Taking time

"Steal me.
Melt my gold centre.
I enter through your dreams,
where you're weak,
and where I'm clean of inhibition.
I'm killing this body, this prison of flesh,
this heart and this head that you loved - put to rest,
but I'll see you in sleep,
when I'm perfect. "

http://anno.co.uk

Hamburg, blond people, bicycles and parks

One of the really nice things with my internship is that I get to travel a little once in a while...
And this time, I spent almost three days in Hamburg, Germany.

It was nice being out of the "busyness" of Paris for a few days.

...

In reality....

I haven't had an easy access to internet lately. And since I already spend most of my day in front of a computer for my internship, I usually feel to tired to go on internet when I get home. That is why I haven't emailed you recently, and haven't updated this blog... ;)

I hope you all are enjoying your summer. I am, though Paris is deserted in August so that makes the city seem a bit odd. But little by little friends are finding their way back to Paris.




Have you seen The Science Of Sleep, a movie directed by Michel Gondry ?

"In dreams emotions are overwhelming"

Fecamp et Etretat... or French beaches

This week-end I went with some friends to Fecamp and Etretat, two cute towns in Normandie near the sea...
It was absoutely heaven to just sit, swim and look at the sea after such an intense week at work.

Bicycle ride ou l'escapade à vélo

Last week, a friend and I decided to go biking in the coutryside for several days :)

On my way back to Paris I received a phone call from this Law firm to which I had applied previously, aking me if I were free for an interview. A few days later I had the interview, they asked questions on legal matters, on me, on what I intended to do in the future etc... And bam, they accepted me as a trainee !!!!! I am sooooo excited and nervous as I have never trained in a law firm before!!

Anyway, the good thing is, as I might try to become a lawyer next year, I think it could be a good idea that I get some experience first and be sure that it is what I want to do, and as they want me to train for three months I am sure to get a general picture of what it is to be a lawyer in an international law firm. The bad thing is I don't get any holiday this year, as I am starting next monday and finishing on the 29th of september...

But I will definitely try to see if I can get a few days off to come over to Liverpool :)

Festival Sèvres SUM

HAPPY HAPPY BDAY to Dave ! :)

Two days ago, I went to a music festival in the suburbs of Paris,. Music festivals start taking place all around Paris when summer begins.
Anyway, there were several bands that played during the evening, from rock, to jazz, to reggae etc...

Later in the evening, some people started juggling (?) with fire, and it was pretty impressive

In memory of slavery ou le jardin du Luxembourg

There is this park in the center of Paris called the Jardin du Luxembourg. People go there to jog, relax, picnic... And children love that place. One of the only "green" place in the center of Paris... Though it really has nothing like those huge parks in the center of London.
Anyway, recently France was commemorating the end of slavery. There were shows on TV, and cultural events about it. In the Jardin du Luxembourg they've installed bamboo plants, blue sand and pictures on a special cloth in the entrance of the park to remember.
I think it is supposed to make you think of the sea.

Saint Eustache and the University Choir

On Monday and Tuesday, I had exams. And I still have one left friday on a subject called "Entreprises en dificultés" about the law applied to companies going through financial problems. yey.
Anyway, a week ago, when it was still the happy and carefree days, I went to see a friend of mine sing with the Choirs of the Universities Of Paris. There was an orchestra, and the concert took place in the Church of Saint Eustache in the center of Paris. Very impressive.

Hum, my friend is... dressed in black and has a red book. Isn't she lovely ? ;)

Back to work now, companies with financial difficulties here I come!

The Wrong Guy ;)

Maybe you've already heard of him : his name is Guy Goma, he is said to be from Congo, and has been living in the Uk for 4 years. He was applying for a job in the BBC, when, mistaken for an IT expert, he ended up being interviewed live on Tv and being asked his opinion on a major computer lawsuit...

This is hilarious, specially when Guy Goma realizes there has been a mistake, but still continues to give his opinion to the journalist about the lawsuit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOPZxO-iw9Q&search=bbc%20mistake
If you want to read the full story : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2182315,00.html

By the way, here is what the real Guy Kewney, IT expert really looks like : Just wish Guy Goma got the job. :)

Examens et migraine en vue

The countdown has now started: less than two weeks left before taking all my exams... So won't be much on internet.

This year, because of all that happenned with the demonstrations and strikes, my 6 exams are set to take place over only two days in the suburbs of Paris... :( And both days will begin at 8h30. So have to go back and study...

