Helen

I've just realised that I only have another 4 weekends left before I return home for the holidays, I didn't think that it would go this quickly! In that time period however I have three pieces of written work and 4 tests to revise for. I then have nearly two months of holiday in which everything that I've learnt so far.

Work wise everything is going fairly well, I'm actually enjoying my translation classes. I'm feeling that my confidence in my spoken French has improved. This is in part due to the fact that I have a Tandem partner (like the Study Buddy programme at RHUL) who is Swiss French who I meet once a week to either talk to in English or in French (we alternate weeks). I'm learning quite a lot of colloquial French and vocab. specific to Swiss French which may or may not come in handy in the future.

Outside of Uni I've been enjoying myself a lot, I'm only a 15 min walk away from the city centre which has every kind of shop that you could ever need (I'm going to miss it when I return next year). Last weekend I went to Bern which was brilliant although confusing as it is in the Swiss German region of Switzerland and neither myself or the person who I went with could understand anything that was being said around us. It has been fairly cold here over the past week (average of -4 to -6 daily temp. and colder in Bern) but it doesn't snow much here by the lake. Higher up in the mountains there has been a lot of snow (will have to go and check it out at some point in the next few weeks.)

I'm excited about returning home, just in time for Christmas, but am going to miss my view of the lake and the mountains for the two months that I will be gone.

I don't know what to do any more, my luck has seemed to have disappeared completely.

I email RHUL to tell them of the problems I'm having in communicating with UNIL, they tell me to contact the Erasmus advisor which I do. She then tells me to take classes in the School of French as a Foreign Language despite me informing them that only some of their classes will count towards my degree in England.

They tell me that they are sure that the advanced language classes will be alright with RHUL but I know that they won't be but I've signed up to them anyway. The classes that will count will not give me enough credits to pass this year.

I've already missed a week of classes because of this, I managed to get to one yesterday but missed a 3 hour one this morning because I went to the wrong room. This subject will take up most of the week but will not count towards the year abroad. There seems to be no one to talk to about this, I cannot get my point across adequately in French. The main secretary in the office thinks that I'm an idiot who cannot speak French as the last 2 times that I've been to see her I've been v. stressed out and all my French has deserted me forcing me to try and communicate in a mixture of French and English.

I'm running out of ideas as to what to do. I hate the university (but love the town), I need to yell/ scream/ vent at someone (in English preferably) but I'm not close enough friends with anyone yet who I can do this with. I'm sure that contacting RHUL again will yield the same results as before. I'm feeling stupid and a complete idiot because no one else seems to be having this problem, the only other person I can find who is taking this as part of a complulsory French yr aboard can can have these classes count towards part of her degree.

Sorry for all this, I just really needed to vent and this is the only means by which I can do this at the moment.

I think I need some advice from people, I'm having some problems and wondering it would be wise to talk to RHUL about them because I'm not getting very far here on my own.

The city in general is very nice, my accommodation is fantastic and I can find my way around fairly easily.  I went to a welcome day at the university today for exchange students and met lots of people from many different countries, communicating in a mixture of French and English.   I've also managed to get a bank account and my 'carte de sejour'  which has improved my confidence in my French abilities immensely.

It's the university who I'm having my main problems with.  I can't do the courses that I put down on my ECT's form, apparently they are for francophones only but I can't find anyone who can help me with what I should be doing instead.  They keep telling me to take courses in either the English department or the French as a foreign language one, I cannot do either of these as my main subjects for this year as I have to be taking subjects that are studied by regular French/ Swiss students.

I cannot seem to get this through to them however hard I try.  I don't know why they haven't tried to contact me about this before seeing as how they have had form, and known that there was a problem, since about June and also have all my contact details and several different ways of contacting me.

I don't know whether this is too trivial a matter to be pestering RHUL with and whether they can do anything to help in this situation.  I'm getting absolutely nowhere trying to sort this out by myself and this is really beginning to stress me out.  I feel completely alone in this situation.

Help!!

I managed to find my own way to Lausanne by way of plane, train and trolley bus. I'm absolutely exhausted have been up since 3:30am (GMT) but didn't get much sleep last night.

Lausanne is very beautiful and there is a good public transport system which is useful as my accommodation is all the way across the city from the part of the university where I will be studying. I tried dragging my luggage up from Lausanne station but this place is far too hilly and I ended up giving up and finding a trolley bus that went where I needed to go.

