So it's around half 3 in the morning and I can't sleep. Part of my brain says I might as well do some work but it won't work hard enough to give me any ideas on what to actually do. Having been holed up in my room the past few days and nights escaping for dinner, trips to the library and the odd mission to buy pudding might be what's keeping me up.
We had our first exam today. It was very different to Sheffield. We were allowed to sit anywhere (i.e next to Victoria), it was open book, we shared lecture notes and a dictionary. My phone went off and no one batted an eyelid (that's my sister's wonderful timing wishing me luck in my exams for you). There was the odd whisper going on, Victoria and I even had a giggle (at goodness knows what). The last time I laughed during an exam was GCSE Physics for which they threatened to tear up our papers. I also went a little over the time limit so while I was hastily scribbling down what might (hopefully) vaguely resemble a conclusion, the next lecture were already piling into the classroom. I almost had to chase the woman at the front down to hand in my paper. I very nearly broke into a run, at very least I was jogging. Maybe I should have skipped (Michael McIntyre reference for good measure) then not only would I have been moving fast but I'd have looked super care free handing in my exam.
As far as other interesting things go, I apparently look like a flower. I was just ambling into the kitchen yesterday to get a pan and though I said hello wasn't stopping to chat (I had dinner to cook chez Victoria). I don't know what the context was but Gaston came out with, and I quote, "She looks like a flower in my eyes." Cue a few snorts and giggles. I later checked whether he actually understood what he had said to which the reply was " yes, that's why it was so f****** weird". So there you have it, curly hair and a hair clip makes me look like a flower. Oh wow, I suddenly feel like the skunk from Bambi!! Not because I smell, just to clarify.
Oh how carefree tomorrow will be after this last midterm! We are planning to celebrate. Then all that stands between me and New York is a controle, some packing, a bus journey and of course American immigration. However, right now I'm going to make myself a cup of tea and perhaps have a biscuit.
I drink more tea here than I do at home!
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
It might be thanksgiving, but let's talk about leaves
The sky is blue and there are some fluffy white clouds drifting around. The sun is streaming through my window and reflecting off anything remotely shiny just to blind me, or at least make me squint. The leaves are starting to turn. From the kitchen you can see Autumn slowly encroaching upon this little town. Somehow it's reached the middle of October. I don't know how, but I think it's been dedicated to working and not procrastinating. It's these silly mid-terms. Why do they have to be 50%?? The time has gone so fast. As if I'm supposed to know half a module already. A bizarre concept. It's so lovely outside, if a little breezy, that I want to be outside. Hélas! I'm stuck staring at a computer screen, typing up lecture notes hoping most of it goes in. 3 more to go...
Maybe I should go back to the library....
Today was even a holiday. It's Thanksgiving Canadian style, hence why there's chaos in the kitchen. I've no idea how many people are eating but there's 5 people who cook it and half the corridor seems to have migrated there. It makes me feel very anti-social.
Maybe I should go back to the library....
Today was even a holiday. It's Thanksgiving Canadian style, hence why there's chaos in the kitchen. I've no idea how many people are eating but there's 5 people who cook it and half the corridor seems to have migrated there. It makes me feel very anti-social.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Bog standard and boring
The joy of finishing Wednesday's grammar class early did indeed give me a few extra hours to get some all important work done, but I didn't use those extra hours. I'm fairly certain I frittered them away via the medium of facebook. Or freecell. It's like I'm addicted. Nor did I use my evening to complete the reading for Thursday. No that would have been silly!
After dinner, which ended craving pudding, making brownies seemed like a fabulous idea. It actually was. I was also contented enough with this batch to eat one myself. I made a massive mess in the kitchen, getting chocolate absolutely everywhere but who says a goo chef has to be tidy? I put one tray of brownies to the side and wandered around offering the other out. Demi-habillé (who has not lived up to his nick name in a while) flat out refused to have one. Some boy building diet or some rubbish like that. I was most offended. As a result, I bargained to get some plain paper in return for his refusal and got Victoria and Nicole to join in making multiple decorations for Julien's door. Thursday was his birthday and he had no plans whatsoever to celebrate. Well I couldn't let that happen. His door now looks like this >>>>
He genuinely seemed quite pleased at this effort. That wasn't all though. When he finally came back from the library (who goes to the library on their birthday??) we dragged him into the kitchen making sure he had a beer to hand and made him blow out the 22 candles I'd stuck into the remaining brownie cake. Not the most raucous birthday but better then letting it go unnoticed.
Since then it really has been mostly studying that I've been up to. Oh except one night, Victoria and I sat down in the kitchen spreading all our timetables and assessment dates out in front of us in order to decided when we were going to do fun things. We both feel we haven't made the most of the time we've spent here so far you see.
That essay that my tutor marked? I got it back on Saturday and I made less mistakes in the whole of the revised version than I had in the original introduction. I was very pleased with my mark at least.
