Saved by...three girls :D

I just had my first sports class, and we were choosing the packages of sports that we would be doing this year. I chose volleyball, archery and combat, which means that I'll be doing each of them for one-third of the year. I wanted to do archery last year, but I think I didn't choose it because of another sport that has to go with it. So this year, seeing that the sports that go with it were okay, I decided to grab my chance (I did volleyball last year and I was completely lousy, but it was kinda fun as well :P)

But it wasn't that easy to grab the chance; there were too many people who wanted this package as well. Only 22 people were allowed, and there were 25 of us. One first-year girl was sent to another group (they said that since she was in first year she'd still have time to try these sports... ouch, that must hurt) but there were still too many of us (and all in 2nd year, so no excuse to send us away), and since no one wanted to leave, the teacher said that we would draw lots, and someone (who was it? I wanna kill him...grr...) suggested that we race instead. And the teacher agreed! (Hey, I did running as a sport last year, and I was always the last!) I knew I'd be gone if they did that (short of a miracle), but thankfully a few girls decided to go to another group, and save us the running. Whew!

Lighting up my life

I just bought myself a table lamp. I can’t seem to find the kind I had bought when I was in Angouleme, so in the end I bought one which didn’t have a bulb included (have to buy one of those screw-in bulbs ourselves) The one I had in Angouleme had a tiny bulb in it, and stupid me, I didn’t think of changing the bulb when it burnt out (I thought we couldn’t buy that kind of bulb, and I didn’t need the lamp any more at the time... :/ )

Anyway, I needed this table lamp because when I work at the table at night, the room light throws a shadow just in front of me, right on what I’m working on! So I have to twist myself here and there, and that really doesn’t work very well. Later I chose the alternative of sitting at another side of the table, but it was further away from the light, so it’s not that great either... Tonight I shall try out the lamp, and hopefully it will work fine.

Besides, I also got myself a fixed telephone line in my room (now you can call me! lol) The line isn’t activated yet though, it will be in under 48 hours, so I should have the line this weekend. Hehe, if you want the number, just ask! :P

English? Yes? No?

I had my first English class today. At first I wanted to ask whether I could do another language instead of English, but after this class, I’m having second thoughts. This teacher is really great, and I’ve got a feeling that this could be a fun year after all (last year was rather boring) However, I’m not 100% sure that it will last, so I’m also worrying about regretting it if I choose to stay in English even if they let me choose another language.

The thing is that if I don’t do English, I would choose Spanish. But I’m not that keen on learning a new language either, and English classes would be rather relaxed. I’m just afraid of being bored to death...:/ But this teacher has a great sense of humour, and I just can’t imagine him being boring!

Today he was talking about prepositions at the end of sentences, and he gave us a wonderful sentence, with FIVE prepositions at the end! Here it is:
What did you bring that book that I don't like being read to out of up for?
Hehe, I’m going to really treasure this sentence...:P

Well, about the language-choosing bit, I’ll wait and see whether it’s possible before I start trying to make decisions. Who knows, they might not even let me leave the English class.

Test your flower knowledge :P

I admit that it's not exactly flower knowledge that is needed, but it does help! Otherwise you won't know even if you get a right answer.

Each of the clues make up a type of flower, for example
"small container + to allow" would be "vial + let", or
"violet."

Can you figure out these five?

1. an implement + flesh around mouth
2. foppish + a large carnivorous wildcat
3. to wed + a soft yellow element
4. a false statement + be deficient in
5. indicates an alternative + child

Answers further below...

1. Tulip (tool + lip)
2. Dandelion (dandy + lion)
3. Marigold (marry + gold)
4. Lilac (lie + lack)
5. Orchid (or + kid)

I got them all! :D (but okay, I cheated for the first one, I got the flower without getting the tool)

Yay, I got my furniture!

Well, well, well, so I got my furniture in a week! You know, I think this is one of their tricks. They tell you that they will send it in 2 or 3 weeks (someone even said 4-5 weeks, and then another person told me that it was the maximum) then they send it in a week and you're not complaining! But if they tell you that they will send it in a few days, you start complaining when it arrives in a week!

So now I've got a bed (with a mattress, of course) and a rack. The bed especially was NOT easy to put together...thankfully my friend was there to help me (again, thanks Romain!) So in this next few days I shall try my best to put some order to my room...wish me luck!

