Sunday 24th February

I woke up today feeling very odd. I had a blocked nose and felt very alone. Braved going into Morganes for a shower - she was actually out - so felt a bit better and cleaner! Then Morgane came round and showed me how to use the dreaded heater, i’m not going to use it unless it suddenly snows. Actually i’d rather freeze than use it. And it really smells. Anyway, after that I sat around for a while reading and doing some work feeling rather sad, until I decided I needed to go out and get some fresh air. I walked all over the city centre finding my way about, taking photos as I went. It was a beautiful day, really sunny and warm enough not to wear a coat. I love how most of the shops close on a Sunday. It really gives you the feeling of rest and peace. On my way home I went to this amazing patisserie (this one didn’t close), piled high with wonderful cakes, and the biggest chocolate cornflake cakes i’ve ever seen. They were almost the size of my hand - i’m not joking. However, i didn’t go for one of them I went for a Normandy, which is an apple tart. My God, it was delicious and really cheered me up! Spent the rest of the evening doing art work while watching Calamity Jane and Sister Act. First day at the Art School tommorrow.

Saturday 23rd February

How wierd to wake up in a strangely high bed, in a strange room, in a strange country and all alone. And the mattress is so uncomfortable. Oh, and did I tell you that the toilet has no light so you have to put the landing light on, and when its really dark its best to take a torch - fantastico!! Carefully climbed down the ladder type stairs - i’m going to fall of them sometime i’m sure - and put on i-tunes straight away. Its way too quiet here - i’m used to having six people in the house! I love to have time alone but this is too much. Luckily I was meeting Grace, Liz and Mary at 11 so didn’t have long. Wasn’t brave enough to disturb Morgane to have a shower (I don’t think I smell too much!), so ate some baguette, got ready to go out and made a shopping list:
Bananas, Cereal, Toilet Roll, Polish, J-Cloths, Bowl, Colander, Rice, Mushrooms, Torch, Cushion, Plate, Batteries.
At 11.00 I headed to the Gros Horloge, the big clock, to meet the girls. The streets were very busy, full of shoppers and tourists, many who were taking pictures of the clock. It is amazing, about 3 metres wide (i’m no good at guessing sizes!) and gold, with beautiful carvings and I am living 2 minutes away from it. The girls took me to lunch at a buffet bar they’d found called Flunch. It has everything there; salad, fruit, cakes, tarts, hot food, cold food and even free wireless internet. And the food if really nice, not like it would be in england - a bit mushy, room temperature, all the same - i could actually eat there everyday and not get bored. And its not expensive - phew! 6 Euro for loads of fruit, a plate of salad, rice, potato salad etc, and some bread. (If anyone knows how to get the euro sign on a mac please tell me.) So after lunch we wandered through the streets, past the cathedral to a supermarket, which was a bit like tescos, with homeware, clothes and electricals instead of just food. Bought most of the stuff on my list but forgot the torch and colander, and cloths and cushion - ok I got half of the stuff on my list! We all split up to go to our separate accomadations after that but not before arranging to meet at Grace’s at 6. I didn’t know where to go so they said they would meet me at the fountain at the Place du General de Gaulle. Headed slowly back to my room, stopping to buy a bowl, 2 plates and another mug at Printemps. The mug and plates are beautiful, bright greens, pinks and oranges with wonderful spots, stripes and swirls, and they match the one Dad bought me yesterday. The bowl is plain white.
Later: Ventured out again for a second shopping session. This time I went to Monoprix to get a torch and batteries. However while i was there I also bought a little rug to brighten up my room and some new cutlery. I like having my own stuff. Oh and I bought a colander so i can drain pasta. Back at the flat I was eating a bowl of Jordans Crunch, when Morgane phoned to saw she had a chest of drawers and something to give heat for me and would need help carrying them up the stairs. It got to 5.45 and I was meant to be leaving so I rang Mary to say I would be late. Morgane arrived at 6.30 with a really beautiful chest of drawers, which means I can now unpack my clothes, and a heater which runs on petrol which I don’t think I’ll use. I hate anything to do with fire and flames, especially in small spaces full of wood. So now I have this thing sitting in my room with a big container full of petrol. No smoking allowed in here! And did I tell you about the gas cylinder? I have one of those in my room too, it would give me three more rings to cook on but I have no idea how to work it and quite frankly im a bit scared to do so! Eventually got to Graces where we began the evening with cake, wine and guitar playing. They gave me a beautiful rendition of Wagon Wheels with me sitting in a little tub-chair. How soft and springy if felt. I also don’t have a sofa or anything squishy to sit on back in my room. Might have to buy a bean bag. Anyway, back to the evening. After nearly falling off Grace’s toilet - the seat isn’t screwed on - we headed to an Irish Pub they had been to previously, where we drank corona. It felt very english, apart from all the french drunken banter going on. We had several people come up to us, presumably because they had heard our english chatter, which was interesting! At around 1.30am I left the others and headed home (apparently this is early). It was very strange walking through the streets in the dark. Thank goodness for the very good street lighting which lit up dark corners magically. Rouen looks beautiful at night.

