Soooo I've been a bit useless and not updated this in about 3 months. Truth be told though, not much that exciting has really happened! When I last updated I think I'd just got back from my week at home after exams and was just about to start the second semester. It's now nearing the end of the second semester, including this week we've got 3 weeks left of lectures and then we hit revision and exams. The most exciting thing that's happened was probs my weekend in Montpellier with my friend Hannah. She's working in a town called Nyons this year which is in the Rhone-Alpes region. I was going to go and visit her but her town is so obscure that the journey there would have taken me 13 hours, so we decided to meet somewhere in between and settled on Montpellier. Very glad we did because it is BEAUTIFUL. I had an amazing weekend, it was really nice to get out and see some more of France. I really enjoyed the train journey too actually, I got to watch France go by and we went along the south coast so I could see the sea! We stayed in a hostel which was really cheap (though I had to pay €15 extra to get my membership card), met a nice French girl and two really lovely Canadian girls whose contact details I have so I can go to Toronto/Nova Scotia when I go to Canada. Thennnn we did the general touristy sight-seeing stuff, went to the big museum and the guy there must've liked us because he gave us a free ticket each for our "next visit"... shame I probs won't be going back anytime soon! There was a really good photography exhibition too, not at the museum but in this park thing. And we just generally wandered around and saw the sights, had lots of amazing food and lots of COFFEE! Yes, this is more exciting news. Well, it's actually not very exciting butttt I think I LIKE COFFEE. This is a big step. I used to hate it and I was determined to have forced myself to like it before leaving France. The other night, I actually had a bit of a craving for a coffee! I'm very proud of myself haha. OH and there was an aquarium in Montpellier, with PENGUINS and SHARKS and everything! See photos on Facebook for more details :P

There've been a few more birthdays, notably Mel and Helen's. We went to the opera for Mel's to see the Magic Flute, it was a really modern production and we had shit visibility (tickets were only €8) but I really enjoyed it. The Grand Theatre is gorgeous inside, it was almost worth it just to see the theatre. Then we went out for dinner and stuff, €12.50 for three courses yes please. For Helen's we had an all-you-can-eat Chinese, then everyone came over for drinks and went out. Pretty standard but good times.

Oh, big news would also be that I passed all my January exams :) I wasn't expecting too, but verrrry pleased I did. It's given me way more confidence for the exams in May. I also had an interview for a law firm during my week at home in February. Completely unrelated to France, but I didn't get a vac scheme - again, wasn't expecting too and I was pretty pleased with my interview and stuff considering it was my first one ever. I've emailed for feedback but haven't heard anything back yet. I've been rejected from pretty much everywhere else haha, still waiting to hear from one firm and got a couple more to send off, so still hoping!

We've also started doing some volunteering here. We go on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5pm and help French children with their English homework. It's pretty cool, though the kids there are about 13 and there are three girls who are VERY annoying, but all the staff are lovely. We got invited to a party, which was my first experience of RACLETTE. Which is amazing. You basically have slices of cheese that you put under a grill in a little saucepan thing to melt them, and you eat the melted cheese with baked potatoes and charcuterie meat. We did eat a lot of food that night. I'm going to buy a raclette grill for when I come home so I can introduce the wonders of raclette to England.

Apart from that, there's really nothing else to report. This has been a pretty boring blog anyway, but not that much has gone on that's worthy of talking about too much! Lectures are fine, tutorials are fine, work is fine ... I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks, Charlie and Kim are coming over on Sunday for a few days, then we've got a university ball with an epic meal and stuff, then I'm home over Easter for a few days. I'm being allowed to sing on Good Friday evening even though I can't make any rehearsals. My flight gets in at about 2pm on that Friday, i have to wait to get my luggage, then drive back up to Leicester with Mum and Pete, then drive from there to Nottingham, after having got all my stuff sorted, by about 6:30 ... could be interesting, but should be fine as long as the flight isn't delayed. And then I'll probably sing Easter Sunday morning and evening too, and I think Geo and I are going to spend the afternoon with his dad, stepmum and sisters.

That's all for now je pense. I'll update soon. Actually, I probably won't until the next exciting thing happens, which might not be for a while! Ciao for now.