Now, I have to spend my time revising, making sure that I actually know something about Quebecois literature before I sit any exams on it. Well that it the aim. Despite opting for an early dinner with the aim of getting back to work afterwards, this didn't happen. I made meat and potato pie, much to the intrigue of those in the kitchen. Pie is clearly not a concept easily grasped by those outside of Britain. The pastry was the bit that got them. It wasn't even rolling it out with hairspray which confused them, which personally I thought was the odest thing about what I was doing. Though I may think I'm a culinary genius, I have a reputation for cooking 'wierd' food. That's right - the canadians think we eat wierd food. Oh all this talk about food has made me hungry and I have nothing to eat. Darn it. There's nothing in my fridge either.
On the brightside no-one has invaded my room tonight. It took until 1am to convince everyone to leave last night!
He genuinely seemed quite pleased at this effort. That wasn't all though. When he finally came back from the library (who goes to the library on their birthday??) we dragged him into the kitchen making sure he had a beer to hand and made him blow out the 22 candles I'd stuck into the remaining brownie cake. Not the most raucous birthday but better then letting it go unnoticed.
Since then it really has been mostly studying that I've been up to. Oh except one night, Victoria and I sat down in the kitchen spreading all our timetables and assessment dates out in front of us in order to decided when we were going to do fun things. We both feel we haven't made the most of the time we've spent here so far you see.
That essay that my tutor marked? I got it back on Saturday and I made less mistakes in the whole of the revised version than I had in the original introduction. I was very pleased with my mark at least.
Now, I have to spend my time revising, making sure that I actually know something about Quebecois literature before I sit any exams on it. Well that it the aim. Despite opting for an early dinner with the aim of getting back to work afterwards, this didn't happen. I made meat and potato pie, much to the intrigue of those in the kitchen. Pie is clearly not a concept easily grasped by those outside of Britain. The pastry was the bit that got them. It wasn't even rolling it out with hairspray which confused them, which personally I thought was the odest thing about what I was doing. Though I may think I'm a culinary genius, I have a reputation for cooking 'wierd' food. That's right - the canadians think we eat wierd food. Oh all this talk about food has made me hungry and I have nothing to eat. Darn it. There's nothing in my fridge either.
On the brightside no-one has invaded my room tonight. It took until 1am to convince everyone to leave last night!
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Please don't burn the house down!
We had exams last week and 2 next week so I'm trying to swot up a little for these midterms. Generally failing due to massive amounts of procrastination.
Our first exam was French Grammar. I got this one back today with a big fat A on the front. Get in. I did better than most of the class and well I'm just super proud of the fact that there are 3 pages without a single error on them. I am just that good. Boo ya. Very very happy with that result. It was last Wednesday that Hannah and I decided it was time for a celebration. No reason, or at least not that I can currently recall. Most people were people sociable and chilling out with us, except one of the boys who was going to lock himself in his room and study. The bad influences that we are, we decided to steal his keys so he couldn't do that. To get back, he then stole my keys which ended up in a 3-way wrestling match trying to get them back. I have the bruises to match. Something about this has lead to the rest of the boys now deciding that said boy and I should get together, which with them being boys, is put across in the form of merciless teasing. That was all on Thursday evening when everybody congregated in the lounge. There was a bit of an obsession going on with a cow soft toy. Literally, the frenchies were fighting over it, caressing and kissing it. Very odd sight indeed I have to say!
Friday night was Oktoberfest. I would have love to have gone but I was sensible, thinking I have a test and an assessed essay at 9am, so I stayed in. It wouldn't have made a difference if I had gone. I heard Naiky bring Nathan back around half 1/ 2 o'clock. He was an absolute mess. Nevertheless, he had the munchies and was threatening to cook. Not wanting to see him set himself of the kitchen on fire I banned him from doing so and cooked for him. He was feeling very huggy. Even I got sick of being hugged and that takes something. His attempts at English, though not necessarily grammatically wrong, lead to a few interesting sentences, much to my amusement. After making sure he was OK, I went back to bed. Just as I was happily drifting off to the beautiful land of the nod, the remainder of corridor made an appearance. With it came lots of noise. I stuck my head out of my door to ask them to keep the noise down. This just resulted in a cry of "heeyyyyy Seona!!!" followed by many many questions about why I wasn't at Oktoberfest. They did quieten down when I explained, until they forgot that is. I kicked Andréjean out of my room (he'd somehow snuck in for goodness knows what reason) and went back to bed. Since they had speedily forgotten about my polite request, I could hear them in the kitchen until about half 4. I was less than impressed and I made it known the next day. Jokingly. I didn't actually want to yell at anyone.
The test could have gone far worse considering the amount of sleep I had. The proof will be in the result next week. I did however get my first essay back. Unmarked. The teacher said that my introduction was wrong and wasn't good enough so she refused to mark it until I'd corrected it. On the bright side, she told me that I have beautiful handwriting. Huge consolation (read: big whoop di do). That evening we played some pool. Victoria and I wrote on the tables in Russian. It's in chalk so it barely counts as vandalism.
