I need to get fitter. It's a matter of life or death...

As predicted, this week went a lot better than the first week of the holidays: mainly because I treated myself to a little holiday to Bordeaux to see Laura, who I hadn't seen since June. This was possible as Clémence and her parents went on holiday too, giving me three (paid!) days off. The journey to Bordeaux  was on an eco train that took five hours, which might sound like a nightmare for some, but I actually love travelling by train - it's my favourite. I spent the trip settled next to the window with my feet up, either reading my trusty HP; listening to music; drinking diet coke; or just watching the gorgeous French countryside fly past my window: pretty heavenly.

Bordeaux at night :)

I arrived in Bordeaux at 1pm and was so happy to see Laura! After living together for two years, this was the longest we'd ever gone without a proper catch up. The first minute or so we both just spluttered as we struggled to prioritise all the news we had for each other. Needless to say, we spent the entirety of Sunday filling each other in. Aside from exploring Bordeaux you'll be disappointed to hear that we spent most of our time either asleep or just hanging out. Monday night, however, we went out to sample some of Bordeaux's famous wine. Five large glasses of wine later we were rather drunk and at the stage where everything and anything was hilarious. While walking home, Laura said something that really tickled me and we both fell about laughing crazily. Apparently us giggling in the street was appealing as this rather odd man came up and made 'friends' with us. 

For a little while, it was funny to talk to him, then, even in our drunken state, we realised he probably was too odd and that we should get away from him. Laura had a plan so we went into the next fast-food place and ordered chips (this guy just followed), and then Laura said she needed the bathroom so we went together. Unfortunately, Laura's plan was to climb out the bathroom window and the bathroom had no window. With hindsight this was probably a good thing, as we weren't in any fit state to be climbing. Back in the shop, we went to eat our chips, which the odd man had kindly paid for. Our next tactic to put him off was to talk rapidly in English to eachother in the hope that he'd give up on talking to us. It didn't work. 

Glass of wine number one!

We headed home after finishing our chips, odd French man in tow. Laura had another brainwave and said she needed the toilet (the guy must have thought she had bladder problems!). This time we went up a little side street to 'pee'. What we actually did was leg it. Now, you should know, Laura runs. She can run. I can’t run; I get out of breath climbing the stairs. However, I have always firmly believed that if faced with a dangerous situation like, I don’t know, a serial killer or vaguely creepy men, that adrenaline and survival instinct would kick in. Turns out I was wrong. I stopped running after about two minutes, clutching my side and panting something ridiculous. Nothing Laura said to motivate me worked, and that was the night I realised faced with running or potential death, I would die. Luckily, the man, who was most likely harmless, didn’t reappear and we were fine. The good thing is that he made me realise that I NEED to get fitter. It’s a matter of life or death :P

My LIDL receipt!!!

It was so lovely to catch up with Laura, it helped a lot with my homesickness and was such a relaxing few days. She’s hopefully going to come and stay with me in Paris after the New Year (which we’re spending in Strasbourg with Hannah and Ellie!)

Yesterday was a fantastic day. It started with a LIDL shop with my housemate Laura (different Laura!), which I was very excited about. The only food I had was a packet of spaghetti and some frozen veg. We had to get the metro, but it was definitely worth it for how cheap LIDL was. I managed to stock my fridge, freezer and cupboard for a mere 37€ - bargain! Though, my shoulders and back did not appreciate lugging it all home, especially up 8 flights of stairs .

At 5pm Soph arrived! She’s studying in Rheims which is pretty close and it was so, so nice to see her. We drank a bottle of wine on the roof, caught up, watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle and had a delicious, fancy salmon salad for dinner. We’d decided no to go out for Halloween as Soph had some work to get done. While she beavered away in my room. I became almost like an odd-job person for all the girls getting ready to go out. I painted on clown eyes, put in two pairs of contact lenses, added some skeletal contouring, back combed three people’s hair and provided eyeliner and hairspray. Everybody looked absolutely incredible, especially considering it was all rather last minute. There was a dead Minnie Mouse, two very scary clowns, the creepy dude from Saw, a corpse husband and bride, a Cheshire Cat and even an Eiffel Tower!

Me and Soph spent our evening watching Legally Blonde, eating pistachios, pretzels and chocolate fingers. I had curled up on the sofa to sleep (as I had selflessly given Soph my bed) and was awoken by somebody whispering my name at 5am.  Perfect Halloween surprise. I opened my eyes to find a still completely costumed Cheshire cat, complete with white contact lenses that I had struggled to put in earlier. Lexine had been unable to take them out and as I am the resident contact lens expert, she had come to me. Eventually after battling with Lexine’s fear of anyone “squeezing her eyeballs”, we managed to get them out. Hannah to the rescue!

It’s now the end of the holidays and I’m facing seven weeks of lesson planning, scary French teachers and early mornings. I’m feeling determined and kind of motivated…hopefully that will last. If not, bring on Christmas!

Bisous à tous xx