Things I do like:
1)patisseries and everything in them
2) the enormous pockets in my labcoat which can fit my steth, oxford handbook, notebook AND mini-dictionary
3) when people say "oop-la!" ooh-la-la is just so passe
4) wine at less than 3 euro a bottle (although you do kinda get what you pay for
5)the trams are pretty nifty, nice and speedy when not blocked my strikers
still don't feel like i'm generally having fun though, just doing ok, but I know it's still early days!
bizz alex
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Monday, 8 February 2010
Right, I don't want to sound negative....
But here are a list of things I do not like about France
1) F***ing Strikers with their bins, and their blocking of trams lines and making fires that make my coat stink of smoke
2)The ridiculous hours that things are open, or more often not open. NOTHING is open on a sunday in town except the odd cafe and the cinema and museums. What do people do all day?
3) Basically everything about my halls except the people, who are nice. Nothing else is nice, the showers are dingy, the toilets have no seat, the kitchen has 3 hobs and a microwave for about 30 people - it's france for gods sake, and there's not even an oven.
4) The amount of time I'm expected to be in hospital - I'm not getting paid for this, i've done my exams, I want to spend my afternoons napping while i still have the chance
5) The price of basically all cosmetics/toiletteries - 1 euro 50 for like the tiniest bottle of nail varnish remover EVER
6)the price of alcohol in bars - 13 euros for 1 vodka and coke and one beer - RIDICULOUS - we're never going to meet people if we can only afford to spend our evenings drinking in our room!
however, it's not all bad tomorrow (or there abouts) I will write more positive things.
BIZZ
1) F***ing Strikers with their bins, and their blocking of trams lines and making fires that make my coat stink of smoke
2)The ridiculous hours that things are open, or more often not open. NOTHING is open on a sunday in town except the odd cafe and the cinema and museums. What do people do all day?
3) Basically everything about my halls except the people, who are nice. Nothing else is nice, the showers are dingy, the toilets have no seat, the kitchen has 3 hobs and a microwave for about 30 people - it's france for gods sake, and there's not even an oven.
4) The amount of time I'm expected to be in hospital - I'm not getting paid for this, i've done my exams, I want to spend my afternoons napping while i still have the chance
5) The price of basically all cosmetics/toiletteries - 1 euro 50 for like the tiniest bottle of nail varnish remover EVER
6)the price of alcohol in bars - 13 euros for 1 vodka and coke and one beer - RIDICULOUS - we're never going to meet people if we can only afford to spend our evenings drinking in our room!
however, it's not all bad tomorrow (or there abouts) I will write more positive things.
BIZZ
Friday, 5 February 2010
Hospital stuff
Le week-end is here! And I am really ready for it, it's been a tiring week.
My first day in hospital began stressfully with a strike across the tramlines - the tram stopped half way there and everyone had to walk part way past a barricade of wheelie bins on fire until the line was clear again. Luckily I managed to arrive just about on time to meet my consultant who was very friendly and showed me to the gastro department for my first placement.
There are so many differences between the CHU in Nantes and hospitals in the UK. Firstly, it's really strange having to get used to wearing a white coat (or a 'blouse') every day. I feel like everyone is looking at my shoes all the time because it's the only bit of my outfit I can see. The hospital is really nice inside. Most of the patients have a single room and it's maximum two people to a room - no wards! And barely a bottle of alcohol gel in sight, quite a contrast to NHS hospitals with their WASH YOUR HANDS signs all over the place. I suppose hospital acquired infections just aren't a problem here. The hours are quite odd as well, in my 'service' they seem to start at 8am each day and can just go home whenever all the jobs are done so it can vary quite a lot - for example on Thursday I finished at 3.15 but Alex didn't get out until 6.30. But everybody here takes a 2 hour lunch break! I said to one of the other students on the ward that it felt like a long time to me and he said 'Ohhh, on my last placement we only had one hour for lunch, it was terrible!'. Surely it would be nicer to take a shorter lunch break and have an extra hour in bed in the morning, or get home early in the evening...it will take some getting used to I think!
