Distant Friendship

這兩天Internet大塞，不知是否過去兩個多月已習慣了沒有Internet的日子，今次並沒有不習慣的感覺。不過在這非常時期不能連上一些重要的外國網頁，真的有點阻滯~~ 幸好不消兩天，大部份的網頁也accessible了，有關工作人員做事效率真快呢 (我常幻想他們是否滿身潛水裝備潛到海底修補電纜......哈哈)！

我本人對Internet又愛又限：愛它方便得不得了，卻恨它令人養成了庸懶的習慣；愛它能一時間聯絡各方好友，卻恨它令人忽視親力親為的關心；愛它造就了省時省力的生活，卻恨它令人把時間都白花了也不知 (尤其玩MSN時......) ; 愛它可讓我抒發個人感受，卻恨它反令我收埋自己...... 說到底，我深信「物極必反」，這兩天因為這而喊悶的朋友，小心不要上癮了啊！學會「慢活」吧～

說到「親力親為的關心」，今年聖誕節在意料之外在香港渡過，我真的感到香港越來越「冷」和「懶」。香港有很多親朋好友，但居然沒有收過一隻手寫的字（我自己也不是寫了很多），頂多收到Digital的「Merry Christmas」，但反而收到從遠遠的法國寄來的聖誕祝福！在27號收到了在Toulon認識的台灣同學Yi-Hsui怡琇、Yu-Ching玉菁和約旦同學Ammar的聖誕咭+CD-Rom，十分十分感動啊~!!!

那種心情真的不能言喻，尤其當我想到，不是很多機會可以3個人同時碰面、而且忙得有一段時間每天只以果醬塗麵包裹腹的他們，卻可以在兩個星期前把聖誕咭預備及寄出時...... 還有記得和Yi-Hsui同遊羅馬時，她很堅持要到郵局買郵票寄Postcards給朋友，而且還要分別買在羅馬和梵蒂岡的郵票，在不同郵箱寄呢（註：梵蒂岡位於羅馬裏面）！在Toulon想買郵票更加難，你說英文沒人會理會你，所以當我想像不懂法文的Yi-Hsui在郵局指手劃腳地買郵票的情景時，就更加感動！......還有！我不知那張聖誕咭他們是從哪裏弄來的，因為學校附近沒有文具店，我在Toulon時只見過downtown有一間，而且從宿舍到downtown要等一小時以上的巴士呢！(想起也可佈）

這份友誼，真的令我想哭！謝謝你們！

Shake Shake Shake

地震呀~~
剛剛check email時，感到張椅輕微地搖，之後見到書桌燈在震， 維持了約十多秒。
第一次感受到大自然的「力量」......
原來南亞海潚也正正是04年的這天，不知不覺已兩週年了......
世界何時末日呢？

btw, 如果真的地震，應該立即落樓，抑或躲在桌下？

Witness of Love

It's my 2nd time to attend classmates' wedding ceremony.

Congratulations to Sam and Carmen! Such a pair of 金童玉女, determines to say goodbye to their 10-yr-3-mth-2-day long road and start a new relationship in marriage.

It's so nice to love each other in God's love, forever.

Nice dinner

Met my primary classmate, Fion, tonight.
We went to a western restaurant in "women's street"~ good friend, good enviornment, good food, happy chat!

Hope we both can get married before 30! Cheers! wahahhaha~~~

Diarrhea, no more please!

Suffered from serious diarrhea for the last 3 days, I went to toilet for about 20 times in 2 days, so frequent that I dare not count anymore... so horrible...
Spent a several hundreds on seeing western and chinese doctors, $$$$$$
Cancelled all meeting with old friends and colleagues...-_- sorry... I really wanna meet you all.

Asking me to 戒口 is torture to me. Yesterday I asked my chinese doctor whether I needed to avoid eating something. "Just avoid to eat food which is oily or difficult to digest" She answered. Therefore, as soon as I left the clinic, I went to have 4 scoops of gelato (neither oily nor difficult to digest...hehe) yesterday... haha! I miss Italy crazily.

Met 2 死黨 yesterday, happy~~

真正的孤單

在外國，一個人，只覺苦悶，但不會感到孤單。
因為知道相隔兩地、聯絡困難，感覺遙遠是理所當然的。
接觸雖少，仍黙黙地相信有人在另一邊記掛著你。

在香港，一個人，不但苦悶，更感到無限孤單。
因為明知近在咫尺、聯絡極易，卻諷刺地感到空虛失落。
接觸多了，卻發現原來一切都只是自己自作多情。


不過，
其實我常常口不對心，眼腫腫睡醒後又滿懷希望。
可以證明給我看我是錯嗎?

