Tuesday 26th February

For some reason, although I had told the other girls that we weren’t meeting Patricia until 10 I went to the art school at just after 9. It was pouring down with rain, but through the rain and in the half light of the morning Rouen looked wonderful. The cobbles hold a lot of water though and my feet got completely soaked. Had a cup of tea and a chat with Christine while waiting for the girls and asked her where I could buy a cheap mattress. Had a bad night of sleep last night. Luckily she told me of a shop where I might find on 10 minutes walk from the flat. I don’t know how I will carry it back though! Then I attempted to read the local paper, didn’t understand much but I know its meant to rain most of the week - brilliant. At 10.30, after the others had arrived and had a cup of tea we headed to the 1st years building to meet Patricia. The inside of this building is more like Norwich. Larger rooms, tall ceilings and windows, lots of stairs. We had a short meeting in Patricias office, which has a mural of trees painted on one side, and got given a list of all the teachers (for a small number of student there are a lot of teachers) and at what times they are in and were basically told that we can come and go as we please. Half way through Morgane came in crying wanting to talk to Patricia - we didn’t find out why but I hope shes OK. After this Patricia took us to meet the 3rd years, all 13 of them. They seem very friendly. One guy looks just like John-Paul from Hollyoaks. That was the first thing we all noticed which was quite funny. We had to introduce ourselves in French and next week we will join in their english class for a discussion on politics. We have to try and speak in french - not the best subject to begin with! Anyway, two students, Arnold (the student rep) and Helen, took us back to the studios to help us find some spaces to work. It was quite hard to do because most of the spaces were being used, but I now have a little corner. That is it - no table of chair, just a corner. They then told us not to leave materials out because there are lots of thieves - great. They don’t have swipe cards so anyone can just walk in, and as I said yesterday there are no lockers. Had a look at the toilets today too. There are three womans toilets set in a sort of outside wooden shack, with no toilet seats, bad flushes and no sinks, only a garden tap. What is it with the french and no sinks!
Went to Flunch again for lunch, and to do some more surfing of the net. Stayed for two hours again, I'm surprised they haven’t thrown us out! Received a lovely email from my Dad which nearly made me cry again, and spoke to Martha on msn which made me smile - she commented on the lack of sinks too! We then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering round the shops, they have the Pier, and helped Mary to buy a camera. I saw a lovely green and blue rug in the Pier for only 10 Euros. Might buy it tomorrow to add some more colour to my room. I also really want a plant. On my way home I did some more shopping at Monoprix where i bought a bright pink hand-towel, a bin, some hooks, two more mugs (in case the girls come round for tea) and some more food. Jesus it was heavy! Tonight I tried to learn some french by writing it down and reading aloud and then watched ‘Calamity Jane’ again - this time in French. It was very odd!