Pasta, pasta, pasta...

Like every other student, I am sick to the back teeth of pasta. Spaghetti, penne, even chinese noodles, I am sick of it. But at the same time, I am too lazy to walk all the way up that hill to go to Monoprix or ge the bus to Casino. It's a hard life being a student, I tell you.

What's new? Well, the intensive language course thing I was to attend today (AT HALF 5 TO HALF 7! WHAT!!) has actually been moved to a Wednesday, as I gladly found out 45 mintes before it was due to start (prompt as always, Univ. de Poitiers). Still, this means I had a whole other day to do nothing but tidy, sleep and cook pasta. What a leisurely life I lead!

I emailed Dougal Campbell again (Univ. de Poitiers could do with taking a leaf out of that man's punctuality book) for advice on my timetable, but yet again I was told I had free choice etc, so I still feel none the wiser. Still, I don't have to sit 30 credits worth of subjects over here, so it's an ultimate win.

I still can't really make my mind up about Poitiers. I think once I feel more settled I will explore it more, take the Notre Dame tour etc. It is a beautiful place, very medieval and full of old buildings and architecture that's so different fro what we see in Scotland. Like the buildings with the black lines painted down them, and the French window shutters etc. And there are a lot of people walking around with stripey t-shirts and baguettes. No joke. This place is stereotype city! But it is fascinating. It's peculiar, though, the one really dodgy street in the place is the street across the road on the right of our residence; dodgy pubs and shops and characters etc. Weird creepy men. But it has an off licence that stays open past 11 so it's a good place for a last minute stock up.

I realise this has been a boring but perhaps factual blog. You can't expect a joke-a-minute all the time!

There's a urinal... outside the girl's toilet door?!

Here is small list of memories I have compiled so far in my little notebook :)

Mind that time...

• Anna and I DIDN'T get lost, and she DIDN'T run out of money?
• All those times we drank wine in the street?
• We walked up and down all those stairs. EVERY DAY.
• The place flooded and the kitchen ceiling fell in?
• We got mice?
• The first time we got the bus, and got lost?
• There was a urinal right outside the door of the girls toilet?
• All the french waiters were rude?
• I met the 1 other Scottish person in Poitiers?
• We went to the uni and it looked like a prison?
• The uni's cafeteria and food were AMAZING! And for only 3 euros :)
• Crazy lady kept shouting at us to be quiet? SHE'S CRAZY!
• Katrin and Irene were really drunk?
• "We'll put the drunk people in the middle"?
• We ate WAY too much pasta?
• I brought too much stuff with me?
• Everyone spoke German and I was all, "Wit?" ?
• The girl that moved in then left after a day?
• When you asked for a coffee you got a tiny little coffee. Not a real one?
• You heard the train all day and night?
• The walls were so thin I could basically here my flatmates breathing?
• I slept till 5pm?
• I thought the rain was actually the sound of the train?
• I got sunburnt?
• Me n Lisa ditched a party an went and got wrecked?
• We had jager in a tube?
• We had the girafe?
• Carola, Mahi and I made fajitas?
• Everyone took a million photos a night?
• I taught everyone some handy Scottish phrases?
• Stephen Morrison AKA SteveMo looked like Michael Gambon? And had a Monty Python dvd on his desk?
• I used Skype, and failed?
• I changed the bins and left the following angry message on the wall?:

a)Who was taught that the floor was a bin?
b) Who doesn't know how to change a bin bag?

• I made a very tasty chow mein?
• I kept failing to tidy my room?
• I randomly fell?
• That old guy was in the picture?
• I was really hungover?
• Vodka caramel shots?
• We went to the bar/club called Havanitas beside est-ouest and people were moshing to Edith Piaf?
• Vine in oil bottles?
• Walking for miles and swearing at the wilderness?
• Creepy French guys?
• Eating chips but really they were fries?
• The dinner party with all the food and a billion people?
• The French supermarkets didn't store their milk in fridges?
• We discovered the H&M and Zara?
• We got shoes for 10 euros?
• The old French man put his hand down his breeks and was all "Can I sit with you girls?" NAW YOU CAN'T MATE.
• We had a grog (a drink, not the spit)?

Absolute whitey boke

Thanks to Hannah McAvoy for the charming title of this post. It was thrown in as a casual description of the HORRIFIC hangovers we had after a night of cheap wine, then beer, vodka, cocktails and the occasional caramel shot. Shockingly, stayin at a club till around 4 doesn't do your liver any favours. Anyway...

I've been here for... 16? days now, and this is my first night in. Which also happens to be a Saturday night, which I agree is lame. But after a hard night's partying at Le Grande...Goulle? (Ican't remember...) I am PRETTY HUNG OVER. But all is well, a lot of crap food has been consumed today and a good long whinge to my parents on Skype has settled me.

So the night life in Poitiers... Well, there isn't a lot. Most bars shut any time between 12 and 2, which isn't bad. But the booze isn't cheap. At all. For a place with around 30,000 students, you'd think there would be loads of student bars and deals etc. Wrong. Our usual hang out is Est-Ouest, which everyone either loves or hates. I enjoy it as it has music, not bad priced things, cocktails, and a rack of 10 shots which occasionally we get for free. There is also a "Girafe" which is 2.5 litres of beer in a tube that you can pour urself like pulling a beer from a mini tap. I'm totally perfecting my bar skills, after Lorna and I challenged one the other night.

Les cafes arts (I think that's what it's called?) is also not that badly priced and the bar man, Stephen, is a legend. He gave us a free Grog. BUT DON'T BE ALARMED! I do not mean he spat in my face for free. A Grog is basically a citrus version of mulled wine. It was actually kinda nice. But left a metal after taste? Either way, he played the whole of Dire Straits "Brothers in arms" for me, so I'm there!

