Pattes

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  • Pattes snapped a picture

    So I need help.

    I've been going back home quite a few times lately because I had exams to sit and interviews to have, and here's the result: I'll be staying in Britain for two more years.
    Woohoo. (I think I actually am pretty happy, it just doesn't really show right now.)

    Now being in uni in Britain means having to pay British tuition fees, and saying they're expensive takes a whole new meaning now that *I* have to pay them. Hence my question. The uni website reads:
    "If you are applying for a degree course in 2011 but already possess a qualification at the same, or higher, level as the course you wish to take, please note that you will be classified as an ELQ student for fees purposes. This means that if you already have a degree in a particular subject, but wish to undertake another degree course in a different discipline, you will be charged the higher fee."

    Does this mean that I'm classified as en ELQ student because I have a masters degree in English, even if I'm going to study law next year? Even if I'm not British? (Please say I'm not.)

    12 comments

    May 23rd, 2011

  • Pattes snapped a picture

    So I don’t have a TV set or an unlimited internet plan. It isn’t that bad on normal days, but it really sucks on a great wedding day… Luckily my dad is awesome, and he actually recorded the wedding for me :)

    I’d love France to have royals too. I mean, we could keep a President to get cross with, as you’ve got a Prime Minister, but we could do with a family to watch and love ^^ I realise those words could have got me beheaded a couple of centuries ago, but maybe France is ready now. Of course the major problem is that French royalists don’t agree on who should be the king—either Henri d’Orléans, Count of Paris, Duke of France, or Louis de Bourbon, Count of Anjou.
    But never mind, free our royals!

    (I just realised I can download the whole wedding on the BBC website. Britain is incredible. Another point in favour of Britain: though I still have to actually find any there, Tesco and Sainsbury sell dragonfruits. For real.)

    8 comments

    April 30th, 2011

  • Pattes snapped a picture

    This red thingy is brilliant. I can actually breathe!
    (I realise it doesn’t look that good with the pink glasses and the blue nail polish, but a girl’s got to do what she’s got to do to stay alive.)

    So I’m sick, thanks to the lovely brother. My head is awfully heavy, I have to breathe through my mouth, my nose is runny, and I feel terrible. Plus it’s been really sunny today, people were smiling in the streets—I guess it’s weird for British people to see the sun :p— but I was slowly melting in my high socks and boots: how stupid can you be?

    I went home yesterday all feverish, and while trying to pet a cute ginger cat I just met, I stumbled onto a snail cemetery—dozens of snails crushed by human feet. Made me even sicker than I felt.

    5 comments

    April 6th, 2011

  • Pattes snapped a picture

    Let me introduce you to half freedom.

    My French MacBook adapter actually BURNT a little each time I plugged it in the mains adapter. So I made a surprise trip to the Apple Store before I got to burn down the flat, and bought this magnificent kit. I'm now able to recharge my battery _every time_ I find a plug in a library or a Pret (we're on first name basis now), which, I cannot stress this enough, is a giant leap for me, if not for mankind.

    Next, the other half of freedom: mobile broadband. Since I arrived here I've discovered real life—one can't live without a freezer (or, you know, it's incredibly hard and you never eat meat, or fish), but one can live without the internet from one's bed. Except, well, it sucks.

    5 comments

    March 18th, 2011

  • Pattes snapped a picture

    I came back yesterday to a sunny London, that's a pretty (and, at least for me, unusual) sight.

    My going back home induced a lot a food to be cooked and prepared :) Pizzas on Thursday, nothing to interesting there. But Friday saw tarragon chicken for lunch before an amazing dinner to which descriptions can't do justice: smoked salmon, truffle sandwich, raw sea bass, scallops with artichoke and foie gras purée, john dory with truffle mashed potatoes, and a few desserts too :) Lovely, and as good as was to be expected in such a restaurant as Dessirier.
    Marinated leg of lamb (it sounds so much better when you call it a 'gigot d'agneau'!) of Saturday, and, once in a while doing no harm, we hosted a brunch on Sunday. Saw some old friends, was introduced to new ones, such fun!

    And I came back with lardons (finally!), real ham, and smoked salmon, and canned artichokes, asparagus, honey, all good stuff I couldn't find here :) London never looked so bright and lovable ^^

    3 comments

    March 8th, 2011

  • Pattes snapped a picture

    Paris, ah, Paris.

    Just came back from the 25th wedding anniversary dinner for my parents. God, is French food awesome! I feel better than I have for a long time. Going back home was a great idea, and that's all thanks to my grand-mother.
    I've drunk a lot—that is, what I suppose is the usual quantity of wine for this type of dinner, given the number of different courses there were. Still, since I usually never drink, I'm slightly tipsy. (Read: I giggle. Like, a lot.)

    I love my bed, having an internet connexion at home is sure a luxury, I've been eating real food for two days now and I'm not sure how I'll manage when I'm back to stupid-food-country, I missed my cat an awful lot, I haven't told anyone I was coming back so I can make the most of my family and it's lovely not to have to care care of anybody else, it was so warm today and yesterday, France is not as damp as London, I love Paris. Really really.

    (Should have taken the pic when I was all pretty instead of lying like a tired bag of potatoes in my awesome bed. Oh well.)

    5 comments

    March 4th, 2011

  • Pattes snapped a picture

    There seem to be no courgettes and no aubergines in London, and I don’t even know how you people call aubergines because in my 6th form fruit-and-vegetable-vocabulary sheet they weren’t mentioned.

    Vegetables are way too expensive here, and I discovered you can’t even buy whole leeks either.

    I miss home, as tiring as it was. I miss my baby cat. I miss Paris, and being able to wander in the streets without looking at a map every ten seconds to avoid getting lost. I miss the French weather, less damp, less cold. I miss my bed. I miss hugging my brother from behind until he’d try and shake me off. I miss eating real food, and drinking too much coke. I miss seeing them all twice a week and thinking how much they annoy me. I miss being able to communicate with real people, I miss him, I miss laughing wholeheartedly, I miss everything.

    13 comments

    February 1st, 2011

  • Pattes snapped a picture

    Fact: Sainsburys' meal deals save my life on a daily basis.

    Thursday's lesson of the day: Cab drivers are crazy.

    2 comments

    January 20th, 2011

  • Pattes snapped a picture

    It rained on me today. Twice.

    I'm feeling incredibly bad and not well. Bleurgh. Pris rendez-vous pour ouvrir un compte en banque chez Lloyds mercredi matin, et découvert qu'il n'y a pas de lardons en Angleterre, ce qui a mis fin à mes ambitions de faire des pâtes à la carbonara. Choc. How can people here live without bacon cubes?

    6 comments

    January 17th, 2011

  • Pattes snapped a picture

    Saturday's lesson of the day:
    1. English notes are way bigger than Euros, so they don't fit in my wallet.
    2. Buses are evil. (Got lost three times out of three. Seriously...)

    (Crappy camera is crappy.)

    5 comments

    January 15th, 2011