One month in Strasbourg

It's been a long time since I last posted omg life is getting busy ... Or I've been just lazy and exhausted hahaha. Waiting for my eggs to boil now in the rice cooker I swear the rice cooker is the most useful thing ever ... I've been cooking noodles, boiling sausages and making milo / teh tarik without even having to step out of my room HAHA. The kitchens here are too bare anyway and I don't know how to work the microwave and I don't have pots and pans so.

Anyway where did I stop!! 2 weeks ago ahaha when the internet wasn't working on the Saturday night. Right. So anyway I was supposed to meet Xichen the next day (Sunday), but we lost contact since neither of us have a working French number and ended up not meeting :( Had dinner + pub quiz with the English gang (UK gang???) at night and got to know a couple more people. Monday was another failed attempt at trying to submit my learning agreement, I think it was because I was missing the module code for the FLE class, then V and O and I had dinner at Le Michel, which is this really nice restaurant near the Gallier tram stop. They have a dinner menu for only 11,50 EUR and it included a starter, a main and dessert! The starter and the main was good but the cake for the dessert was a bit dry and I was so bloated but still finished my food anyway because one should never waste food ... Then we went to check out the Erasmus speed meeting thing at La Taverne but there was too many people so we just hung around a bit got one drink spoke to some people and left early.

Tuesday to Thursday was the 17h of intensive classes compressed into 3 days hahaha my timetabling skills are the best ... and also made the YOLO decision to go to Munich for the opening of Oktoberfest with the Brazilians in my hall. The plan was to leave at 3AM on Saturday morning, sleep in the car on Saturday night, then come back by Sunday afternoon. Oktoberfest wasn't really in my plans at first considering the fact that I'm not a huge fan of beer (though Alsatian beer is making me change my mind) but still not going to miss out on any opportunity to actually do something for my weekends. I think I've wasted too many weekends (3 and counting) not doing anything because everything is freaking closed on Sundays and even Saturday nights and I've been decomposing in boredom in the tiny enclosed space of 10m2 that is my room.

And did I mention it's been exactly 4 weeks here in SXB!! I arrived on the Saturday night (29 Aug) 4 weeks ago ahahaha wow how time flies 8 more months ;'( Tbh I can't really tell whether it feels like it's been a longer or shorter time here because sometimes it's super busy whereas other times I'm just rotting away in boredom.

ANYWAY. So last Friday we went out to celebrate Viivi's birthday!! Went bar-hopping and ended up at Agora which was really happening and apparently it's an every Friday thing but I had to leave early because I had to get back and shower and pack to leave at 3AM HAHA. Left at around 1.450ish in the end and got back just in time to shower, pack and to back up my phone LOL btw I really really need a 64gb Idk what is Apple thinking but 16gb is simply not enough to function on. So we went down at 3am, got into the car and I just slept. Most of the time. It's not really comfortable to be sleeping with an empty stomach filled with too much alcohol. Oh but it was really pretty!! I think we were driving through the Black Forest (is it???) so it was really dark and no light pollution so you could see all the stars super clearly *_* I was staring at one super bright star right in front of me before I fell asleep. And the sunrise was amazing too but no photos because I was too lazy I think ... 

