tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2009-11-13:/yep, that's right i've finally ventured into the big bad world! i know what ur thinking, "how will i cope without ellie?" but fear not- this blog is for you! now u can keep up to date with what i'm up to and realise how much you miss me and can't wait for me to come home!MokoFeed2009-11-13T03:11:30+01:00tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-06-11:/2007/06/11/sad_days~2435919/gogontour2007-06-11T22:04:26+02:002007-06-11T22:04:26+02:00 <p>ok so this is my last blog entry from france, so ud better make the most of it!</p> <p>started packing tonight and im getting seroiusly concerned about the weight of my luggage, im gonna try and get out of paying the fine by pleading and begging and crying if i have to!!! </p> <p>its been really hot here the last few days so hopefully i'll have a bit of a tan to go home with, and tomorrow is meant to be hot aswell so im gonna try and get a few hours tanning in before tea. </p> <p>nothing of much interest to report since yesterday. except.....</p> <p>RAFAEL NADAL WON THE FRENCH OPEN!!!! i'm so happy for him and im realy chuffed that bobby and i found a cool place to watch it in! the perfect end to my stay here! </p> <p>well i guess thats it from me then.<br> i shall wish u well and bid you a fond farewell,<br> until next time (spain- sept 07!)</p> <p>a bientot</p> <p>bisous xxxx </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/06/11/sad_days~2435919/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-06-10:/2007/06/10/presque~2426700/gogontour2007-06-10T13:21:24+02:002007-06-10T13:21:24+02:00 <p>2 and a half days left now and i think im ready to come home!</p> <p>this week has been long and hot but it's been nice to have time to do what i want to do and not go to classes. i went to the museum on tuesday which was spectacularily uneventful, but at least i can say that ive been. went to st. Emilion on wednesday with ryan which i really enjoyed, the weather was scorching untill we got on the bus to come home at which point the heavens opened and we had a 20 minute storm but since then the weather has been been fantastic <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"><img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> been watching a lot of tennis this week as its the French Open and me and Bobby love tennis. so he and i have been frequenting Pub St Aubin, a scotish theamed pub where the staff wear kilts (i think i mentioned it before in my blog actually). im off there in a bit as well to watch the final between federer and nadal, and bobby and i have a drink riding on who wins (i'm obviously on TEAM RAFA!). </p> <p>went out last night with bobby and ryan. we deceided to go to a few places as it was probably gonna be our last night out in france together. so we went for one drink in Chez Auguste, then on to the Cock and Bull (where else?!), then we skidaddled over to the other end of town and graced Calle Ocho with our presence. it was so hot in there but totally worth it to hear some fantastic spanish/slasa tunes!!!! we then went on to Azkaban as usual- and last night the music was phenomenal! any club that plays James Brown is alright by me!!!!! there were some top english tunes and we all had a boogie sufficient enough to work off our jacket potatoes lol. </p> <p>i'll try and get in another blog before i depart these french shores so i'll just say ta-ta for now! xx </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/06/10/presque~2426700/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-06-04:/2007/06/04/into_single_figures_now~2395450/gogontour2007-06-04T22:01:10+02:002007-06-04T22:01:10+02:00 <p>well i didnt manage to find a beret unfortunately but i will continue my search regardless! </p> <p>only got 8 full days left now so im gonna try and pack in as much as i can! tomorrow im hopin to go to the museum then a pub quiz in the evening, weds im goin on a wine tour then out for some food, thurs im doing all my washing so i might have to stay in for lack of decent clean clothes, friday its promised it to be 33 degrees so im hoping to get to the beach again, saturday im gonna watch tennis then go for a 'proper' night out (no gin involved this time though!), then sunday i might go to the cinema to watch pirates 3, monday maybe go to Condom for a laugh and tuesday im packing! phew!!!! im exhausted jst thinking about it!</p> <p>see you all soon!!</p> <p>x </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/06/04/into_single_figures_now~2395450/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-06-02:/2007/06/02/11_days_left~2378865/gogontour2007-06-02T10:49:27+02:002007-06-02T10:49:27+02:00 <p>YEY the sun's out AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!<br> going shopping today for a beret, which aren't as easy to find as you might think!<br> so wish me luck and happy tanning in the gorgeous sunshine <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>xxx </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/06/02/11_days_left~2378865/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-05-28:/2007/05/28/bare_with_me~2349677/gogontour2007-05-28T18:16:23+02:002007-05-28T18:16:23+02:00 <p>ok so what's happened since the beach party? hmmm,u might have to bare with me while i think back so i apologise if this blog's a bit scatty and all over the place!