See you soon, Paris.

So today I move to Paris. The official start of my year abroad.

Can I just start by saying that moving abroad is really inconvenient. Especially if you're getting the train and have to carry your suitcase on the tube. I am a really indecisive person when it comes to clothes and what i'm going to wear and so having to be selective in what and how much I pack in order to just be able to lift my suitcase on to and off of the Eurostar has been really difficult. I know that as soon as I'm in Paris i'm going to want a whole new wardrobe of clothes but the thought of wanting to wear something I have left behind is scary.

Anyway, this post is my chance to write down all my thoughts/feelings about the upcoming year before things actually start happening and I get so wrapped up in the excitement of being in Paris that I forget how I was feeling before I got there. I'm writing this whilst listening to a 'Sightseeing in France' playlist on Spotify. I'm not sure that traditional french music is my favourite but maybe that will have changed by the end of the year.

P.S. I'm sorry in advance that this is such a long post.

Paris 

The first thing to talk about is being in Paris. I spent 5 weeks in Paris 2 years ago doing an internship. I lived in a little rented studio in Montmatre, I didn't really make any friends outside of the office where I worked and I spoke quite a bit of english in the office. I spent my weekends with friends from England who came to visit (except for one weekend where I went to a ballet on my own), and I visited all the typical tourists sites. I think, and I hope that this experience in Paris will be quite different from that. Paris is such a beautiful city and I think it is very easy to feel like a tourist, obsessed by the famous monuments and the beautiful architecture etc. I hope that in living there, and studying there, for a long period of time I can experience more of Paris than just the typical tourist sites. I'm kind of excited, in a weird way, to live in a probably awful apartment, to be freezing cold in winter, to hate the rain, to not want to go food shopping and to not want to write an essay that is due in the next day; in Paris.

Sciences Po

I am obviously excited, and also very nervous about university. Sciences Po, in terms of content and the type of university would not really have been my first choice. That said though, I am hugely grateful for the opportunity to study there as it has such a great history and reputation, and I have managed to get on several business modules which makes me less worried. I do know that it's going to be a challenge though. Apparently there are lots of essays to write and a big work load and it's not that I mind work, but I just want to be involved in anything and everything outside of studies too. I also think that I work well in more creative, group environments than when writing essays alone. I think many of the modules do a have a more interactive component to them though so maybe it won't be so bad.

The main thing scaring me is that everything will be in french. I have studied french for years now, and I know even from when I revise for french exams that just immersing myself in it I feel like I improve but having to be in french-mode 24/7 is scary. I struggle to write and do well on essays in english, let alone in another language! I hope that this part of it won't be as bad as I am fearing but I suspect at some point there will be tearful phone calls to my mum and late nights scouring google translate for the best way to describe a concept I barely understood from the lecture.

From what I have read, Sciences Po lecturers are a mix of academics, and working people who run a module alongside their day job. I think it will be really interesting to see different teaching styles, and to compare the experience to Warwick. I hope that I have some really inspiring and interesting lecturers because it can make such a difference to a module. I've heard that you can even ask professors for help in getting contacts for internships if you want to work in a field that they work/specialise in, so that could be handy.

I think in many ways university life in Paris will be very similar to Warwick but i've no doubt there will be many differences too and now I just have to experience it to find out.

Social 

Going back to the language thing... Sciences Po is a very international university, and so there will be lots of English speaking people there but I know that I need to make a very concerted effort to try to make french friends. I'm worried about not being able to communicate certain things, I don't want to have to be the quiet one who says nothing and I'm worried that I'm not going to make friends being like that but i'm also scared to open my mouth, say something wrong and look like an idiot. I guess this is just a part of moving and living abroad. I have a lot of respect for everyone who studies abroad for university, not just for one year but for their whole degree. I am always so impressed by how they manage lectures, essays, exams, etc. I think it will require me to seriously step out of my comfort zone in order to become a part of french university life, and not just international student university life in France.

I start International Welcome Week on Friday. I think will be good because it will introduce me to the university, how its works, and how they like you to work, but I also fear that these welcomes week encourage international students to stick together, and not to mix with the french natives who arrive a week later. Hopefully because my modules will all be in french I'll be able to meet french speakers and then we'll just drift from our lecture to a wine bar and become best friends. I realise that I sound like a complete loser panicking about making friends like I'm back in year 7 about to start secondary school but I want to be honest in this and this is how I am feeling right now.

