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

Joyeux Noël

Christmas already! This is madness. 

I am now home for Christmas in rainy and windy Wiltshire and I love it. The last few months in Toulouse have been some of the best for my life but its always nice to be home with family and friends! 

It has again been a while since my last post - in all honesty I have been lacking inspiration. Well, that as well as life just getting in the way!

Here is my last month in a nutshell..

1. I recieved some lovely letters a while ago from my old housemates - it makes such a nice change to have handwritten letters rather than a text message!

2. Me and my housemate ready for the 'Vous etes des Animaux' party with our university. Of course I had an extremely origional outfit involving anything leopard print I could find.

3. The Coca Cola truck came to Toulouse and brought Santa along!!

4. I jetted home for the weekend at the beginning of December to see my brother as he won't be around for Christmas this year

5. My excited 'im going home' face

6. We decorated the christmas tree! Its not a real one but good enough :)

7. Christmas dinner No. 1 - beaut

8. The Toulouse christmas lights at Capitole are beautiful

9. My christmassy outfit ready for our '12 pubs of christmas' pub crawl (needless to say I only made it to 6 of them!)

10. Something you don't see everyday on the metro haha

11. I went to my first rugby match Toulouse vs. Connacht (sadly we lost!)

12. My housemate made me a delicious lasagne for dinner.

13. With the end of term came exams and the first bit of work I have done in months!

14. A lot of my friends left Toulouse for good this Christmas - very sad to see so many of them go!

15. Mail from my lovely mother.

It has been an amazing term - can;t believe how fast it has all gone! Sadly it ended on a slightly sour note though as my bag was stolen leaving me with no phone, cards, etc. But tt the end of the day possessions can be replaced though - happy to be home and healthy for Christmas.

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas :)

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

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

May

We Heart It

It is already May... I actually cannot believe it - Christmas seems like yesterday! 

Busy May ahead...

The start and end of exam season

If you are a student you will understand what a horrible time this is.. for me this year, however, it consists of one exam (I have a lot of green eyed monsters around me lately..) so I will be officially finished with year two by the 21st May. Time is going far, far to quickly!

The end of Year 2 at university

And with the end of the year comes a lot of goodbyes as I will be spending next academic year in Toulouse so chances are I won't see a lot of people for a fair while! Very exciting prospect to be going but I am certainly going to miss a lot of people.

House-hunting in Toulouse for next year

At the end of this month me and my friend are going house-hunting in Toulouse (/sunning it up for a few days) which should be good! Our aim is to get an apartment with a balcony pour quand il y a du soleil et nous buvons beaucoup du vin ;)

The commencement of summer!

It is finally feeling like it with the beautiful weather we have been having lately. Summer is just around the corner and I cannot wait. Hopefully I will find a job but I aim just to have a relaxing break with my friends in the sun.

May is going to be a good month.

What are your plans in May?

-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

Update

It has been unbelievably long since I wrote a blog post - I am not very good with this blogging malarky.

I thought i'd try get back into it with a short update on the past few months...

- Christmas was lovely having the whole family back together to welcome in 2013. The break from uni was great but again it just flew by - three weeks was not long enoughhh.

- Second year has already flown by, I cannot believe i'm already halfway through. Exams are all done for Semester one so I have had a short time of relaxing in the past few weeks before Semester two gets well and truly underway!

- With my return to University after Christmas I have managed to get an internship for Easter which is amazing - i'm anxious but excited to finally get some hands-on marketing experience.

- As the year moves swiftly on, my year abroad moves swiftly closer. I will be in Toulouse in France for Year 3 of university which is daunting yet exciting as I struggle to improve my extremely bad french skills. With this adventure abroad though my goal is to keep a very regular blog going so I record every aspect of it. My virtual diary for the year.

- One of my new years resolutions is to blog more often so watch this space!

Alice x