The accommodation is amazing considering what you would get for the same price at Rhul. It's a hall of residence run by a separate company to the university (they don't have any of their own). The room is roughly the same price as what I was paying for Williamson in the first year but has internet connection and a small fridge. I have my own small balcony which looks out over the rooftops and Lake Geneva, it's the most lovely view but I imagine it will be very distracting when I'm trying to do some work. I posted some pictures on facebook.

The room itself is fairly spacious. As well as the large sized wardrobe in my room, I have another wardrobe/ locker out in the hallway (apparently some people think the one in the room is too small!!!). I'm sharing the bathroom with two other people and the kitchen with about 6-8 other people on this floor.

The only downside is that all the nearby shops/ supermarkets are at the bottom of the hill which is slightly longer than Egham hill. However the trolley bus stop is almost exactly opposite where my room is, I'll have to stop being so lazy and spending 60p just to go three stops.

Tomorrow I'll have to get the boat across the lake to pick up the rest of my stuff from my Dad's friend's house, I currently have no cutlery or anything to cook with. I'm also going to have to find the metro station where I'll need to go to get to university.

Haven't met anyone yet, my flatmate appears to be non-existent at the moment, will go to the kitchen in a minute to see if anyone's around. If there isnt then I'll have to wait until university induction on Monday to meet people.

Wow, it's a long time since I updated this, my summer has been so boring that there hasn't really been anything to talk about in an update.

I went to a craft fair the other day, I didn't buy much (too expensive) but some of the things displayed there showed amazing talent.

Anyway, I'm planning on returning to Egham tomorrow afternoon, my brother has a free afternoon from school and so can drive me over there, then I'll be leaving again on Friday morning to travel to Leighton Buzzard to go on a canal holiday with a few friends from school. Figuring out which trains to get there and back is difficult, I have to be at Euston by 12:15 ish to meet up with people but the websites I'm looking at for train times are giving me conflicting information so I'm probably going to have to visit Egham station on Thursday to sort things out.

After that it's a return to university, I can't believe that it's my second year already, it's going to be different living in a house outside of the university campus although hopefully a lot better than living in Williamson(RIP). I'm looking forward to it although it's probably going to be a lot harder than last year and then there's the year abroad to sort out, fun!! Not sure what I want to do yet, it still seems fairly far off.

I apologize for my boring update but it reflects my life recently. I'll try and write a more interesting update later.

I've nearly got everything back and reinstalled on my laptop including Skype which I'd only had for a few days before the laptop went off to be repaired. I've also finished watching Full Metal Alchemist and am now trying to watch the film via Youtube and have also been making chocolate brownies and flapjacks. I'm still not sure how I'm going to be getting to Egham on Monday although I might be able to get a lift depending on the time that we meet up.

For anyone who's interested:

FR 1001 Pratique De L'Ecrit: Expliquer, Resumer, Regiger 64%

FR 1002 Pratique De L'Oral: La France A Travers Ses Medias 64%

FR 1004 Pratique Du Francais: Du Texte A L'Oral 62%

FR 1104 Perspectives On Modern France: Crisis, Nation, Identity 71%

FR 1106 Heroes And Anti-Heroes In Their Social And Cultural Context 63%

FR 1107 Language, Communication And Society 67%

MN 1001 Management & The Modern Corporation 56%

Overall they're not that bad. I'm slightly disappointed with the Management mark considering how hard I worked on revising for that exam and the low mark for FR1106, my exam must have dragged my mark down considerably as all my essays were around 70%. The rest were as I expected.

I really should go and do something vaguely productive.

I've just realised that it has been ages since I updated, I believe that the last one may have been pre-exams which seems a long time ago now.

I'm still jobless, there doesn't seem to be anywhere in Tonbridge that is looking for people, even Sainsburys which is unusual, I'm planning on going into Tunbridge Wells tomorrow to see if I have more luck there, if not I'll have to wait until I return to Holloway next week. It's getting a bit annoying now not having any money and having my brother boasting about his saturday job at Bakers Oven and making comments about me being lazy, he seems to think that I like my current jobless state.

