Time to Face Reality

Salut! Time is nearly up in this beautiful Country. I have meet some great people and lived life like the French. It is going to be hard stepping back into the lifestyle of working 9-5's.

The language is still very difficult. There is so much to learn and you have to be saying the same word over and over again until your pronunciation is perfect. Unlike English, if you were to miss out a simple two letter word in French, you will be saying something completely different. Studying is hard for me not because I'm useless but mainly because it's not a criteria. We get given homework but if it does not get done, the teachers are not going to mind because we are the ones paying for this. Maybe I need to look into studying French at a University on my return.

Dans 2 semaine, je vais retourne a Londres et apres je depart a Nouvelle Zelande. Je manque Nouvelle Zelande beaucoup.
In 2 weeks, I will be returning to London and after, I will leave for New Zealand, I miss New Zealand a lot.

Last week, we went out for dinner with my Norwegian classmate and his family, bowling, ice-skating and I also visited the aquarium. Activites are unlimited here in Montpellier. It's a shame the weather is too cold for kayaking. I have yet to play golf either but there are about 4 golf courses within 20mins of the city. Still drinking way too much and sitting at a cafe for way too long; ce la vie.
This week saw the release of Michael Jackson's 'This is it!' movie. As a result, 3000 people gathered in place de la comedie to watch dancers pay hommage to MJ with the dance from Thriller. I was unable to squeeze in anywhere so all I could do is take a picture of the crowd.

Alors, ce week-end je ne sais pas quoi faire, peut-etre je vais aller a marseille pour visitie mon ami Stephane mais le train est tres cher.
So, this weekend I don't know what to do, maybe I will go to Marseille to visit my friend Stephane but the trains are very expensive.

Anyway, I'm tired from the French overload and drinking.

See you all soon

Bowling - 5.2 MB
Iceskating 1 - 4.2 MB
Iceskating 2 - 1.9 MB
Iceskating 3 - 3.7 MB
Storm - 4.1 MB
Aquarium 1 - 3.4 MB
Aquarium 2 - 4.2 MB
Aquarium 3 - 2.4 MB

Sam




Bowling with friends and family








American, French, Dutch. They all speak brilliant French







Jellyfish, this was awesome










In Antarctica









Penguins Chilling








Normal Monday Night








Naked Friend








3000 People

Random Trip to Avignon

coucou! As I stated in my last post, I was going to the train station and buying a ticket somewhere in France. The toss up was between Avignon and Perpignan. Due to all the hype about Avignon, we decided to go there. To our surprise, the journey by train was only 1hr. Avignon is known to be one of most historical places in the world. The Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) is one of the many UNESCO World Heritage Site. You will learn a lot of interesting information by simply googling. Another main attraction is Pont Saint-Benezet which is also known as Bridge of Avignon, it was built around 1185. The thing that is unique about this bridge is that it is only half a brige. Due to the constant flooding, the bridge would collapse and get rebuilt over and over again until someone said 'Thats is, no more'.

So while I was checking my email tonight, someone added me to their MSN so I thought 'maybe it could be my long lost brother'. But ofcourse it was someone trying to sell me XXX websites. So as I started saying random stuff, a lightbulb went off in my head. It was an autobot; not a real person. I thought I was wasting their time but infact, they took away 3 minutes of my life. I got school'd. My only excuse is that I just had 6 beers and was about to head out. Ah well, maybe someone will scam me on faecesbook.
Weekend is coming up so I need to find another city to visit. Back to studying.

tchao!

Avignon Garden - 4.5 MB
Frigo - 7.2 MB

Sam




Pont d'Avignon








Palais des Papes








I Love my Life








Can't remember the name








Owned!

Seulement six semaine à aller

Salut! Well I have been here for 4 weeks now. Life in the slow lane is still amazing but the French language is still hard. I have not made many trips as I am letting the stress from school get to me. So right now, my weekend bag is packed and after class tomorrow (Friday) at approxmiately 1pm, I will be going to the train station, buying a ticket and travelling somewhere in France. Dramas will unfold!

Anyway, I can't quite remember what I have done for the last 4 weeks other than going out everynight. Infact, We go to the same cafe everyday and everynight and they all know us now. Special treatment goes hand in hand and free drinks are a bonus. I even asked for a
t-shirt and they have arranged one for me; I feel special. I also attended another rugby game last weekend because it Was Montpellier vs Toulouse. Ex-All Blacks Byron Kelleher plays for Toulouse and he had a brilliant game. Unfortunately Montpellier got spanked! The score was 0 - 24 within the first 15 mins. Final score Montpellier 12 - Toulouse 30.

I have also met a lot of frenchies in my residence and they all get up to no good. There is also a rugby nut here (whom I went to the last rugby game with) that hangs an All Blacks flag out his window. He is fully french and when we partied in his room, it was just posters of obviously All Blacks! It is actually quite hard to study in this residence as the courtyard is in the centre and all the rooms look down on it so they are constantly talking to me or bringing down beers. The funny thing is when I do need help with my French, I would shout out 'aide, aide, aide' which in english means 'help, help, help'. Someone or even a group would sit with me and explain further. I was sitting in the study room tonight and the security guard sat with me for 2 hours and helped me out with my French homework. He didn't speak English and my French is poor but it must be improving since he managed to get his point across. What I have noticed is that if you are genuinely wanting to improve your French, help comes from all directions.

Its late and it rained today for the first time in 30 days. No just light rain but monsoon style with thunder and constant power cuts. Rain so heavy that we were making paper boats and setting them free on the roads. Fun times. No interesting photos yet but they will come.

Salut!
Sam




Peaceful town Sete