A whole new world.

Moving overseas seems to be harder than I first thought. When I first chose the degree, I was in year 12 and the prospect of spending the year overseas without parents and siblings seemed like a dream fantasy. The more time ran down before moving day seemed so non-real and off in the distance that it was difficult to do anything to actually prepare for it. I didn't save properly, I didn't study french in every spare minute I had and I didn't start looking at how much living on your own in a foreign country can cost because I couldn't fully comprehend the situation. But now it's hit. Now, I wish I was fluent in french, I'm kicking myself for not saving every dollar I've ever been given since I was 5 years old, and I'm slowly coming to the realisation that I won't see friends, family and boyfriend for an entire year. Sometimes I think a year is a long time. Other times, I think, well, it's already mid-August, it seems like yesterday it was NYE 2012. Either way, it's going to be tough.

At the moment, I'm in the process of enrolling in uni, choosing subjects and finding somewhere to live. Choosing subjects is probably the most fun of the three. I can study whatever I want - which does pose some difficulties as 'whatever I want' is a lot. Medieval archeology, art history, ancient greek, humanistic and scientific culture, and the list goes on. It's a shame that I can't study other languages though, I would love to come back trilingual!
Finding somewhere to live is probably the most difficult of the three. Finding somewhere to live is always difficult. But finding somewhere to live for a year in a foreign country is even harder. Not being able to inspect the place before you rent, not knowing whether it's near public transport, not knowing if you're going to like the people you end up living with... and so on and on. I think I've decided not to live in campus. The upsides is it's slightly cheaper. But it's major downfalls are its 30 minutes out of the main town and trams stop at 9pm to the campus.

But, if there is one thing I'm excited about, it's travelling. Oh, and spending weekends in Barcelona. And cooking for myself. And eating french bread all the time. It's a strange mix of both excitement and nervousness all at the same time, but I think excitement wins out every time.

And the winner is...

So, today I found out that I'll be spending next year in Bordeaux! I have mixed emotions at the current time. I'm excited that I got my first preference and I'll be living in a cute city, but at the same time, I had been planning on going to Caen - Normandy for so long and had been counting on getting the job there as a backup. So three-quarters of me is like YAYYAYAYAY! and the other quarter is a little reserved about my decision. Though, all in all, any uni to study at would be good and either way, the experience will be amazing.
Just to get you in the mood, he's a google image I found haha

A different direction.

So, I've decided to put Normandy a bit on the backburner. A few weeks ago, I had to submit my uni preferences for next year. I'd spoken to one of the girls who's in Normandy now, and realised that I was really only choosing to go to Caen because there was a job on offer. I wasn't sure if I should be basing my entire decision on that. So I looked into a few of my other options, and my first choice I submitted was..... BORDEAUX. But, Normandy was still my second choice.
Bordeaux seemed to be a bit of a bigger town and also looked a little prettier. It's also one of the major wine regions so that will have its advantages. But, it is difficult to apply for accommodation on campus, so I will probably be living in an apartment in the centre of town. The uni is half an hour from town, but I figured if I'm only going to be at uni 2-3 days a week, I would rather travel 30 mins 2-3 times a week, rather than every time I wanted to go into town.
But, nothing has been guaranteed yet, so nothing is set in stone.

Normandy

I thought I should do a quick blog as an update for myself in the future. After being unsure since forever about which uni to study at in France, and there being so many options, it seems one has finally stood out for me. I haven't really looked into the specific details of each uni or anything yet, but I looked favourably on Lyon, Evry or Strasbourg. Though, a friend of mine, Hanna, who is travelling next year, is going to Normandy. Of all places! I thought. She's the only one going too, which just made me think, that's because everyone wants to be close to Paris. So I asked her why. She gave 3 highly convincing reasons which are making me think Normandy may be just the place to go:
1. The uni accommodation is very basic and so things such as fridges, cutlery and the like will need to be
    purchased. Each year, the students staying from the previous year will sell the next years students their
    stuff at a discounted price
2. It's close to the UK - although Strasbourg is close to the rest of Europe...
3. The most convincing reason: The uni automatically allocates English students to English teaching jobs
    at the uni - so I would already have a job over there before I've even left! I'm going to need the
    money, so this is probably the best thing I've heard.

I've also decided I'm going to spend some time in Turkey.

The Sound of French

I think that I'm actually beginning to get the hang of listening. Usually, a french sentence just sounds like one long word, though I am usually able to pick up the key words or certain phrases. But, now, it's like a whole new world! I can actually hear individual words! YAY!

Mid-sem exams

So, in one week and 3 days, I will sit my mid-semester 2 exam for french. Though, I'm slowly coming to an unfortunate realisation... french is hard. Last semester seemed like such a breeze, I was only doing 3 subjects, though I was able to competently stay on top of it like I was a natural. But, this semester, I'm really struggling to find the time or the motivation as the concepts begin to become harder and the vocab is extended 10-fold.
Oh well, it will all be worth it in the end... I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and suck it up!

Return to Forgotten Translation

This week I went back to uni, and first class up was French. As you do at uni, I've moved up a subject and am now completing French Language and Culture 4.
Though, after not having done any french for the past 6 weeks, I didn't expect it to be so hard to get back into. My conjugations are still on track, though my range of vocab and sharpness of mind is lacking. I've become so worried about this that I've just spent the last hour downloading about 30 random french podcasts...
Some one one said to me that for every day that you don't study a language, you lose 12 words. Let's see, at 6 weeks, that's 42 days... That's 504 words! Hmm, I'm not sure if that's exactly correct, though I can definitely feel my mind lugging behind my confidence when I go to say something in class.
One benefit to come out of this though is that my mother said to me, "Well, when you come back from France for the year, you will just have to make sure that you travel back there every year to make sure you keep the language". Yes! That's exactly what I must do. In fact, all of a sudden, all of this studying vocab and draining my mind of useless information to refill with verb conjugations actually makes me feel that it's not all for the good grades, I get an annual holiday out of it too!
It's time to get stuck back into those books...