FinnishSimon

Last blog! Holy cow, how did we get here? Has it really been a year already? No, not really, just 11 months (11 months and 6 days, actually, but who's counting?). Tomorrow morning I'll be loading my life into the back of the car, at the break of dawn (so around 8 o'clockish), then it's off to nice train station and goodbye France.
Two days of travel later and I'll be finding myself in Brisbane airport, 8h30ish in the morning, tired, scarfed, a bit cranky, but happy to be back and able to breath air at sea level again. Oh! That reminds me, the World Tour of International Airports and Various Train Stations has had a venue change from Bangkok to Singapore, due to recent events.
That's if the tour even kicks off, by the way. The thai coup d'état is about the 4th thing that could go wrong during the tour. Others include:
1. The car not starting due to un-treated diesel in the tank freezing over
2. A general strike at SNCF, meaning all TGVs being cancelled, and,
3. Snow at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport stopping planes from taking off.
Let's all cross our fingers, eh?

Also, the wings may fall off this Qantas plane too...

2nd Last Thursday

Hey guess what? I've only got one Thursday left! That's crazy. This year went so quick... Here's what happened on my second last Thursday:
Grève National d'Education. All the teachers were on strike today, except, of course, my maths and history teachers (yippee!). So, as you can imagine, I had a busy two hour day today. It started with maths at 11, so I thought that it might be fun to go to school on bike (like back in the good ole' days): I was horribly wrong. I'm not sure if I've ranted on enough about that bike, but damn! It has become impossible to ride! The wheels are more than just buckled, they're loose or something; which does have the hidden advantage of turning without moving the handle-bars, but nothing else. There is a leak in the front tyre that I cannot find. The brakes don't work - they actually don't work. You'd think that that would worry me, but, thanks to those crazy wheels, brakeable speeds are unachieveable; to stop suddenly, I just take my feet off the pedals. I'm not crazy about the gears either. Suffice to say, THAT will definitely be my last bike ride with this bike. Hey, I gave this bike a chance (I rode it all the way to Le Pont Du Gard), but it just doesn't wanna play ball!
Anyway, got a bit off track didn't we? Yes, school, we were 7 in maths and 10 in history out of classes of 19 and 33, respectively. And no, I wasn't the only person eating à la cantine. Then, for the rest of the afternoon (we found a bit of spare time between classes, believe it or not) we all played Taboo! and went on the internet in the library.
Oh and the strike? Same reason as last time, teachers losing their jobs and other teachers having to pick up their hours. Except now, they want to get rid of economics class - something that's not going down so well with the economics teachers.

World Tour of International Airports and Various Train Stations

Attention all fans, Simon Kyme will soon be coming to you!
Mr Kyme will soon be embarking on a World Tour and will be visiting (ever so briefly) the following cities:

Nimes (catching the TGV) - December 2nd, 08h53
Paris (flying out from CDG) - December 2nd 19h20
London (flying out from Heathrow) - December 2nd 21h45
Bangkok (exclusive stop-over walk of the airport) - Some time between December 2nd and 4th
Sydney (flying out from Kingsford Smith) - December 4th 08h05
Brisbane (Final Destination) - Arriving at 08h35, December 4th

Mr Kyme hopes to see as many friends, family members and well-wishers as possible on his up coming World Tour of International Airports and Various Train Stations. The tour will cross 10 World Time Zones and cover over 19000 kilometres. Mr Kyme wishes you all well & hopes to see you during the tour.

The Ski Trip

This Sunday my host sister and I went up to the mountains to enjoy a spot of early november skiing. It has been a particularly cold autumn in France, and as a result, there's quite a bit of snow already up on the mountains. Anyway, we thought we'd head up to Les Deux Alpes ski station, about a 1 hour drive from her apartment in Grenoble. I found out I was invited on the Saturday afternoon (and she was planning on driving up to Grenoble that evening). After a mad rush I had my bag packed and we were on the road! We stayed the night in her apartment Saturday.
Completing the journey Sunday morning was a bit of a drama (just a bit), we didn't have a map - just a list of directions from Mappy.fr. A really good list of directions, mind you, that had me completely lost! Anyway, 2 hours and several arguments later we arrive at our destination: the snow! First stop, hire myself some skis. I went to the first hire shop I saw open and ask to hire a pair. He said no. The guy didn't want to hire skis to me. He went on to explain that the station was, in fact, closed - due to high wind.

