Fluctuat Nec Mergitur

I have been dead silent. My blog is becoming this fast-growing abandoned woodland of words.

This year, my commitments are beyond belief:

• I work full-time in a secondary & high school.
• I am now the proud holder of a student card from Université Sorbonne Paris Cité. Truly, I attend Paris 7 for my master MEEF1.
• I had to find a part-time job from home to make both ends meet and was lucky enough to join the amazing Twinkl team. I create French content for them.

But, this weekend, an unspeakable violence has unleashed itself on my beautiful city. People who believe they hold the truth, decided to kill innocent people who were just enjoying themselves.

I am lucky. Very lucky. I was supposed to be in that part of town to attend a Nanowrimo event. Tiredness got the hold of me and I didn’t go. My friends were over there though. I stayed calm. They survived. I was blessed not to lose any of my friends. Thanks the gods and the goddesses for this.

Nonetheless, criminals have hurt and killed people who didn’t deserve to die because they enjoyed life.

I can’t stay silent. I wish their souls will find the rest they deserve. The pain and the anguish have gained my body. My mind refuses to surrender to fear though.

Fluctuat nec mergitur…

Faded August

August went ever so quickly! It was a great month where I got to rejuvenate myself a little bit.

First Week
Off I went back to England to empty my storage unit. It was the last piece of myself that was left stranded. I didn’t mind so much as it was a part of myself still present in magical Glastonbury. I took my best friend to accompany me. So, it all ended up being an initiation road trip. It was awesome to catch up with my Glasto friends. It made me realise how much I miss the place and the people. Equally, it was a strong confirmation that I had made the right move. Paris suits me to a tee.
On the menu, there were visiting the Chalice Wells gardens, the shops in Glastonbury High street, the George & Pilgrim and the storage unit.
I enjoyed making discover one of my favourite places to my best friend.
Our journey ended in Plymouth where we shared one of the best curries I ever had.

Second Week
Back from the English trip, I stayed at my dad’s fabulous house in Brittany. I had decided to work on my novel, which I didn’t really do albeit one chapter (but does that really count? I wonder…). The truth was… I was missing the Man (yes, there is a man in my life nowadays :). I asked the Man to come to Brittany. We ‘survived’ our time together. Well, you all know that holidays can be a crucial time to find out where your relationship is going. We had a great time. I showed him my hometown, its beautiful market. It was nice to take the time to cook and eat. During the year, my work as a full-time teacher doesn’t allow me to sit down and relax for lunch.

Third Week
I had decided to avoid the holiday blues, so I came back to Paris a week earlier to enjoy the City as I don’t take the time to do it. It is well too easy to get into a routine. It was nice to enjoy Paris without the tourists.

Then, the holidays were over…. Oh no!! Three weeks, it was not long enough because it went so fast but it was great nonetheless.
I have gone back to work but it was an easy ordeal as I ended up teaching wonderful children and got back into it rather nicely.

Hop, hop… Hopper

During La Toussaint’s holidays, my best friend, my friend Mike and I went back to home to pick up my things which were stored in my dad’s garage.

We had an interesting conversation in the van:

Best Friend: Mike, have you seen the “Aupère” exhibition?

Mike: No, I haven’t heard of this artist.

Mike: There is this amazing exhibition at the minute on Hopper.

Best Friend: Hopper? Never heard.

Mike is English and Best Friend is French, you will have understood that they were talking exactly about the same artist! 🙂 It comes to show that correcting warped pronunciation is a must!

Anyhow, after this little introduction, I would like to share that I went to visit this exhibition with my friend Fab (yes, it stands for fabulous, should you know it). Fab treated me to some crêpes before we went to le Grand Palais where the exhibition takes place. Fab had the great idea of booking the tickets online. I let her do that, so I would be guaranteed that she had to leave work. I also put pressure on her, so she should arrive 10 minutes late instead of 30 minutes. Yes, I can scheme very well to get my friends to relax.

On the Champs-Elysées, Fab gets the GPS out and confessed that she was actually no orienteering expert. Hopefully, I navigated us and we found the venue without any difficulty. A big queue awaited us. Nonetheless, everything was well organised and we got in quickly. The exhibition was absolutely brilliant. I didn’t know much about Hopper before going and somewhat I like it like that. I don’t want to be overburdened by critics’ analysis and any other intellectual. Then, it is just me and the art. A pure experience. There was a crowd. It was packed. My pace is relatively fast when I visit an exhibition. I want to avoid image saturation.

Opinion: brilliant exhibition, great lighting. It is well worth visiting if you want to see Hopper well displayed.

Home Sweet Home

When I moved back to France, one of my main goals was to have my own place once again. In Brighton, my last flatmate was fantastic. The perfect flatmate in fact. Nonetheless, it doesn’t beat having your own place no matter how small this place can be.

After a hellish flatsharing, the Gods of accommodation once again smiled at me and I was able to secure this gorgeous little studio located in an Art Déco square. I fell in love with the place even if the place isn’t the best value for my money. It met my requirements: wooden floor, a separate kitchen, within short distance from my work place.

At the minute, my interior is very ‘zen’ (here another word for empty really). Today I bought a proper sofa bed, which means that I will soon be able to receive people.

More pictures will come soon! 🙂 It is nice to have a place called home.

Parisian Life

Two weeks ago, I went to Paris for a job interview and never quite came back…

I took the train and stayed at my lovely friend Diana’s flat in Paris. I had a job interview and thought it might be the first interview of many to come. I was right but not quite as I expected. If anything, it was just great to catch up with Diana. I hadn’t seen her since she left England. She really supported me a lot and somewhat it helped.

I went for my first job interview. It was a group interview at République. I arrived in advance just to be on the safe side. From that point, it all spiraled out of control in a positive way. I got a phone call and was asked to come for another interview the next day.
It cascaded into 4 interviews with the recruiter, the HR manager, the Operations manager and the MD. Pff! The MD broke the news: I was hired and due to start the next day!!

I caught up with a friend who needed a flatmate. I like when everything comes together.