The language side of things is feeling really difficult too. It's frustrating when people ask you questions and you know the answers in English but just can't explain things using the technical terms in French. I've felt a bit like a spare part these past few days - everyone talks to me extreeemely slowly and if I ask if there's anything I can help with the answer is always 'no, it's OK thanks', which is difficult because until I get properly stuck in my French isn't going to improve all that much. Hopefully next week things will slowly but surely get easier!
I'll update in a day or two with some more interesting things about the fun things we've been doing, maybe with some photos of us at the tourist traps of Nantes! The plan for the weekend is sightseeing. Just wanted to put this stuff on here as it will help with the report we have to write for the medical school when all this is over. Maybe it will be useful for people coming to Nantes next year as well.
Night night
xxx
My first day in hospital began stressfully with a strike across the tramlines - the tram stopped half way there and everyone had to walk part way past a barricade of wheelie bins on fire until the line was clear again. Luckily I managed to arrive just about on time to meet my consultant who was very friendly and showed me to the gastro department for my first placement.
There are so many differences between the CHU in Nantes and hospitals in the UK. Firstly, it's really strange having to get used to wearing a white coat (or a 'blouse') every day. I feel like everyone is looking at my shoes all the time because it's the only bit of my outfit I can see. The hospital is really nice inside. Most of the patients have a single room and it's maximum two people to a room - no wards! And barely a bottle of alcohol gel in sight, quite a contrast to NHS hospitals with their WASH YOUR HANDS signs all over the place. I suppose hospital acquired infections just aren't a problem here. The hours are quite odd as well, in my 'service' they seem to start at 8am each day and can just go home whenever all the jobs are done so it can vary quite a lot - for example on Thursday I finished at 3.15 but Alex didn't get out until 6.30. But everybody here takes a 2 hour lunch break! I said to one of the other students on the ward that it felt like a long time to me and he said 'Ohhh, on my last placement we only had one hour for lunch, it was terrible!'. Surely it would be nicer to take a shorter lunch break and have an extra hour in bed in the morning, or get home early in the evening...it will take some getting used to I think!
The language side of things is feeling really difficult too. It's frustrating when people ask you questions and you know the answers in English but just can't explain things using the technical terms in French. I've felt a bit like a spare part these past few days - everyone talks to me extreeemely slowly and if I ask if there's anything I can help with the answer is always 'no, it's OK thanks', which is difficult because until I get properly stuck in my French isn't going to improve all that much. Hopefully next week things will slowly but surely get easier!
I'll update in a day or two with some more interesting things about the fun things we've been doing, maybe with some photos of us at the tourist traps of Nantes! The plan for the weekend is sightseeing. Just wanted to put this stuff on here as it will help with the report we have to write for the medical school when all this is over. Maybe it will be useful for people coming to Nantes next year as well.
Night night
xxx
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
So! As Alex said, we're managing to survive so far. We have done a lot of things that I thought would be really difficult like finding our accommodation and sorting out the paperwork, buying a bus pass, buying insurance - it's good to know that our French is actually good enough to do all those things! Also, everybody we've met has been really nice to us and very helpful. I had heard that the French can be quite snippy and slow when it comes to filling out paperwork and things but that's not been my experience here at all.
The downside, then, is that the accommodation is absolutely horrendous. I expected something pretty basic for such a cheap price (maybe similar to Whitworth Park where I lived in first year) but this is ridiculous! Here are some more photos to illustrate the ambiance:
Note the metal grille at the window - I just love the way the sunlight streams through it in the mornings. And what a delightful selection of brown furry blankets. In my building there's one 'kitchen' for every three floors of people, and it contains two hobs, a microwave and a sink. So that's no oven, no toaster, no kettle, no fridge, not even a bin or any chairs. Luckily we've been able to buy some things at Ikea to make the bedroom a bit more comfortable, and Alex has a fridge in her room so we can store things there but still, it's...minimalist. The other students all seem friendly though. Tonight we got invited to a pancake day party but I think they're a bit early no?
Tomorrow is our first day in the hospital so I'm off to get an early night. Wish us luck!
