All good things come to an end

I am officially back in the UK!

I apologise, it has been too long since my last post (so much for 'one post a week' resolution!). But I have just been so busy wrapping things up in France and moving back home.

7 months in Toulouse complete... where did the time go?! 

It goes without saying but this past year has been the best of my life. The people I have met and the places I have been have made this year far better than I ever thought it could have been. I will miss the friends I met and Toulouse as a whole but i'm sure I will go back someday.

Toulouse - Je t'aime. But for now, I have exciting times ahead with a 6 month summer to play with and my final year at University.  End of one chapter and the start of a new one!  

Stay tuned for a lot more blog posts soon!

Alice x

Before I knew it...

It has been a ridiculous amount of time since my last post - It is already November.. where did October go?

Needless to say that this month has been a busy one

I had a week off from university so was lucky enough to take a spontaneous trip to Barcelona with a friend. We got a lift there with 'blablacars' through the mountains which was stunning. Barcelona itself is a beautiful place and I can't wait to return soon!

With October comes Halloween and a poor effort on my part. I was very busy so I bought the first Halloween thing I could find which was these cat ears from H&M. Very unoriginal but they did the job! "I'm a mouse.. duh" (mean girls reference if you see what I mean). I went to a house party and clubbing for Halloween. Although this was extremely fun, as a friend pointed out, when does Halloween stop being about candy and start being about getting drunk? I miss trick or treating! Next year I plan to be in a candy coma instead.

More frequent posts will be returning hopefully from now on!

How was your October?

Alice x

A month in Toulouse...

This Sunday I will have already spent a whole month in France! C'est ridiculous, non? Its been a busy and hectic month, but as I sit in my french apartment writing this, there is no where else I would rather be right now (apart from maybe in a bar with un verre du vin - as you can tell I have learnt the important french phrases).

With the beginning of the month came the exploration of Toulouse and a few discoveries such as when the metro doors shut, they shut. Even if your head is between the doors (much to my housemate's dismay). Also we had our first experience of the French nightlife which is beautifully relaxed as everyone has pre-drinks on the riverside before moving on to bars or clubs. I love the bar culture here compared to clubbing at my home university - it makes a nice change to wear just jeans and flats as opposed to short skirts and heels (I find I can last a lot longer in flats!) Not everything is different though, people still chant drunken songs on the metro to the club similar to the rowdy drunken chanting on the buses back home.

We then had our first few days at University where we met all of the exchange students and had a chance to get to know each other in the sunshine. With an amazing total of 31 nationalities between us, it's safe to say we won't run out of things to talk about anytime soon with such characters. Thankfully for me everyone communicates in English most of the time as it is the common language. University is good apart from the trek to get in (about an hour journey) and the hideously long 3 hour lectures. I'm sure some of you would think that an easy feat but 3 hours of someone wittering on about the 7 P's is a struggle at best (if you are a marketer you will know my pain). I have not yet found out what happens if I fall asleep in a lecture but I cant see it being long until I find out.

The social life in Toulouse is perfect with busy cafes in the day and busy bars at night and of course a lot of shopping which my bank balance has already felt the brunt of. Like England, the cinema is a popular pass-time but at a fraction of the price at just 5 euros for a film, about £4.50, as opposed to almost £8 in England. As an attempt to immerse ourselves in the french culture and language further me and some friends went to see 'Jeune et Jolie', a very good film about a french student who is a prostitute. This film naturally had a lot of sex scenes as you would imagine from the storyline but it made my day to hear someone say 'ooh la la' in the cinema at an especially graphic point. If you get the chance to see it though I would definitely recommend!

With these few weeks technically being our 'freshers' there is no shortage of nights out which is great fun - everyone is so lovely and we all get on really well; an event we went to last week was a Mexican themed night involving a lot of maracas and sombreros. 

Anyway, I'm going to wrap this up as too much has happened in a month to fit into one (already too long) post. I have only scratched at the surface of Toulousian life and I can't wait for what's next.

Alice x

Purple Haze

Hat: Urban Outfitters (Sale)
Top: Zara

Jeans: Asos

Shoes: H&M

I looooove this hat. Adds that 'something' to any outfit. Et c'est tres Francais ;) 

France is holding onto the Summer weather at the moment hence my sporadic posts - The sun needs soaking up!

What has been your favourite item of clothing lately?

Alice x

Home Sweet Home

My new french apartment! It took months of blood, sweat, tears and paperwork but me and my housemate found ourselves in our dream apartment for our year in France. It is spacious, clean and cheap so we really cannot complain! 

With a new year comes a new bedroom to move in to. This is the part where I say a big thankyou to my housemate as we only had one double room and one single; so after flipping a coin I got the double (Thanks Hy <3 ).

It is very basic and simple but I love it now I have my little personal touches in it - Can't go wrong with some bunting and photos :)

Although it was a long and hard process finding an apartment in France it has all been so worth it now that we are here and settled. I couldn't ask for much more really!