A Sunday Afternoon Blog

Today it's been cloudy, raining and, most of all, cold. We actually had a mid-autumn heatwave this week (26°, yay!), I was gutted when i woke up and saw clouds this morning.
So I watched the Desperate Housewives episodes I missed last Thursday night. Two episodes are shown back to back once a week. It's the same with all shows on French TV, Doctor Who (2 eps back to back on France4), Torchwood (3 eps back to back on NRJ12 - although not in order), CSI (3 eps back to back on TF1 - not all 3 eps necessarily from the same season), The worst week of my life (2 eps back to back daily - I saw the whole 7 episode series twice in the same week). The absolute winner has to be Friends, on about 3 different channels anywhere from 4 to 8 episode doses - back to back. Pretty sweet deal, French telly.
I've put some more photos up on Picasa - you should be able to get a closer look at them by clicking on the newer slideshow box on the right (the one under 'The Snow')
The photos are a few of my faves from the trip to Paris, Cabannes, Athens, Thessaloniki and Naxos. Enjoy

The One About Badminton

Unplug your phones, lock your doors and ignore the cats, it's Thursday today and that means only one thing here in France: Desperate Housewives night on Canal+ (C'est la saison 4 Simon!) Now, normally I would love to sit around and watch the plight of Wisteria Lane's finest; however for me, and a few others, Thursday night is Badminton Night.
There's a bit of a story behind this (not really, just filling up space), Karim, the German exchange student who left last June, kept telling me that I should find a sport to get involved with. He told that doing a sport outside of school helped him with his french, he made new friends, kept fit, got him out of the house, and the list goes on. He had even offered to help me find a sport! I figured what the hell, couldn't hurt right? So he told me he'd put together a list of the sports available in Uzès. He showed me the list and asked me if I'd like to try any of the sports. I told him rugby. Hey, everyone over here has already decided that I'm a champion rugby player back in Oz, despite my multiple (yet feeble) objections. Anyway, he told me he'd find out when I'd be able to start. A couple of weeks go by. He comes up to me and admits that he hasn't found out about the club. I tell him "No worries" (afterall, I'm not really a rugby champion - I don't even like rugby). So at this point I forget about rugby and sport altogether, right up until a couple of weeks ago (the week before I went to England to be precise - a blog I have been meaning to write by the way...) when a friend of mine was talking about her badminton club. The rest is pretty straight forward.
So here's the rest of the blog: Now Monday and Thursday nights I practise badminton from 7:30 'til 10 (it's not that long, the time just flies by). It's good fun and energetic! Except the Tuesday night session, which is just training for those serious folk. I avoid Tuesday's session for that very reason. Hey, I don't need training - don't you listen to people? I'm a rugby champion, I'll pick badminton up like that!

The Long Awaited Return

This just in, hot off the presses, straight outta the horse's mouth my return date is set: Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008. I'll be catching a plane from Paris (CDG I imagine) to London and then a long flight from London to Sydney, with a stop over in Bangkok (my second visit to everybody's favourite canvass roofed airport) then a leasurely city-hop to Brisbane. We haven't been given definite itineraries yet (not sure how I'll be getting TO Paris in the first place - EF wants to keep up the suspense!) but, given the long flight duration, time difference, scheduled flights etc... (EF flies exclusively with British Airways and QANTAS - that's what they told me anyway) I estimate an arrival time some time after 08:35 (local time) at the Brisbane domestic airport on the morning of Thursday the 4th. See you there!