我想有人錫

When I was in Toulon, I had nothing to do in my bedroom every night as there was no Internet, no TV, nobody talked to me... I listened to Leo Koo's songs again and again. Undoubtedly 《愛與夢飛行》is my favourite song, another is 《嗜好》。I'd never listened to this song until Mr.B gave this to me 6 years ago. (Thanks, Mr.B) I love the lyrics very much...


嗜好

晚上想去山頂數星星
還是想要趕場電影
懶得動沒有勁 寧可賴在家裏
只要你高興什麼都行

你說公司最近不景氣
我說你失業我養你
你抱我好用力 差點不能呼吸
在愛裏被需要是種最美的甜蜜

我的嗜好就是看你撒嬌
你想要的我都盡量做得到
有多費力勞心都不重要
心裏全都是幸福的味道
嗜好就是將你擁抱
要做你最暖和的依靠
總是想替你煩惱 想代替你感冒
捨不得你失去微笑


When will I meet this man?

Back to the starting point

I've been back for 6 days, too much to tell that I don't know how to start...

I really think that I've experienced many miracles and blessings from God in the last 72 days... I must write down what I experienced or I will forget... Give me some times...

And I have about 5 GB photos... I wanna share the essence with you all... wait for me...

I am trying to be in tune with life in H.K. now... Pace, Weather, People, Transports, Informations.... In fact most of the things keep unchanged despite something in my home... Luckily the weather is much warmer than that of European countries, I love this weather in H.K... Autumn...

I slept till late afternoon for the first few days.. horribly exhausted...my health seems getting worse... "my friend" hasn't visited me for over 2 months... oh no, I am still far away from 更年期, ain't I?

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Sometimes even though I have zero regret for my decision to give up, I feel like I am 半途而廢 after coming back... thanks Joe Yiu's encourangement: 「你好勇呀，真的，我覺得你很勇敢，夠膽嘗試，一個女仔去到咁遠。你放棄個度既生活，但係無放棄自己，無放棄跟隨神，神亦無放棄你。唔試點知喎，後生應該試多D，試左都吸收左一次寶貴經驗。如果响果邊發覺唔適合自己仲堅持留响果邊我覺得好固執同浪費時間 , 所以我一萬個支持~!」

My bed, I am coming back!

For the last 70 nights of France-Italy-London journey,

I've slept on 12 different beds...

Tomorrow night I will be in my bed in ParkIsland!! Wow bed, I miss you!!!

Next stop

Just come back from my "Holiday in Rome"

Next schedule: Will start my trip alone again, frist I will take a 12-hr night train to Paris, then eurostar on the next day to London.

Due to limited budget, I've booked a 4-bed mixed dorm again... hope everything is going well...espeically for the weather... cold cold cold...

Come back after 5 days... see you guys.

Update

There are always things happened unexpectedly, and I always meet nice people during my trip. Angel (a friend of Yi-Hsui) asked me to stay with her 2 days earlier before Yi-Hsui arrives. So I can check out 2 days earlier... so great! And, Yi-Hsui could finally join me to Rome... what a good news!

The owner of hostel told me to pay for one more day as I left earlier (in fact I informed her of it 22 hours before!). Thanks God, finally it was resolved and I'd lost nothing.

I had a private cooking lesson with Andrea in this morning, he said he would be in Hong Kong for a couple of days during Christmas for conducting a training session in Sabatini! Wow, it's the Italian restaurant I've longed to visit since long ago (but still haven't had a try there). What a wonderful experience for me to cook and have lunch with such a professional chef in Firenze!

Bored

I walked to a place which is almost out of the map of downtown of Firenze ─ Cavini. For what? Gelato again! It had tons of choices of favours... yummy!

Then I went to Uffizi Gallery. It was quite disappointing since it wasn't worth 9.5 euros for me... even though it was quite fun to see various version of Jesus and Santa Maria. I just remember "The birth of Venus" which is the picture of Adobe Illustrator... haha... But luckily there was a temporary exposition holding at the same time, "The mind of Leonardo". I was excited by the original sketches of Leonardo da Vinci when he did the lost painting of "The Battle of Anghiari", he really did a lot of detailed research and anatomical study about how a piece of muscle contracted and relaxed!

