European Tour: Rome - 5 days

It was just great!! 5 days in the Italian capital celebrating Xmas with my family and rediscovering the ancient city.

My mum and brother came as well from Paris so we spent Xmas all together.

Even though I was about to miss my flight because I locked myself out of the door just before going to the airport, leaving my ID card, fly ticket, etc in my appartment, the flight was ok. My cousin, Marco, and one of his friends were waiting for me at the airport. I haven't seen Marco in years!!! So it was just great spending time with him again.

DAY 1: Wednesday 24th December
My mum, brother, Marco and I left for a big walk in the city: we saw the Bocca della Verità, the Campidoglio from where we admired the Fori imperiali, then walked to the Pantheon (where it DOES rain inside!!). There Marco had to leave us to go pick up his father's Xmas present so with my mum and brother we continued

our tour to Piazza Navona, Fontana di Trevi, Piazza di Spagna and close from there visited a hotel for one of my groups which will go there soon (work's never far!).
We came back by metro and had a nice Xmas dinner next to the lovely and fairy Xmas tree my uncle, Pierangelo, had settled.
We finished the evening playing society games (I won most of the time :) ).

DAY 2: Thursday 25th December
We woke up early enough to go to the Xmas mass in a very nice basilica famous for having all the portraits of the popes on the walls.
After lunch and a couple of games, we went for a long walk on Via Appia Antica where the Romans use to walk and drive. Via Appia Antica is the last authentic street of the Roman Empire in Rome, with the original stones and the prints on it made by the chariots.
Then we left to see the Mosè from Michelangelo and finished our walk in front of the Colosseum.
Lots of pictures obviously.
DAY 3: Friday 26th December
Out with Marco, mummy and Greg to visit the Vatican and some other places.
First San Pietro basilica to admire the beauty and the majesty of the place. Pics, pics, pics :)
Then back to Piazza di Spagna to see another hotel and to take some daylight pictures, after that Piazza del Popolo and up to the "Pincio" to have the best view of Rome (all the momuments where illuminated as it was starting to be dark) and finaly, last look at the former city door before going back to the metro.

DAY 4: Saturday 27th December
We went to a huge mall called Euroma 2 where the majority of the stores are brands. In fact the prices where just too high for us. Anyway, we had a walk there and spent some time watching the shops.
In the evening, we all went to an Indian restaurant (delicious!) and straight after my mum, Greg and I got our last real Italian ice cream (even if it's winter!!!). It was huge, tasty and great! :)
To finish the evening, Marco brought me to see some of his friends. :)

DAY 5 : Sunday 28th December
Very early in the morning, my mum and my brother left for the airport. End of the winter holidays for them... already! A quick goodbye and back to bed for another couple of hours as we came back at 3am from his friends evening.
We went for a walk in Porta Portese and then back home to pack, have lunch and finaly leave as well toward the airport... feeling blue...

These 5 days were the more relaxing I have had this year and my time in Rome was just wonderful between the discoveries and the family. I really wanna go back again... But I threw a penny in Fontana di Trevi, so I will!

European Tour: Paris - 4 days

Back in Paris for a couple of days. Home sweet home as we use to say!
Originally it was to take my internship oral exam but it appeared to be more to see again the people I know than to have a studying stay.

I did the typical "duties" (consulate, doctors...) and then took advantage of all my friends, even the one I wasn't expecting to see. Ok, let's say it, I was never home!! I think I may have seen my mum for 3 hours out of 4 days!!

Anyway, to all the one I saw, thanks for your time, it was good seeing you again. And for the others, we'll plan to see each other soon.

The weather was not that bad up there and I even got the chance to see the opening of the Xmas market... At least that as the decorations in my street were really shitty! So desappointing!
Anyway, it's not bad beeing back in Nice. Not that I was getting bored in Paris (I didn't have time!) but there was a little something different...

Oh!! And I received my Christmas present from my mum!!! A brand new camera!!! Lots of pictures coming soon!!!

Discovering the region...

...And discovering it by all means!

After having been to Saint-Paul de Vence by car with Cécilia, having visited Monaco with my mum and having done scuba diving in the Mediterranean sea, I took advantage of a day organised by the region of Var to discover more!

After a workshop in the congress center of Saint Raphaël and a not that good lunch served in a seminar room of the closeby hotel, we went sailing on a catamaran for about 40 minutes. Just the time to reach Port du Poussaï were the excursions started.

