Perpignan

I arrived here, in Perpignan, on Sunday the 27th May. Florence, one of the ladies that runs the language school that I am attending (ALFMED), picked me up from the train station and took me to my accommodation, which is actually one of the ALFMED residences, and is adjacent to her house. Florence was VERY impressed with the fact that I only had one bag with me! The residence where I am staying is very close to the train station, but she thought that I would have lots of luggage with me because I came all the way from Australia, and so she picked me up in her car.

I am sharing the house with three Italian girls (one speaks quite good English, one speaks some English, and one speaks no English), one Italian man, one American girl (Florence's Au pair) and one French Man. I am currently living inside of a soap opera!

The American girl and the French man are an item. At least, they were when I arrived. I awoke last Tuesday night (well, Wednesday morning really, it was about 2am), to hear them arguing and the girl crying, and doors slamming, and it seemed that they had broken up. By Wednesday night, they were back together. On Friday evening, they were fighting again, and he left to go to Montpellier for the weekend, where he lives, and she wasn't very happy with him. By the way she was talking on Friday night, she was ready to dump him, if they weren't already over. He arrived back late last night, and I am currently unsure as to what their romantic situation is. I heard no arguing last night, but then, they didn't seem to talk to each other either...

The Italian girl who doesn't speak any English, and the Italian Guy are an item. At least, they were when I arrived. It turns out that they both had some pretty big ex's back in Italy, and they only just got together before they came here to France (about a month ago) and their families don't know that they are here together. In fact, the guy's family thinks that he is in Montpellier. The guy got a phonecall last Thursday from his ex, to say that she was coming to visit over the weekend, so he had to go to Barcelona for the weekend! So, the Italian girl is not really sure if she and the Italian guy are still together. He had not returned when I went to bed last night, so I'm not sure what is happening there either...

The Italian girl who speaks a little english has a boyfriend in Italy that she has been going out with for 3 years. At least, she did when I arrived. Over the weekend she has been having some very heated, passionate (well, all discussions in Italian sound heated and passionate) discussions over the phone with him, as he feels that she has changed since she has been here in Perpignan and feels like she is neglecting him. Over the weekend things have been going downhill, I'm not sure if they're still together...

The Italian girl who speaks very good english also has a boyfriend in Italy. The rest of us girls in the house, however, are a bit suspicious that there is something going on with her and one of their male French friends, who came over on Saturday night and made us all Paella. There definitely seemed to be some chemistry and flirting going on there from both sides, which of course, when we questioned her, she denied (blushing). Her boyfriend is coming to visit her in a couple of weeks, and on Friday she went through her computer and deleted all the pictures of her with the French guy!

So, I am the only one in the house without romantic issues at the moment, which I guess is the advantage of having no romance in your life... The girls have been calling the house "Maison Bizzare".

I am having a great time here in Perpignan. It is nice to actually experience a city by living in it, rather that just doing the "tourist" thing. It is LOVELY not to have to pack and unpack my bag every other day. I have French lessons for 15 hours every week. Last week, because Monday was a public holiday, I had 4 hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings and 3 hours on Friday, and this week I have 3 hours every morning. Our teacher's name is Cecile and she is VERY funny! We are not allowed to speak English at all in class (although, sometimes it is so frustrating that we do anyway). There are two other women in the class with me; one is a 39 year old Australian who has just moved to Colliere with her husband, one 61 year old from the Isle of Man who has a holiday home in central France. They are both lovely ladies.

I am watching lots of French television to practice listening to French people speak. French is a very difficult language to listen to. They string all their words together, so even if you know the word, they become unrecognisable (at least to me) when they put them in a sentence. I find it much easier to understand my housemates when they're speaking French, as they are still learning as well, so speak more slowly. Today I went to the post office, and had a very difficult time trying to send a parcel. The lady spoke so fast, I have no idea what she was saying to me, I could have cried if I didn't find it so funny! Hopefully it will get to the right place!

I did manage to buy a t-shirt on Friday though! I was on a big high when I walked out of the store with my purchase, after the vendeuse (female shop assistant) understood what I had said when I asked to try it on. Ahh, the small things... The high I was on may have also had something to do with actually buying something as well (it has been a long time, as I have been trying to be economical with the space in my back pack)...

As part of the French experience here at ALFMED, we also have a few cultural excursion, if we wish to take part. Last week, we had a short tour of the city of Perpignan, where Nicholas, the man who is in charge of the cultural activities, pointed out some important places we should note, such as the tourist office, the bus station, the town square, and really, really, really, good restaurants which he likes (which seemed to be every second restaurant that we passed!). Last Wednesday, we did a tour of the Medieval sites of Perpignan, which would have been really interesting, had I understood a word that the tourguide was saying! Actually, she was lovely and realised that we were English speaking, and so as we were leaving each spot, she explained to us in English, what she had said.

Yesterday, the other Australian woman and I went on a Wine and Jazz tour. We hopped on a bus at the tourist office and they took us to two winneries, where we listened to a Jazz band play, and tasted the wine. It was a very warm day yesterday, and a great way to spend the afternoon! In the evening, they took us to a restaurant, where we had dinner and listened to the Jazz Band some more. I was fortunate enough to sit next to a German man, who was not only a little bit strange, but also a little bit boring. He had a touch of the "Rain Man" about him, and I can't quite put my finger on why. I think it had something to do with the way he walked... He was a photographer, and hence took quite a few photos during the night, some of us, which was quite annoying and quite zoomed in. He was telling us how he has been editing his photos on Photoshop. The other Australian woman is quite worried now that he will have edited her head onto someone else's body and she will be on a porn site somewhere on The Net! He was quite weird, although I'm sure quite harmless... his parents were there last night also, and they seemed quite normal and nice. His mother was a language teacher and could speak about 8 languages- very impressive! They also brought their dog along for the ride!

That is about all I have to say about Perpignan at this stage. It is a very nice city, although there are lots of building and reconstructions going on at the moment, and I think it would be a lot nicer without all the scaffolding and dust etc. Some days have been quite warm, but it is a very windy city and can be quite gusty. I was a little scared on my second day here, as the wind was so strong, and with all the works going on, I thought something would probably fall and hit me on the head (or that I would blow away!). The country side around Perpignan is quite beautiful, as I discovered yesterday. It was just what I had pictured France to be; lots of vineyards, some peaks, and villages with narrow streets.

Until my next blog,
Love,
Lisa x.

p.s. I have put some more photos in some of the previous blogs.