It's been over a month since I last wrote, sorry for that. I've had a lot of school stuff to do, French school=not easy. On top of that, my internet didn't work for two weeks which was nice since I had to write an 8 page essay on the subject "Are all the French-speaking literatures part of a national literature?" and I didn't even have a dictionary. So, it turned out awesome, of course.
I've had problems with my Finnish credit card since the bank decided to block it because they forgot to send me the bill. Now they haven't done anything to fix the situation even though my mom paid the bill and I contacted them. As a result, I couldn't pay my phone bill (which is as expensive as 2 whole euros!!) here in France and they almost shut it. Luckily, I got to use Heidi's card and I got out of the huge debt. I was so annoyed when I didn't have Internet, I couldn't solve my bank problems and I kept receiving text messages about my unpaid phone bill. I was tempted to just go to the Free office and throw a 2 euro coin on their desk!!
By the way, I made a new record in sleeping too much. A Wednesday I had a Chinese exam. I actually knew every character I was supposed to know so I would have nailed it. Too bad I woke up at 11.30, the EXACT MINUTE THE TEST HAD ENDED! So I got a zero. And now, for the first time in my life, I actually have to be worried about passing the course. So... awesome.
I was reminded of this delightful event on my super fun day, Thursday the 12th (which is like Friday the 13th for me). I had to wake up early-ish since I had to be in the apartment to receive our new washing machine - our old one was broken and we had to cope without one for a few weeks which was a blast. Well, I am sick -again!! - and I slept a bit longer which left to the guys ringing the doorbell while I was in shower. I ran from the shower to my room, put on nothing but jeans and a hoodie and ran to open the door. The guys weren't there anymore so I put shoes on and ran outside.
There I was, soaking wet with wet jeans, hoodie and shoes with laces open. I asked the men (with my crappy French) if they were there for the washing machine and they said yes. Then I noticed our roommate Sam was there as well. I'm a master of looking ridiculous when he's around. And he was probably pissed off since I'd been taking a shower when I was supposed to open the door. He didn't look like it though, but that's because he's super nice.
After the washing machine episode I was supposed to text my written Chinese teacher to get the grade. I misinterpreted the number she'd given to me and ended up sending the same message to 4 different numbers. I guess there will be French people laughing at me somewhere...
The teacher texted me back during my ONLY LESSON THAT DAY, asking if I could meet her in 10 minutes. I raised my hand and you can imagine how disappointed the teacher was when I didn't ask a question about linguistics but if I could leave the class for a few minutes. She gave me permission but told me I could have picked another time to have a meeting. I said: "Yeah I know but... yeah."
Of course, I went to a wrong building and then finally got to see the teacher. She said I did fine in the second test and asked what I'd got from the first one. I told her I wasn't there so 0. She wasn't happy. She said I might fail the course. I knew that, it all depended on the test I was going to have the next day, same course but a different teacher.
After that, I met Hannah and she really made my day :) . We talked outside (where by the way it's as warm as in Finland in May - and it's December!!).
I went home and got to open the door again, this time for firemen! I was like "What have I done wrong?!" and they rolled their eyes like I was stupid. I told them I'm not French and they were like "Oh now I get it!". They probably thought I was an idiot. Turned out they were selling calendars. I went to the living room where Sam and his friends were laughing at me. Best. Day. Ever.
Otherwise I've done well at school - I've even managed to get best grades at class. I would probably be better if I wouldn't sleep past the exams. I've also gone to judo twice a week but I suck at it because it's sports.
Other than that, I've visited Hannah and Grace and met other friends. And been to a lot of parties!
During the Autumn vacation (when I last updated...) I went to a Halloween party. I was late because I woke up like at 6 PM which felt difficult because I usually woke up at 8 PM.
Here's me before the party:
The best costume winner got to break the piñata thing:
It was fun dancing with zombies :D
It was held in this American bar. The music was awesome. Sounded like my MP3.
We got blood on our faces :D
Grrr :P
We were also in an Asian soirée which was -needless to say- awesome. I got to know a lot about Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea. Also, I met some great people. I don't have any pics cuz I was too genius to take a camera with me.