After the visit, it still kept raining and I felt very cold, I couldn't help having a cup of hot chocolate in Rivoire which is famous for its semi-sweet chocolates. It was tasty and just costed 2.3 euros!

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Now a man is fixing the lock of my bedroom's door... it's only been repaired after one week!...

Daniel just left in this morning, I don't know who will come next...
Honestly, it's quite uneasy to stay with a strange man in the same bedroom for 5 nights... but if no one cares, who cares?

I've stayed for one week in Firenze already... I start to feel bored... Florence is so small that I think at most 4 days is enough here... but I have to stay one more week...waiting Yi-Hsui to come...

Pizza in Pisa

Today I went to Pisa with my roomate, Daniel. It just took 1 hour from Florence by train.

It was pissing down sometimes, but it was happy to have someone be my companion in this trip. Absolutely, all people would do the same posture beside the Leaning Tower of Pisa - Torre Pendente, including me! haha... ( I kicked it for another photo)

We had pizzas in a restaurant, but it seems that western people seldom share pizza together... so I have a whole big pizza alone... I had stomachache after the lunch even though I couldn't finish it!

Daniel went to Empoli to watch a ball game and I went back to hostel alone. I listened to songs of Leo Koo and suddenly I felt very upset... tears dropped from my face... last time I cried was the 1st day of arrival on Toulon... I discover that I've already been in Europe alone for 54 days...

See the photos

I love gelato!

Colorful combination from Vivoli- one of the best gelateria in Florence.

Found it on Via Isola delle Stinche7r

Shopping Day

Today is my shopping day! I went to the Central Market to buy some fruits and tomatoes, only 1 euro/kg of tomatoes on a vine! Crazily cheap! As I remember, 胡杏仁also went there to buy a huge steak with a chef in the TV programme of 《從世界出發》, haha...

I bought a flattening pastry there for lunch... quiche Lorraine, a quiche made with cheese and pieces of bacon, with 48g fat content for one piece! I hope I won't be suffered from heart disease! For the taste... oh...very salty... it seemed that I was having a bite on a hard salty cheese! Italian people must get used to eating salty food.

Then I went to the seem-to-be largest supermarket, Esselurga, 45 mins away from my hostel to buy foodstuff and shampoo, toothpaste...etc. Cereal is crazily cheap... a box of Kellogg's Special K only costs 1.6 euros...! (It's $39 in H.K.)

It was fully dark when I came out of the supermarket at 5:15p.m... I think I am rather like a local than a tourist here (that's why it's not dangerous for me to stay here...) ... holding 2 large shopping bags, dressing causally with messy hair... :P

Shot a picture at the river (Fiume Arno).

Florence seems to be very small.


See what I've bought! One-week stock!

Pasta Day

I attended 2 Italian cooking classes in a culinary school today. I had tried 4 different kinds of pasta with heavy sauces and 2 fattening desserts made with chestnuts for lunch and dinner. I felt very full but it's good to gain my weight back, haha... since I've lost some pounds after coming to Europe. I think it's easy to achieve this goal, at least you can find gelateria everywhere, like 7-11 in Hong Kong. Every cafe has its own gelato corner as well...wow, I love it.

I wanna try pizza here, but it's not fun to have pizza alone. For me, pizza is something that you have to share with friends...

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Met Mariaka from Australia and Hanna from Korea in the hostel. They stayed for 2 nights only and left already. Last night I had a non-stop chat with Hanna for over 1 hour...both of us are talkative :P... it's my first time to meet Korean girl, I think their english is much better than Japanese's! Today comes Daniel, a journalist from Brazil, he will stay for 5 nights. It's so weird to stay in the same room with another man but luckily, he is very nice. However, I couldn't hang up my underwear in the room :P

ALWAYS get bad news!!

Bad news always come to me...

Yi-Hsui said she may have to change 10-day trip to 4-day trip in Italy...

I have to stay here for 12 days waiting for her, and I don't wanna be alone for one more week in Italy after she leaves... but I couldn't change the schedule of train ticket to Paris...

I will be alone for 5 days in London later, too. I've already booked the air ticket from London to HK... can't changed the schedule at such a low price... (HKD 2009 for OASIS HK airline)

:'(

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God's word is my only source of strength

I used to read Our Daily Bread everyday when I was in secondary school. Now I love to read its online version. I find it more inspiring to read english version, and It even has MP3 that you can listen to.

Exhausted journey

Ended 3-week stay in Paris, took the night train to Florence by 12 hours... Luckily I was the only one in the 4-bed compartment, but it was too noisy and I couldn't sleep on the shaking bed in the compartment... oops, my panda eyes are getting more serious now...

