PARIS 1/3 - DISNEYLAND

Aaaaargh I've been back to Paris... three times(?!?!) I think since last summer..! I'm going to retro-blog my trips as I did lots of cool stuff and I have so much to say about all of it!! I'm going to start with my trip to Paris in Summer 2014 because that one was a lovely girly group trip and I have so many cute/ridiculous photos I never posted!!

Ok, so we went out on a Thursday evening and planned to go to Disneyland on the first morning. An off peak, term time Friday, ohhhh yeah. We took the Eurostar to Paris and stayed in the oops! hostel, which was really nice (but I'd now always recommend staying in an airbnb property if possible, as you just get so much extra space and your own kitchen and things!)

Arewethereyetarewethereyet

 The day of Disneyland I was so so giddy it was actually kind of embarrassing....  I'd only been to Disneyland once when I was about 7 or something (also the one in Paris!) and while I loved it it rained the whole time..! I was looking forward to reliving the magic but maybe in the sun..?

Haha nope it was raining loads.

NEVERTHELESS I STILL HAD LOTS OF FUN LIKE WHEN I MADE MADDIE GENUINELY AFRAID OF ME ON THIS DRIVING RIDE.

We were still having loads of fun even in the rain, and I was really happy I'd got to come with such a nice (tolerant) group of (tolerant) friends!

And then... HOLY SHIT IT GOT REALLY REALLY SUNNY. AND STAYED LIKE THAT FOR THE WHOLE DAY!!! And all this fun ensued...

Banana breakfast pancakes (Gluten free/grain free/pancake free.)

I feel it's important to make one thing quite clear. I love brunch. Pancakes are incredible. Especially when topped with an entire pig's worth of bacon. However, my ideal brunch doesn't really factor into my healthy eating plans and as I have a gluten intolerant dad and a diabetic boyfriend, when I saw the recipe for "banana pancakes" that had been floating around, I thought I'd give it a try.  It seemed pretty simple- take a very ripe banana and mash it in a bowl, add two eggs and cook on a low heat to create a batch of delicious, lower-carb, gluten-free, healthier "pancakes". What a good idea. I gave it a try- they looked great, they smelt yummy (kind of like plantain chips). I was so pleased. Such a shame they tasted like butt. 

I should mention at this point that I've never liked over-ripe banana, so I shouldn't have expected miracles. After throwing the first batch out, a sulk and a walk along the canal, I made some changes and tried again and it made them taste a lot better. My way of doing it yields a smaller serving size and is a little less sweet, but in my opinion it's much closer to pancakes and doesn't have the overpowering taste of old bananas and hot egg aka butt.

For a one-person serving, you'll need:

1 small not-very-ripe banana

1 medium egg

ground cinnamon

vanilla extract

Peel the banana and cut into small pieces to give yourself a head start on the mashing. Transfer to a small bowl and then mash thoroughly- this was a little tricky as greener bananas are starchier and less squishy than the old (and horrible) bananas most people suggest using. (As I am impatient and don’t have that many kitchen tools, I took a pair of pliers to an old, mismatching fork to create a teeny-tiny masher..!)

Crack two eggs into the bowl and mix well. Add a generous amount of cinnamon and vanilla extract and mix through. Heat your pan on a medium-low heat (If you turn the heat up too high, these will burn on the outside before they’re done inside.) Add the batter to the pan in small “silver dollar” pancake sized circles and wait. Be patient- flip these gently when you start to see little bubbles appear all over the top. Cook until done on both sides and then keep going until all the batter’s gone- you should end up with about five.

I topped mine with a drizzle of honey and frozen raspberries (healthy), but you can add whatever you like (bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon). They don't taste like the world's best pancakes, but they don't taste like butt either. Plus, at a 250 calories/Propoints value of 2 (yes, I do Weightwatchers shut up shut up.) for a whole plate of hot, gluten-free, not-butt pancakes, I can cope with that.

"What's in my..." Wednesday

...I thought I'd get back into actually blogging by a.) using a pre-existing theme and b.) applying a day of the week to it to encourage me to do it more than once and never again.

I know that "What's in my bag" posts are really popular with a lot of people who blog, and I think they're kind of cute insights into people's preferences/lifestyles. So I thought this week I would dump my bag and it's contents all over my bed and write about that. I will openly admit that my bag has been thoroughly cleaned out before university starts next week. Otherwise it would just be "Here is a receipt from McDonalds. Here is a screwed up bit of paper with a rude word drawn on it. Here is an old sweet I never threw out from 2008." and it would be painfully obvious what kind of person I actually am. (Rude/lazy/fond of chips.) So... without further ado...