<br> so here goes....</p> <p>well last saturday me, ryan and bobby deceided to grace town with our presence again and we wanted to drown our sorrows after united's disgraceful loss to chelsea (the least said abouthat the better). ryan and i had been drinking steadily since the game that afternoon so by the time bobby deceided to drink he had had some serious catching up to do. however it seems that the poor lad is a lightweight, and after a couple of vodka's in ryan's room and a serbian ice tea in the cock & bull (a night out just isn't the same if we don't go to the c&b at somepoint!) bobby was wasted! so we ventured over to Azkaban the local club again but bobby was wearing his superman t-shirt and the bouncers refused to let him in. it took all i had in my female arsenal + a bit of pretend british ignorance to blag our way into the club!!!!! in there bobby had his first pull of bordeaux, a short french girl with a HUGE nose- it ws like an accident, u couldn't help but look at it lol.</p> <p>a little later on the guys frm the c&b came tot the club as well so we had a good chat to them and a few hours of dancing to some of the most random songs ever- shakira mixed in with fat man scoop inbetween a bit of bee gees!!!!! ace!</p> <p>since we went to the club we had to wait for an hour to get the 5am tram home. so there we were, the 3 of us, sat the musee d'aquitaine tram stop when bobby doses off. many many many picures of drunken bobby were taken from then on, includind some pure gold pics of him on the tram. i haven't laughed so much in ages as i did on the tram on the way home. me and ryan were practically dying from laughing, and it took all our self-control not to leave bobby on the tram! sooo funny! he is such a chronic drunk lol.</p> <p>apart frm that e've just been up to the norm really, me and ryan have been to the pub quite a few nights, as well as chez auguste which is fast becoming a fave of mine.</p> <p>that's all though, but im sure there'll be more drunken anics to write about befor i get home!</p> <p>a plus xxxx </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/05/28/bare_with_me~2349677/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-05-18:/2007/05/18/i_m_still_here_just_about~2289592/gogontour2007-05-18T01:06:16+02:002007-05-18T01:06:16+02:00 <p> Ok so i’ve been told that i’ve been neglecting my blog so i guessed i’d better get writing. Since the last time i wrote, we’ve had another night out,so i’ll give you a run-down on the events....</p> <p>Friday 11 may : Beach party @ the cock and bull.<br> We went dressed in our beach gear- me in my new bikini !! and had loads of fun. For sum reason i deceided nt to go with my usual vodka and juice but instead opted for gin and tonic which i would soon realise was a very bad idea indeed. We got to chattin with the locals, took loads of pics and just generaly had a good time. We also went bobbing for plastic toys- bobby won a kiss frm the barman (which he didnt claim !), ryan won a pint of warm water that he had to down, grace wona a t-shirt and i won an irish music cd !!! very random indeed. While i ws sitting at the bar grace and i began chatting to some guy that works in a t-shirt printing shop called Yummi (or something like that), when i asked him where it ws he drew us a map- ON MY ARM ! by this point i think i must have been tipsy because i let him do it so i cnt blame him really ! there ws also a girl at the bar, dnt know who she is, but me her and grace rapped the whole theme tune to ‘the fresh prince of bel air’- i ws very proud of all of us- well done girls ! grace got very excited when a guy called Ellis walked into the pub and told us that he ws from the OC (grace loves the oc).having never really watched it i thought i ws in the presence of an actual american star and got quite excited myself, only to be told that he ws frm OC the place not the TV show- too much gin i think ! it seems that after my 3 drinks off vicky (i dnt think i paid for them either) i went a bit down hill and i cn remember sitting by the bar doin a sudoku when nicola asked me to go with her to the toilet. Off we went to the loo and as nicola ws doin what she needed to i (apparently) pushed her off the loo and threw up !!! next thing i know im outside the pub crouching next to a bin being sick with a very drunken zoe tryin to look after me !!! i dnt actually remember much of the being sick part of the night except that i kept apologising and saying « i’m 22 i’m too old to get drunk ». i cn vaguely remember bein carried upstairs by andrew, zoe and vince, and apparently as soon as vince put me to bed i went straight to sleep. You see, i didnt quite make it home so i had to stay at the pub again lol and nicola stayed too. We both slept in andrew’s bed while he kipped in with rich downstairs. Them guys are great ! i owe them so much ! its actually very lucky that i didnt go home that night because the morning after, we got the tram home and it made me feel sooooooooo sick, god knows how ill i might have been had i actually tried to go home. </p> <p>Sunday 13 may : mam and dad came to visit<br> Went to meet mam and dad at their hotel which meant that i got to venture to the other side of the river- such a daredevil ! i showed them around a bit then we went to cassolette for some tea and a catch-up. Unfortunatley monday ws a bit of a grim day but nevertheless i took mam and dad all around the town and showed them some of the places that we always go to (nameley the cock and bull !!). we had lunch in a little resaurant where i had my first cup of tea since the end of march !!!! soooo happy <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> for tea we went to the other side of the river again and to a restaurant called « au bureau », it ws really nice and even had a great view of the river.