Travelling from Paris to Italy was like having a battle... I had climbed upstairs and downstairs with my heavy lugguage for over 10 times... coz there was no elevator for the metro and train stations in both Paris and Italy!!! My legs are full of bruises again...

Staying in a 3-bed shared dorm in Florence now... only 16 euros per night... just had a chat with a girl from Australia... luckily there is ADSL connection... but no kitchen... I want to have a cup of hot water...

Too tired to write what I've done in Paris...maybe do it later...

Very very tired and sleepy...

Update

Moved out from auntie's home... Thanks for Mish's lovely sofa, I could stay in Paris for 5 more nights.

Planning to move to my dream place, Florence, by night train in this weekend. Before joining Yi-Hsui, I will have 12 days alone in Florence, may God bless me.

No shipping service in France, incredible...
I will take my 40kg luggage to London for shipping...x_x

Miss me or not

Do you?

I have been falling in love with Le Jardin des Tuileries,
Being surrounded by orange color of the falling leaves,
I was moved, in such a Jimmy-styled picture...

but I felt unreasonably cold in such a warm color...

NERVOUS . HELPLESS . LONELY . UPSET

I will leave on next monday.

But, everything is not going well... especially for the bank issue...

Let me continue what was going on...
Finally I sent the registered letter to my landlord at the post office on tuesday... now I just hope someone would rent the room and I could get my deposit back... it's what I regarded as one of the "nonsense" thing coz the deposit is non-refundable only if I break any rules listed on the contract... but I didn't! Anyway, now I just want to leave without any hassle!

For the bank issue, since none of the staff could speak english, I really don't know what to do if when I really had to close the account before I leave. I am very worried as I still have much savings in this account, so I decided to transfer it to my brother in HK before closing this account.

When I knew classmate A decided to skip the lesson yesterday, I immediately asked him to accompany me to the bank as he knows French. However, when we went to the bank, the teller asked me to book an appointment on the next day (even though I just want to ask a simple question) ... Okay, I would come again on next day, but since classmate A had to leave Toulon last night for one week, no one could be my "translator" anymore... so I phoned classmate B whether she could help me during the break of lessons, but she said she couldn't... so I wrote a letter and asked classmate A to translate into French for me... and he left last night... I felt very helpless...
After a few hours, classmate B got back to me and said she could help me...thanks God.

In this morning, we went to the bank at 11a.m. as scheduled, the manager said I couldn't use this account anymore, so I made a transfer to Hong Kong first. But I can only close this account only after 2-3 working days, so I have to come back to the bank again on this weekend... oh, everything is very complicated...

Then I went back to school to find classmate C to accompany me on this saturday (that's why I can online now) ... I really hope the transfer is successful and I could close that account!!!! You know, HSBC in HK told my brother that the transfer would not be successful if any one of the words is wrong... but I really can't trust the bank here... when the manager filled in the tranfer form with her PC, she translated my HK address in French and made so many typing errors, I corrected her immediately... and at the end I still found that she typed one word wrongly... but she said it was not important! As a manager of bank branch, she even didn't know how much the service charge was, and just asked me to reserve a certain amount of money in the account and got back on saturday... Sigh, I am really very worried...

Anyway, thanks classmate A, B and C...

Recently I have nothing to do everyday except dealing with those trivial and time-consuming but important issues, especially at night. I've nothing to do in my room... no TV, no Internet, no music, no entertainment, even no one talked with me here... so I went to bed at around 10p.m.... it's unbelivable...

Another thing bothering me is, my 40kg luggage... I really want to throw all my belongings away as I have to go to the train station alone by bus on next monday...

CRAZY!!

Crazy, I come back to campus in order to write a formal letter to my landlord notifying him of my departure... and I have to send the letter by mail, as well as asking for so-called "certificated letter" (Huh? What's that?) by the post office, which is going to be closed soon... How troublesome it is!! They are really stubborn and conservative... I could get nothing even I informed him 2 weeks before.... and I couldn't leave the appartment until getting the approval of the landlord... Terrible! I wanna leave this nonsense place ASAP!

Thanks Altavista, I can "write" a formal letter in French! Awesome!

By the way, In this morning I've done a "great" job... that is... I got my bank card from a bank and was able to check my balance at an ATM machine! I headed for the bank by a bus map and finally got everything done! I really think that for such a French idiot, I have done a successful task already...haha... you know, I was so scared that the teller wouldn't understand me, and the ATM would "eat" my card as I just pressed the button by guessing...

