Why are the Christmas holidays so frustrating and generally boring?

Well we had the usual family gathering in Shrewsbury, gets more and more boring every year - gonna do something different next year, me thinks - I've outgrown it! So came back Boxing day eve. On the 27th I went sales shopping with Hannah S and bumped into Salma. In the eve we went down to Ludlow for Will and Kate's wedding on Friday. Came back Sat morn and I have been attempting World Englishes revision on and off since then, but keep falling asleep.

Over the past 3 days I've maybe done one good days-worth of revision, is so boring...... Spending tonight in with les parents as all friends are either not in Worcester or working, and the baby was due yesterday so awaiting imminent news from Emma and Paul.

No plans for the next week except revision as not anything else to do - except may meet up with Ruth and Maria one avo for coffee. Back to Newc on Sunday. Bring it on! Except exams :-(

Merry Christmas everyone!

Well well, nearly finished my xmas shopping on fri avo. Saturday I started my second language acquisition essay and yesterday I started the data analysis, so more or less finished both of them already - quicker than I anticipated!

Last night went round to Becks' briefly for drinks with a few of the old school crew - literally. Just finished xmas shopping and met up with Ruth and Hannah S for lunch in Little V. Off to Shrewsbury this avo (in the next half hour!)until the 26th. Then back in the Woo until my cousin's wedding (another one!) in Ludlow on the 28th (also Grandpa's bday).

Not sure what plans are for new year yet, but staying round here as have no money and my niece is due on the 30th!!!

Back in the Woo

Well, last few days of term were quite fun - Weds 12th was the MLS xmas party at Madisons. Thurs night was the Carols by candlelight at Jesmond Parish Church, and Fri night was our house xmas party plus Mary, Steve and Siobhan. We had turkey with all the trimmings plus a few extras, cheesy xmas music, crackers, and lots of mulled wine :-)

Sat lunchtime I flew to Gran Can. Arrived at Trini's around half 7 having had to leave a load of stuff at the airport and still pay extra lol. Had dinner with her and David, Soumia, Rosa, Victor and Victor's sister I think. Then, despite being knackered we went out - starting off queueing at Johnnie Walker and then got fed up so went to Veracruz, tried to got to la Floridita, but again there was a huge queue so we went to las Casquitas and got home about half 4. Up 5 hours later to go the Romeria in Aguimes - great fun! Like carnival but in the daytime so you're not tired. Mon, went shopping for a few essentials and sat on las Canteras beach, before meeting Trini for a late lunch and then in the eve we went to her (crap) salsa class! I've told her she should go elsewhere cos its rubbish!

Tues I went into school and said hello to the teachers, two of Lourdes' English classes and one of Trini's French classes. Trini and I met with Vanesa (old flatmate) for lunch and then in the eve we were going to go to the cinema but were shattered so stayed in. Weds I met with Sarah (current lang assistant from UWE out there) and her group of English friends for lunch in McCarthys, and then met Alelandro for a few beers and a drive round the port area. Then Trini and I went out to meet with Rosa and Soumia for dinner before heading out to the camel for a few drinks, getting back at 2. Yesterday I went into school again, mainly to try to practise spanish interpreting with the teachers and have lunch with Trini (and Sofia). Then in the avo went to the beach but it was ridiculously windy so went back to Trini's and fell asleep on the sofa with the dog until Trini got back at 5! We went for a quick coffee (and dog-walk) to San Telmo before I caught la guagua to the airport. Flight was delayed by nearly 3 hours, finally got home at 4.45 this morn. Up 5 hours later for a doc's appt at the hospital. Off xmas shopping after lunch!

Sadly, didnt get to meet up with Jaime, Sam, Kathryn, Rosa or Zenoba - or Raf! Oh well, Id say I did pretty well considering! Trini and Rosa are hopefully gonna come visit me in early Feb.

Hanging around in the OAC

Just got a high importance email from a guy at some translation agency who saw my CV on an online database and is very keen for me to register. Have done, and the agency seems to want professional translators with QUALIFICATIONS which I do not have so not sure why he was so interested....

Ah well, we'll see if anything comes of it. Hmmmm not much else to say really, dont know why Im posting. Last night was possibly going to go to a German Erasmus student's birthday party but didnt quite manage it. I feel awful cos I hardly ever see my own French tandem partner! :-(

Ill be in Gran Can this time next week!!!!!

Am not quite ready to drag myself away from the computers in the Open Access Centre, as obv dont have my own at home atm! Think will walk across the room and watch some French/Spanish TV

Hmmmm Well KPMG didnt work out, quite glad of that to be honest. Passed verbal reasoning online tests, but my numeracy wasnt up to standard.... Might try to get a PWC applic in before xmas but not in a particular hurry. Will leave P&G, EU and the travel/tourism jobs till January, ruled everything else out for the foerseeable future - got too much else to think about. Thinking might do another assistantship next year (this time in France)to bring me some money, get me abroad, speaking a foreign language and give me a little extra time and less pressure to sort out what comes next.

Was also thinking of interpreting & translation or translation & professional language skills MA at Bath, but not sure bout that now, given how appallingly I did in my french interpreting mock today. Apparently Im in danger of not doing myself justice....hope I pull myself together before the real thing!!!

So, last tuesday night house got broken into - lost 3 laptops, 4 cameras, a video camera, an ipod, a jumper, a belt and a bottle of aftershave! Found out the next day the the police had installed security cameras inside our house 18 months ago, but they werent on.

Last thurs was the LBS xmas party, I went as a very convincing Santa Claus, had my span int mock on fri (which went a hell of a lot better than my french!). Fri night I attempted to watch Mad for Ballroom with Tom but it was a bit crap. Saturday was Anna's bday, so we went to Belle & Herbs for a ridiculously large brunch, then in the eve we had takeaway (again, a stupid amount) and went to As you like it and WHQ. Yesterday did work and went to Anna's old housemates' house briefly in the eve.

Have worked hard today, working ahrd all week except for wednesday gniht when its the MLS xmas party.

What do I want to do for the rest of my life?!?

Hmmmm so frustrating, this job-hunting malarkey (when you dont know what you want to do, at least!)

Have checked out KPMG's website (again!) plus Deloitte Tooche, Ernst & Young, PWC, World Challenge, Travellers Worldwide, Procter & Gamble, Blue lynx, RWS and EVS. Ruled out RWS, EVS and Travellers Worldwide, sent a querying email to World Challenge and Blue Lynx but that was via that stupid outlook link directly from their websites, so dont actually know if the emails sent correctly or not.

Hels' friend who works for KPMG rang me earlier in response to my email, and gave me loads of helpful hints for the application. Checked out BizEd, several online business news sites and Nottingham Uni's commercial awareness careers page in an attempt to swot up on business awareness, surely a side that would let me down in an interview for any of the big 4!!!!! Just uploaded my CV to monster, uploaded it to another site a month or two ago, but cant even remember which one! Have checked out Eures, Prospects, toplanguagejobs in the last few months also.

Plan to look at target jobs, jobcentreplus, Adecco, Accenture, GCHQ, EU sites, Barclays, Majestic, Siemens, cometolife.nhs.co.uk, gfb, IHWO, Institute of Translating & Interpreting, Bunzl PLC, language services online, Eclipse, graduatesforbusiness as well among others. Is going to be a very tme-consuming process. Espesh as all these companies insist on initial interviews, online psychometric tests, E-tray exercises, group assessments, and final interview/assessments should you ever get to the end of all that!

Oh well, tomorrow night is KPMG application online time, tues will probs be Deloitte, and poss P & G too. Watched Blood Diamond last night: v good. Off to do French interpreting prep. Why oh why oh why did I choose a degree that can lead you into anything, mostly not at all related to it?!?

So had a fairly relaxed week! Wednesday, started this asylum seeker project for Anna's art - didnt involve any interpreting this tiem though! Thursday night I visited L & B briefly, last night I made moussaka and other stuff for Anna, Mary, Tom, Jo and Steve and then went to Mr Lynch's and Solution!!!!

