Went to a pub called boite a biere today, suggested by cecile, was quite nice place as it reminded me a lot of the s.u bar or playhouse. It was quite small but had 5 floors which was cool. We sat down in a corner and got our drinks, only to realise we were sitting right next to the men’s toilets which happened to have saloon swinging doors so you can see their heads and feet when peeing, you cud literally look out and have a chat to your mates, so we tried our best to keep our heads forward!
While us girls were chatting agen a couple of French men overheard our English and was joined by cedrich and sum other dude. Cedrich had lived in Ireland for a while so knew a lot of English and so he taught us sum essential French such as ‘shut your mouth’ and other..interesting words, use your imagination! Then as they went to take a leak we were joined by two other guys, Pierre and christophe, both of which agen wanted to try out their ‘anglais’, That night we all went to a club down the road which needed a special knock to get in I do believe. Something ive learnt about the French men, they can get abit offended if you turn down their drinks offers, even if you actually just don’t want to drink anymore, but anywho we got pretty trashed due to the income of free drinks! I think we had become quite a main attraction that night, I don’t think the land of Rouen has many foreigners, especially from England.
This week I was introduced to my new flat by the girl im exchanging with, orida. Flat was abit of a mess and smelt funny, oh and she has 2 fish and a frog…anyone who knows me, knows im not a frog person to put it lightly. So im responsible for looking after them even tho I have no idea wat to do with em, as orida cudnt speak any English and just pointed to pot of fish food and sed blah blah blah….. yea thanks.im thinking of calling the frog orida..or Kermit. So yes im moving outta mary’s and I will miss our random conversations and shadow puppets!
Today we went to the irish pub with one of the guys we met the other night, christophe, the original plan was that we all go to the cinema but none cud make it but chris had made the effort which was cool. We just sat and drank, mary left early, mary the fatigue, but me n grace stayed and chris mentioned a place we could go to where you can see the whole of Rouen, on top a this hill/mountain thing, so we randomly set of to that. He drove us to the top of the hill and to a looking spot and me n grace were stunned! We could see the whole of rouen at night, tried to take photo’s but me camera’s naff and it were to dark. We didn’t stay long as it seemed to be the hanging out spot for the French chavs..yes they have them too! Oh and also we got onto the converstaion of ice-skating and decided we shud do it the next day..why not eh!
Went ice skating today, twas exciting stuff. I didn’t fall over but was shitting myself pretty much the whole time coz I know wen u fall it bloody hurts! As grace later found out. It was just me grace mary and christophe agen but it was nice of chris to show us wat there is to do in Rouen, tis like our own tour guide… incase your thinking it no he isn’t dodgey, he’s safe as ‘ouses! After that we just went home, chris asked if we wanted to go to his for dinner one day, thought it would be nice to taste sum authentic French cooking, although mary and grace are veggies and grace cant eat wheat etc so just vegetables on the menu then, chris has got his work cut out for him!
Monday 25th
Started le college today, we were all abit nervous because we didn’t know what the hell we were doing, who to see, where to go and stuff so just strolled in, found the reception and sed to the lady ‘ello, we’re the Erasmus girls!’ yea. She spoke to us in French to mine and mary’s horror, but she had a british accent..it turned out she moved here from England 11 years ago. She was really nice, we had tea and a chat about the college, apparently a teacher called patricia was supposed to be in meet us that day, but wasn’t in on a Monday, though was supposed to make an exception! I dont blame her really. Anywho Christine the receptionist showed us all around the college, which is just as nice on the inside as the outside, creaky wooden floorboards, paint splatters, wooden beams, big staircases..the whole shebang! It felt good to be in that arty environment agen, we we’re all eager to settle in and paint.
That evening we went to christophe’s for dinner, his flat was very very small, like a child’s shoebox, but we all squeezed in. Here we met christophe’s friend…christophe, easy to remember. Grace seemed to enjoy this new christophe a lot, if u know what I mean.Anywho christophe 1, or stripey chris we now call him(due to his stripey jumpers he favoured) cooked vegetables and chicken for the non veggies and it was nice. Nothing us limeys cudnt handle. That night we ended up in boite a biere agen and meet some of there other friends…not just guys this time either.