Arrived at Wiesn camp at about 7+, had an amazing breakfast of eggs and bacon (I haven't had eggs in the longest time ever omg) then took the train to city centre where Oktoberfest was. OPENING DAY. It was super packed and even though we got there relatively early almost all the tents were full so in the end we ended up Paulaner but at the benches outside. The beers came in 1 litre mugs and it was impossible to finish I felt like I kept drinking but the volume of liquid left never decreased?!?! Not to mention like the million trips to the toilet. So yeah, adding on to the existing amount of alcohol in my system I think I was completely gone ......... but still managed to make the trip to Brandy Melville in Munich in the evening before it closed :D :D I had to go on the Saturday because as usual stores in Europe are all closed on Sunday. It was only 20 min away from Oktoberfest anyway and I finally managed to get wifi otw thanks eduroam for being literally everywhere :D Okay but the store itself was a disappointment and Germany prices are a lot higher than the rest of Europe because of the 19% tax which is exactly like their website and I am too poor to afford anything at full price. But they had the last chance rack too with everything at 10% off and I found one last piece of the floral Jeanne bralette there!! It's still more expensive than if I were to buy off the US site / Europe / maybe even UK but I will probably never be able to buy it elsewhere anyway so nvm. And I got the Irosha necklace too hehehe regret not ordering it when I was back in SG because it's actually super pretty irl?!?! Not an accessories person but I think I ought to own maybe like one necklace ... Okay and also all this time I think I was under significant alcohol influence and dehydration so I can't really remember what happened exactly everything was pretty much woozy ... Made my way back somehow to Oktoberfest and went back to Wiesn camp had dinner and all. Then sleeping in the car. Not the most comfortable experience it got really warm at night so I had to get out to breathe but managed to fall back asleep in the end again. Then round 2!!! I think there were less people on the 2nd day probably because most people who came on the first day are too hungover / it was a Sunday but we managed to get a place inside the Augustiner tent!! It's supposedly the best beer in Munich but as usual I can't really taste the difference and absolutely knocked out again after less than 1 mug hahaha I was so sleepy T_T But I went to take the rides this time and I'm pretty sure the first time when I took the rollercoaster I was drunk because I couldn't really feel anything but the second time it was like O_O And we were interviewed by German TV!!! Idk what channel though I will probably never see it anyway but it was cool.

Stayed until past lunch then drove back to SXB and it was already past 10pm by the time we reached. Super tired fell asleep almost imm after coming back and took the whole of Monday to recover ahaha. Finally got my inscription pedagogique done on Monday!!! Such a relief to finally submit it in. Then Tues-Thurs was the intensive 17h of classes again, and on Thursday night went out with the English gang for dinner to celebrate the end of a school week because none of us have classes on Friday woooooo. Collected my student card on Friday, then pre-drinks at Beth's place + Agora. I think I am becoming really week barely had 4 Jaegerbombs and for the first time I had rashes?!?! Okay but I cannot remember what happened except we went to Agora again and I don't even know what happened there or how I got back but I did, with my bottle of Jaeger and 2 cans of red bull hahaha wtf. Terribly hungover ytd so stayed in practically the whole day but now I think I'm all good though there's nowhere to go on a Sunday. I actually woke up really really early today like 6,45am and I don't even know why but okay really need to get out of SXB on weekends cannot afford to waste anymore weekends! Was searching for train tix in bed but everywhere is so expensive I swear if I could actually afford it I will be flying out every Thursday and returning on Monday night but being a poor student one has to search for the cheapest tix which don't exist sometimes. And this no shopping thing is really getting to me omg I need to buy something but there is nothing to buy and nowhere to buy from argh. London and Paris is having a brandy sale today but I am so near yet so far argh was actually supposed to fly up to London this weekend!! But I didn't book and the tix have gone and November tix are still not out yet haha really appreciating the convenience of London now because it's so accessible whereas if I wanna go anywhere by plane from here I have to actually take the plane to London first.

Okay it's been half an hour since the eggs have boiled so am going to eat now and probably do some work today. Classes are too intense need to WORKKKKK. Oh and it's Mid-Autumn Festival today!!! I am craving for mooncakes and chinese food so bad (cries).

La première semaine de cours

L'internet ne marche pas depuis environ une heure donc je vais essayer d'écrire mon blog en français. C'est un grand problème parce que je voulait faire beaucoup de choses et répondre aux emails mais il n'est pas possible maintenant. Néanmoins ce n'est pas la fin du monde même s'il n'y a pas d'Internet. Excusez-moi à l'avance pour le mauvais français ...