This is the bag I use for university when I'm not carrying bulky art materials- it's a pale pink leather Zatchel that I got during their almighty 50% off anniversary sale. It's the second largest size and it's just the right size for an A4 ring binder, my iPad, a notebook and all the other useful bits I need. Both the sturdiness and cheapness of the bag please me. Also it's a really nice (almost acceptable) shade of pink- hurray.

Woah, look at that. Artful arranging and little numbers. I'm so proud. The only thing not in the picture is my iPad because we all know what an iPad is/I am listening to podcasts. 

1.) Wallet and Oyster card.

A pretty basic requirement of most bags in London. The oyster card helps me get around and the wallet should be full of £££ but is mainly full of buttons and receipts. My X-Men oyster card case was a very special present and my wallet is from Cath Kidston- in case you can't tell already, I love me a busy pattern.

2.) Student ID/Cath Kidston lanyard

I have a Cath Kidston lanyard because I'm a jerk. If I don't wear it around my neck at all times I lose it in less than 8 seconds and then they won't let me into uni, so it made sense to get one that is pretty/outwardly projects "HEY GUYS? GUYS? GUESS WHO LOVES FLORALS?"

3.) Tangle Teezer

This is one of the small tangle teezers with a cover that protects the bristles/stops hair getting all up in my stuff. I genuinely love these brushes as I'm always a fan of anything that doesn't pull my hair out every time I use it. Not only is it a really great hairbrush, it's leopard print. The classiest of all the animals.

4.) Nintendo 3DS

It plays games. I can play Animal Crossing on it. In 3D. Literally anywhere. 'Nuff said.

5.) iPhone 4S

Mainly used for informing my mum that I'm not dead/instagramming pictures of bacon. Also shrouded in an attractive floral motif.

6.) Shiny New Ringbinder

I bought this from Muji as it seemed like a nice, minimalist folder to put this term's notes in. I promptly decorated it with little dinosaur stickers and musical notes to distract me from the impending doom of dissertation. Haha I added some musical note stickers too so it looks like the dinosaurs are having a disco party hahahahaha oh god.

7.) Pens

Also from Muji because I like how fine and nice the black 0.38 ones are to write with, and I like to underline things in pink and purple.

8.) Cath Kidston notebook

I use this to write big lists of things I should be doing in and then I tend to not do most of those things bar the necessities and draw a picture of a wonky horse instead. All the pages are floral too. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I really do like florals.

9.) Mirrored sunglasses

I can literally stare at people for hours and hours and they have no way of knowing. (Also they look quite nice.) These cost about £2 and if they ever break, which I think they're close to doing, I will cry.

10.) Handcream, lipstick, pressed powder

I'm trying really hard to carry around less makeup with me as I'm trying to be nicer to my skin. From left to right, I have an "& other stories..." hand cream in Shinjuku Bloom. It's cherry blossom scented and smells really, really fresh. The cream itself is rich-feeling and does the trick. Also it comes in a little paint tube which is just.... gah, adorable. The lipstick is a MAC lustre lipstick in "Patisserie" which is a sheer brownish-rose everyday colour. It wears like any other MAC lustre lipstick, i.e. it needs more frequent application but is much less drying than their matte shades. And finally, Chanel pressed powder in 20 Clair- Translucent, which is a really great pale powder. I will be very sad when it runs out imminently.

So! There are all the nice, clean, shiny things I have put in my bag to make me sassy and wise for the start of the year at uni. I'm sure if we all look in a week's time it'll be full of god knows what. Maybe ham?

halfway.

I've now been in Paris for almost exactly a week, so it feels like it should be time to write some kind of wonderful, meaningful summary about how I feel about it so far. Unfortunately, whatever I try to write feels a bit... underwhelming. I'm in a very strange mood, so I'll try and explain.