As a start, we decided with Cécilia to be adventurous and we loaded in a buggy trip.

Actually, before seeing the buggy, I thought the vehicle would be similar to the ones I drove back in Dublin on the golf course so I was pretty confident on my capacity to drive it (as, as you can remember, I was a golf buggy driving master!).
But the buggies from Dublin were far different from the ones we were about to drive there. Way more quiet! These ones here were sport buggies! A sort of engine I had never seen before. So I lost a bit of my confidence when I saw it but then, the "teacher" explained the way it was working and I felt completely disarmed: the wheel was hard to manage, there were tiers, a handbrake...

But I still insisted on driving the engine (Cécilia didn't want to drive anyway!)
He distributed a pair of glasses to all of us saying we would need it at some stage because of the dirt on the way (which didn't really make me confident) and he checked we were all well cinched to the buggy's sit (which affraid me a bit more!). And there we were, ready to go!!!

We had to stay in queue but as soon as everyone left, the first problem arrived: the buggy didn't want to start! The motor wasn't turned on! Haha!!

After a couple of minutes and some meters covered, I felt more and more confident and realized I was not that bad in buggy driving.
Despite that, Cécilia got a panik attack on the way up the hill. This was probably due to the fact it was her first adventure experience after the canyoning event so that scared her but she breathed and finally controlled her fear feeling.

Up and down the hill, back to the start point. Great experience and great sensations. For me it was more than anything getting the driving pleasure back and feeling more confident in a car... or some sort of! :)

To calm down the adrenaline and finish the day trip, we ended up on the beach for a petanque game. It was fun and relaxing and nice doing some traditional activity.

I realize that I have never done so many things in my life than since I'm here: scuba diving, going to the Spa, touching an iguana, driving a buggy, etc... My life here is just... INCREDIBLE!!!

Botanic gardens

After a morning feeling blue, Cécilia brought me to Parc Phoenix.

This park is half a botanic garden half a zoo (well there are some animals but not that many). We goofed around there taking pictures of everything that appeared to be nice to us and agreed on coming again well dressed one day for a shooting session. This place offers really nice spots and the light can be awsome at some moments.

In one of the greenhouses, there was an iguana that was quietly waiting on the floor and looking at the visitors. It was not standing in a cage or a closed environment so we could easily go close to it and touch it. And that's what we did!

We approched it, and after the first moves, a bit scared I must say, we started realize our friend was actually really cool (in all senses!). His skin was soft and he wasn't a bit disturbed by our presence and the fact everyone was touching him.

We took plenty of pictures and finaly left him alone... all the more that the parc was about to close!

Here is a little memory of that day:

Italian Fashion

This week-end we decided with Cécilia to go to Italy in an industrial area where shopping is cheaper. From my side I invited Noémie to join and Cécilia decided to bring Christelle with her so on Sunday morning (it was actually midday already when we left), we drove to Serra Valle.

Serra Valle is situated a bit further than Torino. To go there, we took the highway up to Torino and then changed direction toward Serra Valle. The thing is that it normally should take 3h to go there. How come after 4h we were still on the way?? We took the wrong way!!!!

Finaly, at about 4pm we arrived, starving as none of us have had lunch and with the firm intention to find something to buy just to make the trip worth it! We got a piece of pizza and a coke in an italian fast food and started to goof around the branded shops: Versace, Prada, Guess and so on. All there with incredible prices! Well, of course it was way less expensive than the normal price but I still can't understand people who spend 150€ just for a pair of jeans!

We moved from one side of the area to the other taking the little train and enjoying the tour: picture, (wasted) movies, and laughters.

Anyway, I came back as well with a bag: at Pitarello, my beloved Italian shoe shop, I found a pair of boots at 74€, all in black leather. Just beautiful!

And it was already time to go back. This time driving on the coastal highway and in fact, in 3h we were home.

Next shopping adventure in Italy: probably during spring 2009!

Special thank you

After 6 months here in Nice I have a special thank you to say.

Dear Cécilia,

As soon as I arrived you took care of me: you helped me find an appartment, you advised me on various subjects, you gave me things to decorate my studio... and little by little you became my very good friend.

After a couple of weeks, I felt so at ease with you that we started going out together and made activities: scuba diving, bars, movie watching etc...