Sunday was a hermit day for me. I just didn't really fancy seeing people or doing very much at all. I did a little bit of work and had dinner with Victoria as usual but kept my door firmly shut and stayed very much in my room. One of the boys came round in the evening to see where I was and if I was OK. lol. It was just what I needed and by Monday morning I was on top form again.
Even on Tuesday, after a 3.30am prank call asking for Sean Connery and a 3.50am call from the bank asking if I was travelling in North America at the minute, I was in a wonderful mood. I mean, if you're going to ring anyone to ask that question, you'd have thought about the time difference but oh no, not HSBC. Massive pain that it is. N'importe quoi.....After a quick shopping trip yesterday, mostly to go to the post office, I settled myself down to do plenty of work. By 10 this had been thwarted by Hannah and Nicole persuading me to join the masses outside. We rolled down the hill. Its a lot of fun, although I did get mud all over me. Well not all over, but you get the idea.
Another late night before an early morning lecture., Eurgh. However, we finished early today. I' d normally still be in class, so it's not all bad :D
One last thing; I am super excited for semaine de relache. I'm going to New York with Nicole and then meeting Hannah and Victoria in Montreal before heading to Toronto and Niagara Falls. Flipping exciting or WHAT!?!
Our first exam was French Grammar. I got this one back today with a big fat A on the front. Get in. I did better than most of the class and well I'm just super proud of the fact that there are 3 pages without a single error on them. I am just that good. Boo ya. Very very happy with that result. It was last Wednesday that Hannah and I decided it was time for a celebration. No reason, or at least not that I can currently recall. Most people were people sociable and chilling out with us, except one of the boys who was going to lock himself in his room and study. The bad influences that we are, we decided to steal his keys so he couldn't do that. To get back, he then stole my keys which ended up in a 3-way wrestling match trying to get them back. I have the bruises to match. Something about this has lead to the rest of the boys now deciding that said boy and I should get together, which with them being boys, is put across in the form of merciless teasing. That was all on Thursday evening when everybody congregated in the lounge. There was a bit of an obsession going on with a cow soft toy. Literally, the frenchies were fighting over it, caressing and kissing it. Very odd sight indeed I have to say!
Friday night was Oktoberfest. I would have love to have gone but I was sensible, thinking I have a test and an assessed essay at 9am, so I stayed in. It wouldn't have made a difference if I had gone. I heard Naiky bring Nathan back around half 1/ 2 o'clock. He was an absolute mess. Nevertheless, he had the munchies and was threatening to cook. Not wanting to see him set himself of the kitchen on fire I banned him from doing so and cooked for him. He was feeling very huggy. Even I got sick of being hugged and that takes something. His attempts at English, though not necessarily grammatically wrong, lead to a few interesting sentences, much to my amusement. After making sure he was OK, I went back to bed. Just as I was happily drifting off to the beautiful land of the nod, the remainder of corridor made an appearance. With it came lots of noise. I stuck my head out of my door to ask them to keep the noise down. This just resulted in a cry of "heeyyyyy Seona!!!" followed by many many questions about why I wasn't at Oktoberfest. They did quieten down when I explained, until they forgot that is. I kicked Andréjean out of my room (he'd somehow snuck in for goodness knows what reason) and went back to bed. Since they had speedily forgotten about my polite request, I could hear them in the kitchen until about half 4. I was less than impressed and I made it known the next day. Jokingly. I didn't actually want to yell at anyone.
The test could have gone far worse considering the amount of sleep I had. The proof will be in the result next week. I did however get my first essay back. Unmarked. The teacher said that my introduction was wrong and wasn't good enough so she refused to mark it until I'd corrected it. On the bright side, she told me that I have beautiful handwriting. Huge consolation (read: big whoop di do). That evening we played some pool. Victoria and I wrote on the tables in Russian. It's in chalk so it barely counts as vandalism.
Sunday was a hermit day for me. I just didn't really fancy seeing people or doing very much at all. I did a little bit of work and had dinner with Victoria as usual but kept my door firmly shut and stayed very much in my room. One of the boys came round in the evening to see where I was and if I was OK. lol. It was just what I needed and by Monday morning I was on top form again.
Even on Tuesday, after a 3.30am prank call asking for Sean Connery and a 3.50am call from the bank asking if I was travelling in North America at the minute, I was in a wonderful mood. I mean, if you're going to ring anyone to ask that question, you'd have thought about the time difference but oh no, not HSBC. Massive pain that it is. N'importe quoi.....After a quick shopping trip yesterday, mostly to go to the post office, I settled myself down to do plenty of work. By 10 this had been thwarted by Hannah and Nicole persuading me to join the masses outside. We rolled down the hill. Its a lot of fun, although I did get mud all over me. Well not all over, but you get the idea.
Another late night before an early morning lecture., Eurgh. However, we finished early today. I' d normally still be in class, so it's not all bad :D
One last thing; I am super excited for semaine de relache. I'm going to New York with Nicole and then meeting Hannah and Victoria in Montreal before heading to Toronto and Niagara Falls. Flipping exciting or WHAT!?!
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