Sant Jordi

Learnt a bit of Catalan culture this week.
It surprised me how much of a big deal St George's day or Sant Jordi is in Catalonia. Considering the English seem to basically ignore our own patron saint, we were quite excited when St George and his dragon wandered up our street on tuesday morning. On Sant Jordi the girls receive a rose and the boys a book, me and Lauren got in the spirit of things and bought each other a rose :) In the afternoon the rambla in tarragona was full of stalls selling roses, books, dragons before at night it became the setting for the castells. These are amazing towers of people starting with a crowd of fully grown men at the bottom before a tiny child climbs to the top of a 5 storey people tower! Lets just say health and safety in England would have a field day. I just love how much love the Catalan people have for their country and culture.

Tarragonaaaa

Not updated this in forever and while I'm currently waiting for a 4am bus to the airport this seems like as good a time as ever :) I have just spent a fulfilled few days in tarragona staying with some friends. Yes as people keep asking I really am on holiday from the south of France :P (what a hard life) Chilling on a beach and celebrating Sant Jordi (Catalonia's st George's day) has been a lovely start to my Spanish holiday. After a 10hour bus journey on Friday night I arrived and spent the day relaxing on the beautiful beach about 5minutes away from where I'm staying. I really can't get over how much time I'm spending on beaches in the Med lately. A slightly less dramatic trip (no riots, hurricanes or broken down trains to contend with) to Barcelona on Monday, saw some more of the city and got my fill of tapas :) Days full of working on my tan, visiting a roman amphitheatre, stuffing my face with food and even a bit of hula hooping later I'm gutted to be leaving but can't wait to get to the south to see another friend and start exploring another new place. Next stop: GRANADA!

Holiday Blues

So to overcome my ski blues... (AMAZING HOLIDAY!)

And the fact that a whole load of people left Aix to go home or move to Spain I decided to book my next trip. However due to lack of funds this had to be done on the cheap.

Last minute flights to Manchester £300


Aix-Paris £60
Paris-Leeds £15
Huddersfield-Newcastle - £5
Newcastle-Barcelona - £50
Barcelona-Aix €37
= £170
Getting to see all my friends and family- Priceless :D

Plus free accommodation everywhere I go :)

Only In France

Only in France...

- Would the guy from the takeout pay for my Monoprix shopping (think i eat there too much)
- Could i find a pint of wine for 2euro!

Joyeux 21 Anniversaire à moi!!!

Spent my birthday in a foreign country.. check! And it certainly didn't disappoint.

Definitely thinking my 21st was my best birthday yet.
Pre birthday consisted of meeting Gareth (http://pleasedopardonmyfrench.blogspot.co.uk/) for coffee at 2pm and not getting in til 3am the next day. The following 12 hours consisted of alot of beer, meeting some cool americans, acquiring myself a gay boyfriend to escape yet another french creep and my personal highlight being serenaded happy birthday by a frenchie on the saxophone.3 hours in and the day wasnt disappointing!.



Aix/Marseille and Provence in general is the European Culture Capital for 2013 and what a lucky coincidence for the opening ceremony to fall on my birthday! The mentioned saxophonist was part of the band that accompanied an amazing trapeze artist, before they released hundreds of red balloons into the crowd. 



Spent the rest of the day doing some more cultural shizz and drinking before heading out for a birthday/leaving tapas meal. Aussies, Geordies and Rosanna all leaving for home or Spain. Gonna miss them loads but its an ace excuse to go to Espange for a bit :D My cake this year came in the shape of an epic footlong chocolate eclair! YUMMY! 



After the most amazing tapas meal we headed to a class house party for a pre-skiing celebration and mass birthday celebrations. Lets just say i wish i lived in such a cool apartement. Lots of champagne we headed into town and me and Lauren ended the night by finally getting in the Rotonde... thinking i should of kept this til the Summer.

Sounds a cliche to say but i really couldn't have had a better 21st :D

Home for Christmas/I HATE FLYING

Forgot to blog for ages so here comes a quick christmas update and consequent flying complaints, considering it appears Marseille/Manchester is the worst route ever!

So after an eventful few last days in Aix before christmas with the usual christmas meals, parties, drinks and of course no night would be complete without me getting followed home after I set off home for Christmas :D

Christmas itself was spent at my sisters new house which was lovely to finally see and catch up with all the family, followed by my weirdest new years yet, joining my sister at a 'twin peaks' party (never heard of it, neither have i?) where we managed to miss midnight before spending the rest of the night talking to a random 60year old bloke, these things only seem to happen to me in good old yorkshire. I also experienced an interesting night out where I was sober due to antiobiotics, which was quite an eye opening experience.  

Now onto why i hate flying...

1. Flying home to surprise my grandma for her 80th birthday, i experienced France's version of a bomb scare (complete over-reaction), then had to leg it across munich airport to make my plane that was subsequently delayed by snow.

2. Upon returning from this birthday weekend, (Ace surprising my family and seeing Mumford) i found myself delayed in Brussels airport due to fog in London :/ Eventually took off at midnight which proved to be a problem considering the buses to Aix stop at 00.15. Spent a lovely middle of the night 4 hours in Marseille airport :(

3. Coming home for christmas it seems Marseille security staff are the slowest ever! plane meant to take off at 12.10, dont get through security til 12.15 :S #onlyinfrance luckily the british airways staff decided to wait for us.

4. Finally getting back to Marseille. more fog in london and a fire alarm later meant i missed my flight to France, resulting in spending a night in an airport hotel in london! joyyyyy

At least i had my birthday to look forward to!

ace christmas pressie :)

Birthdays, Surprises and Fun Stuff

The twenty firsts and have started coming thick and fast now so I've been busy having parties here and remembering to send cards to those back home too. First was Luke's and we all enjoyed the opportunity to dress up properly for the first time since coming to France. My dress and heels had been sat in the wardrobe for 3 months just wanting to be worn! Wearing heels for the first time since August was not a nice experience though :( 

Then on Thursday night we celebrated Katy's birthday by throwing a massive surprise party with all the gentlemen, including a scrap book which everyone wrote in. I really can't think of a better and more meaningful present to remember celebrating your 21st on a year abroad. This was an amazing night, which included my decision (influenced by alot of wine) of staying in the club til 4 before running off to pack and catch a bus to the airport at 5am with a slice of pizza and red bull in tow. Surprised myself by staying awake for an impressive 37hours! Ace weekend in Amsterdam being entertained by Holly's fun facts!
One thing that always baffles me is the lack of security in European airports. With most of my airport experiences taking place in England I am used to being stopped every 5 minutes for my passport but it amazes me how laidback the Europeans seem to be. Not one person looked at my passport on the way to and from Amsterdam yet on booking my plane home for Christmas I learnt it will take me 90minutes to transfer at Heathrow due to all the checks. Baffling!

In other news...

Since I last blogged France threw its first stupid drunk bitches on us, which ended with a friend being kicked in the mouth, I nearly got followed home by a creepy french guy and also mugged in Amsterdam and after 3 months I actually have to start doing some work now as I have a presentation on Monday that i am completely unprepared for :( 

In happier news, I recieved the best post ever today! A letter from my grandpa (takes a while to decipher his writing) and an amazingggggg advent calendar from my dad and sister :D eeeeeeeek not stopped smiling all day.

Ciao for nowwwww <3