Summer is over...

And the speed with which is has gone amazes me just a little bit. When I worked out that I had been back in the United Kingdom for five whole months before I went back to France for a holiday, I had to stop and work out where the time had gone.

Life after a year abroad

To anyone kind enough to drop in after my long absence, hello.

When sometimes negative can be positive

Change comes to us all, in whatever format you might imagine. Change can be bitter, it can be worthwhile, it can be terrifying, and sometimes it can be just about the best thing you ever did.

Perhaps where you live might change, who you’re dating, what job you’re doing, or with whom you are friends. We can choose to accept it or fight desperately, although the latter seems rather futile to me.

Try not to roll your eyes; I am perfectly aware that I am only twenty-one and have plenty more to do in my life, but here is my take on things:

Normandy vs WGHS

Approaching the end of my working and my stay in France, it has occurred to me that I have spent more than a couple of conversations with members of staff trying to explain why this school is so different from the school I went to.

Surprising yourself

I admit, I am absolutely brilliant when it comes to finding reasons not to do what I don't want to do. I am equally good at forcing myself into things I know I should do, but also don't want to do. Imagine, therefore, the constant battle which occurs in my head.

How is this still happening?

After four days of travelling on my own in Switzerland and the southern half of France, I returned to Paris on Thursday night, safely back in the north that I recognise, with plans to visit a castle - my first French château - in nearby Pierrefonds, in Picardy.

It was onboard the train to take me to Compiègne, from where I was to take the bus to the castle used in that popular BBC show Merlin as Camelot, that the subject of this post really came through. I had been mulling over thoughts until it all came together.

What Is the Point of A Year Abroad?

There is lots of discussion about years spent abroad during your degree; lots of thought about great work experience, improvement of your foreign language skills and an amazing CV on your return home. All of this is true - although you may not be taking a year out in a country which speaks another language - but I cannot help feeling that these people are missing some other, equally valuable, points which are worth considering in conjunction with your employability.

Looking Back

Many people are prone to doing this. Many others, equally, dismiss it as a waste of time - why would you look back on your past, when there is so much ahead of you with which to occupy your time?

Overcoming Embarrassment

Whilst there are many uber-confident beings in the world of languages, I, like many others I'm sure, have struggled with a deep sense of embarrassment when it comes to actually using my language skills.

'Tis the season!

And thus I will be spreading the happiness this time around! Do not expect the same soon, I have some serious real world issues floating around my head that I wish to discuss.

It's all fun and laughter until your heating and hot water vanish. Again.

With my missing iPod, regular lack of heat and hot water, and nigh-on two-week flu-type illness my mother is convinced I find everything simply awful here. Whilst I admit sleeping in hoodies and dressing gowns is not joyful, my mother's beliefs are not true. I just call her when I'm grumpy. So without further ado or further complaint, I move on to the marvellous aspects of my time here France...

What has happened to me?

This is a good question in multiple ways.

The first is because it has been so long since I updated this. Upon opening my blog control settings, or Blogger Dashboard, I saw that the last date was the 22nd of November and audibly said (yes, sitting in the flat alone) "Wow, has it been that long already?". I knew it had been a while...

Now I'm feeling a little calmer...

In my previous post I mentioned I would talk politics soon, but as that topic is still festering away in my mind I plan on saving that for a different time.

Instead, let me present to you some of the major challenges I have found myself encountering thus far. On the whole, the year abroad is great, absolutely. But, "C'est une expérience," I hear myself repeating to people here as I recount my woes. Are you sitting comfortably..? You won't be shortly.

Appreciation and anticipation

Either because you enjoy these posts, or because you haven't seen my constant plugging on various social media sites, you may have noted my absence of late. Two and a half weeks, in fact. I do apologise.

Picking up almost directly where I left off.

I did walk those three kilometres to school. I wish I'd taken the bus, or at least stuck to the route I'd got used to taking.

Where to begin...

Well it's been a busy few days, that I cannot deny. Yesterday was the first day I haven't gone outside, and instead I filled it with paperwork that is so typical of France, I just can't explain it. If any other assistants here are reading this, I'm sure you feel my pain.

