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.

Parlez-vous Anglais?

I like France, I like the country and the language. But living here is something very different. I still like France, I've learnt that sometimes, they do things better than we do. But the opposite is also true. Living abroad opens your eyes to differences both the good and the bad. I've been learning French since I was 11 years old. I remember starting with the simple 'Je m'appelle Geoff, j'ai vingt ans' etc etc. Then we moved. Where I moved to, they had been learning French since they were 9 years old. They were already pros at the introducing yourself business. They had already moved onto 'Je voudrais un hotdog' and that sort of stuff. All of a sudden there was a significant gap between my ability and there abilities. In Year 8 (my second year of learning French) I was in the top set.  How strange, I was in a top set with people who I was supposed to be as good as, but there was a gap.

 Then in Year 9 (a new school) came a bizarre experience where I could say very very basic stuff, and then a series of slightly more complex stuff but missing out on a few in between bits. To be honest with you, I don't think I've ever made up that gap. Yeah, I know how to use the stuff they learnt, but not in the same way. I've not had that extra 2 years of practise and so I find myself in a situation where I still make silly little mistakes.

Now, moving to France and speaking every day in their language. There are barriers to overcome. Confidence being one, I was always afraid of making mistakes. My French is decent, but you don't want a situation where you speak the language, and a French person looks at you and says 'Eh?'.  But, I've learnt that that is exactly what you need! You just need to try.

You are not always going to be able to say everything. Academic French and practical French are two very different things. I was told to keep something 'branché'.  My first reaction was 'WTF does that mean?'.  It means keep it plugged in.  So, every when living here, you are going to struggle. Fact.  (Future year abroaders, get ready for this.  You're not going to know things, but not knowing things is actually how you learn things).

The biggest thing I've learnt though is that living totally in French is out of the question.  I tried not phoning home for a while at the start of the year. But then, one day I broke. My mum said to me 'Why did you phone, it'll cost a fortune?'.  My answer: 'I don't even care, I just need to speak English to someone'.  That's going to happen. It's nothing to be ashamed of. You can't turn your back on your mother tongue. I read BBC News more than I read French news. Just because you are abroad, doesn't mean you turn your back on the UK. Just take that chance to embrace a new culture as well as your own.

Have a good week folks! 

Snow in France, Round 2!

Last term it snowed in France, I even blogged about it. Then last week, it happened again. When it snows, they don't really shut the school. But hardly any of the students bother going in. This leads to me turning up to a class and get told 'You know what? There's like 5 of them, you don't need to stay'. Then I wait for the next lesson. It happens again. It's not all bad, in theory I'm getting paid for doing very little. But I'd rather be doing something rather than reading a book I'm not really enjoying. Most of the students have the excuse of busses not running though, so I shouldn't complain really.

So, it did snow. And it snowed a lot.  I woke up on Saturday and the ground was just covered in white. But that's nothing compared to Sunday. On Saturday at about 22:00 it started again, Sunday became a nightmare of a day. Busses got cancelled, trains broke down. But I give the French this, when it comes to gritting the main roads, they do it much better than the UK.

There's not too much to say from the last week or so, I've been inside a lot due to the snow. This weekend I'm seeing some friends from University, so I'm sure there'll be something to talk about there.

 On Saturday I made it to Disneyland Paris to take some photos, you can check them out on my flickr

I met the mouse.

Creating unexpected magical memories

It's rare that something happens and I feel the need to write it down right away, but tonight that happened. I realise that this little story might not interest anyone but me, but it's my blog.

During the year so far I've made plenty of memories.  Memories that will stick with me for a life time. Most of the things I do are planned, but today I didn't plan anything, and today perhaps I've made my favourite memory of the year. But what constitutes as a magical moment? That depends on the person I would say. To me, a magical moment is a feeling you get. Every magical moment may feel different, but when it happens you just know. I felt it during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. I felt it as Bradley Wiggins won his Tour de France, and I felt it at my first university summer ball. 

This afternoon I had planned an afternoon browsing the sales at the Val d'europe shopping centre, and that happened. Then I thought I'd browse the sales at Disney Village (they are pretty poor by the way!).  Then I randomly popped into the Walt Disney Studios park and got taught how to draw. I can't draw.



But, I did make this: 

I had dinner, then saw the time. 18:30. I had time to wait for the bus. So I thought at that moment I would go into Disneyland park and ride Big Thunder Mountain (One of my favourite rides). I arrived at the ride at 18:40 and saw a 15 minute queue sign. Perfect, enough time to ride it and get out the park and get the bus at just gone 7. The queue was not 15 minutes, they had begun the process of shutting down the ride. I eventually boarded at 19:02. Disney Dreams (the nighttime spectacular had already started). The train leaves the station. This is where it begins, I saw the fireworks coming from the castle in the distance as my train whirled around the mountain. Brilliant! We arrived back, there were people waiting for the front and back carriages only. 'Mesdames and monsieurs, vous pouvez faire une deuxieme tour'.
Lesson 1:  big thunder mountain is one of disneys most popular rides. It's fast, family friendly and beautifully themed.
Lesson 2: You NEVER get invited to go again on a Disney ride.

So the train left the station again. This time even more fireworks, the fireworks in Disney dreams are colourful and rather beautiful. So seeing these in the distance was a real treat. You may never experience this, so you'll have to trust me, it's an image ill never ever forget. As we arrived in the station people changed 'RETOUR RETOUR'. We didn't get a third go, but the woman came over the announcement system wishing us a 'très très Bon soirée'. I then walked down liberty arcade serenaded by a beautiful song from the film Tangled. I arrived at the bottom of a deserted Main Street and I didn't leave as intended. I stayed to watch the end of dreams. I was surrounded by about 15 other people all spaced out. And as I ended I just felt a strange feeling. I smiled and did that almost cry but not cry thing. It's a beautiful show, but nothing will compare to how I saw it tonight. Thank you Disney.