Today, met Jenna and Sam in the Crows Nest for lunch.....and that is about all I have done for today - Jo's making spag bol for tea - yum! Just about to write a list of places to apply to for jobs post-graduation. Meant to be going to a houseparty tonight but cant be bothered, getting lazy in the build-up to xmas - need to start xmas shopping soon!

Ok so last Thursday went out for tapas at el coto with Scott and Emmie - yum! I actually managed to forget I was in England - real, typical Spanish food, Spanish waiters, Spanish music :-) I didnt realise you could recreate Spain so well in Newcastle!!!

Friday night went down to Bath on the train - forgot my railcard so in total the return journey cost me 180 quid! :-( Was cousin Emma's wedding on Saturday - v nice - v international! England, New Zealand, Canada, US, Italy, Scotland and Ireland all represented. Nice Ceilidh in the evening, Sunday I stayed at A Anne and U Ian's before getting back to Newcastle at 3pm yesterday and going to bed for 3 hours instead of French interpreting. Last night Mary came round and cooked for us! I'm cooking on Friday night.

Tonight have another MLS committee meeting, followed by tandem night, then am planning on chilling for the rest of the week, catching up on uni work!

I hate final year!

Will post some photos once have finished this entry! Am SO fed up of being a student! Have so much work to do. Saying that, I still seem to be achieving a fairly decent social life one way or another!

Last tuesday night was the joint modlangsoc/erasmus soc 3 legged pubcrawl, from Mens Bar via the Goose and City Vaults to Blue Bambu. Last wednesday, went with John, Scott and Emmie to see the Counterfeiters at Tyneside. Last thursday was Scott and Emmie's leaving drinks, so went to Costa coffee and the Flatbread cafe for food before Bar Bacchus, and Friday was Rhys et al's 80s houseparty, before catching my 1 am saturday megabus down to London.

Arrived at 7am, entertained myself on the tube for quite a while heading out to Wimbledon and back and going the long way round the Circle line to Bond Street to keep warm, sit down and kill time/nap before meeting Angie at eleven for brunch in John lewis on Oxford Street. Then met Marie-Pierre and her friend in Trafalgar square, and we went to Yates' in Leicester Square for a proper lunch. Then headed out to Helen's at Maida Vale to dump my case and have a shower before heading to her friend's house for birthday drinks. We then went out to Zoo Bar (Leicester Square). Sunday, had a nice lie-ine and pancakes for brunch, then went to the Imperial War Museum (with Hels) before meeting her Italian friend from exchange in Canada for dinner somewhere near Leicester Square.

Caught my bus at 11.15pm, almost slept through my stop early on Monday morn, got backhome at 6.30 amd went to bed for 5 hours. Then headed out to northumberland park for Scott and Emmie's lessons before French liaison interpeting. Monday night stayed in and Anna cooked chilli con carne, yesterday had an 'audition' for a poss Salsa show in London next March with The Latin Connection/Salsa UK and went to TT for the 2nd time this term! Tonight was planning on going on the LBS film social but got cancelled and was meant to be at WHQ for Itchy Feet but so not going cos am ill. Tomorrow night, having Scott and Emmie's lesson in the pub over drinks (which I am paying for!) and Friday night, I head down to Bath for a cousin's wedding....

Busy week

OMG Ive been in uni since 9.15 this morn (didnt have any lectures till 4) and Ive only just got in! Clock on this thing is wrong - its actually just after half 9. And I cant relax for the eve cos I have approx 4 hours worth of work to do. Rest of week is going to be the same I think before heading down to London again on fri on the OVERNIGHT bus and coming back again on sun on the OVERNIGHT bus!

Tomorrow night have to sort out how am going to combine my 4-5 lecture, hour and a half teaching out at Northumberland park (so add on an extra hour and a half in total for travel time), cooking, eating and showering and getting ready before the modern languages pub crawl at 9. Hmmmmm

Better get on with said work!

OMG! Presentation is already 20 slides and Im not even half way through the Goddamn text!!!! Taken me hours so far, how much longer will it take?!? I CANT WAIT for the xmas hols! Reading week wasnt much of a wind-down, with Emmie and Scott's lessons every evening, my SEL3010 lecture and seminar, SEL3010 *reading*, rapport de synthese and FRE4009 presentation!!!

Works seems manageable again!

So more or less fininshed rapport de synthese. Is over the word limit and v badly organised but content and language-wise, I think it's OK!

Just about to finish my French SLA presentation. Last night was fun, went sequence dancing with Simon at GDC. Was meant to be going into town afterwards for someone's birthday drinks at Secco's and Clear Bar but went to bed instead! Friday night after Black Swan had meant to be going to the jazz cafe or maybe Mango's.....just soooo tired atm!

Tonight am going to see Pink Martini - at the Sage - ON MY OWN - cos no one's heard of them! At some point this week I want to see the Counterfeiters at Tyneside - looks good, kinda like The Life of Others. So also on Friday I met up with Diane and Laure (French) AND John (Laure's tandem partner) for some francais-speaking. John is only 2nd year (only 19, bless him!) but he speaks really good French already!

Here is a story Emmie and I made up in Fridays lesson when practising the imperfect and preterite tenses. (We said one sentence each at a time!)

Five days ago, I was walking throught the park when I saw a cat. The cat was very strange because it was pink. It jumped over the gate and ran to a house at the other end of the park. I followed it and rang the doorbell. A one-legged pirate answered the door. I asked him why his cat was pink. He said it had eaten a poisonous pink flower. I asked him if I could have a pink flower, as I had a dog. He said that there had only been the one flower so it wasnt possible to turn my dog pink. The pirate asked me if i wanted to go for a coffee, so off we went round the corner to a nearby cafe. In the cafe there was a man standing in the middle, singing a song. He was singing very badly so all the windows broke. We decided we couldnt bear to stay there any longer, se we ran - slowly, of course, because of the one-legged pirate - back to the park. I looked up at the sky, and saw there was a slice of cheese flying through it. I also noticed there was a cow and a spoon following the slice of cheese and they jumped over the moon. The cow had been very naughty, though, so it fell out the sky to its death. Then the cat, the pirate and I decided it was time for a BBQ!!!

The end. See, languages are fun!

How does a dirty pile of plates grow so quickly?!?

Gave up doing work yesterday as wasnt really achieving anything worthwhile - got stuck on my French report after 119 words....

So I really AM a lucky girl! On Thursday, Scott and Emmie gave me £30 to cover my metro costs for the remining 2 and a bit weeks theyre having lessons for, as I said in an earlier post I think. Their landlady came round to show people the house that evening so we tootled off to the pub for our lessons instead where they of course bought me a drink. Then they took me out to dinner at Zonzos afterwards...and paid!!! I had a Marguerita as my aperitif (not sure how you spell that), duck pancakes in cherry compote for starter and linguine with mussels for main, as well as the rosemary flatbread we shared before the starters came. AND they dropped me home afterwards, and last night they rounded up to £130 in cash when paying me for my 5 days of lessons for that week! Man, they REALLY want to learn Spanish!

Hmmmm so last night I went to the Black Swan (my first night out of the week) and voila that is my week!

Stressed

I am STRESSED and its barely half way through semester 1.

Boo hoo, have a rapport de synthese to finish today (and realising have actually forgotten how to write a report in French) tomorrow need to do my presentation for FRE4009, sunday will be spent reading reading reading reading stupid texts on socioeconomic factors surrounding something dull for linguistics.

At some point before xmas need to get some applications underway for graduate training schemes. Ruling out T&I at Bath for the time being, too expensive and want to earn some money. KPMG, jjFOX, GCHQ, Hotel Management, Human Resources...all sortsof schemes could apply for. Dont know where to start, and they all take time and I do not have time to write that many cover letters at the moment. Concentrating too much on this whole stupid careers thing, when really should maybe ignore it for a while and study! Ruled out travellers worldwide, international management, GDL....so basically is a choice between a job of any kind working for a travel company, T&I or a training scheme. Why cant I be one of those people who knows she def wants to be a teacher and so only need look at PGCEs? I want to have something def sorted by the end of the year, as I dont wanna be one of those people who moves back home and bums around for months, doing a bit of temping and then finally gets a job 6 months after graduation.

