Strasblog Part Six/Seven: Les Vacances

Bonjour! How are we all?

It's been a while since I did my last Strasblog, mainly for the fact that I've been on holiday! Before we get to the excitement of my week off, why don't I recap on what happened in the week before the University break?

In what would have been Part Six of the Strasblog, the week started with a cancelled nine o'clock lecture. Great news one would imagine, but not so great when you only find out about the cancellation on arrival to the building. That's just irritating.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I had perhaps my two most productive days whilst I've been in Strasbourg. I got plenty of work done on my presentation for Regional History and managed to sort out some work for Never Enough Notes (the online magazine I write for, you might have seen a few links on my blog). I felt pretty accomplished after all this, but felt even better about myself when on Wednesday night I discovered I had won a photography competition! Sure the prize of several completely random books (and cooking lessons, which is pretty cool) is a bit crappy, but the recognition of my work put a rather large smile to my face! The picture that won is very similar to the one in Part Three of the Strasblog for those wondering...

I was also reminded this week that I can still be pretty stupid. During football on Tuesday night, from what was essentially a booted clearance, the other keeper amazingly managed to lob and score quite an embarrassing goal against me. Bad times...

I did not go to my lectures on Thursday mainly for the fact that I was packing for holidays, which will now be discussed in Part Seven of the Strasblog!

Last week in France was the first of several week-long breaks in the University year, moulded around the national holiday of Toussaints (or All Saints Day). I decided that I would spend it with my auntie and cousins in Cognac, a small town about an hour away from Bordeaux. For those wondering, it is the home of the drink too. I left on Friday, travelling for six hours across a distance which is about the same as from Strasbourg to my home town near Peterborough. Incredible I know; France is blooming massive!

It's fair to say that I got up to quite a lot in the week I spent there, too much to put everything down in this blog. What I will say though is that I had an absolutely cracking week. I discovered the joys of Cognac and Canada Dry, a gorgeous drink that went down a bit too smoothly at times! I got to see my uncle again for the first time in nearly ten years which was obviously a highlight. I had my haircut for the first time whilst I've been in France, which was incredible (despite my thoughts of terror prior to the appointment) thanks to the massage chair and shampoo treatment! I also saw the new James Bond, completely in French. Coming out of the cinema I was firstly impressed at how good the film was (seriously, go watch it now), then secondly I was impressed at myself for how much I had understood of the near two hour epic. Perhaps my French is coming on...

The best bit about the week is that I felt like I had come to a little corner of England hidden in the countryside of France. My auntie made an incredible roast on Sunday, we watched proper English TV with proper English adverts, and after a hectic month in Strasbourg it was brilliant to relax in a very English atmosphere. The week passed far too quickly, and on returning to my quiet room in a deserted Amitel building I couldn't help but wish I was still there...

Anyway, that's all for now! Look out for Part Eight soon and as always, à plus tard mes copains!

Photo gallery