We went to the movies with Heidi and Florine to see Le Majordome - The Buttler. It wasn't dubbed!! But, unfortunately, that was the only good thing in the movie. The script was bad and the ending was idiotic, like "everything's fine now in the great country of USA". Well let me tell you something: it isn't.
We went to eat galettes after that:
I love Breton food!
Since we realized the 6th of December - the Independence day of Finland! - was coming, we decided to have a party - 2 days before the day. Some people even came to that random event!
I baked buns! But after punching the pastry it just grimaced to me! Evil pastry...
International guests. France, Vietnam, Romania and Germany represented in this one. And everyone is part of our work camp making Finnish flags.
Instead of staying in the huge living room we decided to go to the small kitchen.
Luckily, the Romanian girl knew how to bake. I hate baking!! I almost forgot to add the butter... Well, this is how our working camp continued.
Finnish food. The famous bins on the left.
Alcohol. And stuff :D
Sweet girls!
By the way finding blue candles was impossible! Seriously! Do the French think they are cursed or what?! We found them in the 5th shop we went to!!
Here's the making of the notorious Finnish Christmas mince pies. They are a hundreds of years old tradition and now the Swedish media decided they look like swastikas...
An enthusiastic baker :D
Me after the party...
Last Thursday we were in the last English lesson this year :'( And in the cafe after that:
Fiona and Heidi
Hannah and a glass of fine
Me and Hannah's hand
By the way I was sick and my voice was awful.
After the awful day, Thursday the 12th, was the best day - Friday the 13th!
First of all, I didn't sleep past the exam because I woke up in Hannah's text message in which she invited us to celebrate Luca's name day. I'm so grateful because - as you know - I would have failed the course without that. The test was easy so I'm glad I was... you know, there :D
We went to celebrate Luca's name day - which, by the way, is Lucia day in Finland - in a restaurant called "Entrecote". They only serve entrecote and fries (and salad) so I liked it - I didn't have to choose :D. The restaurant is probably the best one in Bordeaux - you have to stand in line in order to get in. But, since it was our lucky day, we got in really fast.
Here are the Hungarian people:
Luca and Kozima. By the way, Luca means "light", cool or what!
Here's the entrecote.
Luca had lost her earring but when we went back outside, Kozima found it!! Lucky day!!!
After the restaurant we headed to Hannah's place to a party. There were a lot of great people. We compared our languages with Kozima and turned out there actually might be some kind of similarities with Hungarian and Finnish :D. So we're like family. Also, both countries were on the wrong side in the WW2. I learned lots of things about Hungary, like ball point pen has been invented there!
Me at the end of the party. I had tea because I sounded like McLovin.
The next day, although I was sick, we went to do some Christmas shopping. Bordeaux has put some effort to make the place look christmassy:
Motorcycle gang - all dressed as Santas XD
The hotel in front of Grand Théâtre
Florine and Heidi :D
The cathedral, Hôtel de ville and a Christmas tree
And we went to KFC! Why don't we have that in Finland?!?!?
Next week we're having an awesome party at our place! And Terhi's coming here for 3 weeks!! Yay!
I've probably finally used to living here. It's becoming easier to use French, I even went to "Google traduction" instead of "Google translate"!! You can see how I wrote my essay... The people here are really nice and I'm glad I came here. I'm mostly just really happy for no reason, maybe I've been replaced by an alien :DD.
I miss everyone a lot and I'm gonna miss my new friends who return to their countries. Please feel free to contact me whenever you want, even after a long time, I don't want to forget anyone!
Thank you for reading this blog and I really hope I'll be able to update this more often!! Remember to comment and complain how I'm not interesting enough :DD
À la prochaine!
-Mimmi
PS: Don't forget to check out my other blog http://falloutspam.tumblr.com/, there's a new layout coming up and I've even got some fans :DD Yes, this is an ad :P
PPS: Can you imagine that Patrick has a beard?!?!?!?