Have no time. The one thing I really LIKE doing and keeps me sane is dancing but I don't have time for that atm, what with Scott & Emmie's lessons every eve for the next 2 weeks, modlangsoc socials and uni work.

Have to do more interpreting practice for French & Spanish, need to get my second rapport de synthese and prep for the simulations in before Christmas, have annoyingly long texts to translate for Spanish each week. After Christmas I have 2 interpreting exams, a horrible World Englishes exam which I am never going to have enough time to revise for becuase the tutor insists on giving us insane amounts of *essential* reading, and an essay for French SLA (do not get me started on that!)

I have never had this much trouble balancing 6 modules! Have I chosen really horrible ones or what? Thankfully the 2 modules I have all the reading for will be over in January! Bring on Modern French Literature (oh God that's gonna be even more reading!) and History & Syntax of Spanish!

*stress* *stress* *stress* and living with 4 artists who have all the time in the world to stay up late chatting and generally doing nothing productive, and making me feel extra swotty and left out doesnt help.

Putting off preparing second presentation

Hmmmm.....Universal Grammar in the Second Language Acquisition of French

22 page text this time by Roger Hawkins of the University of Essex from the Journal of French Language Studies. A girl in my seminar group who is also doing her pres the same week as mine (next week) on the Dewaele texr is coming round later cos she doesnt know how to use Powerpoint. Shock horror! Such an essential transferrable skill these days!

Have had a v unproductive few days. Had 3 lessons with Scott and Emmie, 4th tonight. Going to their leaving drinks next thurs. Didnt make it to TT on tues night as faffed all day and so didnt do much reading. Tonight was gonna go to L&B but realised just how big the pile of pages is that I have to read for next week along side doing my rapport de synthese and my presentation. Grrrrrr. So so far, I've been in every night this week! Although Monday night at least I had a yummy chicken jalfrezi for company. Tomorrow night I WILL be at the Black Swan. Now I WILL do some reading for my presentation! Just finally finished the washing up

Is it Tuesday today?

Errr yes.

Well yest I attempted to plan for my first Spanish lessons with this couple. Turns out I didnt really need to anyway,as we just played it by ear. The husband (Scott) knows nothing, so I taught him basic greetings, and a few numbers (he has half hour lessons)and the wife (Emmie) has hour lesson. She actually lived in Spain for 18 months about 3 years ago - and she did it for GCSE, so she s pretty good - just a little rusty and in need of a bit of a brush-up.

So basically we just did general convo for an hour! Went over the colours cos she couldnt remember all of them, talked about her job, her family, where she'd grown up (lots of places - and she s still only just turned 25) what she d done in Spain, what she s GOING to do in Spain, how she was as a teenager....all sorts of random things! Today taught Scott some more numbers, revised yesterday's stuff and taught him the months of the year. Ironically, planning for them is FAR easier than planning English lessons in GC last year! The level of their Spanish is one I can easily manage to bullshit my way through without having to spend hours planning.

They move out on 26th November, I started yesterday and will give them lessons 5 days a week until 23rd November (3 weeks in total) making it £337.50 I'm earning in total for an hour and a half each day at £15 hour. Plus, Emmie is going to give me £30 to buy a month's metro pass to cover my travel cost out to theirs at Northumberland Park each day AND yesterday they offered me a beer and another one if I wanted, today I got a beer and a cosmopolitan!!!!! How lucky am I?!?

Yesterday there was a talk from KPMG at uni called 'Business fo linguists'. Their 3 year european grad training sounds good so think Ill go for that. Today there was a talk from the College of Law about the GDL, have decided am NOT going for that. Ruled one thing out at last! Also have decided that the travellers worlwide thing is too expensive not to be getting anything financial back in return so so far, KPMG is the most promising!

Went to the careers service today to get my CV checked, so I now have a professional, approved, employable CV!

Will get some photos fo London here in the next entry!

London

Got back from London just before 6 this morn, slept till about quarter to one!

So arrived at Victoria Coach Station at 7.20am on Sat morn. One way or another Kate and I didnt manage to get to the hostel till about half 9ish - instructions from tube station were rubbish and it was further than we thought so caught the 381 bus. Dropped off our stuff and tubed over to Olympia for 11. Went to the '12 question to unlock a foreign culture' 'Wine and language learning' and 'Spanish fiestas' talks (missed out on the yummy 'talian feast' one) Had a panino for lunch in a nearby cafe. Visited most of the stalls - language schools, translating companies, educational booksellers, TEFL institutions etc and around half 4 ish we caught our 4 tubes back to the hostel. Went to Chinatown for tea and then were supposed to be meeting Rhys Darryl Ruth and poss someone else for drinks round oxford circus. We went to The Argyll Arms and since the others hadnt turned up by midnight when we got kicked out, we were so tired and in need of a comfy bed and a decent no of hours sleep that we just went back to the hostel.

Up at half 8 yesterday morn to catch the end of breakfast (Kate left on the 9am bus so I was on my own). Headed to Olympia for the 10.45 talk on travel, working and abroad and using your langugaes from some guy from the lonely planet. Rhys et al apparently left on a bus around 4 but I didnt see them at all yesterday anyway. Entertained myself revisiting a few stalls and left there about one to find some lunch (jacket potato with chicken curry in a cafe just round the corner - yum!) Reasonably priced as well, I thought - for Kensington!

Headed back to hostel for a quick internet session before reading through the ridiculous amount of papers Id acquired over the last 24 hours and chucking away the pointless ones, while sat in the cafe/bar bit of the Hostel. Then decided to brave the sun avo tubes so briefly visited Westminster, Sloane Square, Hyde Park Corner (where got a dodgy cheesburger from a stand) Covent Garden (where got an 'award winning' cornish pasty for my early tea!) Walked from there to Piccadilly circus to catch the tube via a brief stop at London Bridge back to the hostel. En route around half 6 ish I got a text from Tony inviting me out dancing for an hour before my megabus. Given had been trying all weekend to get hold of him to no avail I was peeved to be receiving news on my way back to the hostel fo the day! Decided I could not face more tubes back into the centre to go for food with him as his later voicemail suggested before finding some scary London Salsa club. Didnt want to lug my case around any more than I had to, and Id already eaten anyway! So settled for a beer in the hostel bar while reading Simon's manuscript - hilarious!!!! Around quarter to ten I left hostel to navigate my way to the bus station, assuring Tony via Facebook as I had no credit that I would go dancing in 2 weeks time (Sun 18th) when I will also be in London!

So, yeah, this time I didnt manage to see Tony, Angie, Rui or Hels - so have to see them all in 2 weeks plus Mrie-Pierre!

Where the hell is my left slipper?!?

My left slipper went walkies on tuesday morning and has not, as yet, been found. Our house is not THAT big...

Hmmmm In a few hours am off to London for the language show on the 1.15am megabus, arriving at Victoria Coach station at 7.30am. Staying at one of London's one YHA with the ONE member interested tomo night, while Pres and Social sec (the only other committee members of 13) stay with friends as far as I can gather. Hmph. They are already there, went down on megabus this avo (I had spanish interpreting till 5)

Anyways, Monday night I went to WHQ for the Oxjam make poverty history night, tuesday night I did not go to L&B salsa class, Tiger Tiger or Modlangsoc tandem quiz night. I stayed in and pretended to do work - planning of my next 2 weeks' intensive private spanish classes to a married couple who move out to Spain at the end of November; and a bit of spanish translation for the Tudor House museum brochure.

Wednesday night was the Modlangsoc Halloween party at Venue, starting in the Hancock and last night I met up briefly with my tutees for the next 2 weeks for a meet-and-greet over starbucks coffee before going to intermediate L&B class and not really dancing.

Leave London on the 23.15 megabus on sun night, arriving back in Newc at 5.30 Monday morning (is reading week next week thank God!) Hopefully will get to meet up with Hels, Rui, Tony and Ange before then in between careers fairs, conferencees, seminars, and hostelling.

Not really much else to say!

Have realised that if you try to put text and photos in the same entry, the layout goes haywire. Well maybe will try again.....

Yep layout got ruined! Oh well, you can seeI got off quite lightly in our little food fight!