On a more positive note my laptop returned from being repaired this morning and looks all shiny and new (most of the outer casing had to be replaced because it was cracking near the hinges) and I am looking forward to filling up the hard drive again. I've also been catching up on my Terry Pratchett reading, Tonbridge Library has nearly every Discworld book so I could be spending a lot of time there.

I'm really looking forward to returning to Egham next week although I have no idea of how I'm getting there, I will probably have to get the train which will put a limit on the amount of stuff that I take with me.

I better go and sort my laptop out and also get something to eat.

See you all soon!!

Just realised that I haven't posted anything in over a month. Procrastination and the fact that I haven't got another exam for over a week has driven me back here. The exams that I have had so far haven't gone too badly although the last essay in the Management exam could have gone better. My presentation for Fr1004 (the only work that I had to do over the holidays) could also have been better, it didn't help that my printer decided to run out of black ink and then refused to recognise a new ink cartridge with 3 pages left to print out but I did manage to get it handed in on time, just. Things are incredibly boring at the moment, I am considering going home for a few days once I have got some of my revision notes written out as I really do not have anything else to do here, except procrastinate and drink endless amounts of tea!

Why do I have to get ill on the weekends when I have work to do? I need to go shopping and do some work for a seminar tomorrow but I am thinking of just going back to bed for the rest of the day. Getting any sleep might be difficult as all I can hear from my room is the sounds of Athlone being knocked to bits, completely ruining the chances of a lie in for anyone on the right hand side of Williamson. I suppose that I'll have to go shopping tomorrow after my seminar and just not bother with the work.

Stolen from Amy and Holly, I'm procrastinating again.
Put your media player on random. Read the first question aloud as you start playing it. The song that's playing is the answer! Skip to the next track to answer question 2, and use that as an answer, and so on and so forth.

1. How does the world see you?
Natural Blues - Moby errm not sure how to interpret this
2. Will I have a happy life?
Two for Tragedy - Nightwish , obviously not then
3. What do my friends think of me?
Kissing You (Love Theme From Romeo + Juliet)-Des'ree , fairly positive I think??
4. Do people secretly lust after me?
Other Side Of The World - KT Tunstall - I don't think that I have the right kind of music
5. How can I make myself happy?
Beautiful Spain - Venus Hum, I think that its time for a holiday
6. What should I do with my life?
Shining Light - Ash, ????
7. Will I ever have children?
Ruled By Secrecy - Muse, so I don't get to find out then?
8. What is some good advice for me?
Learning to breathe - Nerina Pallot, Ok then
9. How will I be remembered?
Little Star - Stina Nordenstam, awwwww
10.What's my signature dancing song?
Want to Be Bad - Tegan and Sara, don't think that I've ever tried dancing to this one, will have to try
11.What's my current theme song?
Army Dreamers - Kate Bush, I don't really think so!
12.What do others think is my current theme song?
China - Tori Amos, somthing tells me that I should be travelling
13.What shall they play at my funeral?
Demon Days - Gorillaz, thats just evil
14.What type of men/women do I like?
How soon is now - The Smiths, my music collection is v. strange
15.How's my love life?
Pearls of Light - Within Temptation, it would be okay if I actually had a love life.

I've realised that, with Athlone part demolished, I can see Thorpe Park from my window, I didn't realise how we were to it, the fact that they have a very tall new rollercoaster helps!

My laptop computer and I are having issues, I switch it on and then, once it gets to the login screen, it switches itself off!

I really don't need this, I have an essay to write and I'd rather do it in my own room rather than having to cart all of my books to a computer lab. I called my dad about it and he reckons that there is a problem with the hard drive and that it will have to be restarted. I'm going to have to take it home with me at the weekend, something that I was not planning on doing, and, if it can't be sorted, I'll have to bring back the laptop we have at home which is slow and on the verge of dying itself. Fortunately I have most of the stuff on my laptop backed up either to a college computer or to my computer at home which means that the most that I have lost are some articles that I used for research on some of my essays and the 1st 100 words of my linguistics essay which isn't too much.

If it had just waited 2 or so weeks to do this then it would,nt have been much of a problem as I would have ben at home and able to do my work on my PC.

Anyway should be getting on with this essay!

A bientot

I really should be writing my essay instead of posting on livejournal but procrastination is more fun. Perhaps not having the internet in Williamson is a good thing as it actually forces me to do some work rather than mess around on facebook etc. As far as the essay is concerned I haven't got a clue what I'm writing about, I might just make it up as I go along, its the third essay so if I do badly on it it doesn't really matter as my other two got good marks although I would quite like to get a good mark on this one too.

