, if you are in France, try and see it! I also saw The Place beyond the Pines with my extension vouchers I won through the BNP Paribas facebook page.

A busy, busy month. I'll post more hopefully very soon, as there is always much more to tell. I'll leave you with a photo of me meeting Irish Mickey and Minnie (I couldn't resist).

Vive la France! Vive l'humour!

Laughter is the greatest gift you could possibly give. So said Kermit the frog in the 2012 film 'The Muppets'. But I believe that laughing is something you should do everyday, laughing is happiness. Happiness is healthy. Now learning to laugh at yourself, that's something equally as important, you don't take yourself too seriously.

So today, I went to see a film called 'Vive la France', totally in French which was daunting in it's own right. When one of the opening lines (translated obviously) is: God created the most beautiful place in the world: France. But that was balanced out as God also created: The French'.  That got a huge laugh. Vive la France was a hilarious film that focused not so much on French stereotypes, but instead  on things that I could relate to. Without giving anything away, our central two characters are foreigners, there was a section of the film where the characters were in an office. The woman was asking for so many documents before she could do anything, and then it could take '4 or 5 years for a response'.

Vive la France was basically a comedic love letter to France, but wasn't afraid to make things (that are true) look silly. Yes all the montages featured the more beautiful parts of France. (Think helicopter shots during the Tour de France). Yes, the plot was basically two foreigners falling in love with the country.  But I related to many aspects. Not being 100% sure of the French language so not understanding when things were said sometimes, to which the characters responded with 'Comprend pas'. But would it work to a foreign audience? Well, to some point yes. I'd show this to British friends and they'd get 85% of the jokes. But a guy wearing a PSG shirt in Marseille and being assaulted for it. No, most British wouldn't understand that.

I loved the film, I will buy it on Blu-ray for sure, and if you are reading this in France, make the effort to go see it.

I was nervous about seeing a French film in a cinema, without English subtitles. But at the same time, I wanted to do it, to see how my French had progressed. I knew I wouldn't understand all the film, but I understood possibly 90%, came out feeling very pleased with myself. So, si vous etes en France. Pensez a aller au cinema pour une séance en VF.  Go aaaan, go annn.

French basketball is actually pretty good.

In the newspaper a while back there was an advert for the Disneyland Paris leaders cup. What is the Leaders Cup I hear you ask? It's a mid-season basketball tournament organised by the LNB (Ligue nationale de Basket) replacing the semaine des As. So I grabbed a ticket for the final, and thought it would be something quite fun to go see.  Turns out, I was hooked throughout the entire 3 day competition.  So essentially it's a tournament which begins on Friday with quarter finals, then on sunday moves to a semi-final stage before the final on the sunday. It's pretty intense and lends itself to who is the best at recovering after a game.

Upon discovering the teams invited (Le Mans, Roanne, Gravelines-Dunkerque, Lyon-Villeurbanne, Strasbourg, Orléans, Paris-Levallois and Chalon-Saone) I took to Paris being a local team. They did pretty well but got knocked out in the semi-final round. The matchup I would be seeing was Gravelines-Dunkerque vs Strasbourg.

I arrived nice and early to the Disney Event Arena (where the competition would be taking place), and pretty quickly discovered that directly behind my seat was the buzzer. Everytime it went off, I would be getting gradually going deaf. Hurray! Second thing I noticed, the angle of seating was very strange. If the person in front of you stood up, you'd be seeing diddly squat.

I then happened to be sat behind Strasbourg supporters, who had those wacky party hooter things. 40-50 of those going off near you hurts your ears. To be honest, I wasn't cheering for anyone especially, but I went for the slight connection of Dunkerque being the closest team to where I am from.

A few notes about the event: Whilst it was being held at Disneyland, it wasn't overly Disney. They played the parade music a little bit, and the half time show was High School Musical dance troops.  But other than that, pretty normal. The match was not as competitive as the final scoreline would suggest. Dunkerque was always the better side, at half time it was already looking like the result was decided. Credit to Strasbourg for never giving up, or their supporters (Ear ache). Dunkerque took the early points, extended an early lead and then whenever Strasbourg scored a point, Dunkerque reacted with the same.


Conclusion: French basketball is highly competitive with an enthusiastic crowd. I had a great time and I reckon I'll probably attempt to go see a Paris-Levallois game before the end of the year.