Anyway, so Houseparty was good - despite there being only 15 of us!!!!! Tom's karaoke PS2 game was definitely abused, and having the apple-bobbing and fish-the-sweets-out-of-the-bowl-of-flour-using-your-teeth games next to each other is NEVER a good idea!!!! Spent hours cleaning up the mess yesterday!

So Wednesday night was fun - Italian teacher was really good, Thursday night after 'Yella' Tom, Jo and I spontaneously decided to go for a meal at Paris Texas....and ended up inviting the (mostly very good-looking) French waiters to our houseparty! Well I was obviously responsible for this lol. Four of them turned up about ten ish saying they were on the way to get some booze and would come back in a bit. No sign of any of them till after I went to bed around 2am when Sebastian turned up on his own at quarter to 3 asking for Victoria. LOL Anna told him Id left the house to go to another party cos she didnt want him trying to sneak his way up to my room lol. Found this hilarious when I was told yesterday morning that he d turned up on our doorstep again! Who turns up for a houseparty at 3 in the morning, having popped by 5 hours earlier?!?

So anyway, last night went to the Jazz cafe with Anna for some swingin' and today have been lying in and putting off doin work which will start after having lunch. Presentation went well btw - tutor said it was well organised (after I changed it all round following my meeting with her the avo before ha!) then from 3 till 5 on Fri avo had some live interpreting practice between our tutor and a non spanish-speaking PhD student - scary!

This week have more MLS socials to attend! Yesterday spent an hour or two, emailing the minutes from latest meeting round the committee, planning and sending 4th newsletter, and sending a separate email round the society re the language show in London next weekend

Tom and I at Sara and Kate's house-warming, and more of Halloween! You can even see William the inflatable penis in one of the photos!!!

Me! Me! Me! Halloween Party and my scar before had stitches taken out!

Nearly finished presentation!

Well, read the whole stupid document, condensed it into about 4 pages of notes, and on my twentieth and final slide on powerpoint. Is a complete load of crap. Taking it to my tutor this afternoon to get it checked before my seminar on friday. Have a feeling she is going to tell me it's rubbish and I need to do it all again. Too much effort for 8% of my module mark or however much it is!

We managed to mess up this week's socials a bit for the MLS - might have something to do with the fact that I sent out unconfirmed details re a halloween party that was supposed to be happening tonight! Oooops! To be fair, it's no more my fault than anybody else's since it was due to a breakdown in communication between the 13 of us that are the committee - it's just I'm the one who looks like a wally cos I'm Secretary!

On the plus side, the website has been updated by Vice-Pres/Website Co-ordinator John - here it is!

www.societies.ncl.ac.uk/modlangsoc/FramesPage.htm

So Monday night I stayed in and did my presentation, last night I went Irish dancing for the first time and then to Castle Leazes for a bit of the intermediate salsa class. Tonight we have an Italian taster session for MLS, and tomorrow night we have a MLS trip to Tyneside Cinema to see Yella. Friday night is our houseparty, and sat night will be at the Cluny and Jazz cafe, hopefully!

Looking at plans for next year:
Translating and Interpreting at Bath
International Management in London
GDL at the College of Law, London
Leonardo da Vinci programme
Travellers Worldwide teaching English in Buenos Aires and working in a hotel in Shanghai!!!!

Spent two hours this morn synthesizing dossiers on the environment for my rapport de synthese for French - I hate French writing!

How on earth do I decide?!?

Oh my GOD - this is so dull its blogworthy!

Just downloaded the text I have to present in my seminar on Friday. Is a text only I have to read as is presentation-specific i.e. not essential lecture/seminar reading.

I chose 'Englishes in the Southern Hemisphere' as my presentation topic and chose one of the 2 possible texts at random

Is a 21 page document on the differences of vocalization of /l/ in Australian and New Zealand English - FYI can be postvocalic in coda postion, postvocalic in a cluster or syllabic. How on earth Horvath & Horvath have manged to waffle on for 21 pages on the differences in realisation of /l/ in the words feel, milk and pickle, I do not know. It's admirable, really!

How the hell do I create a 20-minute powerpoint presentation on this that is interesting enough to keep the class (and myself) awake? /l/ in Brisbane English is the least vocalised, and /l/ in Christchurch English is the most vocalised. This is about all I have grasped from this text by the end of page 4. Is so boring I cannot bring myself to read any further tonight!

Well anyway, Barbara M Horvath and Ronald J Horvath are clearly a very boring married couple who have nothing better to do than write a stupid study on the pronunciation of /l/ which
is aimed at postgrad students actually interested in this ridiculous area of sociolinguistics. Undergrad students studying one or maybe two modules of linguistics a year should not be obliged to read, study and present such texts!!!

Have also been freaking out my flatmates by playing audio recordings off Blackboard/Sanako for my French & Spanish interpreting modules! They thought I was entertaining foreign businessmen in my room! At least they were semi-aware I was not just having a conversation with myself! When it got to recording my own voice using sanako lite I encountered technical problems, though. Says is recording and the timer resets to zero etc but it won't playback for some reason. Means I can't do my homework until I can figure out where I'm going wrong. The installation etc instructions given by the head of Spanish seem pretty foolproof, and I followed them word for word.....Have managed to download it and listen to the sample recordings easily enough, just can't record. Oh well, emailed my tutor to say I was having problems but I sincerely doubt she'll be able to help me out on the technical front!

Well, have been busy as usual and not really resting my voice at all!

Thursday night, had Latin & Ballroom over at Castle Leazes which is a right trek now! Then joined Tom et al at Mr Lynch's for Tom's pre-birthday drinks. Fri had my horrible 1-5 classes: 2nd Language Acquisition of French lecture, World Englishes seminar, 2-hour Spanish Liaison Interpreting seminar. Then went straight down to Sheffield with Mum to Jo & Simon's wedding party.

Got back yesterday and last night was Tom's post-birthday night out - Indian take-away and pizza first while watching the match, then to the Hancock, Bar 42 and Bulletproof at The Carling Academy. Today have been doing laundry, washing up, sorting out this internet, reading pages and pages on French SLA, and all my dossiers on the greenhouse effect for my French rapport de synthese. Done my Spanish-English translation (interestingly, also on the Goddam environment). Oh well, last week was a text re whisky distillation. Still have to do my powerpoint presentation on Englishes in the Southern Hemisphere, finish my v short presentation on C&A France, do all my week's readings for World Englishes and await confirmation from the President on this week's MLS socials so I can send out another newsletter. Oh, forgot about French SLA essential reading. Plus downloading Sanako for Spanish interpreting and recording my voice using the programme.

I hate final year!

Anyways, never made it to the careers service the other day, as spent ages sifting through all my hobsons and milkround emails in my hotmail inbox. Came across travellersworldwide.com, and have tentatively applied for teaching English in Argentina, and working at a hotel in Shanghai for next year......

Anna's doing a project involving asylum seekers for some reason for her artwork, and she needs to interview several French-speakers so she's asked if I will play interpreter! I said yes, of course, as it'll be GREAT practice for the exam in January.

Have a busy term coming up - espesh at weekends: next week is our house Halloween party, the weekend after I'm going down to London with modlangsoc for 'the languages show', going down again in mid-November to see Marie-Pierre and stay with Hels, end of November Ruth is coming up to visit, end of term I think we 're taking the society to Barcelona..... want to visit GC at some point......

Should be getting on with my presentations.....zzzzzzzzzzz

Back in Newcastle

Hi all,

Got back to Newcastle on Sunday eve having been home for my op last Thurs. Op was horrible - the most traumatic afternoon of my life and cannot be bothered to go into detail anymore. Suffice to say it was an experience I never want to go through again!

Trying to take it easy i.e. not talk too much - is difficult! Managed to more or less skive a brief presentation in my French seminar this morning. Tutor gave me back a corrected provisional letter of complaint to send to Hautefort - she was v sympathetic but not all that surprised as it is common knowledge stagiaires can very often be treated very badly in France.

Missed French interpreting on Mon because was 'resting my voice'. Went to Tiger Tiger briefly last night to Jules and George's Intermediate class. Sat out of the Intermediate plus as didnt want to knock my stictches or have to make polite conversation with all my partners!