Guardian of the Flame

A warm bonjour to all readers, how are we all? Hope things are heating up back in Oz as they are certainly cooling down back here in France! From lovely mid-30 degree summer days not (too much) more than a month ago to top temperatures of 22. And that's if the sun comes out...
It's started snowing more regularly in the French Alps, and at lower altitudes.
I've cracked out the winter gear and have started layering again.
Suffice it to say it is getting cold again. It came early this year, at least that's what everyone has been assuring me (it isn't really that assuring).
After freezing off our little French behinds, we decided that it was time to light the chimney. Yay! It's a brilliant idea to have a fire in you house, in a strictly non-destructive capacity of course. Since everyone went off to work this afternoon, and I was home alone (teacher strike, don't ask), they made me Guardian of the Flame. That just means putting more logs on, but hey, we don't have a fireplace at home, so this job, this mission if you like, is something really special. Plus, in french 'Gardien du feu' is a play on words (although only for those of us who live in the number 30). 10 points to who works it out.

The Summer I Enjoyed

Hello and welcome to the blog. By golly it's been a while! I've had a rip-roaring summer (do we still say rip-roaring? I believe the Spanish would say muy animado) Anyway, bit of a summary:

• My holidays actually started around June 16. School only just re-commenced this Wednesday, which means I enjoyed a generous 12 week holiday. In France there are actually more school holidays than in any other EU country (however, french students, on average, spend more hours at school during the week than other EU students... Pick your battles kids!)
• That week I went on a day trip to Montpellier, bought some sunnies and hired a bike for the afternoon. I had lunch with a duck that day too.
• My host father (who is a pilot for fun) took me on a tour of the region in a snazzy little jet. I wasn't even a little nervous. Nope. Not at all. It was a hot day, that's why I was sweating so profusely...
• June 27th went to Paris, met up with (half) the family (they came all the way out from Oz, did I mention that?) at CDG airport. We hung out in Paris for a week, doing the whole "tourist thing" Thoroughly enjoyed it I might add...
• July 3rd we trained it down to the south of France (my domain, as I've come to think of it) where we hired a car, met up with Irene (my fairy Godmother) and hung out chez Anke in Cabannes, just outside of Avignon. We also did the tourist thing down in the south too.
• Then we headed out to Greece (via London, it was 12° and drizzly, in the middle of JULY, their summer) Loitered around Athens for a few days, saw the Acropolis (thats the Parthenon, not to be confused with the fiery horsemen thing...) and then headed out to Naxos island, in the Cyclades. We stayed there for a week then Michael and Mum had to go home back to Australia. I stayed longer in Greece (wouldn't you? comment now!)
  
• Watched the Doctor Who season 4 finale, as it happened on YouTube (hey I thought it was worth a mention - Davros was back!)
  
• After travelling a bit through Greece (destinations including, but not limited to: Ptolemaida, Plati and Thessaloniki) I had to come back to France. Imagine that moment at the airport "oh, I don't wanna go back to FRANCE! I wanna stay here in GREECE" It wasn't all bad, I got to hang in Fiumicino for the afternoon as I waited in between flights (Fiumicino in Italy, I've gone to Italy again!)
• When I got back to France I discovered it was the Summer fête votive season. Basically big town parties, one town at a time, and exclusive to this region in the south. I also piloted a boat (are boats piloted? If they are, then I did)
• Then we all headed up to the mountains, to do some good old fashioned 4x4 in the brand new Hybrid Lexus with Regular Road Tyres. It was cold as Hell (again, nothing Biblical, there is a town in Norway called Hell. The mercury there regularly drops below -20: this means in Winter, Hell literally freezes over) up there, at the top of St Martin De Belleville it was 8° and foggy... Brrrr! The mountains were actually quite spectacular in summer, even without snow (although the tops of the taller mountains actually have snow all year round, such as Val Thorens and Mont Blanc. The latter peak has an altitude of over 4800 m, sorry Kosciusko)
  
• And to top it all off I thought I'd ride my recently repared push bike to the Pont Du Gard, a mean 30 km ride. Watch out for me in Le Tour De France next year...

