Tick Tock Tick Tock

The last 4 week has been hectic. My last 2 weeks in France involved a lot of partying and travelling to say my goodbyes. We visited the historic village of Larzac where sheeps are bred to make the famous Roquefort blue cheese. We also made time to visit Marseille, Lyon and Barcelona. The people of Barcelona really do know how to party. Even though they start late, they are still going strong at 6am in the morning. The clubs were also amazing; some even compare the club scence to Ibiza. After arriving back in London, we made a boys trip to Prague. Those that have been to Prague will know how cheap everything is and how beautiful the girls are. After Prague, I spent 4 days up in Guisborough to visit McLaren and Walker. I first meet them in Brisbane for New Years 07, then I joined them in Newcastle for New Years 08.

Back home in London now and trying to pack before I depart the shores of England on 8th December. This experience has been amazing. Living in France has given me a first hand view of how the French enjoy life. Living in London gives you thick skin since you have to put up with havoc lifestyle.

The job market in NZ is still pretty slow so I'm still trying to decide whether to move to Australia or try to find a job in NZ. Either way, I'm just going to play it by ear. Not much to say, missing everyone lots and see you all very soon.

Sam

Montpellier Friends








I love Shisha









Larzac







Ice Bar Barcelona








Pouring our own pints








Church of Bones

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

Montpellier est une belle ville

I have finally made it to France. Not just anywhere; the South! I am studying and living in Montpellier which is in the languedoc-roussillon region. My day consist of 3 hours of French lessons, 5 hours sitting in a cafe and the rest wining, dining and letting loose. Due to the fact that my peers and I have so much free time, we basically do anything we want; go for bike rides, beaches, shopping. Anything and everything under the sun. Even when we don't feel like going out, we would still meet every night, sit outside at bars and people watch all throughout the evening.

Taking a break from work and living in France has probably been the best thing I have done in my life. I experienced an epiphany, things slowed down and allowed me to enjoy the life the way it should be. Yes, I should be saving for a house at my age but when I owned one 3 years ago, I was sad and miserable. Do I really want to jump back on that bandwagon?

Anyway, the French course is hard, it is taught completely in French. Although my French is slowly improving, I am not progressing as fast as I initially thought. Maybe I need to spend less time in cafes and more time at home studying. The first week has been very eventful with 32 degree heat. A group of us went on a 6 hour bike tour and laid at the beach. On Sunday, I went to watch might Montpellier vs Toulon in the French Top 14 (It's Frances version of our Super 14). Rugby fans should know by now that the coach of Toulon is the one and only Tana Umaga who recently signed Jonny Wilkinson. Unfortunaly Sonny Bill Williams did not turn out for Toulon due to surgery on his leg but Jonny Wilkinson played a brilliant game. The match was intense with Toulon leading with a 15 point margin but Montpellier came back fighting and scored a try at 79:53sec. Final score Montpellier 21 - Toulon 20. Montpellier did not win the game, Toulon lost the game. Montpellier missed 5 penalties; they need to invest in someone that can kick an oval ball.

I also made a mistake of getting a haircut here. Trying to explain that I wanted the sides faded short and textured on top is like telling your dog to pour you a pint. Check out the epic fail video. It is uncommon to find someone that actually spoke a bit of English. Retailers would help you out as much as possible but will not know a single word; it's great. For all those that have this idea that living in France will allow you to immerse and pick up the language quicker, WRONG! They don't even want to speak to you. What is the point of having a conversation with someone when all you can say is 'I am from New Zealand, when I get up 8 o'clock, I shower and brush my teeth' or 'I am going for lunch, do you want to join me?' When you do meet a local, all they wants to do is speak English. So what I have been doing instead is hanging out with students that are learning French and we would try to speak completely in French. If someone doesn’t know a word, someone in the group will be able to correct them. Shopping and eating out are also great ways to learn. You tend to move away from text book French and converse using shorthand. Well its 9pm and time for coffee number 7

