Le temps mange la vie

I'm forgetting the passage of days this week. Whenever someone asks me what day it is, I genuinely have to stop and think for a few seconds before I can give the correct answer. I blame Carnaval.

So some good news, somehow my phone has been found! You have read that right, someone found my phone...I now just need to go and get it. Luck has really been on my side recently, well, for a rather long while before now I think about it. I went for coffee and cake with Becky in the afternoon, and she was telling me how frustrated their group was getting trying to find people both in the parade and at the university itself. Myself? Well, no such problems as I can remember! I just hopped from group to group of people I knew and didn't think about finding anyone as people were always there (and plus, without a phone it is pretty difficult to do!).

As I said before, I met up with Becky for coffee and cake at Dolly's...was so great to just sit and have a chat about the past crazy few weeks, lots of discussions, revelations and occasional plaintes. Both of us have decided it is most definitely Caen to blame...once you come to this city your level of maturity regresses ever so slightly...or perhaps it is just a French thing, let me know if you know! All I know is that we're both having a ball, and I definitely would not change it!

My top three things (that you wouldn't necessarily think of) that I will miss about here:-
1. The excuse that I am English. My gosh does this work in every conceivable situation...pulling the different culture card forgives you for rather a lot of bêtises.
2. The fact I am one of the youngest of the group...which again forgives a lot of things, with the phrase "Oh well, you're only young". When I go back to university I will be one of the oldest again, boo! The reason I'm one of the youngest is that the English ERASMUS system seems to work differently than the majority of the rest of the world where we go in our third year compared to others going at the end of their degree.
3. My fan club. Don't worry, I mean at collège! When I arrive for work I immediately have a crowd of students around me wishing me good morning or saying hello or asking how I am. Sometimes I have to damp down English accent enthusiasm as not to scare them (think how you greet someone...if you're like me you will probably speak in a higher voice than normal, with a two syllable word you will speak higher on the first and drop on the second and with a three syllable word, low-high-low). As the monotone accent of the French does not really have this degree of enthusiasm at any time of the day, if I don't tone down the "high salutation reaction" I get a lot of funny looks! There have been occasions where enthusiasm overrunneth and I squirm inside at how they are not certain how to react to this crazily happy Englishwoman that they just wanted to greet! Right, back to the subject...at university when I arrive for a lecture, people will not run over to say hi to me and ask me how I am, no matter how much I might want it at the beginning. Maybe I could employ a few people to ease me back into the English nod or wave and the non-expectation of greetings.
4. I know I said three, but this is more of a secret shame one. Confession time: I actually quite like greeting people with bisous. Pretty much because everyone gets them, you have no awkward social moments (well, bar the wrong cheek phenomena) where you're trying to decide between no touching, handshake and hug. It also seems somehow that little bit more sophisticated, even if drunken bisous can sometimes end up in a bruising of the cheekbone. And there are degrees of difference between someone you know and someone you don't...as a rule of thumb, the more you know/like them the closer to the mouth you kiss. Thing is, if I start this phenomena in England I reckon it will look so pretentious people will no longer want to be seen with me...

Anyhows, back to my day. After a few hours in Dolly's, Becky and I met up with Claire for dinner in Au Bureau before meeting up with Pawel for a much needed coffee (everyone is still knackered from the Carnaval) and heading to Le Vertigo (again, I know!) to meet up with Laura and her family. Now I will be photographing Laura as much as I can to be honest, as my beautiful model and amazing friend is leaving France for home, to begin her final semester in Munich. She leaves on Wednesday morning, and I have never not looked forward to a day as much as this before. One of the kindest, loveliest and most generous people I know...I'm already certain that a.) I will miss her lots and b.) be going to see her in Munich as soon as I can. Now Laura's family are a blast, and we had many a cheers for no real reason as I could see (not too good at the old German!) but it was all part of the fun! I can see where Laura gets her character (and also her looks!) from and it was so great to spend time with them all.