The Only Way Is Up

The last 3 weeks seem to have flown by, but at the same time have gone really slowly. I would make an excuse that I've been to busy to blog, but that's not true. I just haven't been bothered. Whenever I open a new document to try to write down some experiences nothing comes out, and when I do have stuff to talk about I just never get round to writing it up.

I know my last few posts have been quite pessimistic, and I'm not going to say that everything's plain sailing and I'm not homesick, because that just wouldn't be true. However, I will bring you up to speed on a few more positive experiences.

It sounds cheesy, but everything really is better when you make friends. Admittedly I haven't spoken to many French people yet, but the Erasmus people I've met are lovely and since becoming part of that group I haven't had down days like I did before I met anyone. I bumped into most people while touring the offices in the last few weeks because we ended up queuing together for so long, but last Saturday we had a 'journée d'integration' which was a great way to meet new people. Honestly, I didn't have high hopes - you don't expect much from "fun activities", but cheesy as it was I really enjoyed it. We separated into groups and had challenges like an egg and spoon race and apple bobbing, and then went around the city trying to sell pink loo roll to little old French ladies, or swapping a paperclip for something 'interesting' - we got a peach, a lighter and a bottle top, who knew? In the groups we also had to take 'funny' pictures at certain places around town - the highlight for me was when we recreated a wedding on the cathedral steps, using the toilet paper as decorations.

All in all it was a very good day, and on the Sunday a large group of us went out together again, this time to the Puy-de-Dome, a dormant volcano that overlooks Clermont. (Expect a separate post about that soon). Things have definitely improved since I last wrote, and I hope they will continue to. I'm not the most sociable person at the best of times and doing a year abroad really throws you in at the deep end, but we're all in a similar situation and have to stick together. I've found a group of good friends who I've been out with a few times in the last week and I hope we continue to have adventures together.