a bientôt mes amis

Room in Montpellier - 11.1 MB
Bad Haircut - 5.3 MB

Sam




One of many la plage








Montpellier vs Toulon

Italy Excursion

After an early morning flight from Edinburgh, we were greeted by Eileen and Noel in Pisa. The plans for the next 7 days in Italy were Pisa > Cinque Terre > Venice > Rome. Pisa is small and there is really not much happening in the city. The only attraction is obviously the leaning tower of Pisa. When we got there, all you could see were tourist doing stupid poses as if they were pushing it over. It was funny because EVERYONE was doing it so I decide to unbutton my shirt and started posing like Zoolander making sure there’s a little Asian guy in the background of other peoples photo. But it came to our time to look like dorks and away we went to devise a plan to make it look good; it wasn't. 3hrs later, we were back on the train heading to Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre translates to 'The 5 Terraces'. 5 terraces, 5 towns, 5 locations. Each town had their own unique touch; some are known for their restaurants others for the beach. We stayed in Vernazza which was known for its nightlife and partying we did. You can access each town by catching a train which cost €1.40 else you could take nice mountain treks around and through the hills. We only managed to hike between 3 terraces as Cinque Terre was all about leisure.
The walk still took us 3 hrs. Diet of fresh seafood, pizza, pasta washed down with Italian beers and wine. The 3 nights flew by without notice. Cinque Terre is very well known to the Italians and it has yet to be discovered by tourist. You can have fun without hearing loud geezers. Next stop, Venice.

Now what more can I say about Venice. The word 'Venice' is amazing on its own. It is beautiful and romantic but with not much to offer. Don't get me wrong, it's a great place but theres really not much there. All the shops are the same; they all sell venetian masks and silly glass things. Venice is not complete with a ride on the gondola's. I was sceptical at first but after seeing Venice from sea level really gave you a sense of freedom and pleasure. It was 8pm and there were 7 of us in the group, everyone was fluffing around not knowing where to eat or what to buy. While Noel and I dragged our feet, we came across a stall that sold cocktail. While we were watching the cocktail getting made, I started to give the bartender a bit of crap saying stuff like 'It better not be water, I'm watching you', all the regulars started to give him shit as well and the drinking began. Drinks were on the house because the bartenders were all hammered; no one cared, it was as if only friends drank at this little 3m x 2m stall. When the cocktail stall closed, we walked 5mins to the next stall (it was a chain) and kept drinking. The night was blurry and the next morning was even worst. What a night to remember (or not). 2 nights down and off we went to Rome.

Everyone knows Rome, even if you haven't been there, you know that the Sistine Chapel is there along with St Peter's Basilica, Colosseum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain. There was a lot to cover in 2 days. I don't think I need to go into the details but every landmark was astonishing. A picture tells a thousand words. After 5 nights of pizza and pasta, I ate kebabs for lunch and dinner for 2 days. It was good to get some meat in me. The weather in Italy was around 35 degrees; a bit too hot for my liking. The Sistine Chapel has a no talking, keep moving, no photos policy but on this occasion they allowed it. It was madness; Flashes going off everywhere! Back home in London now where I will spend 1 weeks packing and relaxing before I fly out to Montpellier to start my French lessons. Let's hope I can cope.

Cinque Terre - 5.7 MB
Drunk Venice - 5.5 MB
St Peters - 3.3 MB

Sam

Stupid Pose

Vernazza Beach








During our Trek











Venice







Rialto Bridge at night








Calm.......








The Party Beings








Spanish Steps








Trevi Fountain








Pantheon








Creation of Adam








Outside St Peters Basilica








Mighty Colosseum

Scotland Road Trip

Friday 14th August was my last day at work. The next day, I flew into Edinburgh to embark on my journey. There were 5 of us on this trip and I was again the 5th wheel. The 6 day journey took us from Edinburgh > Dumbarton > Glasgow > Fort Williams > Isle of Skye > Loch Ness > Inverness > Dufftown > Aberdeen > Stirling > Edinburgh. Google journey can be viewed here

The landscape is beautiful like New Zealand but on a much bigger scale. We visited so many castles that I am actually having trouble with their names. I learned a new acronym from a local in Scotland also known as 'ABC'

Another
Bloody
Castle

That can also be translated into Another Bloody Cathedral.

We also visited 3 Whisky Distilleries; Glenfarclas, Macallan and Glenfiddich. Basically drank alot of whisky on this trip mainly because most do not get exported to other parts of the world. The tour of Glenfiddich was full of interesting information. Glenfiddich whiskey is distilled using only a single source of spring water from the Robbie Dhu spring. This process is so important to them that they purchased 1200 acres of land surrounding its nearby hills to ensure the spring water stays pure.

Stirling Castle is also a historic milestone of Scotland. Many important events are associated to Stirling Castle in some form of way. In 1297, William Wallace defeated the English for The Battle of Stirling Bridge. The castle was well built with numerous external walls. The displays by the castle curator gave you a sense of all of previous kings and made you feel as if you were living in the 12th/13th century.

While in Edinburgh, we were blessed with the presence of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The city was full of joy and excitment. The Architecture and vibrant city lead my eyes into a trance. There were so much to see but yet so little time. Early lights out as we flew off to Pisa the next morning.