What a wonderful welcome-back meal! haha

My classes have just started today, and I decided to go and eat in the INSA restaurant with my friends (too lazy to start cooking yet :P) So what did my welcome-back meal consist of? A raw-but-burnt-on-the-outside steak (seeing that it was burnt, I thought that this time at least it would be cooked, but no, no such luck), some overcooked cauliflower (okay, cauliflower is always overcooked in France, and even more so in INSA, I suppose they want to make sure they kill all the bacteria lol), and undercooked pasta (some parts were still hard...but that, at least, doesn't happen that often)

After having to endure that food for a whole year last year, now I'm only going there when I don't have the time to eat at home. But then again, I might just bring sandwiches ;)

Anyway I still don't have a bed in my room, I bought one but have to wait at least two weeks for the delivery :( Thankfully a friend of mine who stays in the same building lent me an extra mattress he had. I was going to use my comforter as a temporary mattress for a few days, but two weeks is LONG! And it might be delayed...you never know with these deliveries... (Merci Romain! :D )

Hehe, I certainly will NOT post any photos of my room until it's furnished, so you guys are in for a long wait :P

Back in France

I got back to France 2 days ago. Let's see: how long was I travelling?

before 5pm: left house in Kuantan
6pm: flight from Kuantan to KL
6.40pm: reached KL
11.10pm: left KL
approx. 6.40am (12.40pm of the next day in M'sia): reached Paris, got my luggage, took bus to the train station
9.45am (3.45pm M'sia time): took train to Lyon
11.50am (5.50pm M'sia time): reached Lyon
and about another half an hour to reach my unfurnished room.

That makes more than 24 hours...but it still doesn't beat when I went back to Malaysia the other day. After finishing my practical I had come back to Lyon to stay there less than 24 hours before leaving for my friends' place in Rouen, then directly leaving for my flight in Paris. But then that's too long ago to write down the schedule. :P

Anyway the long wait at the airport was made bearable by Hung Jen who came to see me! (she even brought a bodyguard, wise decision :P) Here's a photo (hey, the bodyguard doubles as a photographer! Hung Jen, hope your friend won't get mad about my joking... :P)


Well, classes are starting tomorrow, but we have a pretty easy schedule for the first week, thankfully! We'll have time to adapt from holiday mode to study mode ;)

Punctuation... what, they're not always the same?

You know what I found out when I was writing out my internship report? It seems that in French, there is a space before : , whereas in English, there isn’t! And in French there is also a space before ! and ? (and goodness knows what else) Anyway I’ll stick to what I’m used to when I type normally...when I write reports I guess I’ll have to be careful!

Thanks to Elodie for pointing this out to me ;)

Argh...mosquitoes!

Be off, mosquitoes! I am on a roll! 4 dead mosquitoes in a day, that’s gotta be a record (for these holidays at least, I’m sure :P)

I’m sick of mosquitoes. I must have gotten a hundred mosquito bites in my 2 months here (less than two months, actually) One positive point about France is that there are a lot less mosquitoes...

Anyway after enduring these attacks for some time (there are the most mosquitoes under the table where I’m typing now, which means each time I use my computer I am offering them fresh blood...yummy! - at least that’s what I guess it is for them) I got out a mosquito (or fly)-electrocuting racquette a few days ago. So now here’s what I do: while sitting at the table, whenever I sense something near my legs, I’ll grab the racquette, leap (or move slowly, depending on how many invaders there are) up and start whacking away. It doesn’t always work very well, but today I managed to kill 4 mosquitoes (okay, so now I’m a mass murderer, I’ll try becoming a serial killer in the next few days) and that, I hope, is a lesson for those blood-thirsty pests! (yeah, like they’ll get the point)

I’ll keep you posted on my mosquito-killing spree (that is, if I achieve any more outstanding daily figures – lol!)

PS: by “daily figures” I mean the number of mosquitoes killed in a day ;)

Forwarding e-mails

Hey there, I know I forward quite a lot of e-mails, and I don't really know whether you like them. Of course, I've told you a few times that if you don't want them, you can let me know and I'll try to remember not to send any more to you...but then, I'd really like to know whether you like them or whether you just put up with them :P

But one thing I don't understand about some people forwarding e-mails is who they forward them to. Sometimes I get a fwd from a friend, and a few days later, I get the exact same thing from another friend who had received the fwd with me! I mean, we get the same fwd, we can see that the other has received it, what's the point of sending it to someone who has already seen it? It's really...well, useless. So just think a bit before sending out that fwd...

And if you have a little more time on your hands, you can even check out the truth of some forwarded e-mails on this site. ;)

The countdown has started...

My flight back to France is on the 14th Sept... so now I've entered into the single-digits of the countdown... Now I have to start thinking of how I'm going to clear up my apartment when I get back... :/

Moving sucks...each time I move my stuff gets more messed up...it's time to put some order into things...and try not to move any more for the next four years!