Nimes at night

So my Sicilian housemate's parents came over and can I say...all my preconceived notions came true last night. Hand gestures, shouting, cooking and shoving pasta in my mouth was the order of the evening.

After Stefs mom asked me in her VERY Italian accent 'vat iz your nameh' (I had to stop myself from pulling on her cheeks and making goo goo baby noises), I came to the realisation that I am having a truly international experience.

After a fun filled dinner we decided to tour the city at 10pm...this was OBVIOUSLY not my idea, but who am I to turn down a night out on the town ?

So we all jumped into the rental and headed into town. Below is some of the pics I snapped last night :)

To add to the adventures, someone is lending me a bicycle so I can take salsa lessons on a Wednesday night. So..I'll be on a bike..on the Nimoise roads *eek*!!!

I'll definitely be practicing before I unleash my lawless, Trinidadian ways onto the general public :/

Au Grau Du Roi and Aigues Mortes

Who say day trip!

The day started off pretty muggy and grey ( I think i have already forgotten that I'm in Europe) but I ended up getting sunburnt yesterday (but being in the European south has its advantages!).

I took the euro bus, yes just 1, down to the coast yesterday and did a fair promenade around the sleepy city of Le Grau du Roi. I even sat on the pier and ate an ice cream while I watched a man fish! Yes...that sleepy lol. I then took a chance to go see a village that I passed on the way to Le Grau. Aigues Mortes features a MASSIVE fort with turrets and watch towers,but inside, there's a whole city to discover!

So here are a few pictures

Where Hi 5's bank

So yesterday I was charged with the task of setting up a bank account.

All by my lonesome.

So there I was. Little old me, rambling around in the town of Nimes amongst people who did not speak a lick of English or thought they did (au contraire!).

From previous research, 2 banks seemed pretty easy to set up accounts with for language assistants as we need something cheap and something which does not require a whole lot of paperwork. The two winners were:

Crédit agricole
La Poste

La poste featured a welcome webpage in English as well as offered to sign you up without setting up an appointment.

La Poste won hands down.

So here we are at 2.15 pm as I sit in front of l'employée. Elle s'appelle Nadine. Et elle ne sais pas Anglais. Introduce me. I know about 20 proper french sentences. So here we go...

For an hour, amidst much gesticulation, hand shakes, writing on scraps of paper and eventually sharing hi5s when she found the correct English word and I found the correct french word, I got my bank account open.

Apparently La Poste is the slowest bank, but say what, it is the friendliest. I now have an open invitation to come on Mondays to chat with Nadine in English.

Atta girl .

To add to the upside, one of my newly discovered jazz singers is in town ! Gregory Porter ! (Thanks for the introduction uncle Colin ! ). So I'll definitely be hitting that on the 21st.

My schedule seems to be heating up. And not with work surprisingly.

I have a salsa class, a volleyball lesson , a cinema invitation, a bull fight the next day and this jazz fest all in the coming weeks.

I love you Nimes !

Tomorrow. Je vais voyager au Grau du Roi !

À jeudi!

Avec les photos!

Day 1! 5 hour dinners, alligators and palm trees

My first full day in Nimes ! It was here and ended in the blink of an eye :(

My day started pretty early considering I stumbled in a tad bit drunk from having dinner at one of the teacher's houses. 7.30am I was up and ready to attack the day. What did I do you ask ? I did what any Caribbean person would do when they find themselves living in new lodgings...

I cleaned :)

As far as I know the janitor made a pass with la serpillère but as far as I know, if I or my better half didn't clean it. It's probably not clean. So I cleaned until 10.30am then made my way to the store . Because I mean, in normal countries, things are open in Sunday. Malheureusement, France n'est pas normel. No grocery, not even a bus ! Come on France! Up to the times! Anywhoser all was not lost. I went to the house of another teacher where I was treated to 5 hours of food. Yes. Food. Courses of salad, cold zuchini soup, fish, potatoes, cheese, brioche, grapes were all served over 5 hours like a type of mental and physical torture. But who am I to complain? The sun was hot, the conversation was interesting and the belly was at capacity. So after 5 hours of chewing and chatting we decided to call it quits and head for a walk about of la centre ville. I am now a child of the alligator and palm tree. Walking around Nimes is like walking amongst a quiet , strong and persistent decadance. It's a testament to tradition and culture but shows hints of modernity at unexpected corners. Squares and esplanades littered with sun bathers ( come on it was 28 degrees C!) contributed full heartedly to the effect. My companion was so knowledgeable about the city's history , the quirks of the town are something I now accept and enjoy and somewhat take pride in. Nimes, your waterways, bull fighting arenas and esplanades exude a sort of magic I thought only to exist in books. I was in true tourist mode today. Snapping away at everything hoping to take everything in , but I also came to the realisation that I have 7 months to soak it in and snap it all away. 5 hour dinners, alligators and palm trees. Nimes, yuh win.