I feel like I'm very much in limbo. I've spent all week at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts meeting people and looking at studios and signing forms and waving my arms around, and while it's all incredibly useful and interesting, I feel guilty that I haven't actually done much. I forgot how overwhelming it is to learn a whole new university layout (especially one with so many distracting frescos/marble arses). In terms of art practise, I don't think I'll be in a position to start making anything until next Wednesday, and I don't know how much longer it'll take me to actually work up the courage to get stuck in. All the exchange students share English as a common language, so all the introductory sessions and social interactions have so far been in English, so I feel like I'm cheating and have barely spoken any French (apart from "Je voudrais le massive croissant") at all this week. Which is funny, what with being in France and all.

I've been walking around, which is quite solitary but very relaxing and a useful way to get to know things and a good way to counteract the nine thousand pastries I've crammed into my neck. I feel a bit sort of blank at the minute but I think it's because I'm tired and a bit overwhelmed and also surprised that I haven't dissolved into tears every time I miss my family/my boyfriend/forget how to say "you're welcome".

The language barrier really frustrates me and it's even more frustrating knowing that that's not going to change quickly- for somebody who loves words and is a bit awkward and relies on having the ability to explain away clumsiness/bizarre tendencies, I find it hard to not be able to answer simple questions, and I feel rude when I have to sort of mumble a thank you/you're welcome/same to you or just sort of smile and gesture. I can plan conversation just fine, but it's when I'm caught off guard by random interactions that I feel stuck and a bit silly. I'm looking forward to my first French class tomorrow, as I really want to be able to improve and make a good effort/not just sit there like a pasty English lemon when I join the French students for regular classes. I know I'm not going to learn French quickly, but I really want to come home being able to speak more confidently. On the flip-side, I am pleased with the little breakthroughs I've had this week and am grateful for the couple of conversations I've had/the patience of the people who had to work out what I was trying to say.

To summarise, I still don't think I've quite found my feet yet. I feel guilty for feeling so neutral- everything I look at here astounds me and I can't even describe how excited I am and relieved at how nice and fun the other exchange students are and how surreal it is that I'm actually finally here, wandering past the Louvre all super-casual like it's a Tesco Metro, but when I get home at the end of the day all I want to do is sleep. I have never, ever, ever lived anywhere else than the city I was born in, so I'm chalking it all up to sort of background, subconcious shock.

I am really looking forward to this weekend- I am really going to enjoy myself and look at things and take even more pictures on my phone and actually vocalise how happy I am to be here. And then I think I'll get over myself and really, really, really start enjoying it. And then I'll write about how good food shopping is in France (and my creepy love affair with lettuce/bread/all foods) and my trip to Pierre Herme, because that was delicious and more interesting than this garbage.

Trinket packing.

Ten days from now, I will be sat in a new flat in Paris, preparing to begin as an exchange fine art student at ENSBA. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about that- I think for somebody terrified of taking risks it's a big deal, and it's proved to be pretty stressful getting to this point. I can't say for sure, but I imagine that once I'm there I'll probably dive nude into the Seine with glee. But... until then, I think I'm just going to keep dreading things and imagining worst case scenarios. Which is just fabulous for those around me who are having to deal with the wobbly little pile of nerve-blancmange I am at present. A pile of blancmange that keeps bleating "I'm going to Paris". "I'm so nervous about going to Paris". "Oh, you're just going to the toilet? Well I'm going to Paris". "Oh you're from France? You'll never guess where I'm going" "Paris" "Paris" "Paris". It makes me want to shove a souvenir Eiffel tower up my nose and out the back of my head.

I've started doing things that are vaguely productive- I've begun to pack my cases, which is turning out to be like playing Tetris with my entire life. It's hard sorting what I actually need from the china cats, platform shoes and bits of tinsel that pollute my existence. Luckily, friends have come to the rescue offering mountains of helpful tips, from what essential condiments to take with me (Marmite) to how to fold my clothes to save the most space (roll 'em up). I'm almost starting to look forward to the creation of a "capsule wardrobe" (a term that always fills a hoarder with dread...). Almost.

I decided that my second productive thing to do would be to start writing this- I'm hoping it might be a good distraction when I realise just before I climb into bed each night that I am definitely on my own in another country and there is no God/Sainsburys. This is an incredibly boring blog entry to start something new with, but I thought it was as good a point as any to try and begin. At the very least, the whole being-in-France thing I've been battering everybody around the face with should be vaguely more interesting than my usual "Um today I looked out the window and then I changed my underpants and then had a ham sandwich". For the first time in my life, I'm going to attempt to stick to keeping a blog and not delete it out of shame and awkwardness after a week.

Hahaha...