Cette semaine était telle vite c'est incroyable. J'avais 17h de classes et elles sont tous très difficiles parce que tous les choses sont en français et seulement français. Le lundi je suis allée au secrétariat pour clarifier quelques choses, et après cela Hannah et moi nous avons assisté à une classe de l'ancien français. C'était intéressant mais c'est un module de licence 2 donc je trouve qu'elle était trop difficile. Le prof était très sympa mais je ne pouvais pas comprendre le contenu comme les siècles et l'évolution du latin au français et ainsi de suite. Alors je pense que je ne vais pas s'inscrire à cette classe ... Après la classe H et moi nous marchions à IKEA qui n'est pas trop loin de l'université, environ une heure à pied. H a acheté quelques trucs mais moi je voulais juste manger les boulettes. C'était très longtemps depuis la dernière fois (en février à Stockholm!) que je l'avais mangé et c'était très bon.

Le mardi j'avais une classe à 8h et je pense que je vais s'inscrire à cette classe mais la seule problème est c'est à 8h haha ... Mais de toute façon je devrais se lever plus tôt. Il y avait deux classes de linguistiques dans l'après-midi et je les aime. J'étais très très fatiguée et après les classes je suis allée à Rivetoile avec Sena pour faire les courses et puis j'ai mangé kebab pour le dîner.

Finalement l'Internet marche maintenant!!

Le mercredi était plus ou moins le même avec 6h de classes. J'ai manqué la classe du matin parce que je ne pouvais pas se réveiller, encore, mais je ne m'intéresse pas vraiment dans cette classe. Après ma dernière classe qui terminait à 18h je suis allée à la centre-ville pour dîner avec Oliver et Viivi. Nous sommes allées à un petit bistrot qui s'appelle L'épicerie pour manger les tartines qui est une spécialité alsacienne, et bien sur avec le vin. Normalement je ne bois pas très souvent mais j'ai toujours préféré le vin blanc que le vin rouge. Le repas était assez bon et je pense que je vais revenir!

Le jeudi j'avais 6h de classes encore et après cela j'ai rencontré mon buddy et ses amis. Ils sont tous très gentils et nous avons mangé à "Au Brasserie" qui a beaucoup de spécialités alsaciennes et la bière. À nouveau je n'aime pas la bière normalement mais la bière alsacienne est très différent des autres bières! J'ai oublié le nom du plat mais il était un nom alsacienne que je ne sais pas comment prononcer.

Hier je n'avais pas de classes, finalement. Au début je voulait assister à un cours de littérature du matin mais je trouve que l'œuvre est un que j'ai déjà étudié alors il n'y a aucun intérêt. S et moi nous sommes allées se promener dans l'après-midi et dans le soir V nous a invités chez elle. Elle cuisinait le porc avec la salade et c'était la première fois que j'ai goûté le fromage mozzarella! Il était assez tard quand je suis rentrée chez moi et j'étais très fatiguée.

Aujourd'hui je me suis réveillé assez tard. S et moi nous avons mangé la nourriture thaïlandais (enfin un peu de nourriture asiatique!!) et nous avons acheté des livres. J'ai réussi de trouver deux livres dont j'ai besoin pour un des modules et j'ai également acheté deux livres de "L'accro du shopping". Je les ai déjà lu en anglais mais c'est cool à lire en français encore. Nous avons faire plus les courses parce que je mange trop beaucoup et je finis toujours ma nourriture très rapidement.

Je ne sais pas quoi faire pour demain encore mais il semble qu'il pourrait pleuvoir demain. Le temps hier et aujourd'hui était vraiment beau et j'espère qu'il va rester de cette façon ...

First Week in Strasbourg

Today marks one week that I've been here in Strasbourg! Somehow it feels like it's been a really long time, but at the same time I feel like I haven't really done that much and there's still a lot to be done ... But generally time seems to pass so much slower here than in London? I feel like I had so much time in London last year yet I don't remember what I even did with my time, whereas here I've been free almost every single night so I've had the time to properly sort out the admin stuff.