Oooh! Dot points! Love m'dot points. That about does it for now I think, best not to over do it in one go. I'll try to post some more details up later on (and some piccys) and I WILL send another e-mail, I swear. Those "what happened to those Travel Newsletters" comments are REALLY starting to pile up ;)
FrenchSimon Out.

Oh, and Happy Fathers Day!

Travel Newsletter

This post was originally an email I sent to family and friends twice by accident. You too could receive two accidental emails, scroll down to the bottom of this post to find out how to get on this rich list.

You'll never guess what happened at school again, the Blocus. I brought my camera to take photos this time, but it was less spectacular. I was rather disappointed. What had actually happened was that Thursday was actually a teacher's strike which we were warned about well in advance so that people could stay at home. This makes the Blocus redundant and explains why nobody's quite sure why it happened in the first place. So anyway, this made me think about some of the differences between high school students in Australia and in France, how French students have the right to strike and protest and stuff like that. This is what I came up with:

1. French students don't have to wear a uniform to school:

• Upside: They don't have to muck about trying to find their tie and can concentrate on getting to that crazy 8 o'clock class
• Downside: Much more awkward if you and your best mate rock up to class and realise that you're wearing the same outfit; it's also much more difficult to get away with wearing the same thing everyday

2. French students are only assessed by exams:

• Upside: With a school day that lasts from 8 am and goes until 5:30 pm, they don't have much time to research, draft and edit assignments for the 9 or so subjects they take
  
• Downside: Exams create a stressful environment that's not great for student well-being; a lack of independent study tasks can't be great either.
  

3. The canteen here offers a hot, three course meal for lunch for only aorund 4€:

• Upside: Students can enjoy a hot, three course meal for lunch (during their one and a half hour break)
• Downside: I can't really think of one, except that it costs 4€, but it's oh so convenient
  

4. Stress: There's no difference here, everybody stresses. I know it's easy for me to say this, because I've already finished high school, but everybody needs to just chill out. Whatever happens, happens. Just do your best and have fun. Although, chilling out and having fun will not let your best be higher than a 7.

Another funny thing happened at school the other day; this group of people came into the school and started playing music and getting people to dance. I figured it must be a traditional thing, so I got up and danced too. It was harder than it looked but I didn't step on anybody's toes, so I was happy (and so were they, I was wearing Blundstones). Although I just did one dance and left (they didn't ask me to stay and do another), there were people performing all lunchtime. It was one of those nice, unexpected things that only happen in France and only when I don't have a camera.

The weather here has been grey and rainy recently in France, which is fine for me, I knew it was going to be grey and rainy the whole time in Europe, but it makes most people cranky. It's not all bad news though, with summer just around the corner (scheduled to commence June 21), things are sure to heat up and replace these pesky clouds with the scorching Mediterranean sun. We do get some nice days though and I have taken some photos to prove it. There are a lot of flowers growing around this place, I'll attach some photos to prove that too.

Oh, and I thought I'd better mention this: please forward this on to people who may find it interesting (like you good people who are reading the blog). Don't get me wrong, reading the blog is great, but you could be receiving the email, with pictures! Email me here to get on the list at emyk.nomis@gmail.com

The Cake I Baked

Hello everyone, today I baked a cake. Yup, a cake. Me. Baked one. Here's the recipe if you want it:

semolina cake recipe:

3 cups semolina
1 cup sugar
1 tbs baking powder
4 oz or 125 grams butter
2 cups milk
4 oz nuts

combine dry ingredients
melt butter and cool before adding
mix well and stir in milk
pour into greased cake tin
bake for 30 to 40 mins at 350 degrees...or until cooked through...test it with a knife
while hot, pour syrup over slowly so it spreads through

SYRUP:
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 tbs lemon juice
heat over low heat....