</p> <p>Tuesday and weds i left mam and dad to do their own thing so not much happened really. Tuesday me, grace, ryan and martyn deceided to ride the tram to end of line A just to see what ws there-the answer ?.... nothing ! then ryan and i went for a mcdo’s (so naughty). Weds ws quite possibly of the most boring days of my time here. Did nothing except eat and type up my project. </p> <p>Thursday went to an italien resrtaurant with mam, dad and grace then on to the cock and bull for a few beverages with the girlies !</p> <p>Write again after the weekend !!!!!!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/05/18/i_m_still_here_just_about~2289592/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-05-07:/2007/05/07/saturday_5th_may_emma_s_bday~2227802/gogontour2007-05-07T18:31:50+02:002007-05-07T18:31:50+02:00 <p>Alcohol + Alcatraz</p> <p>Last Saturday was Emma’s 20th bday so we all went out for a drink to celebrate. We started off in ‘Chez Auguste’ on place de la Victiore, where all of us girls had a cocktail- that basically set the tone for the evening!! We then moved on to ‘El Bodegon’ a Spanish style bar were we had quite a bit more alcohol including some margaritas, which were like a slush puppy with one hell of a kick! The bar staff there were all dressed as women and Ryan even thought one was actually a woman, they were that convincing lol.<br> From there we’d planned on going to ‘Calle Ocho’ bt Emma went back to campus to spend the rest of her day with her boyfriend who’d flown out just for the day! So instead we ambled down the street to ‘The Cock and Bull’ (of course)!!!!!<br> In there a guy called Kieran bought me, grace and Nicola a shot each, so we had dominoes i.e. 4 glasses, 3 with a red bull type drink in them and 4 shots of something (not sure what it was) balancing on top of them. The trick is to knock the first shot glass which knocks the others and makes them fall in to the glasses and mix with the red bull stuff and then obviously we had to down them in one. And i'm quite proud to say that i’m pretty damn good at it! Then this Kieran guy decided that he wanted to see us take the shots again so he bought us 3 more!!! Each shot cost 5€ so we had 30€ worth of free drink! Then we bought ourselves some vodka/cranberry’s, vodka/orange’s and chatted to the staff at the pub until closing.<br> When the pub closed, Andrew (one of the barmen) and an Erasmus student called Chris took us to a club whose name I forget except to say that it sounds like Alcatraz. In the club we had yet more drink and met up with Ryan and Bobby who’d left the cock and bull sooner than us because they weren’t getting free drinks! So that’s where we had our first dance in 6 weeks- and it was soooooooo good!!! The club was tiny but it had music and room to dance to we couldn’t complain too much.<br> At around 3.30 we were joined in the club by Rich (another one of the barmen- who by the way got my vote in the ‘who’s the fittest barman?’ debate on the cock and bull facebook!) and Mickey an English guy who works on the boats (or sumthin like that) and is always in the pub. So we stayed in the club until it closed at around 4am at which point we decided to head back to the cock and bull to wait for the next tram at 5am. Except when we all got out the club, grace was nowhere to be seen so Andrew had to go back into the club to fetch her, it seems she was held up because she was giving her number to a French guy in a wheelchair! She was very excited about the prospect of practising her French lol- obviously she barely remembered about this the next day! She does remember however, playing with the buttons on his wheelchair lol!!!<br> Having dragged Grace out, we all walked over to wait by the tram stop outside the cock and bull. All of us just sat and chatted and took pictures. Except for Mickey, who was winding me up about Rich and taking advantage of my drunken gullibleness- and i’m still not entirely sure whether everything he said was a joke or not. I’m hoping everything was a joke, or Rich has some serious explaining to do!!!<br> When we eventually got the tram it was full of people just like us: drunk and in dire need of some sleep! Nicola went to sleep on the tram until we got to ‘Peixotto’ at which point we had to help her make a quick exit so she wasn’t sick on the tram! Bless her, she’d mixed her drinks a bit too much and was paying the price. Thankfully she was the only one to be sick, but to be fair, she had drunk a couple more drinks than grace and me. So then we had to get back on the tram, but there wasn’t one for another half an hour. So we sat patiently, one coat between 3 of us, waiting for the bloody tram! When grace and me had taken Nicola to her room, and we were satisfied that she was ok, we finally got to bed about 7am- just as the birds started to sing!