Update update update! We've got an apartment! We're having to share rooms between two as it's only a two bedroom apartment, but the rent is 940 euros a month altogether, which works out as 235 each - and with CAF taken off that means we'll be paying 150 euros a month each, which includes bills :) and it's right on the river, with a big living room and a fully equipped kitchen. I haven't actually seen it yet cos the others went to see it while I was with Mum and Pete, but I trust their opinions (I think... :P) So yeah, we're going to move out on the 31st October and give this place a go. If it does end up being too cramped or whatever then it'll be really easy for one or two of us to move out or whatever, there are no agency fees or anything so we wouldn't have to pay anything to move out like we're having to do to leave this place. In some ways I'm quite looking forward to sharing a room ... it'll be like being back at school in a dorm :P I'll probably be sharing with Demelza, and Helen and Patrick will share. The only time when there might be a problem is when Geo comes to stay, but he's coming for a week in November and that's probably it for the year, so it's not worth basing our decision around that, we can work around it and it'll be fine.

Mum and Pete have just gone back to the airport - I had a lovely few days with them living the high life (!). I took them round various bits of Bordeaux, and we went to the beach yesterday (despite the cold) and had moules frites and muscadet on the seafront!! How very French. So now I've also got Dad's visit on Thursday till Sunday to look forward to as well :D And George has finally booked flights to come and see me from the 11th-18th November so I'm really excited about that - it's only three weeks tomorrow! It'll have been over two months without seeing him by then, the last time I saw him was the 5th September. So that'll be really lovely :)

That's all I wanted to say really ... until next time!

Wow ... so I haven't updated in a while ... how very remiss of me! Thing is, nothing much exciting has really happened! The biggest update is probably on the accommodation front - having decided that the residence we're living in now (that's me, Helen, Patrick and Demelza) is too far away from the centre, far too expensive and not very sociable, we gave in our month's notice to leave this morning. This means we have a month in which to find separate apartments in "colocations" - basically what the French call students/young people living together. There are numerous sites with announcements where you can try and find people to live with, and places in town you can go as well. Most people found their apartments within two weeks of being here, so hopefully a month should be enough. I'm really looking forward to living with some French people ... one of the problems with living in the same building as the other 3 is that we're not speaking as much French as we should be. It's definitely the easy way to do things, but won't do much for our French at all.

Lectures are still a nightmare!! In a lot of my lectures this week, I actually understood LESS than I did in the first week ... not quite sure how that one works! Luckily, French students are really helpful and nice and will always help you out if you need it.

Ooo also, we had an event on Weds where all the erasmus students got paired with a French partner - a "parrain" or a "marraine" if it was a girl! We all had to go to this room and we got a sticker with a number on it in red, and the person with the same number in blue was our partner. My marraine is a girl called Audrey who is doing her masters in law, she's really lovely. I met her for lunch a couple of days ago with some of her friends ... unfortunately I was really tired so my brain wasn't working and my French was awful! She even asked me at one point if I was bored and I had to explain that I wasn't, it was just hard to understand what they were all saying among themselves when I was so tired! I felt a bit bad, but I spoke loads of French to her when we first met, so I think I'm ok :P

I think that's mostly it for now. I wish I could be doing lots of exciting things every weekend to tell you about, but thanks to the bloody Student Loans Company I haven't got my loan, and won't for about another three weeks, so I have barely enough money to live, let alone do exciting things! It's Pat's birthday next weekend though, and we're all going surfing at Arcachon!! That's costing quite a bit, but it's what he wants to do for his 21st and I don't want to be left out! We're only getting him a small present so we can justify going surfing ... I won't tell you what it is just in case he reads it ;)

Anyhoo, that'll do for now ... I'm going to have a cup of tea and a biscuit and watch America's Next Top Model... how very cultured of me!