If there's any problems with the recipe, consult my mother (that's not some sort of insult, she's the one who gave me the recipe). Here are some problems you may run into, you may find that 350 degrees is hot enough to burn the outside edge of the cake and leave the middle uncooked. That's what started happening to my cake, but I caught it in time and turned it down to 250 instead. It worked out for me. Anyway, getting all the ingredients together was a bit of a nightmare. First of all, my host family didn't have any semolina in their house, or a lot of sugar, so I had to buy that stuff. And nuts too. If you can, get nuts that are already crushed into itty-bitty pieces, this will make things much easier. I didn't and so I had to crush my own nuts and that was a whole other thing. I ended up using a baking tray and a jar of pasta sauce. If only I had had a sonic screwdriver to cheat my way out of that situation... So I had to walk to the shops to buy that stuff. I didn't mind the walk, but it's getting a bit hot these days. Poor me, suffering in this hot French weather. So I get to the shop and try and buy the stuff and there's a 15€ minimum for eftpos. I think that's too much. Who spends 15€ at the local shop? Certainly not me. She didn't give me a bag either. It didn't get much better after that, I misunderestimated the sheer volume of mixture that 3 cups semolina, 1 cup sugar, 1 tbs baking powder, 4 oz or 125 grams butter, 2 cups milk, 4 oz nuts makes and had to keep changing mixing bowls. Also had to keep changing cake tins too. Syrup went perfectly though, no complaints there. Feel free to add a little bit more lemon into the syrup mix, to make it just that little bit more tangy. Well I'd better go, I need to hide before my host family sees the mess I left for them in the kitchen...
I'm kidding, there's no good spots to hide in this house anyway.

Travel Newsletter

This was originally a group e-mail I sent out, it had pictures and was very nice. If you would like to be on the list, there are instructions on how to join up at the bottom of the blog.

The month of April, busy busy. The only month this year that I haven't gone skiing! But I went to other places like Avignon, Toulon, an old preserved town you aren't allowed to drive in and my host family's private olive tree patch. And also I got some photos of their second house, the one they're doing up. Apparently it was the old post office at Sernhac, now it's a home in the making. But by far the most exciting thing that happened was the Blocus at school.

• A Blocus does exactly what it says on the tin, all the students get together and block up the entrances to the school, then they protest

• This time the Blocus was about the president's new education reforms which will result in teachers losing their jobs and class sizes going through the roof

• During Blocus instead of going to class the students march down to town hall and demand a room to speak with the mayor (I think that's the go, everyone was shouting so it was hard to tell)
  

• When that didn't happen they stood out front and made a lot of noise for a couple of hours

The Blocus, although quite fun, is not quite as effective as calling up channel 7 (although it seems most of the media are already supporting the students and teachers on this one). I didn't bring my camera to the Blocus, and so I haven't got any proof that it actually happened, you'll just have to trust me on that. I did take some pictures with my phone but they're all small and blurry and I can't figure out how to connect my phone to the computer to get them out... The Blocus was pretty good though, as far as stiking students go they put on a pretty good show. However French students have the right to protest when they're unhappy about changes. It's not just the students either, everybody does a lot of striking over here in France.

Next on the list, Avignon, lots of fun! Just a day trip, so I couldn't do everything, but I tried all the same. First we were just walking around a bit, went to a few shops, then in the afternoon we went on a tour of an old castle. My host mum knew the director so we got admission, audio guides and parking for free. Pretty sweet deal. Anyway, this place was commissioned by popes hundreds of years ago and was actually where they lived (at least when they were in France anyway). It was pretty impressive. I won't bore you with the history lesson; I'll just attach a few pics.

Toulon though was lots of fun and I didn't learn any history. Another day trip, this time mostly by myself (my host dad gave me a lift in, he had a work conference). I started by just walking around, but I eventually bought a map (I later received 2 FREE maps from the tourist info place). I went to the market, it was mostly fruit and veggies. There was a boat tour of the port. That was good fun, I saw all the military ships docked there and some other cool stuff too. Then in the afternoon I just walked around a bit and hung out in a park. Oh, and I went to the beach too. Picturesque.