I currently have no where to live (another thing to be worried about). I know I'm not going to end up homeless but I really want to live with french speakers to that I can improve my language as much as possible. I'm going to be doing an internship from January (hopefully) and if its in a large multinational company like I hope then it's likely there'll be a fair bit of speaking english. I want to completely submerse myself in french during this term at Sciences Po and I think living with french people would massively help this. Mum is staying with me this week to help me find somewhere to live for the rest of the year. Maybe bringing your french-speaking mum with you is cheating but I have a pretty busy schedule this week (9am-9pm on Friday!) and so I need all the help I can get.

Internship

This is just a quick few thoughts on my internship as this is considerably further in the future than starting at Sciences Po. I hope, and plan, to do a 6 month internship in Paris from January to June. I wanted to work because I think its important to have experience in the working world as well as studying. I have always wanted to work in fashion and it is my ambition to get an internship in one of the large french fashion houses. Not only because it would be a dream come true for me but because it's going to help me get a leg up in the industry when I graduate from Warwick. I know that I have a lot of work to do in applying for internships and I would have started this sooner but the french seem to be more laid-back (unorganised?). For example, I interviewed for BETC, an influential ad agency, back in June, but was told it was far too early for them to be thinking about January and to call back in October! So you can see why I haven't rushed into this but I fully intend to put my full efforts in to securing the most interesting and exciting internship and best opportunity that I can.

Ok, this has been very long. I think I have written down the most important things I am thinking/feeling/worrying about before I leave. Apart from the worry that I am going to get genuinely fat on all the croissants and cheese I am going to be eating. (Side note, I don't really like cheese, or red wine, but I think I will try to/have to change that when I am living in Paris). I want to also take up running. Currently, I can't run for more than 2 minutes without feeling like my heart is going to burst. I want to start running because its a cheap way to work off the croissants, Paris is a beautiful place to go running, and I need a proper excuse to buy cool work out gear. So that's also on my list of hopes for this year, even if its not really relevant.

In summary: 
- I hope that I experience a different side to the tourist side of Paris
- I hope that I come back fluent in french
- I hope that I make french friends
- I hope that from January i'll be working chez Dior or Chanel
- I hope that I have packed the right/enough clothes
- I hope that I love cheese and wine and running on my return.
- I hope that I don't miss the people I love too much

See you soon, Paris.

Countdown to Paris - 5 days

In 5 days time I will once again be returning to my city of birth, Paris.

This time not for a weekend, not for 5 weeks, but for a whole year. A whole academic year.

This year abroad forms part of my International Business and French degree (3rd year) and will consist of 2 parts -  Studying at Sciences Po University (Aug-Dec), and an internship in a French fashion house (Jan-June, fingers crossed)





It's hard for me to decide how I am feeling about it right now. On the one hand, I am super excited. Excited to live in the city of love/lights, eat macaroons all day, make cool Parisian friends, learn to swear/speak like a local etc. On the other hand, I am nervous/anxious and kind of wish I was just going back to Warwick, because I know Warwick, I already have friends, and it would be so much easier... So I'm not really sure if I am completely scared or completely excited or both.

So what's the plan?
August 20th - Eurostar from London to Paris where I will meet Mum.
August 21st-28th - Welcome Week programme & find somewhere to live (with the help of Mum).
August 31st - Lectures start, i'm now all on my own.

For those who aren't familiar, Sciences Po is a prestigious, old french university, where nearly all french presidents and Christian Dior have studied. It has hundreds of years worth of history and the buildings look like Hogwarts, right in the heart of Paris, which is quite exciting.
However, all my lectures are going to be in French, which is quite scary. But the whole point is to come back fluent so I guess this is the best place to start.

Above: Karl Lagerfeld giving a masterclass in 2013 (!!)
Left: Sciences Po




I'm going to be studying a mix of lecture/seminar courses, mostly business related, one of which is at 8am on Monday mornings (and I thought 9am's should be illegal!). These include:
- International relations "world space"
- Introduction to entrepreneursip
- Startup and management of digital innovation
- Business management
- French Language

These modules and the grades I get won't actually count towards my Warwick degree and so there's slightly less pressure if I completely can't understand anything. I do however have to do a written piece that is graded by Warwick which discusses my year abroad. So before I leave i'll do a post on my expectations, hopes, dreams, fears (etc.) for the year so that when I come back in a years time and have to write about it I can compare these to what actually happened.

For now here are some things I know I will miss about England:
- Friends and Family
- My cat
- Toast
- Queueing
- The English language

À bientot, Paris.