But after 1 hours, when I went back to the campus, Edwigh told me that I should close the account in person before departure... why can't I close it later, or on the Internet??? Sigh, I have to go to the bank to sign a piles of contract again!

Actually I've already reserved a train ticket on the Internet, but I have to postpone the date by 1 week just for such nonsense rules! -_-

I feel so helpless, I'm afraid that I am a trouble-maker in my classmates' eyes... all classmates are busy on attending their lessons... no one is free to help me... and after lesson the bank and post office would have closed...

A terrible week

- Some flatmates came back at 12a.m. but some woke up at 6a.m...everyday I couldn't have a good sleep since my room is just one-thin-wall behind the bathroom.

- Everyone in a supermarket stared at me as I did't understand what the staff was talking to me... finally I knew that he asked me to put my backpack at the entrance and got it back after shopping... but why could the other carry their own bags? Oh no, just becoz they took the shopping cart! Nonsense! Okay, next time I will get that huge shopping cart even I just wanna buy a bottle of water!

- I went to Aix-en-Provence with a Taiwanese classmate on last saturday, that was the only meaningful day I've ever had since I came here... but we spent 5 hours on transportation, and I got up at 5:30a.m... that was crazy... and it was quite scary to walk alone to the bus-stop in darkness and coldness... anyway...huh...

- It was quite horrible to make phone calls at a public telephone booth every night...

- How can the banks only open for 6 hours per day and they close on monday, sunday and half day of saturday? CRAZY! I've been here for 3 weeks but I don't even know the balance of my bank account!

- I have to pay for the rent for 3 months even I just stay for 3 weeks... I couldn't have the deposit refunded even the semester hasn't started yet...very very upset...give my money back!

- Got nothing to do on sunday, so I spent 5 hours to view all digital photos in my harddisk... which are photos since 5 years ago... full of sadness...


Where is my HOME?

Advice Please!

The life here is absolutly different from english-speaking cities, and remember, it's not Paris... so let me show you how they are different by listing pros and cons...

I'm gonna make a decision very soon... please tell me how you think if you have any comment...


Pros

01. An opportunity to learn French
02. A quiet and peaceful place to live in (with a population of only 300,000)
- Overall good weather with over 290 sunny days annually
- Most people are friendly and gentle - Low crime rate

03. Can really concentrate on studies in my appartment (as there is no entertainment at all, not even a TV...)

04. Low living cost
- Earn a British master's degree with low tuition fee, it's 6-10K euros cheaper than studying in U.K.! (Note: 1 euro is around HK$10.)
- Just 20 euros for a monthly pass for all buses and boats.
- Food and drinks are inexpensive if you prepare by yourself*.

05. A good starting point to travel around Europe
06. May look for an internship for the 3rd semester (if I can find any)
07. Acquaint myself with management knowledge in the course (which I think is boring but useful)

* As a food lover, hanging around CarrFour (a big supermarket here) has become my major entertainment recently. You can find many interesting products that you rarely see in HK at a low price. You can just spend around 1 euros for a large baugette, a large piece of cheese, a bottle of jam / olives, a box of cereal bars / biscuit, 1kg fromage blanc / yogurt, 1kg fruits...


Cons

01. Absolutely inconvenient
- Poor transportation: You are like a handicapped if you don't have a car.
> Only 5 buses reach the campus for a whole day (believe it or not?)
> Have to wait for the bus for a long time wherever you go (I waited for totally 3 hours on last saturday)
> No bus after 8p.m. (I walked to home for having missed the last bus on the Mid-Autumn Festival)
> Most buses are out of service on sunday

- All shops are closed on sunday (I nearly died of hunger and thirst on last sunday when I moved to my new appartment)
- Have to walk for at least 30 mins (from appartment) if you suddenly want to buy something
- Can't buy any large things without a car
- Have to wash my clothes by hand throughout the year
- You can't find any public services during lunch time (12-2p.m.), even for banks...

02. The course lacks resources and isn't systematic
- You don't know who to contact if you've got any problem.
- You don't know where you will have your class until the last minute.
- Can only search for any resources from the Internet

03. Terrible campus
- No facilities in the campus e.g. water machines, Xeros machines, library, common room, sports centre... (a place just for having lessons!)
- You can't even have a decent place to study or discuss project with your classmates
- Situated in an isolated area, surrounded by roads and highway only, nothing to eat, shop, play... can't even buy a pen here! - Only one washroom in the campus (as far as I know) - Only one small computer room with only 9 computers for public use (with French Windows installed, French keyboard...that means can't use at all)
- The student cafeteria is as small as the snack booth of a secondary school, food is expensive, too.