I must admit, lately I've been wishing I could be as relaxed as this guy in front of Notre-Dame...

Pic on the top was taken along the river (Seine), near Notre Dame.

Message to the Cave(wo)men : ;) hope to see you very soon !! (you too L!! ), will email you once all this is over...

Sunday at the "Tuileries" parc

As many Parisians -and from now on, as many tourists- I spent my sunday afternoon in the parc, and along the river...
Since winter ended (fingers crossed!), it is amazing how more crowded Paris has become :)

Kids are everywhere, running, laughing and playing...
Likewise, cops are all over Paris, running, biking and even horseriding...
and some people are just relaxing... ;)

Meuhh... ? Ou contempler le temps passer

I am loosing track of time. I am either in the middle of nowhere or busy studying in Paris.

Tristesse ensoleillée

I wasn't in Paris since Sunday, unfortunately not for holiday purposes.
Anyway, it was sunny, and spring made the fields turn yellow...

"Daffodils" (1804)

I wander'd lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company:
I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
By William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

(Thanks Mrs cavewoman, you are so sweet: miss you lots!)

Randonnée dans les Cévennes ou great holidays.. :)

Just came back from the Center of France (Lozère and Cantal) where I went hiking and camping with some friends...

Most of the time, we did what we call in French "bivouac" or "camping sauvage", which means, we would put our tent in a nice spot...

and we would make a fire, and just cook, drink, talk, play cards and sing around the fire...

Watching the stars, the -full- moon... all alone in complete nature, far from everything... :)

We walked more than a 100 Km in 6 days, we saw great landscapes that were different from one another, and we experienced all kinds of weather, going from snowy days to sunny and hot days...

Walking several kilometers a day, up and down the mountains, with bags of sometimes near 20 kgs or more on our back... we needed to stretch in order not to feel any muscle pain... ;)

Needeless to say, that it was ... absolutely WONDERFUL. I am still amazed by all that we've seen, eaten (miam) and experienced... :)

Levée du jour

Juste ce bref instant du réveil, où tout est encore un peu flou...

Contemplation mélancholique.
Méditation poétique.
Et la nuit s'envole à tire d'ailes...

On Sunday, I will be going hiking and camping in this area in the Center of France called the 'Cévennes' for a week...
Am exhausted from a week of studying and therefore from lack of sleep...
But some fresh air, and complete nature is most welcome :)
Enjoy your week ! :) Catch you soon on internet !

Poisson d'avril or a party in the countryside...

Just came back from a week-end spent near Paris, where some friends organised a party.. :)
Because the party took place on the 1st of April, the theme was "fish". Of course most of us had no idea how to dress, but one of the friends organising the party is an artist - a street artist, and in a few minutes he did this:

And here he is preparing another one :

... wow :)

- and just to say 'bon rétablissement" to Macca who has been kissing too many girlzzz ;) and to Laurent who has been trying to learn how to fly and unfortunately is not Superman -even when he's drunk.

Gangs in Kensigton... or just Dave who lost his shoes?

While walking around Liverpool, I was suprise to see shoes dangling from electrical wires.
I remember asking Dave if he knew about it, and he answered :"Oh you found my shoes ? I couldn't remember where I had put them".

And I have just read an article explaining that in New York, shoes on electric wires is a way of defining the territories of American gangs.

A little like a border post... plus the odor.

Les casseurs or the problem of demonstrations...

Here are some pics of the "Place de la Sorbonne" which is the "Sorbonne square" in front of the Uni, but they have put this "wall" all around the student quarter. This walls are mainly due to the 'casseurs' unfortunately. Only students are allowed eventually to get in after showing your student ID, but we must be "escorted" by one of those guys below, and explain why we need to get in.

On the wall (have no idea how they were able to write on it, as I think -or I thought- that the police was always in front of it), it is written: Police everywhere, Justice nowhere.

Sorry for the poor quality of these pics but I was in a hurry, and i took them while I was walking.

Sortie ensoleillée ou vice cachée?

Stuck at home on a bright sun-shining beautiful Saturday because I must write an essay on a dreadful little tiny contract clause in 1996 .

…

Demonstrations and Counter Demonstrations ou plus de CRS que d'étudiants dans le Quartier Latin...

