Moins de deux semaines!

Less than two weeks now before I leave for France!

La Nourriture! 

I've started making a list of things that I need to take with me and I've realised that there are a lot of home comforts that I'm not going to have while in France. So to remedy this, I've decided to bring a load of food with me just to let my body adjust to the culinary changes!

So far, I've decided I'll be taking fruitella, ginger tea and pringles. Pretty staple student food. This should tide me over until my stomach can start to deal with the rich french tastes.

Also, my mum has said that food in France is much more expensive than what we buy here, and seeing as when we're on holiday she buys all the stuff, I don't doubt her! So I've even thought about taking a trolley load of food with me to last me till Christmas, just in case...

Les Traductions!

I've recently been informed by the British Council (the people sending me abroad) that I'll need a full birth certificate translation which is certified by the FCO (big company dealing with foreign documents). If I don't have this, I can't be put on the french system and therefore not be able to be paid...

After making esquires, I've been told I'll need to fork out at least £120 for a translation and an apostille. Well, wasn't budgeting for that so I'm glad I'll be taking food from the UK! However, there's a brighter side to this, when I've graduated and eventually become a translator, at least I know that if I translate one full birth certificate a week, I'll be able to easily pay my rent, and even have money left over for a pack of fruitella. Nice.

Jeux Olympiques à Londres 2012!

You can see the lights from the stadium at night from my house

I live in London when I'm not in Cardiff, and so throughout the Olympics, I've been right in the heart of it. I've pretty much watched all the major events and have a knack for cheering on the under dog.

More interestingly though, and more relevant, are the fact that France are quite low down on the medal table at the moment, which is disappointing. When you type a search in on google, they're 7th on the league tables, with only 9 golds, whereas at the moment, GB have 25.

That being said, France's best sport is usually the fencing, they're beasts at it, and it's yet to come. They're world 2nd when it comes to medals gained in fencing, only slightly behind Italy. This year though, Italy don't seem as into it as they could be, so I'm willing to put money on Gold for France!

Another interesting fact about the Olympics this year is the hearing of National Anthems, which no nationals seem to actually know! It's sweet though, they do try...

Feeling particularly French? Here, sing along with the medal winners (complete with english translation- with complimentary errors... :P)

I'll leave you with one last thing-
While having a snoop at the medal tables for France I came across this little gem. Courtesy of the Telegraph's French Olympics page:

The country's history in six words

Losing wars, losing heads, still smoking

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/countries/8662671/France-London-2012-Olympics.html

So, getting ready to go...

I've put up a little info about my life with languages up as a link (right next to "Blog") that you can have a look at and read to know a little more about my life with languages.

Hopefully I'll be updating regularly, and posting up all sorts of bits and bobs, about my time in France, and the time I take preparing. Watch this space!