Sam




Chilling at Isle of Skye








Loch Ness

Glenfiddich Distillery







Dunnottar Castle

Awesome Edinburgh

Portugal Road Trip

Winter is slowly approaching and it was time for another holiday. Eileen, Noel, Juno (Eileen's mate) and I set off on a mini road trip from Faro > Albufeira > Lagos > Lisbon. Google journey can be viewed here

Flying with Eileen always involves some kind of airport drama. When we were going through Passport Control at London Gatwick (returning from Krakow), the lady asked Eileen if she have had any trouble with her Work Visa, Eileen said 'No'. eeeegghhhh wrong answer, her visa actually got declined as she did not provide correct bank statements. So the Passport Control lady told her that it is an offence to lie, blah blah blah and Eileen told her she did not classify it as 'trouble'. But anyway, we had to wait an hour for her supervisor. What dramas!

We were all queueing up to go through the security gates when she noticed she had picked up Noel's NZ passport. He has dual citizenship (British and NZ) but he travelled into the UK with his British passport. That means, when we return to London, Passport Control will ask if he has an entry visa as there are no traces of a holidaying visa or entry visa on his NZ passport. Infact his NZ passport was blank! What a mess! Off they went to talk to immigration officers about their options. They were given the green light and 2hrs 40mins later, we were in Faro.

It was 1am by the time we got to the hotel but the night was still young so out we went to roam the streets. Alcohol was dirt cheap in Portugal, although not as cheap as Krakow but cheap enough to live like a king.The next morning we drove through the coastal beach town of Albufeira. The beach was beautiful but the town was flooded with tourist and mainly English tourist. It just makes the place feel dirty. You want to walk around the peaceful but all you hear are loud geezers. Meh, back on the road to our resort in Lagos. It was around 35 degrees with a few hours of 40’s. The golden beach with clear water was impressive. After 2 hours in the sun, it became unbearable. We then hired a boat around and within the coves. Portugal is very well known for its seafood. Every night, we would be eating some sort of fish and crustacean.

Lisbon also has a lively night life. The main city is built on the flats and everything else is elevated. If you feel fit, you can walk but locals generally take the trams or the Santa Justa Elevator. We decided to party at Bairro Alto; very well known for its bars, restaurants and fado music. This trip was all about drinking, eating, drinking and more eating.What an awesome country!

Colourful Albufeira - 5.3 MB
Lagos Cove - 3.7 MB

Sam




3am Pizza








Colourful marine in Albufeira









Lagos Coves








Partying in Bairro Alto







Morish Castle in Centro

Krakow, Poland

I have always wanted to visit Poland. There was never a particular City I wanted to visit but going to Poland was always a ‘must do’ on my list. I’m not sure why? I don’t speak Polish, know the history nor know what Pol’s eat but Poland has always been on my mind. Maybe it’s the ‘what ifs’. What if I enjoy the City? What if I like the Polish language? What if the people appeal to me so much that I would want to live there one day?

It was only Eileen and I on this trip. First trip was out to the Auschwitz Concentration Camps; the largest of Nazi Germany's camps. The place was Airy, soulless and with a feeling of enmity.
The number of deaths at this camp is known to be around 1.3 million and of that, 1.1 million were Jews. We were unable to take any photos inside mainly as a sign of respect. But obviously you will always have disrespectful tourist snapping away so they can show it off to their friends as a sense of achivement......

The gas chamber was gloomy, we learnt about how people were tricked into going into the gas chamber at their own will. The firing line, different torture methods were also explained.
It is hard to list everything, it is the kind of place that you really have to visit to understand the affliction.

Next stop was the Wieliczka Salt Mine. It was only in 1996 that mining was discontinued. The mine has a depth of 327 metres with paths exceeding 300km. We were only able to get as far as 135 metres though. Miners would live down there for years at a time and eating nothing but salt. They weren't allow to bring any kind of food down there as it may attract vermins. Numerous sculptures were also created by these miners. Their talent would make todays artist look like little school kids.

Deep inside the mines, an aura shines toward you as you approach St. Kinga's Chapel. Yes a chapel sculpted by miners! It is 18 metres wide, 10 metres high and stretches for 54 metres.
The surrounding walls are covered with historical and biblical carvings. Being in that room really makes you wonder 'What have I done with my life?'
There was so much to see. Check out this link for more information.

Even though Krakow is part of the European Union, they are still using their own currency. £1 = 5 polish zloty. Beer is 4 zloty, steak is 16 zloty. We ate and drank like Kings! The city is lively during the day with plenty of entertainment during the evenings. Yes, Krakow does have a past that we would like to forget but the city still radiates with joy. I will be back, oh yes........I will be back.

Sam




Eros Bendato Head








St. Mary's church from afar








Auschwitz








Auschwitz II/Birkenau








St. Kinga's Chapel