I really need to stop picking up new internet addictions!

Its only 4 weeks until the end of term, where has all the time gone? It hardly seems any time at all since I was leaving school and preparing to come here, yet soon I will be coming to the end of my first year!!

Anyway I really should be getting on with some work.

A bientot!

One less thing to worry about along with the fact that the mock exam for French is over. I really really need to find a job but the fact that Williamson is term time only is going to make things difficult as I cannot get a train from Tonbridge to Staines every day during the holidays it would be far too expensive.
Anyway I'm going home for the weekend which will be fun but the fact that I have to come back on Tuesday for a management lecture is incredibly annoying, it seems that the subjects that have the most reading do not have reading weeks (Management, History) whilst those that require less reading do.

I really cannot afford the time to be ill at the moment, but I currently do not have the energy to do anything constructive such as revision for my French mock on Wednesday or work for the debate on Monday (things I need to do with some urgency.) I also need to watch this film for a seminar on Tuesday, but the DVD I have put on reserve isn't available yet.

Think that I might spend most of today in bed to try and make myself feel better and then get all my work done tomorrow.

Not sure what to do at the moment. I should be reading books for management essay or working on my presentation for my french seminar the week after next (something that counts for 50% of my final mark for that module), but am instead procratinating and not doing anything constructive at all. Not a very good use of my free time, although I did manage to finish Devoir 4 yesterday, so I haven't completely wasted my time this week.

The problem as far as the french seminar goes is that I have to find an article in French of between 500-1000 words that is vaguely interesting that I can use for translations and differrent grammar and vocab exercises. I then have to present it to the class by myself and get them to do the exercises. I am really nervous about having to do this and the fact that I can't find a decent article is making things worse.

There's also the accomodation problem to sort out, it seems to have taken a back seat to work for me at the moment, but I keep being reminded of it by different people in my seminars who mainly seem to have got things sorted out and it's worrying me!

On a more positive note I got my first management assignment back today, I got 60% which isn't bad considering that I didn't understand some of it, it keeps reminding me that I should be working on the second one to make sure that I get an even better mark! I also got my second essay back for language and communication and have, somehow, managed to improve on my mark from the first assigniment.

Should be going to try and motivate myself into doing some work!!

http://photobucket.com/albums/d52/unfathomableone/London%20Jan%2006/?sc=6

Enjoy ! Will write longer update later.

I am one big disorganized mess. I don't know where half of the stuff I need to take back to RHUL is although I presume that most of it is in the big pile of boxes on my bedroom floor, this is added to the fact that I still have 300 words left to write on a literature essay with an incredibly weak argument. I have a feeling that I'm not going to do very well on it or on my linguistics essay which is fully written but is more narrative than argument.

I've also been having trouble topping up my college card, the system doesn't like my debit card for some reason so I've had to use my dad's credit card meaning that I now owe him £100, my term is getting off to a great start.

On the plus side I cant wait to get back to RHUL and see everyone again.

Better stop procrastinating and get back to finishing that essay.

A bientôt mes amies.

Must do essays, must not procrastinate, must do essays, must not procrastinate....you get the picture. It will be easier when my brother and Dad go back to school/work on Wednesday. I also have the added distraction of going to see my friends this afternoon, then found this quiz on Holly's lj, more distractions are bound to follow.

You scored as Rincewind. You are Rincewind! Greatest survivor of all times! But a rather inept wizzard". You seem to be going from bad to worse, without slowing down. Rather miserable with your luck, the luggage that follows you around offers little comfort. </td> Rincewind 69% Death 63% Carrot Ironfounderson 63% Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax 56% Lord Havelock Vetinari 50% Commander Samuel Vimes 44% The Librarian 38% Cohen The Barbarian 38% Greebo 31% Gytha (Nanny) Ogg 6% Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics) created with QuizFarm.com

...well a little bit anyway, most of it isn't settling, pity, it has almost stopped now. I really should be getting on with some work (2 essaysof 1500 words and 1000 words) at this rate I'll still be doing them the day before I go back to RHUL.

Hope you all had a nice Christmas and got what you wanted in the way of presents, will write larger update later.

Hel