Just a short message and a pic to show what is happening in the street behind my Uni...
It's been two-three weeks now that the students' movement against the law I wrote about has taken a particularly important dimension...
After the occupation of the University of the Sorbonne last Friday, there is security and armed police all over the area.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to take pics of the (massive) demonstrations taking place in Paris everyday, and particularly today....
And now these demonstrations include demonstrations against the law which usually are in favour of the occupation of the universities AND demonstrations protesting against the occupation of the Universities (in order to have classes again, which are called "counter demonstrations").
;)

"Grèves étudiantes"... A little bit of French politics...

As every friday during this second semester, I was supposed to have two tutorials.
But then, at the end of my first tutorial, the door suddenly opened and a man urged us to get out of the University as they were evacuating the building. Once all out, the big main door was unusually shut behind us.
Out of the building, we only get the information that classes due to take place in the evening are cancelled.
Police cars are heading towards the Sorbonne university.

In France right now there is a political problem between some young people and the Government. The Parliament has enacted a law (Equal opportunities law) which allows companies to employ young people below 26 years old through a work contract (Contrat Première Embauche = CPE = First Employement Contract) which gives them the right for a period of two years to fire those young people without having to justify themselves, and without having to make contributions to social benefits. It is a law which is intented to encourage companies to hire young people.
Some French were opposed to the law because of what it contained. But things got even more out of hands, when the Prime Minister Villepin decided to suppress parliamentary debate by using the article 49-3 of the Constitution, which permits the Government to bypass the National assembly.

Here are a few links I found in English related to the controversial law :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4689498.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4781880.stm
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/feb2006/fran-f10.shtml

A la campagne... living a dangerous life...

Just spent a few days in the French countryside, eating traditional French food and just catching up with family I haven't seen since I left for Liverpool. Fortunately, we haven't been affected by the bird flu, but the authorities have just asked to keep chickens in a closed safe place.
Miam. Would my stomach be considered an official safe place ? ;)

On TV, they keep saying that if you cook the chicken before eating it, then it's safe. But who would eat raw chichen anyway ("chicken tartar")?

Anyway, here is a picture of some of my good friends there...

Sunny morning...

Ce matin, une impression étrange, encore un peu endormie ... de la lumière qui doucement éclaire la chambre à travers les rideaux orangés.
Une petite voix qui murmure, "un matin ensoleillé. J'avais oublié que cela pouvait exister".
S'étirer, lentement, dans le lit. Et pour une fois depuis longtemps, se réveiller doucement, emmitouflée dans les draps, dans le silence du petit matin, protégée du froid hivernal. Emerveillée par cette luminosité qui avait deserté la chambre depuis de nombreux jours.
Instant suspendu, un sourire, le temps qui s'étend.


I'm sorry, but I am so busy with a never ending essay. I am too tired to write in English:)
So here is the translation given by Google... ;)

"This morning, a strange impression, still asleep... The sun which gently lights the room through the orange curtains. A small voice which murmurs, "a sunny morning. I had forgotten that it could exist ". To stretch, slowly, in the bed. And for once for a long time, to awake gently, muffled up underneath the blankets, in the silence of the early morning, protected from the winter cold. Filled with wonder by the luminosity which had deserted the room for many days. Suspended moment, a smile, time which extends."

-picture taken in Liverpool, by Edge Lane, the evening before Chinese New year.

De Liverpool à Lutèce (et des pancakes pour la route)

Sunday February 5, 2006 was the day when I first tasted the pancakes of my housemate Dave a few hours before leaving to Paris (after having spent a semester in Liverpool)... Uhmmm... Which means : I spent a WHOLE semester in Liverpool sharing a house with one of the greatest and funniest couple I've ever met. Being housemates made me quickly realize that the lovely Jean knew how to cook delicious chinese food, but it also seemed to reveal that Dave was as talented as I was in cooking as we both would regularly set the fire alarm off when we would try to cook a simple dish...

But I had to discover a few hours before leaving for Paris that Dave Caveman actually knows how to make GREAT, "bloody" delicious pancakes.

Ggnnn...
Made leaving Liverpool even harder :)

Jean, Dave, Natalia, Adhara, Elena, Nathalie, Nina, Khany, Aline, Liam, Michelle... I hope to see you all very soon, and thank you so much for having been so friendly and nice... Meeting you and getting to spend some time with you made my stay in Liverpool really really nice. I will definitely try my best to come and spend a few days this semester...
I miss you, and
Merci beaucoup :) !