week three..(finally!)

Alors....week three....i cant believe i’m writing that already!..its mardi today...have now got my studio space, table and chair at art school!-exciting!!! Yesterday was our first day at the art school..It is not what i expected, and they were much unorganized, but a lady called Christine made the girls some good ol’ British tea, and me liquorice and mint herbal (tea). YUM! We looked about for a bit and then went for some lunch...we discovered that our the restaurant we go to has free unlimited wifi access, so we make our meals and chocolat last a good few hours, (literally!) and catch up avec emails and the like. Last night i cooked a meal for Chris, Toff, (J), Mary et liiiiiiiiizie! Went really good! They had brought some fleurs pour moi, coupled with the wine i brought to Chris last week that we didn’t drink!!! (hehehe). Played cards, guitar et cetera...while Toff corrected my French writing...he also informed me that i made a rather embarrassing mistake when texting him in French. I asked him if he was “excite” about Monday...he wrote back a message, at the end of which he wrote “what do you mean excite” –now....until last night, I have always used the French word “excite” for excited....turns out enthousiaste means excited whilst “excite” means sexually aroused. Hum. Yes....very embarrassing....at least Toff laughed...(and is still talking to me!! J) however...i cringe when i think of all the times i have used “excite” in my everyday French vocabulary...damnit...why don’t they tell you these things at school!!?? Donc...at about 12am we decided to drive up to the cliff point again...the city was just as beautiful as before however Mary et Toff was there too. I climbed down the cliff and found a step to sit on....Toff joined me, and we had an extremely intellectual chat about...ermmm...extremely intellectual topics ;-) ...aka. Most romantic setting dans tout ma vie!

So...today....obviously, went to college and met Patricia....very lovely lady...we then had to sit in front of her third year class and have a little chat with zem...turns out, next week we have to give a discussion about French and English politics...wait for it...in FRENCH. Bring it on! This will be really interesting....so...got my space sorted dans le college now...so just need to make some profound work. Beautiful, (‘Bootiful’). So....meeting Kevin and Simon (finalement) c’est soir, at about 10ish....should be good! -at the Irish pub methinks! Oh.....i am meeting with Toff tomorrow night to see new places!! J je suis tres enthousiaste! (hehehe!!)
Ok....once again I have been really bad and neglected my blog.....donc...Wednesday...had a crit today...lasted two hours with about 20 of us...could understand most things...AND I even spoke...everyone laughed at my accent...but im trying!! Oh yes...met Chris/Toff tonight...we met a la Irish pub and went for a long walk along the river seine. It was beautiful. –just like a film!! There are nine bridges in Rouen but we didn’t walk that far....it got to about 9pm and we decided to go to boite a biere, the beer pub we all love...which happens to be Chris’ favourite too...hummm...anyway...the bar staff actually greeted me with a kiss. (not sutre if this is a good or bad thing...turns out they are also friends of Toff’s so its ok-he doesn’t think I’m an alcoholic...although we do all have a running joke that Mary lives above the sex shop in town. Oh lala!!) Anyway... have a really nice beer called Barbra...it gets to 11pm and we are now rather hungry, (I’m pretty drunk on one beer as I haven’t eaten depuis breakfast!!eeeek!!) donc. I cook some dinner and we teach each other new French/English words...... Ce tout. J
Alors...Thursday...met the girlies a la fountain and we march off to school...we hung around in my studio space doing art, bien sur, and then went to a lecture....i actually fell asleep, for about an hour or so...no offence to the speaker...but I just hadn’t slept for the last 48 hours! French people don’t sleep very much....alors...Thursday night...one of our new art friends rang when Mary an lizz were over...they decided they would like to join us. Alors...20 mins later Abib arrives avec Lauraine et some other guy holding a bottle of whisky. Hummm...interesting. One of my neibours is having a party up in her apartment. (ive never met the girl before), and Abib decides we should invite ourselves to said party. (oh dear.) so...Abibs strange friends starts talking about le coca...asking if we wanted some...Mary and lizz chime, “oui, oui, oui” accompanied with a really enthusiastic nod. It is at this point where i decide to step in....girls...the French word ‘Coca’ is not Coca Cola........yes...Lizz reacts with lightening speed...”ah, non, non, non,”!!! and Mary affirms this by just walking out the room to hide in the toilet. Great. There are druggies in my flat- luckily, they lost interest in the idea of doing drugs and decided we should all go to my neibours party. Donc, we head up the stairs and spend a couple of really random hours with complete strangers...ahh....student life.

Friday...Patricia has arranged for us all to go and help the second years put up and art exhibition...we catch the bus (pour le premier fois), avec Marina and head to the exhibition space...we get back to Rouen and head for one of our cafes pres de la school of fine art, (where le chocolat tastes like powder paint). YUM! Anyway...we get back to mine, finalement. Chris/Toff rings and we decide to go and meet them for a coffee...they troop round to mine and a few mins later we head to a swanky petit cafe for le chocolat...mmmmmmmmmmmm....soon...we are back in my flat, avec the girls, and i paint Mary’s nails, whilst waiting for the roast dinner to cook. We start to watch Edward scissor hands and the girls fall asleep....not overly interesting, je sais. But anyway... good night Rouen!!
Donc...have LOADS to tell you...SO....today is Saturday....went a la flunch...very nice...and then we all trooped to the laundrette...all being Lizz, Mary Hannah and Myself...armed avec copious amounts of washing, French text books and a guitar. We have all decided, the best way to ward off all the ‘Hamid’s’ type is to take over the entire laundrette... climb to the top of the very tallest tumble drier holding up our (clean) union jack thongs...(hum...ok...not quite like that...) We didn’t go as far as to sing ‘Rule Britannia’ but we did line the door with Arial non-bio...(think brick dust, in film ‘Skeleton key’...)...anyway...a guitar can make for a very threatening weapon...

Saturday night....we met with Kevin and Simon who’s mate was doing a comedy act in a pub the other side of the city. It was hilarious. (i think), and we all laughed in all the right places...i hope my laugh wasn’t too English! Yes...apres we walked with the lads to a Cuban bar...two floors underground. Simon brought us all a glass, (yes, glass!!), of rum each....Mary didn’t realise that you were suppose sip from the tumbler and not down it in one so...i was left to sip said drink on my own...Anyway...met a loads of Americans and spoke in French with them. Weird, i know....but i shall say no more...So...the bars starting to close so we head to a club called Kiosk and dance the rest of the morning away till about 5am...at which point we venture to Kevin’s house...sing, play guitar, keyboard, drink le chocolat and arrive back at mine at 7.10am. What.a.night.

So Sunday...end of week three...as you can imagine I slept most of the day...cleaned the house and cooked dinner for Chris dans le soir...we listened to bob Marley, and spoke about the cultural differences between different cultures! Oh..i have a French dictionary now... which has come in handy several times...i think when i return to England i will be able to describe every English word in the dictionary...its actually quite hard to explain what exactly a pole is without knowing the French for it. I now have a note book filled with lots of corrections from the dodgy French messages i have sent and LOADS of doodles...think Pictionary styly! Anyway...roll on week four! (Week FOUR!? Arrrrrgh!!)