Other than that have tried to do some of my pages and pages of 'essential reading' for my World Englishes and Second Language Acquisiton of French modules, and have *more or less* caught up on last week's lectures. Have updated the Modern Languages mailing list (300 email addresses - took me 2 hours!) and have sent out the third newsletter. Have also compiled separate mailing lists for 'hoodies' and 'the languages show' from replies received from interested parties on the general mailing list.

There is currently a 'make poverty history' march making its way down to the Quayside via Monument. Gathered outside the Union at 1 to listen to the talk but decided I am not political or motivated enough to walk that far with no 'oxjam' t-shirt and all my files and folders. So am going to the Careers service instead (as have no other classes today). Between 5 and 6, Mr Sainsbury is coming round to drop off my one-off online shop (rice, pasta, couscous, wine, sauces stocks and biscuits etc) as I always seem to want to buy just that little more than I can carry back from Morrisons so decided am stocking up on the non-perishables.

Tonight, Mary is coming round to eat and we may head to the Cluny for a bit (def not for long though as I have a lot of work to catch up on still!). Tomo night will go to my first uni Latin and Ballroom class since 2nd year! Missed the LBS Salsa on last night as was at TT instead.

Right, off to try to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life....have filled in profiles online for hobsons and milkround and keep on being bombarded with emails from them which I never actually bother to read. Also visited prospects.ac.uk and a few other careers-related sites but not getting anywhere......

France 2007 - Hautefort, Dordogne

Few photos of AO Reunion and Mum & Dad's Silver Wedding Anniversary

Few more 4th year photos since Freshers Crew

Above - my freshers crew pass before I hand it back in because I dropped out!

Above - A random photo of Anna cooking! Below - the girls of 181 Hotspur Street The banner we made Jo for the Great North Run

4th year photos since Freshers Crew

Photos of Freshers Crew 2007 (The Bath-time Crew - crew 23)

We finally get our famous red t-shirts!

I PROMISE PHOTOS ARE COMING SOON!

Either tomorrow or Weds I WILL get some photos of France up here! Am back home in Worcester for almost a week during uni termtime - shock horror!!!!! Is because on thursday am having a scary operation on my vocal cords.....Cutting into my voicebox and shoving some fake plastic vocal cord against my own to try to improve my voice....under local anaesthetic so that Im awake enough to talk! Have a pre-op check-up appointment etc tomorrow morn (only just got back from Bham New St)

So heading back up to Newcastle on sun avo. Plan to get a lot of uni work out the way while im home and away from social distractions! Never made it to the Trent house last Thurs (rearranged for the Fri night instead). So Fri I met Diane and Laure at monument before heading to the Black Swan. Sat night I did indeed go to the house party and it was good - lots of internationals there, but left quite early (am getting sensible in my old age!)

Last night I considered going to Apartment for the new salsa night (well, new for me cos Ive been away for a year!) but couldnt quite be bothered. Had a v lazy weekend otherwise, did a bit of uni work, 2 loads of laundry, a shop at Morrisons and a little bit of housework (a huge pile of washing-up and a quick sweep of the new laminate flooring)

Today I finally handed in all the MLS paperwork (except the Constitution which needs to be signed by all committee members) watched a fair amount of French and Spanish TV in the OAC before heading to my 2 hour French interpreting seminar (first and only class of the day) at 4. Straight from there to Central Station for my 18.40 train!

Hi all, so climbing meal was good. Went to Revolution for a bit afterwards.

Mon had first MLS committee meeting, decided on bar trail for the pubcrawl on Tues night and I rung a few of them, trying to get a few drinks deals. Mon night I stayed in, because I knew Id been out most other evenings of the week!

Tues night was the pubcrawl (Mens Bar, The Goose, Madisons, Bar 42 and Blu Bambu). Had a few lectures and seminars now - French Interpreting and French writing and World Englishes. Got 2nd Langugage Acquisition of French and Spanish translating this avo. Last night went out for a meal with Jenna and Catherine at Frankie and Benny's and declined the offer to go to Shearers and the Attic with Intsoc.

Tonight am meeting up with my French Erasmus partner at 9pm in the Trent house. Tomo night Ill be at the Black Swan, sat night at a house-warming party and sun night am going for drinks with Robin and maybe to Bar55. Joining the uni gym this avo and need to sign up for Thai-boxing and Irish dancing still. Tomo have 2nd MLS committee meeting.

Gotta go ring Tina and Tom Dexter lol

Hey all

So, been doing a little MLS paperwork since last updated - not much, just copied out last year's Health and Safety Policy and changed the names, gonna fill in the risk assessment and society information sheet, Rhys has already done the Constitution. I helped out a bit with adding the new freshers' addresses to the mailing list but John and Rhys did most of them. Have sent out first general society email; Rhys, John and Rachel have sorted out the intramural football, netball and hockey teams/mailing lists. Had a few teething troubles sending out the first email - were lots of mail delivery failure emails as you would expect - Rhys, the God that he is, cleared up most of them!

So have met up with Kate for lunch and a chat, been to a few pointless careers lectures, cooked curry for my house, been to Mr Lynch (Thursday night) and Bar Beyond for Sophie's post-wedding do (last night) This morning, went to watch Jo and Amy in the Great North Run. Am meant to be going to Thai-boxing taster session this avo but not going to make it. Going out for climbing meal tonight. Starting Thai-boxing tomorrow night I guess (once I've bought some decent trainers and new joggers maybe, and signed up for Gym membership and registered with the Thai & Kick-boxing Society!)

In a few weeks time will start Irish dancing too (cant make it to the first 2 weeks unfort). Have first MLS committee meeting tomorrow, have first MLS social (pubcrawl) on tues night. Hoping to meet up with Jenna, Catherine, Simon, Robin, Diane and B all separately for lunch/coffee/tea/drinks at some point this week!

Back in Newcastle!!!!!

Hi all, so much has happened since I last wrote! So my last week in Hautefort was pretty boring and annoying. On my last day, the manageress let rip and managed to make me cry (thankfully it was over the phone so she didnt see!) Then the head caretaker thought it would be funny to upset me on my last day too, but this time I didnt cry, just got really really annoyed and after trying to defend myself in French while looking brave, finally decided just to walk away and tell him I couldnt be bothered to listen to him.

Heritage days were rubbish.

Also found out the manageress tried to fire me one week before the end of my contract (she rung my uni to discuss the possibility). Uni told her it was none of their business as my placement had nothing directly to do with uni and that she had to sort it out with me. I knew nothing of this until I got back to England and found an email from uni telling me theyd been contacted by her the week before. She obviously decided she had no good reason to fire me, so decided not to bother telling me about this said dismissal she wanted to carry out.

Stupid Chateau de Hautefort! So theyre getting a letter of complaint from me, my parents and my uni (once I actually get round to sorting it out). So got back to England (Worcester) on monday 17th around lunchtime. By wednesday night I was in Newcastle having unpacked and packed up again and been out for a nice Indian meal on the tuesday night with M&D. Thursday morning (20th) I started freshers crew training. Freshers crew are 230ish non-firstyear students selected from over 1200 candidates following crazy application forms and filmed dares during interview, who wear red tshirts all day every day for a week and help welcome the freshers. Moving them into halls, showing them round Newcastle on walking and bus tours, taking them on trips to paintballing, breakdancing, baltic/laing art gallery, poledancing, aquarium, bowling, archery, quayside culutral trips, golf, night golf, go-karting etc etc etc, helping to register them, and sign them up for above activities, entertain them with stupid dancing while theyre queuing to get into the union for evening events, leading overspill pubcrawls, organising shuttle buses from union to halls of residences at end of night, spirit-lifting and small-talking during night events (cabaret, ceilidh - probs not spelt right! casino night, heaven n hell night etc etc etc) v v v knackering.

Freshers week was officially from mon morn till tonight - have all of the metro radio arena booked out for GLOW tonight (although freshers moved in on sat and sun) but we crew had to be in Newc from thurs morn for 'training' and the supervisors, chief supervisors, drivers, chief drivers and 4 organisers had to be around from last weds morn (19th), and it unofficially goes on for crew (not for the freshers) until sun night. Tomo night is crew meal and night at solution (union night), sun night is official crew BBQ and beer party and sat will be sth unofficial too. However, I dropped out yest morn. Am tired, ill and still withdrawing from a stupid cocktail of alcohol, proplus, milkthistle, alcodol, vit C, lucozade and berocca. Dont worry I never took all the above at any one time!!!!!!!!!!! Just not cool enough!!!!!