Friday 22nd February

Got up early this morning feeling a bit apprehensive about the day. Our friend gave us a map so we wouldn’t get lost getting to Rouen and after saying goodbye off we went. And guess what we did 5 minutes after arriving - yep we went the wrong way! Towards the A10 rather than the N10, so we headed South rather than North - oops. Anyway, we got back on to the right road and it was rather plain sailing all the way to Rouen. Again we drove through some amazing towns and villages. And on a couple of occasions the road turned in to cobbles which was slightly crazy. And they seem to be obsessed with speed bumps, which are often really high. At one point the landscape really reminded me of rual Norfolk - flat fields, hedges, and then the road would suddenly head upwards and it would be really hilly. As we drove into Rouen my stomach went suddenly, and I felt quite nervous. Its a really pretty city, lots of old buildings and cobbled streets, which reminded me of Elm Hill in Norwich. There are loads of pedestianised and one way streets too so it took us a while to find Morganes building. Eventually we had to park in Le Vieux Marche which is very close by and walk. Morganes building is right in the centre of town, with the shops seconds away from the doorstep which is great. However the flat is up a million trillion steps (I will count them soon), right at the top. Its a very wierd set-up with Morganes bedroom and sitting room joined on to a kitchen with a shower in it, the toilet (with no sink) completely separate to all the rooms in the outside corridor and my room, again is completely separate. Its a flat but split if that makes sense. I think my room used to be a studio or storage room. It has lovely beams in the ceiling and walls and its split on two levels, so the bed is up a ladder. It also has a fridge and a cooker but annoyingly no running water - so no sink. This means I have to go into Morganes part of the flat for washing up, the sink and the shower. I suppose she is used to it but at the moment I’ll feel like i’m breaking in to someone elses house everytime I go in! Morgane seems quite nice, but she gave us very weak tea to drink - i guess thats why the French drink coffee! Dad didn’t have to leave until 5ish so we decide to have a wander around the city and find something to eat. There is a massive gold clock not far from the flat, and we saw the cathedral which is amazing. And there was this building which they had begun cleaning so half was black and half was a lovely stone colour. We just missed the lunchtime so we ended up eating at McDonalds with me half crying into my burger. I just wasn’t sure about the set-up in the flat. After eating we bought a pillow and a mug to make me feel more at home, and some food basics and went back to flat. It was a good job we bought a mug and there was only one in my room, and we both wanted some tea. I was dreading Dad leaving at this point. I think if I was in a proper flat i wouldn’t have been as worried about anything. I wasn’t worried about shopping or being on my own, it was just the awkwardness of everything. But eventally Dad had to go, and after saying goodbye and crying in public (I never ever do that!) I went back to the flat on my own. The evening was very wierd. I didn’t want to go out alone so got out the first aid kit and did some art work and watched Cool Running DVD on my laptop. And after contacting the other english girls and arranging to meet the next morning I went to bed extremely early, on a really uncomfortable mattress. N/B: Need to buy a mattress or something similar to sleep on.

Thursday 21st February

Dad and I left for France this morning, via the Channel Tunnel at 8.00am. Not to Rouen, but to Rambouillet (South-West of Paris) to spend a night with some friends. It was all going well until we got on the wrong road at Calais and ended up heading to Belgium instead of towards Paris! And instead of turning back and starting again we decided to follow the smaller roads, in the direction we thought was right. One thing I noticed straight away was the lack of signposts, nothing that mentioned a big town or wether you we heading north or south. So we navigated by what we thought was right and finally saw a sign for Lille, which or though is not exactly the right direction to go in we knew that we could go South from there to Paris. It did mean that we saw a lot of French towns along the way. On the way to Lille we found a sign for Amiens, which is the way we were supposed to go in the first place. At least now we had some signs to follow. By now it was about 3.30pm Everything was going fine, and we even managed to stop to buy a baguette to eat in the car, untill we reached the edge of Paris, where even though we had directions to follow we got completely lost and ended up heading North again to the town of St Gemain (which is very pretty by the way). We soon realised that we were going the wrong way and backtracked. Our friends had told us to follow signs to Versaille and we manged to find a sign for Versaille eventually. However we were meant to turn off on the the A12 before Versaille, but we ended up in the town itself. We couldn’t find the A12 anywhere. By now it was about 8.00pm and we still had about and hours journey to go so Dad eventally stopped to ask directions. A good job too. Where we had got confused is that before the A12, there is a tiny bit of A13 to go on! So after a very long day we finally arrived in Rambouillet at 9ish, only 4 hours late! I was so tired and hungry. Luckily we had a lovely meal and a warm bed waiting for us.
N/B: One reason we got lost is because we didn’t have a map. Always take a map with you!!