</p> <p>So that was our first PROPER night out in Bordeaux, but hopefully its the first of many <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> obviously more things happened than what I wrote in here but as the saying goes “what goes on in Bordeaux- stays in Bordeaux!”</p> <p>Until next time xxxxx</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/05/07/saturday_5th_may_emma_s_bday~2227802/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-05-03:/2007/05/03/same_old_same_old~2206132/gogontour2007-05-03T22:08:08+02:002007-05-04T21:32:27+02:00 <p>not much to report of late i'm afraid.<br> we've been goin to the cock and bull as usual to watch the footy, and last night we had a free shot of sambuca to lift our spirits because we lost (3-0 to AC Milan, devastated). aslo ryan made a deal with vicky the barmaid, that if we hadnt scored by 70th minute then they'd swap tops. needless to say ryan ended up in a very fetching tigh-fitted t-shirt while vicky looked every inch the manc in a utd shirt!!! good on ya ryan for keeping up ur end of the deal! and somehow i owe rich (one of the barmen) 2 pints- not sure what deal we made but i sure as hell dont remember making it!!!!<br> we also went to watch bordeaux play last sunday against lens. the score ended up as 1-0 and although it wasnt one of the best games i've ever watched, it was fun because Jose and Ada from our class came with us.<br> and thats it really... wish i had more to write but i dont. classes have been uneventful and no one has really made fools of themselves, so i'll save my energy for when i have somthing worthwhile to write about!</p> <p>a plus xxxx</p> <p>oh yeah, and grace dyed my hair! and a very good job she did indeed, gracias chica! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/05/03/same_old_same_old~2206132/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-04-27:/2007/04/27/prison_break~2173276/gogontour2007-04-27T23:31:45+02:002007-04-27T23:31:45+02:00 <p>no, no, no! dont worry i havent escaped from my cell! </p> <p>me, grace and derek have just watched the last episode of the first series of Prison Break!!!!</p> <p>it had become a regular nigthtime thing-the 3 of us watching the gorgeous wentowrth miller in action. but now?! its all over!!!!!!!!</p> <p>so sad (and bored)</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/04/27/prison_break~2173276/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-04-26:/2007/04/26/feeling_sick~2163380/gogontour2007-04-26T09:52:58+02:002007-04-26T09:52:58+02:00 <p>thursday morning, and i feel really quite sick. </p> <p>had a cocktail bought for me last night (amongst other things- i actually only bought 1 drink all night!) but i didnt know what was in it till i drank it.</p> <p>thats the catch u see, u have to drink it to find out....</p> <p>BAD IDEA!</p> <p>my stomach really hates me for it, and I hate me for it too <img src="/img/smilies/icon_sad.gif" alt=":(" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>x </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/04/26/feeling_sick~2163380/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-04-23:/2007/04/23/3_weeks_down_7f_to_go~2147240/gogontour2007-04-23T17:01:17+02:002007-04-23T17:01:17+02:00 <p>I wrote this yesterday (Sunday) but wasn’t able to put it on here till now because the internet hasn’t been working in our halls all weekend <img src="/img/smilies/icon_sad.gif" alt=":(" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Anyway, on Friday we all caught the train to Arcachon and spent the day at the beach. It was hot enough to catch a tan but not too hot so that we couldn’t stand it. Almost all of us have tanned and burnt in equal amounts!!!! My arms, legs, chest, shoulders and face look quite tanned but the backs of my knees, bottom of my back and where the back strap of my bikini was, are all burnt <img src="/img/smilies/icon_sad.gif" alt=":(" class="middle" border="0"><img src="/img/smilies/icon_sad.gif" alt=":(" class="middle" border="0"> Ryan, bless him, deserves an award- I don’t think I have ever seen anyone’s face go quite so red! Hopefully it’ll go brown for him and he’s learnt his lesson. </p> <p>On Saturday, Grace and I went into town to look at some hotels that her mam and dad are thinking of staying in when they come to visit her. It was such a hot day- Bobby reckons it was at least 30º!!! Grace was feeling ill because of the heat and at one point I though she might actually faint, so we headed back to Victoire for a drink. We decided to try somewhere new, so we went to a bar/pub place and sat inside in the air-conditioned room and had a cool glass of coke- bliss! In the bar/pub that we went to the barmen wear kilts (I think it’s a Scottish type of place) and as always they were chatty and engaging in some banter. At one point one of them was chatting to a guy by the bar and I can only imagine what he asked because next thing I knew, the barman was lifting up his kilt to show us that he was a true Scotsman!! (or as true a Scotsman as a Frenchman can be!) and right in the middle of the bar lol.