04. No spiritual / social life
- No church at all
- I just have around 15 classmates in my course (and that's all who can speak english) - People seldom hang out here
- No large shopping malls (not even in city centre)
- No night life (it's like a dead city after 8p.m.)

05. French only
- You are like an alien to everyone here if you don't know French. (Sometimes I do confused that why I am here, too)
- Entertainment can't really entertain you e.g. all movies, magazines, books and even posters are in French only. NO ENGLISH!
- Can't go far, coz I can't get lost.
- difficult to communicate with everyone (even with my flatmates), ask for any help, make any phone calls, buy anything without a price tags...

06. 0thers:
- Die hard if I get sick, I don't even know how / where to buy Panadol here...
- Have to show my birth certificate translated in French officially if I wanna stay over 3 months. - Have to apply for Internet in the appartment on my own, and have to wait for 3 weeks.
- I can't print anything at all

A moment to decide again...

Hi all, wish you all have a happy Mid-Autumn Festival! I'm now in a small computer room of the campus... I couldn't access to the Internet in my appartment... it's been a long time I haven't been online... See whetherI will see a big full moon here tonight...

Finally, I've moved to a new appartment, shared with a french guy (just met him once) and a pair of Vietnamese lovers... they can just speak French at all!! They don't even understand simple english words! Everytime I have to use various types of gesture to express myself... very frustrated... and everyday I am like a "light bulb" as they always cooked happily in the kitchen, but I had nothing to talk with them as I don't know French... so I always had my dinner in my room... and always have salad or sandwiches...

And I've discovered that there is no washing machine in my apartment... oh no, I'm already tired of washing clothes with hands, like the days when I was in Tai Hang! And I have to buy all cooking utensils and containers as my flatmates have their own sets... I even have to borrow a pillow from my classmate as only a thin blanket is provided in my room. I just piled up my clothes to be my pillow for the first night... and I always woke up at midnight as it's terribly cold at night...

The worst thing is, as I've mentioned, there is no internet connection in the appartment... and they said they don't need it! ... If I apply by myself, I have to sign a 1-year contract and I have to wait for 3 weeks for the postage of WIFI stuff...

No Internet, that means: I can't communicate with anyone by msn/email, I can't phone anyone by Skype, I can't find any information for my projects, I can't check any French words, I can't search for any information for surviving here... every night I can do nothing in my room... can you imagine? And, I've encountered so many technical problems before I can get online in the campus today, and you know, the technicians here speak French only too... luckily one of my Taiwanese classmates speak French well...

What's more, I couldn't phone anyone even though I've got a mobile number in France as there has no value in it, I can just receive phone calls. (It's expensive and difficult to add value...)My Taiwanese classmates always use Skype only... Telephone card, for making both local or international calls, seems rare here and even the local people don't know where I can buy! ... (anyway I will try to find it out by myself later)

In fact it doesn't matter for me to wait for 3 weeks... the main concern is, whether it's really worth staying here. It's very fine to have life in the Toulon centre, but for the campus and my apartment, both are situated in an isolated and rural areas... just several buses can reach my campus... Most students here have their own cars... otherwise, you're just like a handicapped.

On monday, I had a lesson scheduled at 10a.m. but I was 40 mins late even though I left my apartment at 8a.m.... becoz I couldn't find the bus stop for transfer in the midway... I spent nearly 1 hour on walking to school finally... actually there is no decent pedestrian pathway...I just walked along the edge of highway... On tuesday, I missed the bus, so I walked again, and I had my forehead hit on a road sign as I couldn't see clearly by wearing a cap... now it's still swollen and painful...-_- sometimes I went back home on foot after school as I couldn't bear waiting for over 1 hour for the bus... (as I've nothing to do in the campus) . Every night I was extremely exhausted at around 9pm...

Apart from the transport, it's quite disappointing that the campus is as small as a secondary school... there is no library, no facilities, no student common rooms... only classrooms, an office and a small canteen! Not even know where I can take a seat! The campus is only surrounded by roads... no shops, no supermarket, no cash machine... I really can't imagine how I can enjoy the "campus life" here... and how can I write a dissertation if there is no library?? There seems no support from the school...