Amsterdam - Part 4

Woke up on our last morning in Amsterdam to beautiful blue sky! We had a few hours to kill before heading to the airport so we went on a little wander, got some breakfast and enjoyed the sunshine. I thought Amsterdam was beautiful when it was raining but against the blue sky back drop it was even more 'woah'... I think the photos speak for themselves so here you go:

It wouldn't be a trip anywhere without a few obligatory selfies and I had to take advantage of the cool snapchat stickers at the airport!

So, until next time Amsterdam, I definitely hope we meet again, but maybe in the summer so that I can ride around on bikes and sit outside drinking until the sun sets...

Amsterdam - Part 3

We did some more cool, exciting things in Amsterdam. Including, of course, visiting the 'IAMSTERDAM' hollywood-style sign, located next to the Rijksmuseum.

I really wanted to go to the Rijksmuseum, the huge art gallery of Dutch art but it was quite expensive and as students on a budget we decided against it and opted instead for the Diamond Museum. I love diamonds, what girl doesn't, but it was pretty cool to learn about how they are extracted, the different types etc.

Did you know that only 10% of the world's diamond are used for jewellery? The rest are used for industrial purposes as diamond is so strong. 

We went to the Heineken experience after the Diamond Museum. This was Tom's choice of activity as I picked the Diamonds but it was actually really good fun! It was very interactive and you got free beer (which is great, if you like beer). Apparently women don't like beer because we sip it, tasting only the bitter foam and not the golden goodness of the actual beer which I didn't know but I have since tried taking larger glugs of beer and i'm still not sure that I like it... 

Another perk of the Heineken Experience is the canal ride at the end, included as part of your ticket, which takes you on a half hour canal tour round to their factory store. We didn't know this was going to be included but I would recommend it for this reason. With the 2 hour tour, free cold beer, and then the canal ride it is definitely worth the 16 euros the ticket cost! 

Amsterdam - Part 2

When in Amsterdam one has to visit the Red Light District. Architecturally its as beautiful as the rest of Amsterdam but I was a little shocked to see the underwear clad women stood in windows in the middle of the day! I guess they must have good heating...

As it was December everything was lit up and christmassy once it got dark which was nice, especially given my un-christmassy christmas that was coming up (as you'll see soon in the blog). 

I wish that I had a better camera so that I could get a kind of focus on certain things and then a blur on the background (definitely not the technical terms, I know). But anyway you can still appreciate the beauty of the city in the photos I took. 

AMSTERDAM - PART 1

So in November I turned 21 (*gasp*) and I now feel suitably old.  I actually found my first grey hair last week, ran downstairs hoping it was blonde, only for it to be confirmed as grey by a housemate and then not knowing how to handle the situation, burst in to tears.

Anyway... so I turned 21 and my lovely boyfriend took me to Amsterdam in December as my birthday present!

I had never been to Amsterdam before so it was pretty exciting and to be honest I didn't know that much about the city before going except that it is mostly famous for it's red light district, weed and canals.

I can tell you there is a lot more to Amsterdam that just that so i'm going to post a few of my highlights and really interesting things that we did and that I would recommend.

Anne Franks House

I didn't know a great deal about Anne Frank's story before and it was incredible so see the actual attic that she spent all those years hiding in! I didn't realise that her father survived the concentration camps either and the whole museum is so tastefully and informatively done. I think I am going to have to read her diary one day because she seemed like such an insightful and intelligent person for such a young girl and it's just awful to think what she had to miss out on whilst in hiding and then endure once captured.

As you can probably tell from these photos we didn't have great weather. In fact it was horrible, cold and raining but it allows you to appreciate the beauty of the architecture, and almost my down jacket and fur trimmed hood! 

I love how some of the buildings are just leaning slightly like "hey i'm just gonna take a break and lean on you, i'm tired of standing upright". I also love the huge window panes and quirky little roofs. I would love to live in Amsterdam with a bedroom overlooking a canal through those huge windows. 

Happy New Year! Hello 2015!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Firstly, I'm sorry I've been so bad at blogging recently, I just seem to get so occupied doing exciting things and then I forget to share them with you. So my resolution (from now) is to make more of an effort to keep my blog more up to date!

The next few posts will feature some highlights from last year which was a great year for me. I travelled to some cool places, experienced new things and hopefully this year will be even better!

I spent my new year's eve in London with my best friends, as one studies and lives in London so we could stay at his. Tom got a disposable camera which is always lots of fun and here are a few of my favourite pictures from the night. I love the vintage feel of the developed photos, they're so 'of the moment' and I couldn't have spent a happier new year's eve getting drunk on champagne and partying with the people that I love the most.

Cheers to a great new year!