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Year Abroad....argh! Bye!!

Hi to people that know me!

Haven't been on TSR in a while, but in my insomnia due to fright, I decided to have on last session before I leave to go to uni in Limoges, France, tomorrow for 4 months!
I'm all packed and over the weight limit, but I've managed to get all my crap into one suitcase, (with the help of vacuum bag thingies) so I think I'm doing quite well!!
Wish me luck!

Also....help meeeeeeeeeeee! I think I've forgotten how to speak French! :frown:

Reply 1

bikerx23

Just to start you off...

Bon Vacances yes, thats probably wrong

Have fun Becca - see you soon and remember what facebook is there for! :wink:

Reply 2

Fleece

Aw - Have fun Becca!

It'll be the best 4 months of your life :wink:

Reply 3

jaybones

Take care and have fun :smile:

my friend left for china on her year abroad today and shes there for a year! Im sure youll have a fantastic time and dont worry about the french, as long as you can say "where are the toilets" then you'll be groovy!

Reply 4

Cunning Linguist

Becca

wow! Have the time of your life!!!

Lol i was was worried about the French when I went to Morocco this year. It all just comes out at the end of the day lol. (with the help of a mini dictionary when desperate héhé)

Reply 5

Jammertal

Have fun Becca! Et bon voyage! :smile:

Reply 6

Mr. Jim

woooooooooot good luck! le limousin's dead pretty. take photos for the linguists photo thread :wink:

a toute!

Reply 7

kellywood_5

Bonne chance, a bientot! I'm going to be so scared when I do my year abroad lol, but I bet everyone else feels the same and I'm sure you'll be fine. Have a great time! :biggrin:

Reply 8

Mr. Jim

i'm all eager now, but when it get's to this time 2 year in the future methinks i'll be cacking myself!

Reply 9

luke88

Grab this chance and make the most of it! Good Luck.

Share your experiences with us while you're there and when you're back. Will be interesting. :smile:

Reply 10

Gael

ooh have an amazing time, don't hold back and talk talk talk!!!

Reply 11

Piggsil

UPDATE!

Bonjour à tous!

Just thought I'd let you all know how I'm getting on, as it might be useful for the languages thread to have an actual year abroader posting.

Well, I've been here (Limoges, Limousin, France) nearly 3 weeks now, and I'm still alive! Although the other day I nearly died of BOREDOM. Ahem. Yes. I've come torealise that Limoges isn't exactly the party capital of France - read yesterday in Lonely Planet that the town is "hardly compelling"! Haha. But there are plenty of nice bars and cafés and stuff to while away the hours. The uni campus where I'm living is quite far out of town - a 15 minute bus ride, and although the busses are pretty regular, they stop at about 8.30pm, so if you want to stay out later a taxi is required which is proving a little costly!
Been attending lectures, some of which have been really interesting, for example History of Art and British History (hehe, it's cool to have a French slant on it). However, I wouldn't recommend Digital Communications to anybody!

I think my French has definitely improved, although I've mostly been hanging around with German Erasmus students, but we speak French together, which although not ideal, is better than speaking English all the time. It's made me want to pick up German again, in fact!

So far, my year abroad hasn't been the "best experience of my life" as many people have said, but there's still plenty of time for it to develop into that, and I'm remaining positive, and fighting through the reqular bouts of home/Durham-sickness I've been experiencing.
Hopefully by the end of my four months here my French will have improved sufficiently to stop people in bars and shops 'helping' me by speaking English to me.... :mad:

Seriously, when you're trying so hard to speak a foreign language and someone spekas back at you in English it's probably the most frustrating thing in the world!
Other things which are annoying me are: French keyboards, the fact everything closes at lunchtime, and the crappy internet access at this uni. An American guy I met told me that he had better internet facilities in Ecuador, which is a DEVELOPING country for god's sake....ah well!

I'm off to eat some bread and cheese now...hope life is treating all you linguists well and that you're all looking forward to the new academic year. Will come back soon to divulge more of my 'adventures'!

Gros bisous xxxxxx

Reply 12

Gael

chin up becca, everythings going to turn out just amazing for you! Bonne chance!

Reply 13

Piggsil

wesetters

It's the sunday closing that gets to me- I had nothing but 2 bowls of cereal to eat :frown:

Hope you enjoy the rest of your year :smile:

Ah yes, forgot to add that les dimanches sont completement morts...... :mad:

But thanks. :smile:

Are you on your YA then? Whereabouts?

Reply 14

Mr. Jim

i think i might tell people in shops if they ask if i'm english that i'm something obscure like...lithuanian, then they'll shut up and let me speak french :p:

Reply 15

leannemarie

I don't know where the hell I was when you started this thread but hey, good luck etc., even if it is a tad late.

I spent 5 weeks travelling around random places in Europe and when I was in Nice especially I started talking in French and the receptionist of the hotel we were staying in just replied in English and it was really disheartening. All I said was " c'est combien? " but no, my boyfriend was talking to me in English so she just decided not to bother speaking French.

French keyboards annoyed me a lot as well, especially as I could never find any punctuation. Lunchtimes are also annoying and the way that things are open on a sunday but shut on mondays was also a little random.

Hope it all goes well :smile:

Reply 16

Jammertal

Speaking in your mother tongue abroad? *nods* My French flatmate wants to imrove his German and I have no choice. :bawling:

Hope you're all keeping well, haven't been around here lately since I'm living in a hostel without internet access. :frown:

Reply 17

EPD

Becca

Hopefully by the end of my four months here my French will have improved sufficiently to stop people in bars and shops 'helping' me by speaking English to me.... :mad:

Seriously, when you're trying so hard to speak a foreign language and someone spekas back at you in English it's probably the most frustrating thing in the world!

Yes! I've had conversations where I've spoken in french and they've replied in english. I'm here to learn french and that's what I'll bloody well do, dammit :mad:

Other things which are annoying me are: French keyboards, the fact everything closes at lunchtime

Yes and yes. And yes to the sunday closing thing too. The biggest supermarket in the second biggest city in France doesn't even open on bloody sundays :mad:

Luckily the petrol station down the road does, else I'd be screwed.

Reply 18

Piggsil

Hey everyone. I'm still here, and I'm still bored.

Just had a lovely week with my boyfriend, but he left yesterday to go back to Durham and I miss him. :frown:

Also I'm jealous of him because I really miss Durham and want to go back! Only a month until I visit though.
Haven't spoken enough French yet, but I'm thinking of taking piano lessons which could be useful for my French and I've been saying I wanted to start playing again, so hopefully the person will get back to me after I left a lovely message this morning.

Weird thing happened this morning, was sleeping and my room was opened, the light was switched on and whoever it was just left again!! They were doing it to all the rooms on the floor, dunno what that was all about.
Anyway, I really need to go to the supermarket, but hahahaha it's closed, because it's lunchtime. :hmpf:

Still, at least I can get on the wireless network now, and surprisingly, they don't shut the library at lunchtime! (Although it does close at 7.30pm and at weekends....... :mad: