Versailles

Today Tatiana and I went to Versailles castle, also known as the French Hogwarts.

At first we left really early to get in, but all the other tourists had the same idea, so we figured it would be better to get lunch first.  Then we went off to some random French restaurant and had crepes.

Main: tomato, eggs and ham crepe	Desert: strawberry crepe

So after we were fed we went back to the palace and waited in line for 2 hours (not including the waiting we did in the ticket line) and finally made it through the gates.

The Rococo period had a lot of gold... everywhere!

King Louis riding Gabu-chama a unicorn

Magic hallway.  The statues move at night when no one is watching

The only good jump shot

Le Chateau~

Le Jardin~

Poseidon's pond where the sea monsters live

A cool shot of the giants of Versailles

Strawberry milkshake and cheese cake <3

After about 12 hours of being out, Tatiana said that it looked like I'd lost the will to live

Yes, Europe is very deceiving.  This shot was taken at about 9 o'clock... PM

Made it home at before sun down... which was about 10pm

While we in the Versailles garden we saw an awesome shop, which must have been the Diagon Alley of France.  I swear it was, they even had books called (in french):  Science and Magic, Love and... something dirty, Good manners,Good words and killer phrases, Devils and Vampires and a bunch of other weird stuff including Marie Antoinette's herbology stuff.  See, pretty magical right?  Tatiana even bought her own quill and parchment  

writing a very important letter... to Pop

I also have a whole bunch of videos, but i'm too tired to edit them now.  I'll try to do it on the train tomorrow if we have a power source/ internet.  à biento!

OMAKE: The court of Versailles

Japan ==> France

Short update today, because i'm super tired

So yesterday I spent the night at my home stay family's place before going to the airport again where I meet Yoshi who was awesome enough to come and see me off.

After about 11 hours I finally arrived in France where I meet Tatiana.  For the next 2 days we're staying at her friend's house and then we're going to Italy.

I'm not sure if it's the jet lag, but i'm suffering from some crazy ass culture/ language shock!  I think using English, Japanese and now French in the last few days has caused my brain to die.  Hopefully I'll remember my French tomorrow...

Stupid sun! Why are you out at 9pm?!

A day in Tokyo

Train ticket

Getting off the train (JR Express from Narita) at Ikebukuro, made me fell like I'd just woken up from a dream.  Did I fall asleep on the way back from school?  Was I actually a 2nd year at university or was I still at high school student at Seiritsu?  In fact, was I dreaming then at that moment?

I touched the metal handle of one of the plastic benches down in the Fukutoshin-sen subway.  It felt real, but I  still wasn't convinced.

The Fukutoshin-sen is always empty

Yet somehow time must have changed.  I was taller, more confident and the world seemed much clearer than before.  This must be one of those crazy experiences where you realize that you've actually made your dream come true.

I really love this place.

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Guess who?

So wait?  How does this relate to Rome (looks up at blog header)?  Did I finally run away from home to live in Japan?
Ok, so here's the deal.  Fist of all my travel agent knows how much I love Japan and it was cheaper to get a get a stop off on my way to Europe.  So we decided to combine the both, simple right?

So I'll start the day off with a piece of Fine Art, which has since become a tradition; drawing myself on the day of my flight.  I must be getting better at this, because this is the first time I managed to go through Sydney customs with no trouble, I mean look I'm still wearing my shoes! :O

Then I got on the plane, slept, watched TV, ate airplane food and arrived in Tokyo 9 hours later to be greeted by the hot, humid weather.  Then I took the train to see my homestay family and had dinner with them.  I would have liked to see some of my other Japanese friends, but I figured that there wasn't enough time.  Don't worry i'll come back one day and we'll be able to meet again =)

Also it was weird using Japanese again after so long, because half the time I kept translating things in either English or French, which is pretty useless for this particular situation, but I got the hang of it eventually.

Then after that I took a short walk through Ikebukuro, which is the city where I lived.  It was really amazing being there again, and while it was short I'm really grateful that I was able to visit it again one more time.

P.S I might take a while for me to post again depending on my Wi-Fi situation, but until then here is a video that I made.

OMAKE: The real Beatles, Jan 2012

Last week part 1

This last week has been really tough, but totally amazing at the same time.  Despite being sick (caught a cold), I had to make sure that I managed to socialize with everyone, while keeping up with my studies, which pretty much meant that I got no sleep.
Last year at Newcastle Uni, I remember receiving a chart which said that you could only have 2 out of 3 options.  Now I finally realize that it's true!!

On Monday some of us (Hyeyun, Rita, Yoshi, Emmanuel, Appo and Adair) went to Marco's place to make tortillas, but he wasn't there (apparently he was playing video games *shakes fist*), so the angry mob of hungry people went down stairs to Hyeyun's place, where we made mashed potatoes and pasta, but then suddenly the tortilla master came back and we managed to make tortillas yay!!  Mmmmm... so good


Then on Tuesday after class we went to the sports tournament.  In Project Management everyone was split up into groups 1-8 and each group had to do a project, so group 1 did a sports tournament.  So far, I think they are the only group that actually managed to make their project happen.

The Sports tournament was divided into teams depending on which French class we were in (not all the exchange students do project management).  I played badminton with Alan, but we lot in the first round =p so we compensated for our loss by cheering for our team mates Vegard and Yun-Tzu who came 3rd.

Then each of us got 10 chances to shoot hoops at basket ball.  As usual, I managed to score heaps of hoops during the practice session but only 1 during the real time, oh man.

The funny thing is, last week when  I was playing soccer with some of my friends, I kept missing the goal and ended up kicking the soccer ball into the basketball hoop XD, that's just crazy!!

The last sport that we did was rock climbing.  The time limit was 10 minutes and they calculated how fast we could climb the wall.

I climbed the climbing wall last week and felt really scared and insecure, but then Aaron said that he wanted to jump up the wall, and I had a thought.  "Jump up the wall?  Now that I think about it, we're compleately  safe.  Even if I did fall, i'm on a wire and nothing's going to happen to me."

Because of that, my mentality changed and I wasn't scared anymore.  So when it was my turn, I climbed and climbed, then when I looked down I saw that I was the first one in my set to reach the top.  I couldn't believe it.  Everyone I've talked to said that they were really surprised to see me move so fast as though I was running up the wall, I wish I could have see myself that day.  I'll ask someone if they have a photo later.

In the end my class (group 3) came 3rd place and I came about 5th(?) place in rock climbing.

My class

After that, Joanne, Gillian, King, Rita, Jimmy, Steven, Priscilla, Aaron, Emmanuel, Yoshi and I went over to Terry and Phoebe's apartment, where Yoshi made Japanese Curry Rice and Sushi.  It was awesome, however I wasn't quick enough.  I turned away for 1 second and suddenly all the sashimi was gone!!!


To be continued in part 2...

Paris part 2 and other updates

Finally another blog update!!  More and more amazing things keep happening, and I just haven't had the energy to write about then between all the project management and intensive French classes. o(>.<)o

The worst part is that its hard to remember all the awesome things I did, but I'll try my hardest to write them down stating with Paris part 2.


OK, after leaving the hotel we went to the Charles Garnier Opera, which is basically the same opera house that the Phantom of the Opera lives in.  It is insanely beautiful! I think it was one of my favorite places in Paris.  My creative juices were flowing just by being there.  The whole time I was thinking "I've got to write/ draw a story".

Afterwards we were set lose in Champs-Elysees.  Aaron, Drew and I (all from Australia) found a restaurant in one of the back alleys that wasn't as ridiculously expensive like the rest of Champs-Elysees.  When I told them about how you could rent a Lamborghini for 89 euros for 20 minutes, they got really excited and wanted to do it (me too actually), but we spent too much time in the restaurant and ended up running out of time.

Rent a Lambo for 20 mins at 89 euros

The closest we could get to fancy cars was to visit the Maserati show room for about 10 minutes before having to run off with the group to the next location.

Because the Eiffel Tower is so busy, they said that they would give away our reservation if we didn't get there in time so we took off to the Eiffel Tower straight away.  The top floor was closed the last time that I went, so this time I made sure to make it to the top.  

Hyeyun and I on top of the Eiffel Tower

After that we went back to the hotel, packed our bags and went back to Troyes.  It was an amazing excursion, however we were so tired after that!!  Completely dead the next day during class, but still it was awesome.

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This intensive winter course is crazy!  They really intended for us to here.  We start class everyday at 8am for Project Management, which I think is really hard, then we have French from 10am -12pm and 1:30 - 3:30pm.  My French class is actually really interesting and fun, but 4 hours a day is also a killer.  I never used to drink coffee in Australia, but suddenly I'm drinking it everyday here.  The good news is that it tastes good :).  

Then after class we have to scavenge around for food like animals in the wild... Ok, it's probably not that bad, basically all we need to do is go shopping and make food, but then again I've never lived alone without someone to cook for me, so this is a new experience.  

Also the accommodation that I live in; ADPS, is a temporary accommodation.  People are only supposed to stay there until they get their proper housing, but since some of us are only staying for a month, we're stuck here.  Everything is really basic and there's nothing to cook with, but in a way that's good, because some days I meet up with some my friends and we cook and eat together, which is awesome!!!

We also started a new ritual here called "Coffee Time".  It started when I bought a cheap 9 euro kettle from the super market and suddenly it turned into a fountain of life, where weary travelers come to replenish their strength.  Basically a few of us from ADPS meet up in the kitchen at 10pm to drink coffee or tea and hang out.  It's not really the ideal time to drink coffee, but it's great being able to spend time with like minded people.

Anyway, I should go and get ready for bed now.  Hopefully I'll be able to find some more time to post updates.

Paris again - part 1

On the weekend me and the some of the other exchange students went to Paris.  It was amazing and I saw more things compared to the first time, since we stayed there over night.

First we took the bus at 6.00 am from Troyes to Paris and put all off our stuff in the hotel.  The hotel was small, and the food wasn't that great, but it served it's purpose, since we were only there to sleep.

Juhwan and Yoshi sleeping on the bus

Then we walked to Notre-Dame, but it was closed so we couldn't go inside.  Good thing that I was able to go with Tatiana last time other wise I wouldn't know what it looked like inside.  Then we went over to Sainte Chapelle, which is an amazing medieval chapel made in 1242- 1248, that housed relics of the Passion of Christ.  The stain glass windows were so beautiful (★o★)

Sainte Chapelle

Then we got some free time to go and find lunch.  Some of the other students and I managed to find a cheap restaurant where we got an entrée, main course and desert for 10 euros, which is an awesome deal, since we were in PARIS, home of everything expensive.

Muscles cooked in white wine

Shawn, Phoebe and Rita

I was wondering why most of the meals had
fries, then I remembered.  French Fries...

After lunch we went off to the Louvre (musée du Louvre in French).  The Louvre use to be the old palace, which explains why it's so insanely beautiful and massive.  Apparently if you looked at each art work for 2 seconds at a time it would take you a week to finish the whole gallery.  I kind of got lost inside, so I didn't see as much as I could at the time, but it was still good.  It's so weird seeing so many amazing artworks all in the same room.

Fine Art student finally made it to the Louvre.  My
teachers would be so proud.

Joanne, Hyeyun and me

Me, Steven and Priscilla

Apparently the Mona Lisa is the most
re-produced artwork in the world....
  Oh well, here's another re-production lol

The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault

The Baroque of Dante by Eugène Delacroix

After that we walked to Sacré-Coeur Basilica, which was another beautiful church, however that didn't allow us to take pictures inside.

Then we went back to the hotel and had dinner.  Then some of us went to one of the rooms and had a party.  It's crazy how we always manage to fit so many people in one tiny room.  After 11 we then went to a club and partied there, so we wouldn't disturb the other people in the hotel.  It was an amazing, but tiring night.  It's good think that I'm powered on adrenalin other wise I would be dead by now.

To be continued...

Thursday 31st, January 2013

All of these intensive classes are exhausting!!  But for the first time in my life, I'm actually grateful that I took Design and Technology in high school.  The structure is really similar to Project Management, since we have to produce a project too.

As for French class, I actually think I'm getting better.  It's a miracle!! All the French that I forgot in the summer holidays must be coming back or something. Yay!!!

After that we went to the computer room.  We're supposed to do independent studies after school from now on to help our French as well.  But as an introduction we watched a video on French stereotypes.

Lol, this is so ironic looking at my front page banner.