En Nimes !

I'm here !!! Finally! After more than 12 hours of train rides, pulling one very heavy suitcase and an absurdly yummy tomate et mozarella sandwich from Paul. I am here.

Nimes is beautiful. And Warm. Can a girl ask for more ? It's sunny and bright and a wonderfully, baskable 27 degrees C and it will be like that all week.

After leaving my aunt and uncle's house at an insane time in the morning (thank you uncle Colin for toting that heavy bag for me ! ), I got to st pancras as the prescribed time of 1 hour before departure.

The eurostar is definitely nothing to write home about. There are seats, there are people, there are plugs. One thing to note is that it seems black people do not travel a lot. On each leg of my journey people either looked at me with slight amusement, confusion or wonder. Lol.

Black people. Get a suitcase. Go see something.

Anywhoser, I arrive in Paris and I have to take the RER D to gare du Lyon to catch my train to nimes. 3 bags, 1 very nice man who gave me directions, and my surprisingly decent french and I'm at the Gare du Lyon an hour before my connection.

Now comes the tricky part. Turn 3 bags into 2. SNCF...forcing people to turn gangster since 1930- something.
Apparently on the SNCF you can only have two bags. Not two bags and a personal back pack or purse, but two BAGS. And my recent sejourns at primarni (aka Primark) made this disappearing act seem dismal.

However , 30 minutes , a change of shoes and laying on my suitcase so it will close and I'm on my way to Nimes..first class baby !!! If I ever have a long haul to make, I'm definitely doing it first class. Peaceful, no stairs, large seats, close bathroom, luggage racks everywhere :)

So I arrive in Nimes and guess what. Marie Ange (who is my person to guide me ) isn't there. She said 5 pm..guess who comes rolling in at 5: 45 like a REAL trini  (not the punctual ones like myself). Anywhoser no love lost . She watered me (wine !! ) , fed me (love how the french do their courses) and packed me up in the flat that I'll be sharing with an Italian girl.  FYI there are 2 spare bedrooms! Visitors are welcome!

So all is well. There are grapes growing on my fence, the sun is shining and I had some macarons for breakfast from Marie Ange. I'm off to see Suzy from Martinique today so more feeding and watering ! :)

Day un !

The Morning After

So its the day and morning after my scholarship interview.

How did it go? I can't say. Questions were asked, answers were given. I know I should have made mention of a few topics but in the end, I did the best I could during the nerve wracking circumstances. So in a few weeks, I'll know how I stacked up against the rest of persons. My only consolation is that one of the interviewers commented 'thank you, that was a very thorough answer'.

But ! The day ended fantastically well. Heading to nottingham to my homie homes dyneshia where there was a scandal marathon sleep over with food! Glorious food !

The Uni has changed in leaps and bounds so I guess the money is running freely ! But overall the day into evening was fabulous.

It's now morning and we are chatting about the NHS, jobs, suicide, food and chavs.

Heading back to london tonight to do a Sprint for Paris in the morning

D-Day

Well, tomorrow is D-day. The day of my scholarship interview.

I'll keep this note short as I'm trying to put my thoughts together so I'll be ready for my panel interview.

How do I feel ?
Scared as hell.

What would this opportunity bring ?
Honestly ? Anything, Everything or absolutely Nothing.
During my last trip home, I felt like it would be the last time seeing Trinidad and Tobago for a while. I really enjoyed being home, but it felt like saying goodbye. It felt as if my life was about to take a huge left turn although I've meticulously planned for the path on the right.

Could this be it? I don't know.

All I know is, is that I'll try my best as I'll only be happy with the outcome once I give my best.

What is to is must is.

My only consolation is that I'm heading to Nottingham to reunite with my peeps and I'm uber excited. But alas, the excitement has been dampened by this impending interview that is happening first thing tomorrow morning.

Ah! Life is meant to be LIVED!

Street Walking and Rambling in Central London

Yesterday, in London, I did a bit of rambling...and streetwalking.

This is my week to relax, decompress and notice the varying shades of green before I head to France into the unknown. It is also my week to prepare for an out of left field interview to Australia!

So with that in mind, I decided to utilise my Monday wisely. By walking aimlessly.

Yes I had errands to do, but, instead of taking the tube and sprinting for doors like the average Londoner, I decided to take a stroll. A pretty long one.

So I walked from Ladbroke Grove, all the way to Notting Hill Gate. Visited the Post Office and the Bank (Trinidad you have LOTS to learn), took a walk through Kensington Gardens where I was greeted by magnificent blue skies and men coated in solid gold sitting on high chairs waving about a match stick.

I also stumbled upon some celebrity gathering. However, as I am not a Brit nor watch British television, the excitement was lost on me. Moving on...

