Nice me plaire beaucoup! ;)
It felt so good speaking French today! I'm really starting to get a hang of it. All the French I have learned this spring (and forgoten during June) has returned to me. I knew it would, but I had't expected it to be so soon. Within only three days I can speak as good as I spoke in school when I was at my best, probably better! Take today for example. We had a real discussion in class for more than three hours about money, wealth and poverty, reward and punishment and a lot of other things. We just couldn't stop talking! :D
Since my dear friend Sammelicious wants an update about yesterday, I will give you an update about yesterday. I met with Nicolas, Matilda, Angeline, Tamsin (a girl from Switzerland) and Marlon (a Danis girl). We met by the fountain at PLace Masséna, then went to a little supermarket and bought some wine and Baccardi Breezers and then walked down to the beach. We sat in a little cirkle, drank and talked about all sorts of stuff until Angeline had to go home (she has to return to her host family at eleven because she is only fifteen). The rest ofus went to a bar and drank some free champagne and then went to the cellar floor where there was a dance floor. We danced and drank some bear (usually I don't like bear but here it tastes completely different than in Sweden!). It was great! I had missed dancing! But Marlon wasn't feeling so well so we went home early, at one o'clock or something like that.
A funny thing from yesterday happened when we were tanning on the beach. I had lied down with my back towards the sun and when I sat up my legs were full of creepy patterns from all the little stones and pebbles. When Matilda saw it she said "Oh my God, you look like a dinosaur!"
We went to the beach today too, this time with Nicolas. I did my homework there, we swam, tanned and talked - me and Matilda in Swedish and Nicolasand Tamsin in Swiss-German. It was really funny because a lot of the words are similar so sometimes we could understand each other.
After school went to a café for ice cream with Matilda, Tamsin and Marlon. It was vry nice and cosy :) Now I'm meeting up with them by the fountain for a jog.
Bam bam bam!
Sooo, I was supposed to meet with my new friends at la Place Masséna at ten o'clock this morning so I started walking at nine to have a lot of time if I would get lost or something. Fortunatelly I did not, it was easy to find it. I even stopped by a little shop called Orange and bought a new card for my phone. FINALLY I HAVE A WORKING TELEPHONE NUMBER!!! Apparently it's only possible to buy them at Orange shops or at post offices. Well well. I placed myself by the fountain which I thought was our meeting point and while I waited for the others I played a game called Bubble Town on my phone. It's not fun really, but I had nothing to do yesterday before falling asleep so I tried it and well, it's kind of addicting ^^ Suddenly some creepy guy came up to me, tried to touch me and wanted a little something from me. He wouldn't walk away until I got rid of my Swedish politeness and yelled <<Non!>>. At least I think he got the point by then. You can never be sure with French guys, they are so persistent!
Soon I understood that I was waiting at the wrong fountain and I realised that the girls had been waiting for me for a really long time! But I did get there, that's the main thing. So we went to the beach. The rocky plage of Nice gave me a foot massage I will never forget. My tender feet don't do hard, uneven surfaces. No actually, I will not complain because smooth, round rocks are way better than sand that gets everywhere! We swimmed a little and lay in the sun. I really enjoyed myself. The temperature here is perfect for me. Not too hot and not cold at all! Perfection ;) And since I'll be staying here for eight weeks I don't need to stress my tanning plan, BECAUSE I WILL BE CHOCOLICIOUS ANYWAY!
Though we had decided to go back to school in time to eat without having to hurry, somehow we still managed to only have five minutes to eat. Again! Incredible. Class was okay, we talked about money and I had to act as a restaurant owner demanding money from guests whose 50 euro bill, which they had put at the table, had been stolen. They said that my serveuse had taken it and I got upset and in the end I showed them the tape from the surveillence cameras which showed the thief taking the money. Haha, when I came here I didn't sign up to do theatre. DUDE! But it was fun :) The Russiqn girl, Angeline, is very very straight forward. Especially for a fifteen year old. It's like "bam bam bam"! I never completely understood what my friend Petsy was talking about when he said that Russian people are very tough and... well "bam bam bam". But now I do, haha. Oh, I'm so Swedish XD
Tonight I'm going to a sort of beach hang with my friends, our cute guide Nicolas and probably some other people from school, so I'm expecting a great night!
xoxo Milienqy
We are all giggly little school girls deep inside
I woke up in the middle of night from the enormous goose bumps running all over my body and shaking me to the core. I had not closed the balcony door before I went to bed and instead of a cover I only used a sheet. It had been so hot when I fell asleep! But this place is no different than Sweden when it comes to the cold nights.
After dressing in the morning (I picked out a white summer dress, brown heels, brown purse, purple earrings, purple and silver bracelets and a perl neckless), I had some breakfast with my hostess. I ate french cheese youghurt with cereal and drank a glass of milk and a glass of orange juice. I totally understand why you want to know what I ate for breakfast, it is a very interesting and important topic. In fact, the destiny of the whole world depends on it...
Anyway... My hostess was kind enough to follow me to she school by the tramway. It is like a slow going train which goens on the same road as the cars and busses but on a little railway. Alors, this way I managed to get to school without getting lost. The school is situated in a central part of Nice. It lies in a modern building with many floors. Here in France they say first floor when they talk about the second floor and so an. So the cafeteria is situated on the fourht floor. Basically, I have walked a lot of stairs today!