How do we mark memories? Since the Olympic Games got awarded to London I've been caught in the pin collection craze. I have all the x years to go countdown pins. But they say we can attach memories to pins. Indeed we can. About 70% of my Olympic pins have various memories of the games attached to them. Disney parks also have a pin collection craze. I can attach memories to all my pins. Tonight I bought a big thunder mountain pin badge. And the story you have just read is the memory attached to it.

Bon weekend!

La Rentrée

Bon Voyage!

Right then folks. Christmas is officially behind us (Sad times), we've enjoyed those first few days of a new year and it's back to reality. And my reality is a year abroad. So, on Sunday 6th January I boarded a Eurostar to head back to France. (Not such a bad reality really...). But before I tell you what I've been upto my first few days back, here is a quick rundown of how Christmas went.

I arrived back in the UK on the 22nd December and the first thing I did was grab a Nandos in Kings Cross. Not because I was hungry, but because there weren't going to be many chances over the next few weeks and I needed to take this one, I had missed it a little bit. I got home, and then slept. Oh boy did I sleep. Christmas itself was nice and quiet, just as usual and the way I like it. I didn't bother with the sales until the 27th December (and even then, I only really wanted the Michael McIntyre DVD). Then we went to York to see the grand parents for a couple of days. Not the most fun you can have, but it was nice to see them. New Year was another quiet affair with a bit of watching a DVD, then Jools Holland/Fireworks on TV (Never really made a big fuss over New Year). On Saturday 5th I saw some friends from Uni, which was great fun and I hope to see them again, in France real soon.

Packing to come back was a bit of a chore, that I left until last minute. Cramming all the stuff you got over xmas in a small case was a hard job, but luckily the security guys in London didn't want to have a look in. Taking it all out and repacking it would have been a nightmare. When I say things were crammed in, I mean it. It's amazing how returning with a few more t-shirts than you left with causes such problems.

Back in France and it all felt quite normal very quickly. I went straight to the Thistle pub to do their pub quiz, and a few minutes after seeing friends, doing the usual 'How was Christmas/New Year' catchup that we are all so familiar with as you tend to do it every year at Uni, it was just on to normal topics of coversation. It was like we never left, well aside from the fact that I had a few cases. I spent Monday in bed, only moving to go to a few shops in Val d'Europe. Tuesday I was back in the school. After doing my first two lessons, I wasn't needed for the rest of the day, so I went home and just chilled out watching TV. Imagine my delight at discovering a button on the TV that changes the language to English on dubbed shows. Wednesday was the first day of the French January sales, I'll check those out tomorrow (Friday 11th).

Not too much has happened this week, but I'll get around to getting something interesting to blog about soon, I promise.

But to everyone reading this, HAPPY NEW YEAR. Or as they say here in France, BONNE ANNEE!

Reflecting on the first three months

How lucky am I, to visit places like this when ever I want

Through a year abroad, we gain not just a greater knowledge of the language in which we study but we also gain a greater acceptance of the world. This is certainly true in my case. I will admit to grumbling about French ways of doing things during my first three months abroad. But since I've got back, I've also found myself saying 'Actually, the French do have that spot on'. There is no right or wrong way of doing something, we are told that everyone is different, this is also true for countries. Sometimes, as a people, the British are not tolerant of other nations. We see our ways of doing things, and everything else is wrong. We speak English, the most widely spoken language of the world, therefore we do not need to learn any other languages. See what I mean? So, acceptance of different cultures is a big thing that I have learnt.

I think back to September, a few days before I leave. I like to think that this blog has mainly been positive about the year. But it has not always been like that, sitting in the port of Dover, I was dreading leaving. I was to go, live in a studio apartment all alone. Throughout my life, I've always been surrounded by people. When I moved to university halls, I knew that I'd not really be 'alone'. This time though, totally alone. I arrived, got into my apartment. My Parents stayed for two nights, but then they left. I was alone, in a foreign country until Christmas. However, early that week I put a plea on the assistants page on facebook if anyone wanted to meet up in Paris. A response! On the Wednesday that week I met Kirsti. Then on the Friday, we had a picnic in the Parc Buttes Chaumont where I met lots of other assistants. Then again the next day, and the next etc etc. Basically, a friendship group was formed. I was not alone, I know I wasn't the only one who thought they would be alone. A number of great days/nights would be spent with these people, I know I probably wouldn't have enjoyed my time in Paris without them. In short, the reason I am enjoying my year abroad is because of them; and so a huge, massive THANK YOU goes to them. Without friends, I'd have been miserable in France, can't wait to see them again. I've also met up with University friends which has again been great. Thank you goes to you as well.

Great friends are hard to come by, but this bunch are amazing. It's missing Max and Hayley, downside. But I love this photo!

The work itself has been pretty simple mostly. Teaching English to people roughly my age is not the hardest job in the world if you teach them things that interest you and them equally. I like showing them movie clips and discussing them. Has my French improved? Almost certainly, I don't speak it as much as I want to, and perhaps this will become part of my new years resolutions. But I certainly understand more, when I'm being spoken to and watching television. I had a conversation with somebody recently, doing a study placement you learn academic French, doing an assistantship you learn the french the kids speak, but also the stuff printed on forms.

The first three months for me have more being about settling in, the next four months (and maybe even more), I would like to practise some French and visiting the sights and sounds of the city, but also of France itself. When I found out I was in the Parisian region, I wanted to travel a bit. Next term, even if it is just two or three times I hope to actually do that. I've enjoyed the experiences, and am really thankful to friends for making it an amazing experience.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!