[[I wrote this on Wednesday, but I don't have internet in my room yet and have only just gotten around to taking the laptop over the road to "Café Bissap", an African rum bar that also does amazing green mint tea and has Wifi.]]
Avant d'arriver
The journey got off to a good start; when Dad had parked the car in the Eurotunnel shuttle, the SatNav woke up and told us to "turn around as soon as possible". As soon as we were off the train, it decided we weren't in France yet and recommended we "drive 80 yards and take the ferry". It also made us drive in circles for 45 minutes, confused by Amiens' one way system, before I finally spotted our hotel sign down a road we kept being told NOT to go down.
In the hotel: Blything, nap.
We wandered around the city a bit at night after supper. The cathedral is truly spectacular - the biggest in France by volume. In the summer, and also for the month of December, the facade of intricately carved saints is lit up by coloured lights. Dad saw it last month, but I will have to wait until my birthday. We ventured into Monoprix (supermarket chain), whose name is misleading; the prices are varied, but mostly they are more Waitrose than ASDA price.
Yesterday morning we went straight to the CROUS offices to sort out housing. I thought they hadn't received my forms because I've had no communication from them, but it appears they were just waiting for me to turn up on the date I'd put on the form. After 40 minutes of waiting to talk to someone, then a bit more waiting in the résidence itself, I had somewhere to live. It was deceptively simple, considering how ridiculous the forms were. I'm going to be honest, it's not brilliant. Actually, to the American assistants I've spoken to, it's known as "The Nunnery". I talked to two other girls on their ERASMUS year on the stairs yesterday evening and they were similarly unimpressed - or maybe a bit more than I was; one said "I feel it's like a prison". I wouldn't go that far, but it's definitely making me appreciate the halls I had at Bangor. Even Reichel, the oldest building with shared bathrooms, is better equipped.
Accommodation critique
Good things:
Location (5 minutes walk from the cathedral, pretty much bang in the centre of town).
Lots and lots of shelving/cupboards in the dorm rooms - books (and indeed Blythes) can all be de-bagged.
The fridge in my room is a good size - the same as we had in our house in Bangor, but this time it's all mine (and no one is going to put meat in it)!
Security in the lobby 24/7.
Not good things:
The entire résidence is female-only. It wouldn't be a problem, but male visitors are not allowed AT ALL (and female visitors aren't allowed between 2300-0600).
The world's saggiest mattresses. I'm shocked each bedroom doesn't come with a panic button in case you find you can't dig yourself out in the morning.
The bedroom floors are cold tile, like you get in classrooms, and the radiator is roughly the size of a standard pillow. It's going to get cold in here.
Shared bathrooms are sometimes pretty decent. This one isn't - it's more like what you'd find at a swimming pool - 4 toilet cubicles, and a row of showers cordonned off with curtains. (There are also two defunct urinals with a sign translated into wonderfully wrong English.) I can honestly say that the only place I've ever "lived" with worse bathroom facilities is the halfway house B&B. Oh, plus you have to buy your own toilet paper.
The kitchen. "Kitchen". It's a complete travesty. After talking to ERASMUS friends who were already in their logements I knew I wouldn't be bringing along my baking box, but this takes the piss. On my floor there are about 30 rooms, and one kitchen. This "kitchen" contains two hot plates and a plug-in electric oven. There are two microwaves in the kitchen downstairs. I suspect that the losing-my-lazy-summer-weight diet might be going into effect quite soon whether I want it to or not. It's also locked at 2300, as is the computer room.
All in all, the kitchen and bathroom (but mostly the kitchen) situation cancels out the plentiful shelving joy. I have to give a month's notice before I move out, so I'm going to start looking around for anyone looking for a roommate, or studio apartments to rent. I came here with that plan already formulated, so it's not too much of a bummer. However, it really makes you wonder how dire the conditions must have been in uni dorms in 1968 for the French university students to protest the way they did, if this is the standard they were striving for!
-shelving space!
- dinosaur covers!
- corridors that make me wish I didn't watch so many horror movies
- urgh
Reflexive verb translation fail
An evening with people from the internet
(Well, person really.) A bloke called Simon messaged me on Couchsurfing last week after I posted asking about hostels in the town (there are none). As it turns out I didn't need his couch - even though it may well have turned out comfier than this bed. We met up yesterday evening and he took me to his friends' apartment for food and beer. Jenny is Scottish, which meant that there was already a "fish out of water" conversation point, although her spoken French outstrips mine by miles. There was fruit beer sampling, kitten teasing (Pomme, Olive and Smeghead), and the admiration of photographs of fungus. Simon's friends were really nice and it was great to jump right in and speak French, however garbled and clumsy I may have been.
Things I have learnt so far
The words for hallway, kettle, pillow, duvet (hands up if you thought that word was French), launderette (again, hands up).
Amiens has a brilliant bicycle shop, that rents out bicycles for €50 PER YEAR.
The French don't really "do" fresh milk (the mission continues took me to the yogurt section of the supermarché, where I found 2 options. UHT is rife).
Conversation tutoring is a lucrative business and I should advertise my services.
You will be able to find an Irish pub, with real Irish bar staff, in any city in the world.
France has university Fraternities/Sororities. Even the members themselves can't explain why.
Amiens has nice things, like this huge cathedral and weird clock thing:
You will be able to find fresh milk, just more often than not it's not pasteurised.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to further blogs. In Germany, We had two fridges to divide between 15 people, but we did have a full range and oven. We had to run down to the basement from the 4th floor for a shower, but at least there were enough stalls that it was never full. And guys were allowed to visit:)
ReplyDeleteActually we don't have irish manned irish pubs over here, just irish owned
ReplyDeleteMakes me appreciate my current university dorm situation...are you on Study Abroad then? I'm considering going to Amercica so hope the dorm's aren't too awful where I am going.
ReplyDelete