Where else... eh... It's difficult to think. Most of the time you just buy a 2 euro bottle of wine and tan that as you walk the four miles to the pubs. Everything is so far away; our house is at the bottom of a hill and everything is uphill. The walk back from the club took about 4 days, probably because we were steaming, but yeah...still. Many an attractive picture has been taken over the past few weeks, by everyone, as we are all a bit camera happy. It's lovely.

We were also in a club, La Luna, but about 5 people were there so we left. Dancing on your own is not cool. Also, I brought 3 pairs of rather large heels and have not worn them yet. Why? Because I would probably die walking up all the stairs, the cobbly streets, etc. I'm not steady on my feet at the best of times :|

There have also been mannyyyyy parties!! Most recent at Dmitri's, where we had wine in plastic bottles. It basically looked like I was drinking oil. and it was DISGUSTING. Did the trick though :D was an ace night. And then there was Hannah Grello's 21st, again a very awesome night involving a lot of Bacardi and wine :D Love it.

I can't think of much else just now, so I'll post again if anything comes to mind. Bonne nuit :)

NB: Why do the French supermarkets not keep their milk refridgerated. IT'S DISGUSTING

Can you actually speak French?

Arrival date: Thursday 2nd September 2010


It's funny. I promised myself back home I'd document everything so that I could share it with friends, family and future ERASMUS students alike, or in case an impromptu presentation on "Your year abroad" is sprung on us back home. I did start writing in a small notebook some of the more amusing and memorable events of the last fortnight, but not in too much detail. So, after seeing a fellow students blog (Sorry, Zoe.) I decided to make this :)

Alors...

It's been a bit of a drama over the last two weeks. Big Mags (my mum), Mojo (Aunty Maureen) and I bantered off to Edinburgh airport to fly with the fantastic (not) Ryanair to Poitiers. It was Big Mags first time driving there and we got lost; Mojo took over the driving, we still got lost, but eventually we found our way there. The flight was pretty uneventful, apart from being crowded, and me being very aware that I had 4 suitcases full of junk, I mean, essentials with me.

The first bit of drama was the taxi taking me to the wrong place. By wrong place, I mean he took us to a hotel come student residence which was across the road from my place. So, in true Aitken style, panic ensued. But after a lot of shrugging, sighing, and speaking very slow English and very bad French, we discovered all I had to do was cross the road. Silly us.

After putting my stuff in my "room" (slight exaggeration) we went to find the nearest supermarché, which of courses resulted in miles of walking and me asking some nice French couple OU EST MONOPRIX?!?! in a very aggressive (but accidental) way. Still, after some arguing, tears, and some under-the-breath cursing, we found monoprix and bought lots of nice things to eat.

However.

The kitchen that accomodates 24 (!!!!) students had two stoves, which OF COURSE were gas, therefore resulting in my burning my hands repeatedly as you need a lighter to light them, and thing they call an oven (IT ISN'T AN OVEN!!) which is the size of a microwave and an actual microwave. Which is fine, if you plan on living on pasta (which we do).

Still, all in all the people were lovely and I was beginning to enjoy myself. We then discovered the uni, which is the UGLIEST thing I have ever seen. It reminded me of an old, graffiti-covered primary school, or a prison. It is often referred to as "the hell-hole", as there is nothing promising about such an ugly array of building. Their canteen though, OMG what a place! 3 euros for a good size and tasty main, a side and a deseert?! Maybe it's just because I love food and not wasting money, but I always get so excited when we go there. Highlight of the day, you could say. Still isn't the QMU, though :(

Big Mags and Mojo flew home on the Sunday, and they had a wee cry, and it finally made me realise I am actually here. On my own. Took me till now to realise that I LOVE the freedom and the responsibility (haha, really?) etc of living on my own, but I do miss someone making me nice teas :( And by teas, I do not mean the beverage kind; I mean dinners. SOMETHING OTHER THAN BLOODY PASTA!!

But then the fun really started. Not really. We were out enjoying a few Monaco's (Like a shandy, but with Grenadine?) and Panaché's, when Katrin called to say the kitchen was flooding and they thought it came from Mahi and I's rooms as we live above it. After running through the streets of Poitiers (how much do you want it to read Paris?) we arrived home to find our rooms were fine, but outside our room was flooded. The ceiling then collapsed during the night, much to our delight. Seemingly, the previous owners "forgot" to tell our landlord how bad the state of the building was. Hmm...

Still, in true French fashion, next to nothing has been done about it. As the French LOVE their bureaucracy, but would rather spend 100 years doing the most tidious and pointless paperwork, therefore slowing the rest of us down, the love it so much. The best part? We now have mice. As I said to my Swedish friend (Not that she understood any of it, mind) "There's a moose loose about this hoose!". I often forget that NOONE else I live with is Scottish, and that my accent is the most ridiculous thing they've ever heard. I am "the most foreign" in a group of ERASMUS and other international students. Bon.

And last, but not least, the university's "structure" (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA.)

I never been anywhere as unorganised as this place. If it was glasgow uni, you'd know what you were doing, when and where it'd be, have a student ID and be all ready to learn. But here? The most common response from the lovely receptionists is "That's not my responsibility/ I don't have to help you." What?!?!?!?! All I'm asking for is a timetable to sort my life out a bit, but all you get is No... No... SEE SOMEONE ELSE! But they don't tell you who!!!!!!!!!!! So my life is a little messy right now where studies are concerned. It'll be ok though. Eventually. Maybe...

Anyway, that's all the drama that's happened that I can think of! I will post in a later blog some of the more amusing events that have happened recently :D