</p> <p>Saturday night we all met up outside our buildings to chat and play cards. Originally we were sat on the grass but Emma and me didn’t like all the moths that were flying around us so we moved to a moth-free location (which I’m really glad we did because I didn’t want everyone to so me crying if a moth flew into me- ewwwwww!) We didn’t play cards that much and spent most of the night chatting. Some guys in one of the rooms overlooking us kept trying to get our attention. They asked if we were English but we all said no, and that we were Spanish! We might try that more often <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p>Sunday was the last day of half term, and I did my best to sleep in. The people in the halls are very noisy and lie-ins are not a regular occurrence, I did manage to sleep in until 11am though- so not to bad.</p> <p>Started my project yesterday, and it’s looking good even if I do say so myself!</p> <p>A bientot x</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/04/23/3_weeks_down_7f_to_go~2147240/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-04-19:/2007/04/19/hot_hot_hot~2123380/gogontour2007-04-19T20:34:38+02:002007-04-19T20:34:38+02:00 <p>almost the end of another week and things are looking up even more! enjoying france more each day and this week being half term has given us the time to do.....well, not much really lol. </p> <p>went shopping with nicola on wednesday and found the shopping center and headed straight to H+M. there's a h+m in the town but it's not as good, so needless to say i bought a few things (of which i'll take pics when i wear them so u can see them!). today has been a beautiful day. to begin with all of us girls went into town to the shopping center again- grace is a H+M addict (lol)- and then we just chilled on the grass outside our halls, soaking up the sun and playing cards untill about 7.45. i'm really making progress with my tan now! can wait to be really brown <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>still cant wait to come home, but only because i want to tell evryone about how much fun it is here! mam and dad said they were coming out to see me at some point (and maybe kate too!) so hopfully they'll be able to, and maybe then i won't feel so homesick <img src="/img/smilies/icon_sad.gif" alt=":(" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>we're planning on going to the beach tomorrow to soak up sum more sun, i'll abviously take su pics and let u all see what we get up to.</p> <p>that's your lot for now, write again soon</p> <p>a bientot xxx </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/04/19/hot_hot_hot~2123380/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-04-15:/2007/04/15/sudoku~2095400/gogontour2007-04-15T13:48:21+02:002007-04-15T13:56:00+02:00 <p>Hi, my name's Elen and I'm a Sudoku addict. I have finally sucumbed (or however it's spelt) to the power of the sudoku. was feel a bit bored one night and decided to try my first one and now, well i've only gone and bought a book of them!!!!!!!</p> <p>any way, yesterday (saturday) we went into town to do a bit a shopping. when we got the tram station an announcement said that it had been stopped due an 'incident' and we were told to get the bus, which we did. long story short- we got on the wrong bus and ended up being told to get off because we'd reached the end of the line! so we had to wait about half an hour in the middle of god knows where, with some strange bulgarian bloke speaking a strange mixture of french/spanish/english at us, to get the same bus back to where we's just come from to then get on the right bus! luckily by the time we'd got back to where we'd come from, the trams were working again! don't think we'll be gtting the bus again anytime soon!!!</p> <p>in town, we went to Fnac and i bought 'Poupees Russes' the sequel to 'PotLuck'. Grace and me have been dying to watch it for months so last night we stayed in and did just that! FYI it was worth the wait <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>one more thing to mention about yesterday is the FANTASTIC spaghetti that we had! cheap sauce + even cheaper pasta = AMAZING FOOD! can't wait to have more of the same tonight yummy!</p> <p>till next time, au revior xxx</p> <p>link to more pics- <a href="http://www.myspace.com/elliematth">www.myspace.com/elliematth</a>, then click on 'pics' under my profile pic!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/04/15/sudoku~2095400/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-04-13:/2007/04/13/2_down_9_to_go~2085307/gogontour2007-04-13T16:14:25+02:002007-04-13T23:05:10+02:00 <p>Friday 13 of April</p> <p>Think I have my first Bordeaux hangover today! I don’t feel awful but my head hurts a bit. Last night was student night in the Cock and Bull so obviously we went for a few. There’s a competition on their face book page at the minute, for whose the best barman so they’re trying to bribe all the customers, and last night one of them bought all 4 of us girls a drink! He might have to get my vote. <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Not much else to write really. It’s been a bit gloomy and grey these last couple of days but it’s still been warm, and hopefully next week I can get a better tan!</p> <p>Oh and here's my myspace page address where you'll find more pictures: <a href="http://www.myspace.com/elliematth">www.myspace.com/elliematth</a></p> <p>Booked my flight home this week as well. June 13 at 10am- yey!!!!! I can’t wait. Don’t get me wrong, I am having a good time here but there are one or two things that are already getting on my nerves and I can only imagine it getting worse as the weeks go on. Grrrrrrr!!!!!!!!