Recently I just dare to buy food in supermarket as I could see the total sum on the cash register. I did have many bad experience though. E.g. A cashier asked me for telephone number. / A cashier requested to search my backpack without any reasons. / Some supermarkets don't provide shopping bags so I took out my laptop and stuffed all food in my backpack once... one fun thing is, all products' labels are in French only (they also have other languages like Italian, Spain, German....but not english!! It seems that they dislike english!) , I can just guess what a product is with my sense!

According to a student from mainland Chinese (the only one in the campus) I met here, I believe I am the only Hong Konger in Toulon... It's really very tough for such an idiot in French here, I believe I've over-estimated my survival power. As I don't know French, I can't dine out / search for any French websites (no english version too!) / ask for help or direction / read any books or magazines here... However, to be honest, I've got no homesickness, I don't really want to go back to HK... I love atmosphere here, especially for the pleasant weather, friendly people (though I don't know what they are saying), lovely food... the living cost here is not even as high as in HK! House rent is just 325 euros, I can travel around by bus or boat with just 20 euros a month unlimitedly with the pass in hand! Most of the food in supermarket is 3 times cheaper than that you can see in CitySuper (It's really a good news for me...) I think it's gonna be fine if I've learnt some French after a period of time. But, what's bothering me is, I don't enjoy the campus life here... and no support!

What else? I couldn't find a church here... -_-

Since I've just spent little here... especially I've just paid for small amount of deposit for the tuition fee...I still can choose to quit... and I can travel around in this month before coming back... sounds good, huh?

It's time to leave... If I miss the bus at 5:20p.m. I have to wait for 75 mins for another bus! -_- see u guys!

God's mercy surrounds me

Too many things happened. Too many challenges have come up.
I did have an unimaginably hard time for last 3 days, but with God's blessing I think it's gonna be fine!

Please don't be annoyed with my long story.

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I've spent 30 hours from HK to Toulon. So terrible!

My itinerary:
2 hours from HK to Hanoi (Vietnam Airline)
--> stayed in the Hanoi airport for 9.5 hours
--> another 12 hours from Hanoi to Paris
--> take a shuttle bus from airport to TGV station for 1 hour
--> take the TGV fomr Paris to Toulon for 4 hours

Departed at 2:55pm in HK and arrived at 8:20pm on the next day in Toulon (Fr time = 2:20p.m.) It was exhausting but I had just spent HKD 3500 for the whole journey!


26/9 Before departure
I've just slept for 2 hours for packing my lugguage. My checked lugguage was weighed 38.5kg... Finally I stuffed my backpacks and it became 32kg, the staff let me go after attaching my lugguage with a "HEAVY" tag... but then I had to carry 8kg backpacks for the following 30 hours on my own... a very tough job. My Dad saw me off at the airport, we had a 10-min lunch and it was my first moment to cry. I am not that strong.

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27/9 Day 1 - On Arrival
The flight to Paris was delayed for 1.5 hours. I stayed in the hard and cold seat in Hanoi airport for 9.5 hours. Never forget how lonely and exhausted I was. Finally I departed again at 1:55a.m. Thanks God I could sleep on the flight. It was terrible to have breakfast at 5:30a.m. (france's time) on the flight to Paris, I think it was the earliest breakfast I've ever had! Since the flight was delayed, I was extremely nervous if I would miss the TGV scheduled at 10:20a.m. After grasping my heavy lugguage, I took the shuttle bus and kept praying & praying for being on time...It was already 10:15a.m. when I got off the bus... You can't imagaine how the feeling was when I rushed for the TGV with at least 40kg lugguage! It was really quite impossible to be on time as I didn't know which platform my train would depart from... and you can guess, the electric announcement board was in French only! But God's grace were with me, I rushed to the information centre and finally got it...(I believed the assistant was speaking english...) I utilized all my energy to go to the platform, showed the e-ticket to the attendent, and the door closed 1 minute after I boarded the train! Thanks God!

Worries still bothered me. I was not sure whether the e-ticket was valid...I just printed it from the internet... it looked fake! Finally, passed! But then, 2 questions came up in my mind: Will someone remember to pick me up? Where will I live?

