Category Archives: France

April 20, 2012 · 12:24 am

Episode Fifty Nine – Ancient Rome

Hi everybody! I know… This story really is ancient history now. It was my mum’s visit and then the end of term and then exam season and between all that my blogging mojo never emerged at the surface, so the thought of putting together a post worth reading was not exactly a realistic goal. And I’d much rather leave you all hanging than waste your time on a post not worth reading. But here I am, ready to keep ploughing through my Italy narration and onwards to Grant’s visit too… eventually.

This is what I have in store for you today: a gorgeous day in Pope-ville!

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March 31, 2012 · 11:04 am

Saturday Spotlight Fourteen – Université de Strasbourg

I’m sitting here in my room and I can just glimpse a sanguine sun dipping behind the still-winter trees, and I’m contemplating what to write this week’s Saturday Spotlight on. It’s Friday evening, but tomorrow I have a wine-tasting tour of Alsace so I’ll be scheduling this post to appear at some point on real Saturday. But, do you know, I still haven’t written in my blog about what courses I’m taking this semester?! C’est fou! It might not make for the most image-heavy or enlightening spotlight, but I’m looking forward to writing at least something about what exactly it is that I should be studying each time I sit down and write a blog post instead :P

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March 29, 2012 · 12:51 am

Episode Fifty Eight – Farewell to Florence

I’m beginning to notice a pattern here: the further behind I get in writing my blog, the more random thoughts I come up with and just have to write about immediately. I have ideas for posts on a whole range of subjects, not least on languages which I’m becoming more and more enthusiastic about as time wears on; but for now I think I’ll hold them back.

I expect this was an old guard tower from the former city walls.

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March 24, 2012 · 5:55 pm

Saturday Spotlight Thirteen – Good Habits

Hello, hello!

Today is a beautiful day, sun is shining, birds are singing, people are canoeing on the river outside my window, candy floss is whipping up on the branches of Strasbourg’s trees, and I saw 2012’s first wasp today. In short, I’m telling you what you already know: Spring is here!!!!!

Just a smattering of candy floss on this one, but I'll take it!

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March 21, 2012 · 10:54 am

Episode Fifty Seven – Playing Catch-Up

Sigh.

Why is blogging so hard? Honestly guys, I know a lot of you are faithful bloggers yourselves, and I just have to ask: don’t you feel sometimes like there’s just too much to write, too many ways to write it, and not enough people who would really be interested in reading all those words even if you ever did somehow manage to write them down? Continue reading →

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March 18, 2012 · 5:09 pm

Sunday Spotlight Twelve – New Geographical Friends

The worst part is the silence.

Grant bustled in nine days ago for a roar of trams, trains and travel. Since last Friday it’s been all go around here, whether we’re just messing around over breakfast, picnicking somewhere in the Strasbourg sun, or meeting up with Amanda (who is at once my study-abroad buddy and Grant’s sister) for drinks on St. Paddy’s Day.

No time for just lying around, we have places to be!

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February 6, 2012 · 6:33 pm

PinAddicts Challenge, February 2012

Hi everyone. Good weekend?

 

A few weeks back I came across this blog post about the PinAddicts challenge, and I thought “Fantastic! I’m not the only one out there who bookmarks dozens of cool craft projects and never realizes any of them!” So I signed up on the spot.

The basic idea is super simple, although I’m not all that clear on the ins and outs of the blogging part of it. You just pick one thing that you’ve pinned, every month, and make it. Then I think you blog about it and link to the original post. Which is what I’m doing now! I’d already made my geometric shape garland when I moved in, but it was about time to cross something else off the list. Continue reading →

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February 4, 2012 · 4:52 pm

Saturday Spotlight Eight – Brilliant Christmas Gifts

It’s Saturday again: I can hardly believe it! The week sure does fly by when you only have class two days out of seven… :P

I’ve been thinking of writing about this for a while, but wasn’t sure how. Then I realised, I could do a Saturday Spotlight about it! You see, at Christmas I got a bunch of amazing gifts I was really excited about, for various reasons. I got a really cool Scratch Map from Grant, some delicious shower gels and some cozy cozy slippers, and I am loving them all : ) But the ones I found myself saying ‘Thank goodness I have this!’ are, above all, the ones that I find really, really useful. And though of course all my family and friends know how much I appreciate their gifts, I wanted to gush a little more about how glad I am to have so many people around me who know just what I want and need : )

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February 2, 2012 · 2:11 am

Episode Fifty Five – What Paris did to me

The only thing missing from the view from the Eiffel Tower…

Can you see the shadow of what's not here?

…is the Eiffel Tower itself.

I think Paris might just have given me an epiphany. You see, I think this one observation, however small and obvious, kind of embodies how I’ve felt about quite a lot of my life: especially last semester in Costa Rica. As the idea of moving abroad towered over me, I admired it, I dreamed up mental pictures of how it would be – me in a hammock drinking from a coconut, or shopping for mangoes at a local market, etc. – just like I admired and photographed Eiffel’s creation on that chilly Sunday afternoon in Paris.

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January 27, 2012 · 10:05 pm

Saturday Spotlight Seven – On Bucket Lists (Part B)

What’s up, everyone! How are those reverse bucket lists going?

As I mentioned last time, I don’t actually take objection to the idea of writing a list of goals. It’s a good way of staying focused, keeping your priorities prioritised and reminding yourself what you’re saving up all those pennies for. Yes, listing your goals is great: maybe you just don’t make one called 500 Things To Do Before I Die. That’s just setting yourself up to be overwhelmed, disoriented and, ultimately, unsuccessful.

So, I’m keeping my own list short, relevant and to the point. I have more than my usual five for you today, but significantly fewer than 500! These are all the things I want to achieve during my semester in Strasbourg.

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