More regular posts will be coming soon bear with me :)

Alice x

Bienvenue à Toulouse

My Erasmus year is well under-way - I have been here in Toulouse for a week already! I have already fallen in love with the city with its endless restaurants, small windy streets, beautiful scenery and buildings, friendly people and, of course, too much cheese and wine.

River Garonne

This first week has been incredibly busy yet amazing - it has been like freshers all over again with so many names to remember that I am relying on Facebook to help me out. Everyone is incredibly friendly at my university and from what we have already experienced of the city sights, shopping, restaurants and nightlife I know already that I will be very happy here.

On the day I flew out I was incredibly nervous as I thought about my limited language skills and the doubts in my mind as to whether I would even like Toulouse. However, I have barely had time to think about that as I already feel so at home here.

Me and my friend have certainly landed on our feet with our beautiful apartment - it is cheap, perfectly located, clean and spacious. Couldn't ask for more :) I am just about finished settling into my room so make way for a bedroom post coming up in the next few days!

As if it wasn't hectic enough moving to another country, I celebrated my 21st birthday on Monday! It was a nice and quiet celebration with a few friends as we had to wake early the next day but it was still lovely. I feel very fortunate to have celebrated my birthday a few times over this year as I had early celebrations before I left so I cant complain!

This is quite a rambling post so I apologize if I am boring you! So much has changed in a week its hard to put into words. But at the moment, its looking like this is going to be a year to remember :)

À bientôt!

Alice x

Packing, packing, packing

As I have mentioned in a few posts I am soon to leave England and jet off to France for my year abroad at university there! So I am currently very busy packing and organizing myself for that.

It may seem weird but I actually love packing, it's a great excuse to organise and gets me very excited for my trip. However, I think even my organisational skills would not allow me to fit my whole life into one suitcase, so I decided to ship over some stuff also!

I decided to use Send My Bag which is an amazingly cheap service which allows you to send a bag or box to another country (to send my very large box it cost me just £25!) which was ideal and most definitely needed for my extra shoes, clothes and home comforts :)

A cuddly toy? Dont know how that got in there...

If you are embarking on a year abroad or just going on a long holiday, here are my top packing tips! (they are probably quite obvious but you never know :) )

1. Write a list before you do anything - rather than aimlessly throw things into a suitcase really think about what you will need. Less chance of forgetting something important!

2. Put on a film or tv show as you pack - Packign can sometimes take hours so a good film can make it much mor enjoyable!

3. Wrap your valuables in other clothes - Your bag might be thrown about a bit so be careful.

4. Bag up liquids! You don't want to open your suitcase to find that your clothes are drenched in shampoo.

5. Finally, weigh your bag! Nothing worse than having to re-pack at the airport in front of a line of people if your bag is too heavy.

If you are also going on a year abroad this year, or you;re considering doing one, check out thirdyearabroad.com as its great for tips and tricks of what you will need to do before you go.

Are you going on holiday or on a year abroad? 

Alice x

Summer Sun

Summer is finally here. 

I can't believe my second year of university is complete - it seems like yesterday I was going crazy at freshers.

The last walk from uni

Leaving uni this year was extra emotional as a lot of people I won't be seeing again as next year I will be in Toulouse on my Erasmus year! Me and my friend successfully found an apartment which is perfect and so I am starting to get much more excited to go - it's set to be a great year. 

Get ready for a lot more blogging from September as I indulge in french culture (wine, bread and cheese, right?).

My summer is starting swiftly with a week on Bulgaria next week - veryyyy excited indeed. Then followed by a few local festivals and a bit of work here and there and my summer is complete!

What are your summer plans?

Alice x

Strange things happen, are you going round the twist

Did anyone watch that tv show as a child? Think it was called round the twist. Got the theme tune in my head. #90skid

I felt like a ramble today, I haven't posted properly and consistently on here since literally forever. I keep saying to myself I will blog looads next year as I will be in the land of snails and frogs (France), however then I think why not do that now? Its never too early to write down memories and experiences.

Speaking of France, that's a challenge in my life at the moment. Turns out finding accommodation to live for a year in a whole other country is a bit difficult! However this also means a weekend break to sort it all out might be in order (yay). It excites and scares me to be going away in a few months, a few months which I know will fly by and before I know it i'll be there!
Je suis un peu nerveuse.

I am almost halfway through my 4 week internship at the moment (something else which is going by so quickly!), and I never appreciated how tiring working 9-5 is. I know its average if not less than most peoples work load which makes me glad i'm doing it as I feel like im really earning my money for once and learning so much as I go. I'll be honest I am one of those people who likes to have a system in place and know exactly what i'm doing and how to do it; and starting out at a company is none of these things. So it turns out these four weeks are teaching me not to worry and stress as much as well.

Summer is nearly here again! NOT.
It is late March here in the Southwest of England and I find myself still sleeping in at least 3 layers in bed and failing to feel my feet/fingers throughout the day. It's ridiculous - global warming? Hmm I have yet to see proof of this one.

More soon.

Alice x