Now, the private olive tree patch was pretty cool. A couple of weekends ago we all went up there to dig out and replat some of the trees. Sounds like a lot of work but my host dad knows someone who owns some big heavy earth moving machines, it was a bit over kill but fun to watch (when I say big heavy machines I really mean it, when they were driving the machines to the olive trees one of the trucks broke the little road and they spent the entire morning recovering it). That was lots of fun, but I forgot to bring my camera so no pics of the machines in action, althoughi do have some pics of the olive trees being burnt.

Anyway that's it from me. They've gotten rid of the virus on the computer so hopefully I'll be able to post more blogs, so keep checking back. If you would like to get on the mailing list and receive Si-Mail straight to your inbox when it comes out (it's not that often, believe me) then e-mail me at emyk.nomis@gmail.com or here and you'll be on the list quicker than I can write the next blog.

Travel Newsletter

This post was originally a group e-mail I sent out to family and friends to tell them about my French trip, here it's just filling up space.

Hello everyone!
Here's an update since the last travel newsletter; I've gone skiing not once but twice, I went to Marseille and also got a haircut. Now the latter might not seem like much (my wallet doesn't think so, at a cool 12,50€), but there were a few subtle differences:

• The sheet thing they cover you up with (to stop hair getting on you) had arm holes, so I could put my arms through and wave them about
• This guy was absolutely nuts with the scissors, he was just choppin' and choppin', I was worried he going to lop an ear off
• The actual salon was tiny, although still very trendy (it had a water feature, it was pretty cool)
• He didn't accept cards, so I had to duck out and run around to try and find an ATM after he had cut my hair
  

If you read that and you're thinking "all hairdressers are like that" then remember that when it comes to getting my hair done, I don't get out much. Anyway I thought I'd better get a haircut because the weather here is hotting up, unfortunately that means there are less and less opportunities to wear the Doctor Who scarf (Mum, you'll be happy to know that I have received lots of compliments about the scarf). Still on the weather; I don't know if you've seen it on the News but there has been some wild weather up here in Europe. High seas, strong winds; Spain's been put on Red alert and several other countries have been put on Orange alert. It's pretty intense, there have been big cargo ships washing up on beaches and stuff (today one of them broke in half, spilling nasty stuff into the water). The weather here in Saint Quentin hasn't been so bad, it's been a bit gloomy and rainy the last couple of days and last week was very very windy (prompting questions like "do you get much wind in Australia?"), but today was pretty good; warm and sunny, 18°.

Anyway, the snow (where it's certainly not 18°) was absolutely great. French Alps kick ass. About 2 weeks ago my host family took me skiing during the 2nd week of the holidays. We stayed at their ski chalet up in the mountains about 10 mins away from the nearest skiing area at the town of St Martin De Belleville. It's part of the 3 Valleys ski resort (which is the largest ski resort in the world, right here in France imagine that!) but we didn't stick around there to ski because the snow wasn't very good (there was more snow there than I had ever seen in my life!). We skied across to the next town, Les Menuires, and the mountain opposite it, La Masse. We went skiing pretty much everyday (but only in the afternoons because we were on holidays and couldn't be bothered getting up early and also one day we finished early because of bad weather) and everyone thought my skiing abilities were really good; which I can only blame on Matt and Josh on Ski Trip '07, pushing me to the extremes (you daredevils you).

I'll put full details of the ski trips (the one with the family and the one earlier with the school) up on the blog you're currently reading at www.you're already reading the blog.com at some time in the near future (you can also read about my trip to Marseille, available exclusively if you scroll down).

Bisous, Simon.