Here comes the worst. One of my classmates, Edwigh, came to pick me up at the train station. She brought me to the accommodation... the lift was like HK's 50's one, could just occupy about 3 people! The flat was also terrible... a primitive and rough bedroom with broken windows, only a very small bed, desk and wardrobe in it... and the shared kitchen and living room were both in a mess... I couldn't imagine how the flatmates were like. "Oh how could I stay here for one year??" I shouted in my mind. But it seemed that I had no choice, as the student hostel in campus had been full, and the owner said I was already lucky to have such a room at 375 euros/month. I thought of living here for 3 months at the beginning, but I discovered that I didn't have enough money to pay for the deposit (totally 1K euros). They told me that my HSBC ATM card didn't work here as all card in France were with a chip implemented.... Even the teller in a bank told me the same thing...how come! Edwigh then drove me to the campus to ask if it was possible to add one extra bed in a double bedroom (horrible, how could 3 people share a single bedroom?) ... we walked around and Edwigh was so patient to ask for other's help ... but people just showed sympathy... eventually Edwigh picked me to a cheap hotel to stay temporarily until I could find an accommodation.

One trouble follows another. I found that the adaptors I brought didn't fit the socket here... and even Edwigh didn't know where I could buy one... at that moment I was hopeless as my mobile was out of battery... then we went to a shopping centre and got it, I was very happy even though it cost 7.5 euros... after that I quickly grasped some food in Carrfour (supermarket) before going to hotel.

It was already around 7p.m. when I arrived at the hotel, I was extremely exhausted when I moved my lugguage into the small room... and I didn't eat anything since the breakfast at 5:30a.m.... I was desperate for accessing the internet, luckily the guy at the reception fixed it for me... Thanks Edwigh, I could do nothing without her, as I'm just like a mute here! All people speak in French!

After drinking a bottle of milk and had some bread, I said goodbye with tears to this terrible day.

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28/9 Day 2
I got up at 7a.m., headed for the bus stop to the campus with a map. It was cool in the morning, the sun just rose. The bus's schedule is much more terrible than that in ParkIsland! There are only 3 buses to the campus in the morning! And only 1 bus per hour in the afternoon! But it's ok, as I've got used to it!

Had my french lesson... huh... alien words to me...
After the lesson, Edwigh picked me to a bank to open an account here. I understood none of the words they said except Bonjour and Merci... anyway, I just hope that brother could transfer money to me asap. Edwigh was too busy to help me to find accommodation, so I went back to hotel by bus... and surfed the internet for the rest of the day. I'm tired of web design, but I couldn't live without Internet... how ridiculous it is.

I discovered that my knees and legs are full of bruises (around 30), so horrible!!!
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29/9 Day 3
Met my classmates in a welcome breakfast today. It seems that only a few of us study for the master of design management. Others are for degree of business only. Students come from Poland, Belgium, Slovenia, German, Netherland, Taiwan and Russia... seems interesting.

Edwigh and I tried to use the ATM card at HSBC@Toulon, but failed as expected.
Then I brought a SIM card for my mobile. I've got a new phone no.!
Bought a fork, coz I had tuna with a can's lid and had salad with hand!
Then I treated Edwigh a lunch at a french restaurant to thank for her help. It was my first decent meal here. The Chevre cheese was delicious!

After that we went to see an accommodation. Thanks God, I love it! Even it's just a small room, but much better than the one I visited before! At least it's clean and tidy! The price is reasonable too (325 euros including electricity, heating and water). I will have 3 flatmates sharing the house, hope they are friendly! I could just reserve the room as I am still waiting for the bank transfer, hope I could get it by next tuesday. Next problem is... the accommodation doesn't provide internet connection... -_-

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29/9 Day 4
Today I discovered that the ATM card really works! It failed just becoz the ATM here couldn't show all the accounts included in the card! (I have $0 for the default account) But still, I have to wait, as it's sat and sun...

I have to spend at least 160 euros for the hotel, very expensive!
So boring in this 2 days!! Just alone in the hotel...

wowowoowowowwo!

< Link to my photos >

Birthday of my EU Blog

Here comes my new look of EU Blog! In fact I've made this template about 8 months ago but I just put it aside, so you can see I was wearing a scarf at that time...haha, it should be ok, coz winter is coming! I'm too lazy to update a new photo...or......let me do it later!

From this time onwards, I will share all about my foreign adventure here... it seems that when talking about studying abroad, 99% of HK people could just think of UK, Canada, Australia or America. Even if they do choose France as their destination, only romatic Paris comes up in their mind. How about the south of France? Let me be a pioneer then!

Let's see how a non-french stupid girl can survive in the coming one year...haha.


Update:
- Got my first laptop in my life on sunday! $9990~~~~~~ very "yuk tong"! Toshiba M100... my darling, you will be my main companion in that lonely city!
- Got a cheap and large luggage, will start packing my stuff tomorrow.