A week of culture and sadness. Sunday I went to my first ever opera, Le Nozze di Figaro, and we finally got to see the inside of the renovated Opéra here. As we'd bought tickets from CROUS for 5 euros we were given the 'worst' seats right at the top, but actually they weren't too bad. Apart from the fact that it was in Italian, so I understood about 5 minutes from the first 45 minute act. It was only when I changed position in my seat that I realised the bar ...

After literally a month and a half of asking, waiting, nagging and hoping, I've finally moved into my new studio! I originally asked the directrice at Vert Bois in April if I could move and she said she'd ask Boutonnet and Colombiere and get back to me. This didn't happpen. So after about 3 weeks I went to see her, but I was told I had to leave a note. Nothing. I went back a week later and she told me that she'd sent them an email but they'd never replied, so ...

Last Sunday was the Nimes Feria, which was one of the first trips I had when I arrived last year. We kept well away from the bull fighting again, thank goodness because apparently it took quite a bit of work for them to actually kill it this year. We explored a bit more this year, and watched some tango, African dancing and people that for some reason were dressed as tents. We decided to have dinner (paella and sangria of course) in a square of restaurants, an...

Thursday was GL's birthday (glad I can once again say I'm joint youngest of the group) so we decided to go to what she described as a 'stagnant lake' in the north of the city for a picnic as she had exams late in the afternoon. Typically the organisation was a shambles, with the birthday girl turning her phone off early the night before so nobody knew what time to arrive until the morning. Then FU bought some wine but no corkscrew so LA had to make a dash to M...

It seems unbelievable that my university life here has practically come to end with my final exams this week (barring the retake that I'm going to do for one missed exam). It was the usual bordel in each and every one of them; talking, copying, texting. If I was actually a student here doing a degree I'd have a hard time motivating myself. As it is though I'm content to moan and mess around like everyone else. One of the best exams though was a poetry one, whe...