Marie xxx
The downside, then, is that the accommodation is absolutely horrendous. I expected something pretty basic for such a cheap price (maybe similar to Whitworth Park where I lived in first year) but this is ridiculous! Here are some more photos to illustrate the ambiance:
Note the metal grille at the window - I just love the way the sunlight streams through it in the mornings. And what a delightful selection of brown furry blankets. In my building there's one 'kitchen' for every three floors of people, and it contains two hobs, a microwave and a sink. So that's no oven, no toaster, no kettle, no fridge, not even a bin or any chairs. Luckily we've been able to buy some things at Ikea to make the bedroom a bit more comfortable, and Alex has a fridge in her room so we can store things there but still, it's...minimalist. The other students all seem friendly though. Tonight we got invited to a pancake day party but I think they're a bit early no?
Tomorrow is our first day in the hospital so I'm off to get an early night. Wish us luck!
Marie xxx
Si loin, Si bien
Yes i know that doesn't make sense but its franglais, that's allowed.
Anyways this is the beautiful view we woke up to:
But we managed to get quite a lot sorted out, going to the international office, the medical school, buying travel tickets and insurance. And we got into our rooms, this is marie's room
these halls are pretty sick ( and I mean that in the bad way) and the kitchens are tiny and dreadful, the only halls in the UK i've seen this bad were catered halls and even then the bathrooms were nicer! Still an enormous and expensive trip to ikea had at least made my room seem a bit more habitable.
now to face the medical part of things! xx
Anyways this is the beautiful view we woke up to:
But we managed to get quite a lot sorted out, going to the international office, the medical school, buying travel tickets and insurance. And we got into our rooms, this is marie's room
these halls are pretty sick ( and I mean that in the bad way) and the kitchens are tiny and dreadful, the only halls in the UK i've seen this bad were catered halls and even then the bathrooms were nicer! Still an enormous and expensive trip to ikea had at least made my room seem a bit more habitable.
now to face the medical part of things! xx
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Nous sommes arrivées!
I arrived in Nantes this morning after a long drive down to East Midlands in the snow and a mad dash through customs, got to the gate just in time! After that Alex and I had a minor crisis trying to find a taxi (what's the different between taxis réservés and taxis commandés?!), but finally got to our hotel safe and sound and went for a little walk around town. Apparently basically nothing opens on a Sunday here, even in biggish places like Nantes, so we've spent most of the afternoon mentally preparing for tomorrow and our big outing into the French world. My language skills have completely flown out of the window but I am hoping they'll come back to the rescue soon. Wish us luck!
Marie xxx
PS. The tea and coffee making facilities here are RUBBISH. This 'Verveine' herbal tea in the hotel room smells funny, doesn't come close to Tetley's and I've forgotten to bring any teabags with me from home - will keep you updated on what Carrefour has to offer tomorrow...
I arrived in Nantes this morning after a long drive down to East Midlands in the snow and a mad dash through customs, got to the gate just in time! After that Alex and I had a minor crisis trying to find a taxi (what's the different between taxis réservés and taxis commandés?!), but finally got to our hotel safe and sound and went for a little walk around town. Apparently basically nothing opens on a Sunday here, even in biggish places like Nantes, so we've spent most of the afternoon mentally preparing for tomorrow and our big outing into the French world. My language skills have completely flown out of the window but I am hoping they'll come back to the rescue soon. Wish us luck!
Marie xxx
PS. The tea and coffee making facilities here are RUBBISH. This 'Verveine' herbal tea in the hotel room smells funny, doesn't come close to Tetley's and I've forgotten to bring any teabags with me from home - will keep you updated on what Carrefour has to offer tomorrow...
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Testing testing...
So...in just over a week we will be in Nantes! Scary stuff. Wandering the wards feeling terrified, eating too much cheese and dancing in French discos, taking lots of inspiration from this video (particularly the cool kids who appear at the start and then again at about 1:25. AMAZING)
xxx
So...in just over a week we will be in Nantes! Scary stuff. Wandering the wards feeling terrified, eating too much cheese and dancing in French discos, taking lots of inspiration from this video (particularly the cool kids who appear at the start and then again at about 1:25. AMAZING)
xxx
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