</p> <p>Until next time, au revoir x</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1326293" title="bordeaux 12 of April 003"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/293/1326293_869f919ab3_m.jpg" alt="bordeaux 12 of April 003" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/04/13/2_down_9_to_go~2085307/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-04-11:/2007/04/11/grace_has_a_new_friend~2072518/gogontour2007-04-11T16:45:20+02:002007-04-26T09:39:55+02:00 <p>Grace and me are sitting outside the cafe and she has made a new friend! I made one last night, but now it's grace's turn! Lol she's sat next to me and she's making awkward conversation with her french admirer! Lol, you go girl!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/04/11/grace_has_a_new_friend~2072518/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-04-10:/2007/04/10/the_bordeaux_famine_of~2065513/gogontour2007-04-10T15:10:43+02:002007-04-10T15:10:43+02:00 <p>Only 10 days in and food is beginning to become an issue. Monday to Friday things are fine, we buy a pack of croissants for brekkie for the week then have a meal in the canteen for tea and lunch, and that pretty much fills us up. But the weekends are a different story. The canteen is shut on a Saturday and Sunday and we’ve worked out that we can’t afford to eat out every weekend. So yesterday Grace and I bought a saucepan- just the 1- and decided that if we want to eat and save money we’re going to have to start cooking our own food. Thankfully the nearest supermarket, ‘Casino’ sells REALLY cheap food so we managed to buy a box of pasta for about 60p and a jar of sauce for about 30p that should last us about 2 weekends. So that’s what we’re going to buy every other weekend. A croissant in the morning and a bowl of pasta in the evening: not much for a weekend but it’ll have to do. We’ve also decided not to buy snacks as sometimes the nights are boring and we’ve nothing to do except eat! At least I’ll lose some weight!</p> <p>Sunday and yesterday were spent mostly sunbathing on the field, the weather here is fantastic and looks set to just get better, it’s averaging at about 23/4ºc each day at the moment and it’s only April! My aim here if nothing else, is to get an amazing tan.</p> <p>Sunday night we went to ‘The Houses of Parliament’ for a pub quiz (in French we think) but because it was Easter is wasn’t on, but we stayed for some drinks anyway. It was about 12.30 when we decided to go get the tram home; or at least we would have caught the tram had we not missed the last one! We should have checked but apparently on Sun, Mon, Tues, Weds, and Thurs the last tram home is at 12.25, so we had to walk home!</p> <p>Thankfully everyone agreed that the best (and probably safest) way home was to walk the tramline. So that’s what we did, and it took 2 hours. For those that know, it was probably like walking from Chester to Rhos- I’m not kidding! Thankfully it was a warm and dry night, but that’s not to say I want to do it again!</p> <p>Post again in a couple of days!</p> <p>Au revoir x</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/04/10/the_bordeaux_famine_of~2065513/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-04-08:/2007/04/08/saturday_night_bordeaux_style~2054340/gogontour2007-04-08T15:57:50+02:002007-04-08T16:38:27+02:00 <p>Easter Sunday 8/4/07, Midday<br> Location: My cell no. C233</p> <p>Not long woken up and am writing this now so I can post it later. Just had my last pain au chocolat and my 2nd to last croissant. </p> <p>Yesterday grace, me, Nicola and Emma all went into town to go see a carousel that grace and I had seen the night before. We wanted to ride it but thought that we were just a wee bit too big lol. Then we took Emma and Nicola to the English pub that we found and continued to show them the sights that they hadn’t seen yet. </p> <p>We decided to climb up a large tower beside the cathedral called ‘Pey Berland’ to see the whole of the city, and it was worth the treck up! The view was amazing and we could see a few places that we’d been to and some others that we wanted to go to. We could see the river, the big fountain at Quinconces, the cathedral from above, the bridge and loads more. I think I may have gone overboard on the picture taking but I’ll only climb the tower once!</p> <p>Having bought some baguettes for lunch, we found a place to eat them in the sunshine. But sitting just across from us were 2 unsavoury looking French men drinking beer. One of them got his phone out and was taking pictures of us, but then when we got up to leave, we had to walk past them, and the one with the camera phone was filming Nicola as she walked away! And all because she’s got blonde hair!!!!! That’s something we’ve noticed about the men in France is that they don’t make any effort to hide the fact that they’re ogling someone. It’s ridiculous!