Anyway on Friday we had the Erasmus welcome talk in the morning, then Viivi and I went to do our inscriptions administratives before noon. It was faster than I expected and pretty straightforward. I had to pay 215 euros for the securite sociale because I'm not an EU citizen T_T Afterwards I couldn't find everyone else anymore, so I had lunch and then went to the bank. They asked for my attestation de logement which was supposed to take 2 working days to get, so I wanted to join the rest of the students for the rally but again I couldn't remember the meeting point and the school was so big so I decided to just go back to the hall to get the attestation. It was again, unexpectedly fast because they just printed a slip of paper and stamped it and I was good to go. I guess they must be pretty experienced in dealing with this kind of bureaucratic requests. So I went back to the bank and this time since I had all the documents it was very fast. I was quite glad that I went early because by the time I came out there was a long queue already ... Had nothing to do after that, so I walked to the city centre and there was some kind of event going on with people doing cool stunts on bicycles and all. Then at night Ollie and I went to watch the light show at the cathedral again which was amazing as always I would watch it everyday if it wasn't so far from my place HAHA. We meant to check out this welcome party at a bar but there wasn't much going on (Strasbourg is like on the other end of the scale from London in terms of nightlife) so we went back pretty early. But I was so tired I fell asleep almost immediately after coming back.

Slept through Saturday morning without an alarm which was very shiok HAHA. But I'm trying to wake up early these days it's too cold to get up in the morning. Went to Rivetoile with Sena in the afternoon followed by kebab for dinner. She bought a new kettle which I quickly borrowed HAHA but finally got to drink milo T_T I really really need to fetch my kettle from London. Slept quite early again, I realise I have been sleeping so much after coming here but really it's so cold I feel like I need to hibernate. And today was worse HAHA practically slept the entire day and I'm going to sleep again soon ... Spent the evening going through the fiche pedagogique and I'm intending to attend a bunch of classes tmr so have to get up early.

Anyway to summarize within the first week I've managed to:
- Opened bank acc
- Inscription administratif
- Sent back visa form
- Applied for CAF online
- Sociale securite
- Paid rent

So I guess that's quite a good amount of admin stuff sorted. I still have to get a French number argh and I'm now contemplating between getting a plan from Three in UK for the data roaming or getting a proper plan here in France. Will probably sort that out next week.

Settling down

I am now sitting in my room enjoying a cup of rather cold teh tarik(but nonetheless still teh tarik!!) after my first rice cooker meal of instant noodles. HOHO. Finally figured out how to use it. I guess it was a good decision to invest 5kg of my total baggage allowance seeing that my residence hall has neither a kitchen (only 2 microwaves) nor a kettle. NO KETTLE. I'm thinking I should probably retrieve mine from London, but for now the rice cooker will do. Oh brilliant, wonderful, multi-purpose rice cooker.

Strasbourg has been pretty exciting so far! On Monday I went to register with my hall and paid my rent, then went to check out the university. Had a lot of admin things to do especially with all the paper work, I'm STILL not done yet but hopefully they'll be sorted out soon. Also went to Carrefour to pick up some groceries and finally putting my mini fridge into use! 

Tuesday was more or less the same, went to photocopy some stuff and went to the post office to mail my visa form. I'm still quite confused as to how the French postal service works. Then I walked to the city centre to check out Galeries Lafayette!! There's a Topshop on the 3rd floor and omg, they have their own sales which is amazing because it's 70% off and I managed to find the Poppy Garden Bardot Top which I've been eyeing in SG in my size AND it was only 10.80 euros. 10.80 EUROS!!! They had 2 left and when I went back today (Thursday) again it was gone so very very thankful that I managed to buy it. Also saw they had one last piece of the burgundy knit top in my size but it wasn't on sale and I forgot to see if it's still there today ... Really need to figure out how the sales here work HAHA. I also bought books from this book market at the city centre, all the books were going for mostly 1.50 euros each and even though the books are secondhand they were in really good condition. I left my Les Miserables behind in London, so I bought a kind of like guide copy and also L'Etranger by Albert Camus. Very very happy with my purchases :D I feel like this is exactly the kind of life I've been envisioning for so long. Had a lonely lunch in macs at the city centre, then it started to rain as I was walking back but luckily I brought an umbrella with me. The rain here is quite like the showers in Singapore instead of the drizzle in London so my shoes got quite wet. Took a nap in the afternoon, then my neighbour Renato who lives opposite me came to have a chat and we went to the kebab place near the hall for dinner. The kebab was quite good and it's so much cheaper than London's T_T