Since then have had stress of registering for course, changing modules (of course, cos its never easy enough to get right first time!) liaising between school of English and School of Modern Languages to try and minimise the number of clashes I have, emailing several tutors to check things, signing up for seminar groups, realising the last one I need to sign up for which has only just been put up clashes with the first one I signed up for three days before etc etc etc (If I were still on crew god knows how I would have managed to do all this!) Also was on freshers stall for modern languages society on mon morn for 2 hours.

My crew time-table was as follows (there were 25 different crews):

Thurs 10 - 2.30 ish - meet rest of crew and supervisor, decide on fancy dress theme, have lunch together for team-bonding (didnt really bond with my crew, part of the reason I dropped out), buy costumes (our theme was bath-time, so shower caps, towels, rubber ducks, eye-masks and shaving foam), go for few drinks in the Hancock
5 pm onwards - meet for drinks on Osborne Rd, go to few bars before ending at crew launch party in Envy/Liquid

Fri 12pm - meet for lunch, drinks at the Hancock, make up freshers giftbags, using several small production lines (I was last in my crews line, adding the Endsleigh Insurance envelope after the Tyneside cinema brochure, nightlife guide, SCAN brochure, saville emdical info, Courrier (uni newspaper), tampons (what did boys need these for?) sweets and condoms). Few more drinks and later an unofficial night at Northumbria union. Instead I went out with Annas old housemates to WHQ

Sat - 12 till 1 or 2 Freshers start actually arriving. Move freshers into Windsor Terrace (carry lots of heavy suitcases and boxes and get lost in a building Ive never set foot in before in my life either!)
3-5 or 6 Register freshers (check name, address, age and date of birth, issue freshers wristbands)
8- ? Meet for drinks at Union, go to Ceilidh and encourage freshers to dance and drink, dance and drink, dance dance dance

Sun - 11-1 move people in Castle Leazes (Freemens hall so still got lost!), 1.30 - 2.30 Quayside cultural trip apparently, but never happened, 3-4.40 ish - move people in Henderson Hall
7.30 ish go to overspill event at Sam Jacks having chatted to freshers waiting to get into Heaven n hell event, escort few freshers to the Crows nest and Bar 42 on the way

Mon 9-1 paintballing supposedly, but I was on the Modern Languages stall instead 3-4 Accompany freshers to ASDA and bagpack for them supposedly but I had an introductory SML lecture so got out of it! mon night was band night at the Union, but we were 'on duty' at richardson Rd flats first, spirit-lifting, knocking on doors, and encouraging freshers to get themsleves down to the union.... Rest of crew went out afterwards anyway, but as was 'off-duty' after 10ish went home to bed!

Tues - was supposed to be Aquarium 12 - 4 but our crew timetable changed, so we did breakdancing from 1 till 2 (every muscle in my body aches) and then from 3.15 8 of our crew accompanied TWO frehsers (a german girl and a norwegian girl) to the Laing Art gallery.... Evening event was Viva Las Vegas. Drag Queen was good but rest of cabaret was a bit rubbish, Oasis tribute band were good too. Around tues lunchtime decided was definitely dropping out the following morn! From 7 till midnight we were officially 'on-duty' in Queue entertainment, standby and overspill

Yest would have been Aquarium and bowling for the bath-time crew plus the 'kiss it' event at the Union, some gig night hosted by Kate Lawler (ex Big brother winner) Instead I had 2 lectures anyway - introductory linguistics one and a careers talk. Last night would have been on transport (shuttle-bus) duty from 12 till 2.30 am i.e counting people in, keeping people in the queue and making sure freshers didnt vom all over the back of buses I guess! Today according to our timetable there was nothing during the day, but theres the huge GLOW night which I would have had to go to. So glad I dropped out!!!!!

So, my modules this year are:
French General language level D, Writing and Interpreting
Spanish General language level D Interpreting and Translating
Syntax and History of Spanish (semester 2 only)
Modern French Literature (semester 2 only)
Second language Acquisition of French
World Englishes (School of English)

Will be the first time Ive done a literature module since being at Uni! Have always done either film studies or linguistics ones, once I did a latin american studies module which was HORRIBLE

Right better go! Got to email Modern Languages societies mailing list, advertising events this year, and plan letters of complaint to Hautefort among other things!

Havent yet sorted out internet at the house, promise when I do will get some photos of Hautefort etc on here!

Hey all,

Currently having probs accessing my hotmail account and facebook, pages wont load properly :(

This time next week ll have just landed in England! Promise as soon as I do get back, Ill put some photos on here.

So this week Ive only done 16.5 hours - cos only did between 3 and 3.5 hours a day (surveillance and commentaries) Dont really need me here now that high seasons over until the european heritage days this weekend, when we ll get over a thousand visitors on both of the days! (Im on commentaries onthe sun morn, so thatll be fun!!!!!! Not. V stressful last day, more like!)

So on one of my days off this week I looked round the museum of medecine. Yolande and Remy (the park caretakers) are 'off sick' at the moment (in the process of being unfairly dismissed) so I went round to theirs for coffee and a gossip on sat, saw them in the park on thursday too. Theyre coming round to mine this saturday on my last day off to say goodbye.

Cannot believe some of the things management gets away with here - but not for much longer, if Y and R's lawyer is good! Wednesday night we have a staff meeting and Laura will stay over at mine, thurs night Im going to invite the nice half of the staff chez-moi for a little leaving party. As much as I hate it here, I will miss some of the staff! other than all that, only got cleaning the house from top to bottom before i leave to look forward to!

Right off to do my usual day-off activity: food shopping and laundry! What else can I do?????

Hey all - v quick entry, not much time. Last week did 25 hours, this week was ill for 3 days so have done a grand total of 7.5 hours of a possible 27. Parents were visiting this week. They gave me the bug in the first place, so their punishment was to look after me! Stayed in their gite for most of the week, luckily for my housemate Marie-Pierre, who s now left :(

On mon night was the second theatre night at the chateau - a contemporary piece which wasnt my cup of tea lol. First one was a Moliere play. Before that one went for a nice meal at Auberge du Parc with a few colleagues, as neither PMU or the other restaurant in Hautefort were open!

Mon and tues were my days off this week, went to Chateau de Puymartin, La maison forte de Reignac, Sarlat and le village de Bournat at le Bugue. Also went briefly to Excideuil and Badefoye d'Ans and for a walk round the lake on the way to Nailhac.Went for a nice meal at la Table d'Erillac (just before I got ill!!!)

So, on my own at the house for my last 2 weeks, Only ten more days of work!!!!!! Gotta go

Hi, last week I only worked 4 days so did 24 hours. On the weds night did the nocturnes for the 2nd time. (Was Berthe the servant again). Parents are coming out to visit for a week on saturday, today is my 3rd day off in a row!!!!

Did a fair bit of office work last week, including reading a chapter of a history book on the life of Eugene Le Roy and his time at Chateau de Hautefort and attempting to write a summary (in French of course) to add to the information we have on the chateau.

on saturday, Marie-Pierre, Claire and I went to the markets at Sarlat in the morning, before having a nice lunch there, visiting the chateau and gardens of Losse and finishing up at the Grottes de Lascaux - a v nice day out all in all! Yesterday and today has been tipping it down! Tonight, Im going for a meal with some of the girls from work at PMU, the only bar in Hautefort, before going to the theatre in the grounds of the chateau. Although given the weather Im sure itll be moved to one of the function rooms on the ground floor.......

4 weeks today Ill be home! 28 little days......oh how time drags here.......