The principal, who speeks Russian (!), met all the new students and he and an other teacher gave us a written test. While we worked on that, we were called out one at a time to be judged on a camel market. That is, take the oral test which determined which level our French is at and what group to put us in.
They decided this Rantalicious camel is a mediocre one and placed me in on a middle level called B1. Though I hate being seen as "pas mal" (translation "not bad"), a phrase which the principal repeated at least four times in the duration of less than a minute, might I add, it turned out to be a really great group with some special perks and advantages. For example I have the morning off all week this week!
Because of the unexpected freedom, I decided to come with some other students who also had the morning off to the old part of Nice, in french called Vieille Nice. We were a group of six girls and our guide was a cute boy. Yes, you read it right. A cute boy ;) But more about boys later! I have used all the languages I know today, which are Swedish, Russian, English and French. Why? Because one of the girls, named Angeline, is Russian and another one, named Matilda, is Swedish. I know that before I left Sweden I said that if I would meed any Swedish people I would turn aroud right away and MAKE A RUN FOR IT (nothing bad about my country men and women, but talking Swedish in France would totally mess up my French learning), but to be honest, it feels good to have someone from the same country as myself when I am so far from home.
Anyway, it was a really nice walk too, which surprised me a lot since I wore heals! We saw a lot of small churches, visited a little museum, ate ice cream and walked a lot of stairs to get to a view point. What an amazing view! I will upload pictures soon :)
We got our food at a supermarket. I proposed the girls that everyone buy different stuff and then share with eachother. So we had baguette, cheese camembert, youghurt and fruit. It was really good but we had to hurry a lot to get to class. Besides, we didn't have a knife for the cheese so we used the wooden pack from the cheese itself XD
Our class started at 13h 15 and we got there just in time. During the lesson we just talked a lot about our family and relatives and physical appearence and we did one listening exercise. Frankly, I think it's a little too easy and I don't feel challenged at all. At the same time I really like my group! I feel "dilemmed". I will stay in this group for a few days to give it a try, and if the level of learning doesn't evolve, I will have to go to the principal and change camel :)
Now, class is over and I have been occupying the only really good computer in the little computer room for about one and a half hour. It takes a lot of time to get used to foreigh keyboards! I will be going home in a few minutes but first I want to tell you about my plan for tomorrow morning. I'm going to the beach! SUCK ON THAT! ;)
Bye now
xoxo Milena
I have arrived!
Something I have looked forward to for about four months has finally happened: I AM IN NICE!!!!
But now I'm way ahead of myself. I will start by telling you about yesterday, my last day in Sweden. Cliff notes version - it couldn't have been better. Everything was perfect! I met with my friends and family for a barbeque on the beach. I am so happy that we did it It was absolutely great. I got to show my friends Sigtuna as well and I felt as proud as the mother who was mock-yelling at her son when he threw pasta all over Samantha in Sex and the City.
It was so fun when the girls and I tried to light the fire... It was not as easy as any of us thought it would be. In the end we poured loads of a flammable liquid on it so the fire got really big for a while. And finally, we were able to start making the food. It was a mix of different stuff like chicken, zuccini, mushrooms, sausages; fish... Well, the more food the better! As usual, I ate a lot :D All in all, this day will have a special place in my heart. It has even been nominated in the category "Day of the Year" in Milienqy Awards 2010 ;)
But I'm not going to lye to you. It was hard to say goodbye. I will miss everybody so much!
When I came home at eight o'clock, something less pleasurable was waiting for me - packing. This packing-the-last-minute is not really my style but I have had a lot of other things to do lately so I hadn't even started packing yet then... It was manageable at first, then it got boring and then I just wanted it to be over. It's incredible that I didn't start crying because I really wanted to. I finished packing at two o'cock in the morning. The contents of my life for the two coming months in two suitcases, a purse and a little plastic bag. Oh my, was I tired by then...
...And I had to go up at five thirty, after only three and a half hours' sleep. Not fun. But the main thing is that I made it in time to the airport. Actually, my mother and I even had time to eat breafast there together!
My plane left Arlanda Airport for Frankfurt at nine fifteen. I managed to sleep a little during the two hour flight. In Germany I switched to the plane heading for Nice, which was almost an hour late. It wasn't so bad but really frustrating because I had no reception there at all! An advice to people who plan on buying a new phone or something - DON'T GET TELENOR! And stupidly enough, I had left my Comviq SIM-card at home. This meant that I had no way of contacting my host family in Nice. I actually almost starded to get a little nervous when I arrived in Nice and couldn't find them anywhere. Everywhere I looked I saw people holding signs of different shapes and sizes with different names on them but none of them said mine! Fortunatelly I got the idea to ask to borrow the phone at the information desk and called the family. Soon afterwards they came and picked me up!
My first impression of Nice is that it is way more than just nice. I have a feeling that I will really love it here! It's 24°C,a long beach not too far from here, palm trees and a big bed in my room! I really like my host family as well!
Now I am sitting and typing this on their computer with a keyboard that has a completely different order than any other I have ever seen. Where "A"is supposed to be there is the "Q" and so on.
Tomorrow is my first day at school and I am looking forward to it! The only thing I am a little worried about is whether I will manage to nog get lost or not haha :P That remains to be seen!
But now something smells too good from the kitchen for me to be able to concentrate anymore :) Later! /Milena