After I passed the two stones rubbing heads, hail, Mighty HAIL came down and I was forced to take cover under some trees with my umbrella. Some minutes into waiting for Mother Nature's display of showwomanism, I see a petite pixie girl running in the hail storm seeking shelter.
Poor thing.
There are a group of us under the trees; some Brits and myself. The Brits look at her with sympathy, I head on over and share my umbrella with her. Only to find out she's a tourist from Norway and does not know the code of travelling in London.

1 Umbrella
1 Oyster Card
1 Hand Sanitizer

Cameras, food, water are all moot when travelling in a tourist town full of coughing, sneezing and acts of rain and hail.
So we both rambled and streetwalked with each other, all the way to Marble Arch station where we said our goodbyes.

I hope she listens to a well travelled young girl from the Caribbean!

Curveball Chronicles part deux

APIA????

Where is that?!

I've always listened to people use that slightly condescending and majorly ignorant phrase to determine where in the Caribbean my island comes from. (Trinidad and Tobago..right about Venezuela. If you don't know where Venezuela is, my patience is not a cup that overrunneth)

But this time the question came from me!

Stretching in my warm bed, with ironed sheets (thanks Aunty Nina!), I began checking my emails at about 8.45am london time when I saw it.

"Blah blah blah..job..blah blah blah..undp..blah blah..Apia"

Whut?

Apia? Runs to Wikipedia. After seeing it is phyiscally smaller than Dominica, with a population of 35,000 and located at the edge of the earth, it looks like a no.

Or..

Does it...

Virtual duplicity - The Curveball Chronicles

"The UCL Australia Santos Scholarships for 2014 Panel met today to consider applications. The ranking was based on academic standing, potential/motivation and quality of the essay. The selection process proved to be very difficult with a large number of high quality applications received from many different countries. 

Having said that we are pleased to advise that you have been shortlisted for interview. "

Uuuh what?? Having forgotten about this school, far less SCHOLARSHIP that I've applied for since May, the news took me for a tailspin. Why you ask?

1. OMG! I am so excited! Masters No. 2!
2. OMG! What am I going to do! The first semester in Australia starts in February!

As my contract in france ends in April. This is a huge  blow to my plans and visions of partying in Croatia in June, Mediterranean Cruises, and overall short pants and tee shirt weather.

But! given the opportunity, you have to prepare.

So, instead of bursting with excitement, gusto, fear for what is to come in France, I have now adopted a reproachful, clinical, persona that is me when there is work to get done.


"To is , is to must to is"

Sigh.

Another one bites the dust! T-2 sleeps!

Well! It's T-2 sleeps!

A lot has happened since I've last visited this space.

Not one, but TWO of the English teachers have contacted me at the school! Talk about a weight off of my shoulders! I have an idea of what materials to bring (specifically; videos, brochures, mp3s or anything about my native Trinidad and Tobago) and a heads up about the particularly cold winters in Nimes (womp womp), but I feel ready!

Ideally, I'd prefer my own space with respect to an apartment, BUT! An apartment with all the trimmings (WiFi, laundry, kitchen space) for Euro270 per month with the possibility of CAF sounds like a great deal for me. Besides, I'm already tired of house hunting and I haven't even gotten to France as yet!

If you did not realize before, I am superbly impatient :)

Based on previous travel experience, I'm heading over with one checked suitcase and one carry on. How do I plan to fit everything into one suitcase? Elementary my dear..just pack the necessities. As it is, I'm unable to fill my one checked suitcase! (My carry on is stuffed to the max weirdly enough :D) But besides some pants, tops, dresses, unmentionables and 2 pairs of shoes, what else do I need? If I've missed something, I'd rather buy it in Nimes rather than lug around a large suitcase from the Eurostar in London, through Paris then onwards to Nimes.

I'm not having that stress.

So, I'm almost packed and we ready for the road!

Au revoir sunny Trinidad!

Alo chilly Nimes! :)

T-11 days!

I am terrified. Certainly and 100% terrified.

Everyday I think why would I immerse myself in a totally different country, a bazillion miles from home, in a country where I'm not overly comfortable with the language? The answer? I'm obviously stupid :(

But! Then I think of the potential adventures I can have with France as the major hub of all of my activities. I think of my friends in Germany, Spain and the UK who can all give me a bed (for free!) and the fact that I can pay 10euro (thanks Ryanair) to go to Morocco versus 10,000TT if I was still at home in Trinidad and Tobago.

I still haven't heard from my teachers at my school at Lycee Philippe Lamour as yet, so I am slightly (ok I'm lying), I'm having a MAJOR freak out session. The only consolation is that I'm glad to be only assigned to 1 school so that I have longer and better contact hours with the students/teachers and hopefully make some friends ...although it is a well known fact that I am slightly antisocial. lol.

so T-11 days, Nimes here I come!