Marseille

Ok well here's the deal, I went to Marseille last Wednesday (the 13th). I know what you're all thinking and yes, school was on that day but I wasn't really missing out on much. They were doing some big exam thing for half the day anyway, and my friends seemed pretty impressed I was taking a day off to go to Marseille (something I'm not sure I should worry about or not).
There were supposed to be other Australians going (the same ones from the culture camp) and we'd all organised to meet there and hang out for the day but unfortunately none of them could make it. So, I ended up going to Marseille and hanging around for an entire day by myself. (It sounds like a good deal, but I found out the following day that Marseille has a really high crime-rate - and I'd just wandered around there for an entire day wearing my incredibly noticeable Doctor Who scarf!)
Well you'll be pleased to know that I didn't let this stop me from having fun. When I got off the bus in Nimes (I had to catch a bus to Nimes to catch a train to Marseille) I walked around and tool some touristy photos (they have their own Colosseum-y thing - this whole area used to be under Roman rule). Then I went on a walking tour of Marseille. I quickly bought a map of place (I got lost quite fast as the walking tour was self-guided and I know nothing about Marseille). During the morning I was just wandering around the streets and I saw this market on the side of the road. They were selling all sorts of things, unfortunately nothing I liked. It wasn't a small market either, it just kept on going and going following this road. But eventually it stopped and so had all the little cafés and restaurants so I had to walk all the way back into town. By the time I'd walked back to (what I assumed was) the centre of town I was hungry so I went to a little restaurant ordered today's plat du jour (which was a lasagne made with a special kind of cheese - and was delish, by the way) and tried to read the map I'd bought. It was freakin' huge. It took me 10 minutes just to find where I was on it. When I did I decided that I'd walk down to the Old Port, then take the Métro back up to the big train station (I couldn't resist taking another train).
So I finished my meal, tipped the waiter 20 euro cents (I didn't really tip him, he just never came back with the change) and headed on down to the Old Port.
When I got there I was totally blown away by how many boats they could fit in that place! Lots. Anyway, then I took the Métro. Buying a ticket was frustrating, to say the least. The ticket vending machine had a wheel you're supposed to spin, I felt like I was playing Wheel of Fortune! (They've also got a French version of Wheel on TV, it seems pretty popular but I'm rubbish at solving the things. And there's a dog too, on the show, he's got a big black spot on his eye. It looks like he's wearing an eye-patch. I call him Patches.) Using the tickets is even harder, they've got the same ticket gates as the ones in Melbourne (those ones that snap shut and eat little children) but the gates shoot your ticket out. It's nuts, I nearly fell over trying to catch mine. It was fun just watching people's tickets fly away though and them chasing after it.
So after taking the Métro and getting back to the big train station I still had some time up my sleeve so I went for a little walk (not too far because I didn't want to lose the station again) and found that there's an arc in Marseille. A great big arc, like the one in Paris but probably not as well respected (I saw 2 dead birds at the arc and the thing smelt of urine). After taking a few photos and doing the whole tourist thing it was time to get back to the train station and go home.
And that is the end of my Marseille adventure.

Travel Newsletter

This was originally an e-mail but I copied and pasted it and now ta-daa! Aren't I clever?

Hello everyone, how are you all? I'm just super. Since the last Travel Newsletter (or Si-Mail, as I like to call them) quite a bit has happened. All of us language and culture camp kids have split up and gone our separate ways to every corner of France, some peoples' families picked them up straight from Nice, others had to fly but most (me included) took the train to their new homes. Here's the facts about the new place:

• it's called Saint Quentin La Poterie
  
• it's a small but very pretty town in the south of the country
• the nearest big town is Nimes, about 40mins drive away (that's where I got off the train)
• I go to school in another town called Uzés, about 5-10mins drive away and about 50mins walk (it's a really nice walk too, if you're ever down this way and interested I recommend it)
• the weather's not so bad, they tell me it gets quite hot in summer

More Facts:
This area is famous for its pottery and there are many people who make pottery here. Like the pharmacies in Nice, there is an abundance of pottery shops in St Quentin.
Thousands of years ago at the height of the Roman Empire, this area was under Roman control. In fact, this area also boasts some of the best preserved Roman building in the world. The famous aqueduct, the Pont du Gard, is very impressive, old and close to home (about 15mins by car). There are also quite a few good Roman buildings in Nimes.
My host family also showed me their second house, they went halves in it with a friend and are doing it up. The house is really old, it was constructed in 1780, before the First Fleet arrived in Oz. That reminds me, this Australia Day I'll be skiing, probably the only time I'll ever be able to ski on Australia Day weekend, how cool is that! (I mean that literally too, I've seen the forecasts and it's going to be quite chilly)

That's about it from me, until next time.

