Bye Bye Bacon :'(

So lent has cheekily snuck on me without warning (living in France and munching on numerous crepes makes every day feel like pancake day) and I have had little time to think about what I could give up for lent. It has also made me realise that I still haven’t completed another one of my New Year’s resolutions (which I still haven’t posted either), to find a Church here in Rouen, a whopping 8 weeks (and therefore 8 Sundays) later. I really must get on this, especially seeing as I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it home for Easter Sunday as I was originally hoping :(

So after a quick Google (yes, to Google is a verb) I found this on-line list of suggestions of "restrictions and Sacrifices". I wonder how many are feasible... 

Blogging - fail at the first hurdle. Next…
Caffeine - do you want me to attend any of my morning lectures over the next 40 days? Next…
Computer Use – “I’m sorry I didn’t complete the online test and that my dissertation is hand written, I gave up using my computer for lent.” No, I can’t see the lectures buying it either.
Drinking Alcohol – seeing as I’m considering taking an additional ‘wine tasting class’ next trimester this may not be the best idea… I’m sure reducing the amount of alcohol consumed wouldn’t do me any harm though!
Driving - *ahem* sore subject. Next…
Eating Out – because students have the funds to do this all the time. Next…
Smoking – pretty easy for a non-smoker…
Television – even easier for someone without a TV…
Sexual Activity – chance would be a fine thing. Next…
Energy Use (gasoline, electricity, etc) – thinking candles in a university hall of residence is not the smartest idea. This also coincides with number 3: Computer use. “Sorry my essay’s only partially complete; I only got to the second paragraph before my laptop ran out of battery.” Next…
Using Credit Cards – so now I’m sitting in the dark with no way to buy food before my next student loan comes though, I thought only Orthodox Christians fasted…
Internet Chatting – let’s be honest, it would probably be quicker to wait the 40 days and send an email than expect the French postal service to send snail mail to the UK and deliver a reply from friends and family back home in the same time frame. Maybe not one for me, next…
Meat – it would certainly be a challenge. But not impossible, although there is just one major problem. Being brought up in a village with one of Yorkshire’s finest butchers just round the corner and a family that would probably consider a meet free meal either a weekday breakfast or a snack, means I know very little about vegetarian diets. When I first told my Dad I was going veggie for lent he was that speechless I thought Skype had crashed. So far the only things I can imagine eating are: 

   Cheesy beans on toast

   Mushroom pizza
   Pasta with plain tomato sauce

   Beef flavour hula-hoops (they’re veggie, seriously)!
and Vegetarian lasagne (and that's only because someone else once made it for me). 

If anyone can come up with any more recipes/ideas I'd be more than happy to hear them as I think I'm going to go for it. At least it wont have an adverse effect on my studies and the worst things that can happen are I lose weight, save money and start dreaming about Toby Carvery (not that this doesn't happen anyway). Not all bad and a small sacrifice to pay. Just don't cook bacon near me. 

And lead me not in to temptation... *sigh*

40 days... I can manage 40 days... 


On the other hand, here's 40 things people would never give up, as beautifully shown on pinterest: http://pinterest.com/hostelbookers/40-things-i-d-never-give-up-for-lent/

French banks

I’m slightly concerned that I’m studying business in a country that thinks it’s acceptable to close nearly all its banks at midday. I’m failing to understand why they would choose to make their services unavailable at a time where most people have half an hour or so for lunch (maybe make that two hours, we are in France after all) and to run errands including paying in the numerous amounts of cheques people still insist on using. If you’ve ever been held up by someone attempting to pay by cheque at the front of a massive queue in Carrefour and they can’t find a pen or they make a spelling mistake and have to start again, you’ll understand how fustrating this can be.

On top of this, the majority of banks are not open Mondays… what even is this?! Did the French finance minister decided he likes bank holidays so much he was going to have one every week ? As a result of the French’s banking systems incompetence, I will leave you with this cheeky jest I found online:

Q. Why don't Master Card and Visa work well in France ?
A. They do not know how to say "CHARGE!" 

Just kidding! Have a good Friday folks :)
EmJ x

So far, so good

Seeing how well my friends have managed to keep their blogs updated I feel shamed in to posting a brief update on my first month in France. I am however a little weary of jazzing up and publishing my New Years resolutions post as I am convinced I have failed the majority of them already. At least there's always next year... 

I certainly feel like I am settling in a lot quicker than my previous semester in Martinique (despite still having to deal with reams of paperwork, the entirety of my admin was sorted within the first three weeks... not three months) and I can just about travel anywhere in town without getting too lost. To give you an idea of the size of the place, the suburb I'm living in (Mont St Aignan) has approximately twice the number of local residents than Bangor, and that's not including the additional 10,000 students in Bangor and the 20,000 students here. Let's not even start on the centre ville de Rouen.

I have a lecture timetable as random as the nearest store’s opening hours (9 hours one day, none the next) and most of the lectures seem to have gotten over the fact that an English exchange-student might actually be capable of speaking a foreign language. The courses here are offered in French and English (some classes are taught only in English) which the majority of foreign students choose. The number of people that have asked me "wouldn't it be easier for you to take your classes in English?" ("well... yeah, but that's not going to improve my French") is not even funny. But so is life.

I have also, despite being in an 8h30 lecture, experienced a wonderful ‘French moment.’ If I hadn't been there in person I would have thought it had been set up for a film. For the first time, I heard a French student, wearing a very stereotypical French blue and white striped t-shirt, say ‘oh-la-la’ in general conversation . Unfortunately no beret was being worn at the time (although I have seen rather a lot!) and no onions on strings were being waved about but we can’t have everything. I feel like my French experience is complete. All I need to do now is return to the 2€ store to get a baguette bag (yes, they really do have oblong fold-away bags especially designed for carrying bread back from the boulangerie) and I can fly back tomorrow. You cannot get more French than that.

Until next time,
EmJ x