Hey Ho

More of the same. Surveillance, boutique stock, commentaries, art workshop for kids (last one was yesterday thanks god). Still no observation of guided tours so def no possibility of me doing my own any time soon, havent been at the boutique behind the till since my 3rd week so doubt will be returning there any time soon either, only observed at the ticket kiosk twice as well.

last week just did 25.75 hours. last night there was another open air cinema showing at the chateau - Moliere. Was great! Loved it :) Have 3 days off this week - today and the weekend, so saturday Claire, Marie-pierre and I are going to visit another chateau which will be good. I can escape Hautefort for a day!!!!

Not a lot else to say really. Planning a letter of complaint to send to the manageress and president of the foundation when i get back to england. we re planning a revolt lol have nothing to lose, its not as if i need good references from here, so if she doesnt like the letter, no one need ever know i did a stage here as far as my CV is concerned!

Hello

This last week has gone sooooo slowly! Melanie has left (sniff sniff) so I have a new housemate, Marie-Pierre. She is v nice too, but she is not Melanie, who I really miss! Last week did 27.75 hours - commentaries, surveillance (mainly ground floor) more publicity (flyering the village, gettting to know managers of all the shops and restaurants etc) childrens art workshops (whoopee) boutique stock, and creating an excel list for Mme Folio of all the contact details of local journalists in the Dordogne area in the office. At least I felt slightly grown up doing that.

The concert last week turned out to be classical not folk lol, it was quite good, but apparently it was a lot better last year, which I can believe. On Fri night I went for a quick drink at PMU (the only bar in Hautefort) with Mel to celebrate her last night. The next day she had a 12 hour drive ahead of her, back to Strasbourg which actually turned out to be 14 hours almost cos she got a flat tyre.

Not much else to say really.....life carries on as normal.

Vic xx

Hey all,

Been a while since I updated so may be a long one lol

So since I last wrote Ive done surveillance of first floor and ground floor, lots of commentaries in French mainly but some in English. Had one more training session for guided tours, plus training for the nocturnes (costumed guided night tour) which Ive been in once. I was Berthe, a 17th century moody servant who encountered the group in the drawing room/study. Ive also helped out Cecilia with stock in the boutique, gone round the village giving posters advertising our events to all the shops and restaurants and helped out with the wednesday afternoon childrens art workshops. In my 4th week I did 28.5 hours and last week I did 26.5, into my 6th one now so very nearly halfway through!

I had great fun being Berthe and everyone loved me lol I didnt have much to say but I believe I conveyed the moodiness pretty damn well to the extent that Claire, the guides supervisor who was dressed up as the Marquis Jacques-Francois de Hautefort cracked up in role, and Mel, who was a fortune-teller nearly couldnt say her next line for trying no to laugh!

My lines were: Allez-vous en, Sorciere! Vous souillez le sol que je viens de lustrer. Maraude!
Bon, debarras, Je vais devoir aller prevenir M le Marquis. Et vous? Vous allez m'aider a nettoyer derriere cette ignoble sorciere? Non? Bon, si mon sort vous indiffere, veuillez quitter cette piece que je dois remettre en ordre, je vous prie. Me donner tout le chateau a nettoyer, alors que le Marquis recoit, et que je ne peux meme pas porter ma si belle robe rouge.....Y a vraiment que ma chere amie Nicette qui peut me comprendre.

Except someone did offer to help me clean so I had to improvise a bit lol

Sat night there was open air cinema at the chateau. A huge screen was put up in the courtyard of honour to show la mome (la vie en rose) which Id already seen in GC so Ive now seen it in Spanish and French but not in English! Friday night, the 'nice' half of the team went round to Marie-Paules for food and drinks. Today is my day off, but going to the chateau tonight as there is some sort of regional folk concert in the fireplace room, which normally costs 28 euros but of course I get to go for free!

Got new uniform. Mon and Fri is a pink tshirt, Tues and Sat a green one, Weds and Sun a white one with a picture of the french gardens on the front, and Thurs a black one.....Stupid system means we hardly have to wash them all in time for the right day! Of course, thats just for the girls, for guys its red, green, blue and black respectively.

Cant be arsed to write anymore

The washing machine works!!!!!

Am so happy; can now do washing whenever I want and it comes out clean and spun everytime!!!

Last week (my third week) I worked 26 hours. This week, apart from one guided tour training session, all Im doing all week is surveillance and commentaries - no kiosk, office or boutique. Yesterday I did the morning commentaries (4 in french, 1 in english). In the avo yest from 4.30 till 7 I sorted through all the papo figurines in the underground reserve. NOT my fave job! There are two tiny windows in the storeroom, and no light and there was a storm raging outside so I could barely see what I was doing. Had to read the delivery list to find the codes, use the codes to find a pic of the figurine in the catalogue, search through 13 different cardboard boxes to find one example of each to take back to Cecilia in the boutique to register in stock. Grrrrrr

Anyways last week I worked weds to sun as mon and tues were my day off.Just worked six days in a row so grateful for my day off today. Other day off this week is sat. Last weds I did commentaries, had 2nd training for guided tour, and did ground floor surveillance. Thurs did morning commentaries, helped out in the boutique (doing stock) and did more groundfloor surveillance. Fri helped out in the boutique (in store) did first set of avo commentaries and helped out Claire and Mme Folio in the office. This actually involved setting up a function room for the kids art/creative workshops tomorrow.....and did more surveillance - first floor, this time. Oh joy. Saturday just worked the morn which was cool. Espesh as was knackered as had only got 5 hours sleep. Observed at the kiosk from 9.30 till 1. Sun was a fairly easy day, too. Morning commentaries and 2 hours of groundfloor surveillance in the avo, so finished early.

Was a surprisingly busy week socially too. Cecilia, the boutique supervisor who s only a year older than me has just bought an old house with her boyf. Theyre going to do it up and rent it. They have some SERIOUS work on their hands - is in complete ruins. Been empty since 1973 everything is rotten - huge holes in roof and upstairs floor. Gonna cost them a hell of a lot to renovate, and must have cost them a lot to buy in the first place - was owned by a well-off family, in the Dordogne region. Cecila must have rich parents! In December she bought herself her first car - a shiny new silver Toyota. Anyway, on thurs night she invited every round to see it and have BBQ outside on the huge pile of mud! (is in the middle of nowhere, of course) Obv we couldnt use the house in any way lol, so Laurent switched on the CD player in his car and we faited la fete a bit until his battery went flat!

Fri night we went to Perigueux (an hour away) to go to the cinema to see Harry Potter. Had yummy meal in a pizzeria nextdoor beforehand. Film started at 10.15 so didnt finish till 1 so didnt get back till about 2.30am. Couldnt get to sleep for about an hour and had to be at work at 9.30. Saturday night was Bastille day, so Mel took me to Montignac with her to meet up with a few of her friends for food, and afterwards we watched the fireworks on the riverbank, which were pretty damn cool!

Tuesday nights are becoming Greys Anatomy nights, as there is a triple-bill every week. Monday its Lost (les disparus) and Sunday its ER (urgences). I dont actually watch ER or Lost, though. Or Greys Anatomy - but I have tried to get into it a bit since Ive been here at least. Last monday night I watched a DVD with Mel - Leon, which was good. Dont think this week (or any week in fact) is going to be as exciting as last week! Mel and I are thinking of havin a gathering at ours some night next week though.

I would just like to take the opportunity to let all of you who doubt my culinary skills know, that Mel thinks im a really good cook! Lol. She s nearly 27 and is even lazier than I am when it comes to cooking (or crap, I dont know, as I hardly ever see her cooking 'properly'). Anyways, I havent done anything special really she just seems to think Im good. First week I lived off mince and cous cous for most of the week, the next week it was turkey curry and cous cous, last week it was 'creamy ham and mushroom risotto' and this week its chilli con carne!

I have a reputation here for being stupidly calm and laidback. The French, as a rule, are stressheads - and everyone here loves my placid English temparement!

Right, gonna go sunbathe - its actually a nice day AND my day off. A first!!!!!!

Hmmmm will try again....

Weds night wasnt involved in the night-time animation. Not gonna be in it this week either. Turns out I have to ask to be in it, and would like to but not just yet as have too many other scripts to learn for tours without having to worry about learning a part in the 'play'! Also, apparently I wont be given any guided tours until I say Im ready which is a relief - in fact, I dont think Im obliged to do any if I dont want to, its up to me. Of course, I would love to have a go once I know my stuff lol

So, thurs morn I opened up the chateau as I was on surveillance first thing (of both floors) so I switched on all the lights, put on the music in the chapel and set all the alarms on the first floor. Then in the avo I was observing in the boutique (had a go myself actually as the responsable wasnt there to tell me not to!) then finally I observed the third lot of commentaries for the day.