Culture Camp: Day One

First day of culture camp and the four of us who are living together managed to get to the school despite some minor disorientation. We even had a few minutes to spare! At the 'camp' (it's really more of a school) we all undertook a language assessment test (my results came back negative - phew!) then we had some free time around Nice. First stop was the beach to soak in some French
atmosphere and get to know one another. Then we split into a couple of groups and just bummed around the shops. Afterwards EF shouted us lunch at a trendy-looking (and rather inexpensive) café. By this stage I was so hungry I ate a horse burger. The dessert was fantastic, mine was a sort of melted chocolate on top of an incredibly rich pastry base. Then we had a tour of Nice.
We walked all through Old Nice (which is where all the trendy pubs and bars are and where we would eventually hang out every night) and saw the flower market, where they had some very impressive flower arrangements (starting from €10!). Then we climbed a hill to get a better view of Nice, which is not an easy task to accomplish in full sun wearing a 4m scarf! (But the view was more than worth it, some of my photos look like they came from postcards!) There was a small waterfall and the ruins of an ancient church at the top of the hill (the church dated back to the 11th century and it blew my mind). There was also a cemetary at the top of the hill and we all went in for a look (one of the girls was looking for the grave of a famous artist who apparently designed his own tombstone). Some of the graves were very big and expensive-looking but unfortunately we had to leave tout de suite because it was nearly closing time (and there was no way I was getting locked in a cemetary overnight). After we watched the sun set we all went our separate ways back to our Nice families for an early night, the next day we were going to Monaco!

Arrival in Nice

I arrived in Nice on the 27th by plane (did not complete the journey by train). It was the climax to a gruelling 24 hour (or so) trek and it was incredible! Flying over the "Baye des Anges" was spectacular, as was the view of the snow-capped alps, which were not too far in the distance. Here's a bit of trivia I learned from our driver: the 'baye des anges' is so-called because of the species of shark (Requin en Français) which inhabited the bay. Although 'infested' may be a more appropriate term, considering the tone used by our driver. Driving in France is also a very different game. They drive on the right side of the road, there are many more scooters and smaller vehicles than in Australia and the drivers are far more aggressive - even to pedestrians. When crossing the road in France, ensure you look both ways before you cross - even if you have the green man - because the drivers do not stop for you! Parking is also a big problem in Nice's narrow one-way streets, with many drivers opting to simply double-park in the middle of the street (and turning on their hazard lights) or simply parking on the available footpath space, usually on a street mall! Another feature of Nice's malls are the sheer number of pharmacies, they are absolutely everywhere. There are so many in fact, that in some places in Nice a 'Pharmacie' will never disappear from view. The beaches of Nice look lovely, although the lovely golden sand we are accustomed to is replaced by pebbles. I think it's a welcome change (sand just gets annoying sometimes, non?) however the water is not terribly inviting, as the daytime temp out of the water is around 12°! But it's lovely and warm in the sun though, especially when wearing a 4 metre long Doctor Who scarf! Most of the shops sell either shoes, handbags, fashionable clothing or lingere; with a few souvenir shops and mobile phone dealerships thrown in the mix aswell. The prices in the shops are very expensive. I swear they've just taken aussie prices and slapped a euro sign in front; this is a common discussion point with the language and culture camp kids. (It really is expensive though, a hot chocolate will set you back around €3,50; equivalent to around AUD$7!) This segue brings us to the language and culture camp, conducted by the EF International Language School, 21 Rue Meyerbeer, Nice. It's a nice place, currently undergoing renovations, and it's fairly central and not too far from where I am staying. There are a bunch of kids also attending from all around Australia, a few from New Zealand and one girl from Canada. They're an interesting mix of travellers and I'm trying to get to know each of them during this short camp.