</p> <p>As I mentioned, we sat and had our lunch in the sun. Yesterday was a glorious day and all four of us were walking around in vests, although we did stick out like sore thumbs amongst the locals who were mostly in coats and some still wearing their scarves! Grace burnt her shoulders and top of her back, I burnt my shoulders and my nose is a bit pink, but Emma burnt her chest and she was wearing a necklace, so now she has a white ring around her neck! Bless her!</p> <p>The canteen next to our building is closed on weekends so we have to find some other way of getting food. So last night we got off the tram at the ‘Forum’ stop and went to Edwood’s Café, and American style diner with a big pink cadillac outside. It was packed and we all ate really well because, for once, we knew what we were ordering! Grace and I had our pics taken with the life-size model of Elvis that was there aswell!</p> <p>After eating we headed into town to try a bar/club thing that we saw on Friday night and seemed like a place we’d all enjoy. It’s called ‘Calle Ocho’, and it’s a Cuban bar so all of the music inside was Latin inspired. I think we all liked it there and next time we go I have promised myself that I will try the mojitos that everyone there drinks. </p> <p>Went to bed last night feeling really homesick and have woken up not feeling much better. I’ve a homemade calendar on my wall and am crossing of the days as they go by. I can’t believe I’ve only been here for 1 week; it’s going so slow. However we do have only 6 weeks of classes left and 1 week of holiday in-between them, oh and about 4 bank holidays for various things (we’re not entirely sure what they are though)!</p> <p> At the latest the course ends on the 1st of June, and Grace and I had planned on going to various places in our last month here, but we’ve worked out that if we want to eat and enjoy what Bordeaux has to offer then it’s almost a certainty that we’ll run out of money. In which case I hope I can go home a bit sooner than first thought. </p> <p>Can’t think of anything else to write so as the French say ‘Bye-Bye’!</p> <p>xxx</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1311222" title="bordeaux 7 of April 082"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/222/1311222_ffd85e3dc8_m.jpg" alt="bordeaux 7 of April 082" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/04/08/saturday_night_bordeaux_style~2054340/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-04-06:/2007/04/06/the_houses_of_parliament~2046719/gogontour2007-04-06T23:00:15+02:002007-04-06T23:00:15+02:00 <p>friday night 11:50.<br> Location: stairwell Bordeaux 3, Village 3, Floor 2/3.</p> <p>tonight grace and me went for a tram ride after doin some shopping and rode all the way to end of the line. </p> <p>we walked around a bit until we found the pub called 'The Houses of Parliament' which we trie to find a coupleof nights ago but got totally lost! anyway we found it and deceided to go for a drink there. it's really nice inside and it felt like a piece of home! we had 2 drinks and a game of pool- a game at which i SERIOUSLY suck!</p> <p>next we went to get the tram back but got distracted by the beautiful fountain all lit-up in the square at Quinconces. it's amazing and we cant wait to go back there to take sum pictures.</p> <p>tomorrow we're going to the square again for a better look around and to see the carousel that's there. we're also going out- all of us- to an American Diner called EDWOOD. we're getting to know eachother better everyday so hopefully we'll have a good night! i'll let u know how it goes <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>that's it for today but i'll write again soon! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/04/06/the_houses_of_parliament~2046719/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-04-05:/2007/04/05/martyn_jose_m_bouchard~2040957/gogontour2007-04-05T22:45:03+02:002007-04-13T23:03:37+02:00 <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1305035" title="CIMG0165"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/035/1305035_235ea9a3fb_s.jpg" alt="CIMG0165" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1305038" title="Picture 015"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/038/1305038_5e923edaeb_m.jpg" alt="Picture 015" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>day 5 (i think) and it feels like i've been here forever! we planned on goin to watch the united game last night in a pub that grace and i found called 'the houses of parliment' so we invited the other students on our course to come with us. we told a brazilian guy called jose to meet us there- we all love him bcoz he comes out with some really cute french things! BUT, we got lost. and it was raining. and we were cold. do we ended up in an irish pub called 'the blarney stone'. meanwhile jose- bless him!- was waiting for us in the other pub and now were not sure if he's actually talking to us!</p> <p>the irish pub was v nice. full of french and spanish ppl! the irish i saw there worked behind the bar, and despite our best efforts at french accents he knew straight away that we were british! at least we tried.</p> <p>one of the guys from chester is called martyn and when he told us that he was a lightweight, we didn't think anything of it. 2 and a half pints later he's almost trashed! and as such was subject to lots of ribbing from the rest of us lol.