Fri I observed the morning commentaries (but did the English one myself), then in the avo I had my commentary training which involved saying it once in front of Claire, the responsable (supervisor) to make sure I was ready. She said I did very well but have to be careful not to play with the gravel with my feet as I talk or say 'um' or 'ah' too much!!!!!! Everyone has their 'thing' and mine is playing with my feet! The dancer in me, obviously! Then I had my first training for guided tours, which involved watch Vanessa have a go (she s already had 2 or 3 'training sessions') I think she did well and I actually knew nearly all the info she said, so Claire reckons Ill be ready to have a go in my next 'training' on weds avo.

So yesterday today and tomorrow are my days off. Yesterday of last week, and today and tomorrow are my two days off of this week. Sat morn I was in the office on my tod, finishing translating the press document for the chateau into English (18 pages) Have been working on it whenever Im timetabled to do translations since a few days after I got here. In the avo I did my first lot of commentaries in French - and they were great!!!!! Three of the four times, they gave me a round of applause at the end, and they all said I did very well indeed for my first day. AND I did not move my feet or say 'um' or 'ah' - I was very conscious not to! So, 2 full weeks of work finished - ten to go. First week did 31.25 hours and this week I did 29.25 hours. Have lots of commentary sessions coming up in the next week, which is good - I actually feel useful and time passes quickly.

Yesterday I tried (and failed) to do laundry. Repair man is coming this avo APPARENTLY to fix the machine. Also decided Id try one of the restaurants for lunch, as not eaten out yet. Didnt have any choice where I went as only one of the three eating places in this village accepts cards! Today have been food shopping and thats about it. Off to the post office next. Tomo, will try again to do laundry and watch TV and learn my tour info........

Aaaarrrgh! Hate this keyboard! Should have said 'she got to kerbcrawl while I got out and posted the brochures' but the keyboard wouldnt let me type! Like it isnt now! Gonna give up on the rest and try another day........

Oh no, seems to be working again. So yeah, became a PR dogsbody for a few hours. Weds nigh wasnt involved in the nighttime animation

Sorry keyboard was playing up again so though should post quick! In the avo on weds was down on the rota to do translations in the office and then surveillance of the groundfloor. Instead of translation ended up flyering the whole village in the Goddamn rain! Was helping Lucie out and she mainly got crawl in her car while I got posted the brochures!

Ok so it seems to be working for the time being...... So, monday was my second day off. That was when I attempted to do laundry, went food shopping and lugged it all home in the rain (both arms stretched to about twice their original length afterwards) shoulder muscles still ache now! Did some housework and of course, tried to learn my scripts.

During the 20 minute commentaries on sunday Id helped to interpret into English as Claire spoke in French. On tuesday I was on surveillance from 11 till 1 and 5 till 6 on ground floor and in the early avo I did some translations at home for Mme Folio (the scary manageress). In fact last thursday night we had a monthly staff meeting (v formal affair) and I had to introduce myself to the President of the Foundatoin and his cronies. Thankfully I impressed the old grandpa with my french so he seemed to warm to me. Mme Folio even managed a smile or two.

On weds morn I was in the boutique under the watchful eye of Cecilia.

Ok well went for a walk to the neighbouring village and never found the cash machine so still have no money!

Am in surprisingly high spirits today (a few days ago I was about as anti this place as you could possibly be!) I hated the fact you have to undo a padlock to unlock our stupid big gates to acess the road just outside our kitchen window, I hated walking through the muddy slippy gravelly park to get to work twice a day, I hated the fact the washing mahine at the chateau DOES NOT WORK so all my clothes were unwashed and mouldy and dripping wet literally because it doesnt spin properly as it is so old. I hate the fact I have to carry laundry for 15 minutes up the hill to the chateau in the first place. Have yet to figure out how to make it actually USE the liquid I put in it. Hated the fact I always have to be dressed in black and white for work and the manageress didnt think to warn me; so I had to go to Intermarche (the local supermarket the only place around here to buy anything) to spend several euros I do not have on black and white tshirts. I still hate our smelly house and my creaky lumpy bed with a huge dip in the middle.......

This keyboard is playing up so am going to post this first and carry on in another post to see if this has worked properly first........

France

Ok so Im in France! Have been since early on mon morn. My last week in UK was even more boring than the first week until the last 2 days when I had an AO reunion on the sat and Mum and Dads Silver anniversary do on the sun at home. Earlier on in the week all Id done was meet up with Ruth briefly on the mon and Salma for lunch on the fri.....

So got here on monday morn having had about 3 hours sleep during the night. Dropped my case off at the house and Melanie my lovely housemate took me to the chateau to meet a few people (cant find the comma on this keyboard _ or the apostrophe or hyphen!) She drove me to the supermarche to do a quick shop and then once Id unpacked a bit and done a little tour of the village I had a 4 hour nap! After that I felt normal lol

So started work on the tues. This week Ive been observing only. From 10 thirty till 1 in the morn I observed the general commentary every half hour, taking notes (found the comma!) In the avo from 2 thirty till 4 thirty I was observing surveillance of the 1st floor (all the main rooms really - entrance room, fireplace room, vestibule, masters bedroom, study, ladys bedroom and the tearoom). Surveillance is sooooooo boring! If you re lucky you get to switch off the odd alarm set off by some bratty kid. Every now and then you remind a visitor phots are forbidden, or ask the occasional parent to keep a closer hold of their unruly toddler. Generally you mess around on the hands_free talkie with whoever is on surveillance on the groundfloor.

Weds morning, was observing in the ticket kiosk (weather is shite atm so was freezing for 3 and a half hours) In the avo I was down on the rota to do some translation work in the office. The manageress said I could work from home on my laptop though, so I did _ for 5 hours!

Thurs morn, I observed in the boutique, then had 2 more hours of observing surveillance (such a lot to learn there!) and then I observed the 3rd group of commentaries (2nd group of the avo). As from this fri Ill be doing the commentaries myself _eek! Theres so much to learn (really, this time!) These commentaries take place at a rendezvous point in the courtyard of honnour; so at least when the weather improves I might get a suntan! Also have my training for the guided tours on fri........much more to learn!!!!!!!!! Little stressed bout that. Hmmmmmm. I will get to do one commentary a week in English though_phew! A little light relief.

Yesterday I had 3 and a half hours of surveillance!!!! On my own this time. First half on the groundfloor (in the courtyard where was freezing) and second half up on the first floor inside where its not much warmer to be honest! Then in the avo I observed Melanies commentaries for 2 hours and then observed in the boutique for an hour and a half.

Today is my first day off, spent finding this free internet access at the ofice de tourisme, doing more food shopping, finding out where I do laundry at the chateau, possibly doing a tour of the chateau myself as I dont yet know where all the rooms are etc and maybe housework as Melanie lives in a bit of a pigsty, even by my standards, before of course sitting down to learn all my scripts. So not really much time to relax! Although last night I did have a long soak in the tub (yes we have a bath!) with itunes blaring out from my laptop and a glass or 2 of a bordeaux wine.

So far this week Ive worked about 27 hours. Tomoz Im doing more surveillance and observing the commentary again. Havent taken any pictures yet really but when I do I will get some up on here! Hautefort doesnt even have a cash machine btw. Luckily havent needed one so far as the only shopping I can do is food shopping at intermarche as thats all there is really! So always pay on card. This avo am gonna discover the next village (within walking distance) that DOES have a cash machine!

Right, thats all for now! Leave comments or email me please!

Few photos of my crazy train trip!

Vik, Jenna and me in the Mens Bar (Union) at the start of the LBS 'pubcrawl' Newcastle, 11th June
Jenna, Sam and me in Pacific on the crawl
Sare in Banana Wharf, Ocean Village, Southampton, 14th June
Hannah and Jayne with the gorillas at London Zoo! 17th June