So as you may have realised, much of my life here is spent socialising. Now, please don’t judge, on ERASMUS we like to think of this as cultural experience rather than ‘socialising’... I have to say that actually, I think this is an accurate description. I thought I’d give you a little insight into why:
· Tacos and a Sunday Roast with Americans
So our American friends decided that they were going to prepare for us (Georgie, Katie and I) some traditional Yankee fare, utilising our kitchen and dining room facilities. This consisted of tacos, fried beans, spicy chicken, tortilla crisps, guacamole, salsa, cheese... everything you can think of. was all very tasty, and I’m sure I ate more than anyone else! It also consisted of about 8 people trying to cook in our relatively small kitchen, whilst not knowing how anything works. Not the calmest of events, albeit very amusing! We drank through the craziness. Yes, we are leading ‘underage’ Americans astray. I find it odd that they are allowed to vote, fight for a country and drive at 18, and yet drinking is a big no-no until 21. Sure, take everyone else’s life into your hands, but not your own! They also think this is an odd thing, but it sure makes them a cheap date, so I’m not going to complain too much. Anyway, the Americans think we’re quite quaint and in turn we find them fascinating, there is a mutual interest in that we all seem incredibly similarly, but totally different. Their education for example: the U.K. and the U.S. systems seem to be completely separate, even at college/university level. Both, however, seem to be more structured than the French system, and we all agreed on that! What a wonderful night of madness!
We confirmed our quaintness when we invited some of them (Christine, Rosalind, Colleen) over for a Sunday Roast. After Rosalind’s birthday breakfast, we headed to the Wazemmes market to buy a chicken. We brought it back and whipped up a feast, including roast potatoes and veg. In wonder, they opened their eyes to the delights of parsnips. It was a beautiful moment for everyone, they are converted.
· Dinner (very late) and drinks (lots) with Italians
Friday night has become our night with the Italians, Virginia, Mathieu and Maurizio (when he turns up...). So the three of us rock on out of the metro about half 8 and head to Virginia and Mathieu’s flat, where we hear the wonderful vocals of Edith Piaf and are welcomed by a table covered in wine, cheese, bread and salad. Very European, I’m sure. We sit down and speak in our terrible French about literature and music whilst Virginia whips up a carbonara – very delicious. The conversation of women and beauty comes up, and it is incredibly refreshing to hear men talk appreciatively of real women, and beauty as something that is increased by character. After dinner Mathieu got out his guitar and the only reason we left was because the last metro was about to leave, and we had finished all the beer...
The next week was our turn. Eliza, a lovely English girl who we have just met, also came round. Maurizio was in Belgium, but French was still the language of choice for the evening. Katie made a very nice coq au vin, and I made a slightly disastrous lemon meringue pie (looked terrible, tasted good!). Not as good as my tarte au chocolat... Anyway, the night was similarly philosophical, jazz in the background (we even played some Pavarotti, very cultured) but I did have to go out in the rain to buy more beer as we managed to get through the first 3 bottles of red and 2 big bottles of beer. Slightly sloshed by the end of the night, but I think it only improves my French, so we can’t judge. Again the metro ended our night early, but it was probably a good thing because I didn’t know where I could find more wine at that time of night!
· English Lessons with the French
As I have said before, the French like their paperwork. So when Katie, Georgie and I decide to go to the CAF to fill out student funding forms, we really jumped right into the deep end. We ended up sat on our table in hysterics because we had absolutely no idea what we were supposed to be doing. However, a lovely French girl called Laurene obviously took pity and decided to help us out. Apparently, Laurene is learning English, and she meets once a month with other people learning English, and would we like to come along? Sure, why not. So on Wednesday we get the metro out to the middle of nowhere, and Laurene meets us at the station. Then we walk to her flat – through a very dark, very deserted block of flats, then behind a dark stadium... until we reach her front door, and actually it was very nice (inside!) I left behind my slight panic and wandered in to be greeted with kisses by lots of people. It was all very chilled out. Some of their English was better than others, but they all spoke better English than our French. Generally, we tried to reply in French, so we were all practising. It seems the French impression of the English (particularly the students) is that we like to drink and party. Probably relatively accurate. It was all going very well, they said I had a good accent and spoke nice and fast. Although on leaving, we were saying ‘merci beaucoup’ and everyone started to laugh. Apparently, our pronunciation meant we had just told them ‘thank you, nice arse’. Great way to end the night, don’t you think?
· Vodka with the French
Laila, our flatmate, had a birthday party at our house on Saturday. It was her birthday the Monday before, but because of work she had the party at the weekend. Now, I don’t really do parties at my own house because I’m too lazy to clean up after everyone, but what the heck, it’s about time I met some more real French people, and a party seems a fine way to do it. I spoke lots of French, but I’m sure they were all very entertained by it. I avoided saying ‘merci beaucoup’ after Wednesday. A few of them spoke good English, so were helping us out. I think they enjoy practising English as much as we want to learn French, and we had lots of conversation about why the English are terrible at learning languages, and why we should learn from a younger age. Tell you what though, they can drink! Lots and lots of vodka, and beer, and cigarettes. I think I had to spend most of the night outside to speak with them! By the time 4am came around, they were all dancing in our living room and doing tequila shots. I do enjoy their dancing; they all just do it and don’t care what they look like. I was twirled and whirled, sang happy birthday, and by 6am I eventually managed to go to bed and most of them managed to get the first metro of the day home. Absolutely crazy, but it was good fun. Lots of language practice!! That, of course, is the aim of the game.
So each group, in their own way, has treated me to some wonderful evenings of entertainment. I’m learning a lot about so many different places, not just France, and that is one of the best things about being here.
Bisous!