Wednesday was quite chill too, went to check out the mall Rivetoile nearby and they have a lot of shops there like Zara and Hollister. There's also this giant supermarket called E.Leclerc which is exactly like Giant they stock everything. Bought stuff like trash bags (because they don't give plastic bags here!!!) and a mug-bowl (left mine behind in London T_T) and more food, but they didn't have cherry tomatoes and the yogurt drink that I wanted so had to go to Carrefour for those. Came back and napped again in the afternoon. I swear I sleep so much here because there's not much to do and life seems to be really slow at times and I'm just really tired everyday HAHA. But I wake up early though. Anyway after I woke up at about 4pm I was contemplating whether or not to take a walk to Germany when my new Turkish friend came to visit so we decided to just go to Germany. Yes, GERMANY. It took us about an hour slightly more to walk over but the Pont du l'Europe was amazing!!! We walked to Kehl and the moment we entered German territory it just felt different. Like the architecture and all. We wanted to walk to Lidl's at first but it was getting a bit late and we wanted to come back before sunset, so we didn't go that far. But still, it's pretty cool to be able to actually WALK to Germany I think I'm going to do that pretty often!! And of course now I've officially visited Germany too despite not going through the proper immigration border HAHA. 

Had our first Erasmus meeting in school today, didn't do much except to find out that we have to pick courses from Licence 3 so have to re-select the modules tonight :( Had lunch with the UCL-SXB gang, then we went to the city centre afterwards. Went to see the inside of the cathedral, then went back to Galeries Lafayette and OMGGGGG the jeans were 70% off this time!!! Like ALL the white jeans including Jonis and Jamies with and without the zip at the ankle. I didn't want to buy white jeans at first cause I already have a pair of white cigarette pants but I couldn't stop thinking about them ... Anyway the Jonis were nice but they were horribly sheer for jeans so as much as I really wanted them they're not too practical :( Also I already have a pair of baby pink ones (the ones that I've been eyeing in SG as well HAHA) so I passed on those. The Jamie jeans ran really small, I couldn't get the W25 past my hips ugh so I went for the W26 and they were really nice and not sheer! They were slightly too loose at the waist but the Jamies come with belt loops anyway so not really a problem. I went with the ones without the zip at the ankle cause they seemed more versatile and more practical anyway. Got them for only 16.50 euros (!!!) and I came back to find that they're still online for 40 quid (!!!) HAHAHAHA OMG I LOVE LOVE LOVE GALERIES LAFAYETTE!!! And I got a loyalty card today HAHAHA. I saw dungarees on sale today but they weren't in my size and now I'm a bit worried that my burgundy knit might be sold already :( Guess I might just make a trip back tmr if I have the time ...

Anyway, after I came back I managed to figure out how to use the rice cooker, so I cooked my first meal! Feels good to be eating some hot food at last T_T I'm going to do more admin stuff tonight like go through the guide pedagogique for the list of modules, then tomorrow I have my inscription administrative where I am going to present the 2 shitty passport photos I took this morning. School doesn't properly start until like October cause we apparently have 3 weeks until end of September to sit through all the classes we want to do and decide, but I quite want to fix my timetable soon-ish so that I can start making weekend plans at all. I am loving Strasbourg ^_^