</p> <p>for some reason one of our classes at the minute is a video workshop, where we randomly go and film nature and stuff (what it has to do with french is a mystery), but today we had our first lesson with a new teacher called M.Bouchard and he is hilarious! i dont think any of us have laughed so much in class in our lives. he is so funny and loves taking the mick out of our accents- dez ole! he is so nice and much easier to get along with than 'dante'!!!!!!!! </p> <p>yesterday we all got our 'AQUI' passes which is like a student pass but means that we get cheap food on campus and in some places in the town so it's much needed since i seem to have spent a fortune in juat a few days! </p> <p>grace and me also got our travel passes. 26euros for unlimited travel in 1 month on tram or bus! it's fantastic and means that we dont have to spent evenings sitting in our crappy rooms!</p> <p>we're slowly working our way through our 'Bordeaux TO-DO list' but keep thinking of things to add. on our first day we thought this place was a dump but now we keep finding new places that we wanna go see!</p> <p>that's it for now! a bientot xxx </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/04/05/martyn_jose_m_bouchard~2040957/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-04-04:/2007/04/05/at_last~2035367/gogontour2007-04-05T00:02:49+02:002007-04-06T23:01:16+02:00 <p>finally i have wi-fi at uni! however, i do have to sit on the stairs to get it but as the french say, c'est pas grave! so i'm hopin to have more pics and posts on here from now on, so keep checkin! </p> <p>a bientot x</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/04/05/at_last~2035367/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-04-03:/2007/04/03/eminem_trams_and_tears~2025328/gogontour2007-04-03T12:31:34+02:002007-04-03T12:31:34+02:00 <p>been in bordeaux now for 3 days and it's gettin better!<img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p>Helene picked me, grace and bobby up at the airport in her 2 door car! grace and me were crushed on the back seat with two of our 4 bags while she took us on a tour of the city. plus the car, for some reason, was full of leaves! </p> <p>speaking of the airport, when we went to get scanned at the security checks, grace and me went o one that had a laptop sign and bobby followed. bobby asked the guard if this was the queue just for ppl with laptops and the guard looked at him and said "yeah, and this is the one for cripples and that one's for blacks"! how rude!!!!!!<img src="/img/smilies/graybigeek.gif" alt="88|" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>the rooms are best described as prison cells! they're tiny and basic- needless to say i cried <img src="/img/smilies/icon_cry.gif" alt=":'(" class="middle" border="0"> when i first seen it and wanted to go home straight away but it's kind of like home now.<img src="/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif" alt=":DD" class="middle" border="0"><br> we only have a sink, so there are 3 showers and 2 toilets on each floor, and on every floor there are 30 people! it would be much better if me and grace had actually found the hot water though!</p> <p>the french class itself is easy and makes us wonder what exactly we're doin there,<img src="/img/smilies/grayconfused.gif" alt=":??:" class="middle" border="0"> but at least we won't be straining ourselves!</p> <p>the tramway that goes through the city is fantastic because we dont pay for our journeys, we've deceided if we get caught to play the confused british card!<img src="/img/smilies/icon_confused.gif" alt=":-/" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>oh yeah and on our first day me, grace and bobby went to the train station to get sum passport pics for enrolement, and while waitin for the pics we got accosted by drunk/high scruffy, smelly french guy who believed we were american and kept shouting "eminem! chicago bears!" at us and dancing! <img src="/img/smilies/icon_crazy.gif" alt=":crazy:" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>also on sunday we only had one meal which i can honestly say is the best maeal i've ever had! i dont think ive ever been so hungry in my entire life!</p> <p>well thats it for now i think, once i get the internet in my room i'll put sone pics on here for you to see!<img src="/img/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif" alt=":>>" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>a bientot x<img src="/img/smilies/icon_wave.gif" alt=":wave:" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>p.s. why must they have french keyboards for the computers? </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/04/03/eminem_trams_and_tears~2025328/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:gogontour.blog.co.uk,2007-03-26:/2007/03/26/1_week_to_go~1975695/gogontour2007-03-26T01:22:08+02:002007-03-26T01:22:08+02:00 <p>Ok, so this time next week i'll be in Bordeaux! I can't quite believe i'll be there for 3 months but i'm sure it will hit me when i wake up on my first morning there! i'm hoping to able to update this blog as often as i can so keep checkin back to see for any new posts!<img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/312/1276312_c48c0f6c42_m.gif" alt="Bordeaux" vspace="5" hspace="5"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://gogontour.blog.co.uk/2007/03/26/1_week_to_go~1975695/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>