Plagiarism.

I'm all for sharing somebody's work with all due recognition - up to a point when it's their livelihood - if you appreciate it and want others to see it, as long as you do not make a profit from it in any way. Please let me know if I have somewhere not done this, as I would deeply apologise and put it right.

However, as any student knows, plagiarism is bad.

I have only been on the receiving end of it once, and only in a slight way.

On one occasion, I happened upon a year abroad-related post which had been shared on Facebook by my own university's Modern Languages department. I had a spare minute and went to read it. Only, I thought, this introductory sentence is familiar... I think I've written this.

So I had a quick glance through my own work, published on this very site, and found two separate posts in which parts of two sentences had been spliced together to create one new long one on this other blog.

Firstly, see here: Saturday 31st December 2011: New Year's Resolutions "It’s been a long while since I found the time, energy or inspiration to write on this website,"

Next see here: Friday 11th May 2012: People and feelings and (a lack of) knowledge "I don't have many good excuses, it's just mainly been work, and reading, and family, and friends."

Finally, see here: 9th July 2012: Reflections on a year abroad... "First off, It’s been a long while since I’ve found the time, energy or inspiration to write on this blog. I don’t have many good excuses, it’s just mainly been work, and reading, and family, and friends."
Granted, the addition of "First off," is new. However, the next bits look like a direct copy-and-paste job with the author not even bothering to change the capitalisation of "It's". My "website" now reads "blog". I am not sure that it did the first time I saw this. The commas are all in the same place. Of course, this is only a small piece of plagiarism, and I know that once you put anything on the internet that is your own work, you run the risk of this happening, but I still don't have to like it.

I left a comment when I first saw this with something to the effect of "I noticed you liked my words enough to copy them, please don't do it again", and subsequently subscribed to the comments page to see if the author would reply. She never did. I forgot about it until tonight, when I searched for that successful subscription email in my inbox, followed the link and found my comment had mysteriously vanished.

As I say, this is very minor for me and I'll live, but it may not be for other, ripped-off authors, and it doesn't stop it from being a niggle. I write because I like to explore ideas with the power of my own words. You should write because you, as I, like your own words. Otherwise, why are you bothering?

Alright, what am I doing?

This is a massive question. And I'm not even talking in a philosophical, what-am-I-doing-with-my-life sense.

I am down to a single digit number of sleeps (eight) until I leave for France and although I have sent forms to a few places for other people to sort out for me I have yet to do almost anything productive towards properly preparing to move to a foreign country.

Wait, I lie. Today I bought a few necessary toiletries and cosmetics in the supermarket.

In which I go a bit peculiar, perhaps.

Everybody needs somebody, I believe I am sure of this.

I don't necessarily mean in a romantic sense, although perhaps it might be for some, but oftentimes for talking, unloading burdens, debating and discussing ideas, company, friendship... I could go on.

The greats rarely go it, or end up, alone. Holmes and Watson, Bonnie and Clyde, Shiver and Shake, the Doctor and Sarah-Jane, Rose, Romana, Amy, Donna... What is it that makes us such social creatures - even when we need some alone time, the majority of us will turn back to somebody in the end. For some of us it takes rather a while, I admit.

As with anything on this blog, I come from my own perspective. It's been a peculiar time as you may know. Earlier posts have pointed out some nostalgia which ebbs and flows; I have just realised more than ever that there is so much going on in a brain at any one time that no one can appreciate unless you take the time to look. That lack of understanding can be crucial. And that's what our social connections so often do. It's hard work but there's nothing better than finding a reliable and trustworthy outlet for things in your head, and there's no greater honour than being the one trusted, for thoughts, feelings and emotions are the most valuable, powerful things you can possess. It's even something more in my opinion to be one who offers to listen to someone else, to take that interest.

I should have studied Psychology.

In which I am rather patriotic about the Olympics.

We're a somewhat self-deprecating nation and London 2012 is over.

Now there's a statement.