You helped me in the bad times as well. When I felt lonely, when I lost faith and when I felt bored, you were always there to chear me up.

We're working together and spending time outside the office together and after 6 months I'm still having as much fun as the 1st day!!

Because of all this I would like to tell you how much I appreciate your friendship and support.

Thank you for being there.

Relaxing days

Here we go for other news.

Cécilia is finaly allowed to drive again so here we are, the both of us, on the way for other discoveries!

This week-end we decided to go to La Havane. It's a Cuban club next to my place, very nice and exciting. When you go in, you just change atmosphere. The music, the decoration, the dishes, all is made to make you think in 2 seconds you took the plane and changed country: Cuba's there!

So we enjoyed the great restaurant (not so great for our purse), the typical drinks and the nice music and danced part of the evening.
Talking about the different excursions we could organize, we came up talking about the 1h Aquapass we got offered from one of the hotels we work with: the Mas d'Artigny.

This hotel, we visited last Tuesday, gave us as a present an entrance to their Spa and a 10% discount for one of the massages they make. We used the discount to make a present to our manager (a 1h Tibetan massage + 1h access to the hammam, chromatic swiming pool and relaxation room) and kept the Aquapass for us.

So after our virtual trip to Cuba, we came to my place to pick my stuff up and went to Cécilia's one. I slept there so the next morning we could get prepared and leave soon to Saint Paul de Vence and then the Spa.

Sunday morning: Visit of Saint Paul de Vence Village, couple of pictures, cosy restaurant (I know, again!) and then direction the Mas d'Artigny for the Spa.

The 1h Aquapass got transformed in a 2h delightment. Hammam, chromatic swimming pool with the relaxing music UNDER the water and relaxation room where we just fell asleep!!

At 7pm, the lady from the Spa came to wake us up and throw us out. We had to leave this magnificent and relaxing place and had not a single problem to fell asleep in our beds.

On this Monday, Cécilia and I had just one word to say: ZEN.

Back home

Season's over. My manager gave me some vacation. So I took advantage to go back home and see family, friends and doctors!

I left on the 24th September in the afternoon and thanks to the very punctual railway system we have here in France, I arrived home at 1 am, that is to say almost 1 hour late. I was weird being back home, walking on the sidewalks I used to walk on when I was living there. I think I sort of realized when I was there, that I had left.

Before I left, my manager made me a job offer. It's not going to be really well paid but some things are sure if I accept:
- I will work with a great team
- I have an awsome manager
- I will learn a lot of new things and discover great new places in France (which will make me change my mind about my country)
- I will make lots of contacts everywhere
All this is way much important than just earning money. I can leave perfectly with the 860€ I earn at the moment so with 1200€ it should be way enough (maybe I'll be even able to save!!)
And on the other hand, one has to keep in mind that this is not going to be the job of my life. As a start of career it's great!

So I accepted! I'll end up my internship in November and will start straight away my contract. I haven't signed the papers yet but have no doubt it will come soon.

So here I am, starting a new life in South of France with a little studio all mine, new friends and a new job!! Only the boyfriend is missing (yes, I broke up with Franck) but I don't worry a bit about that! ;)

Adventure you said? Sure!

Last saturday (13.09.08), I draggued Cécilia to a canyoning excursion organized by the hostel were I stayed when I arrived. Franck, my boyfriend, decided to join as well.

We woke up pretty early (6.30 am for me) to get prepared and arrived at the hostel on time. The guide arrived and we first figured out we were the only participants. The guide, Eric, was pretty scary: he was roughly dressed up with a jean and a common T-shirt, had not combed his hair and looked like he just woke up. Ok it was only 8.30 but that didn't give a good impression.

He announced us he had decided to change the destination of our trip. Instead of going to Barbera canyon, we were going to a "more adventurous" canyon always in the same area. Cécilia got a bit scared. She had never done canyoning and she was afraid she wouldn't manage to follow.

The 4 of us left in Eric's car to go Clue de la Maglia canyon. On the way, we stopped to meet the other 3 participants: 3 guys, beginners as well, but older and stronger than us.

Cécilia is pretty little and light, so to be sure she would bear the cold water, Eric gave her 3 combinations.

We walked down to the canyon through a path in the forest and started straight away the canyon by jumping directly in the cold water. I mean... the REALLY cold water!! It wasn't more than 7 or 8 degrees!!

The canyon went on well through water slides and jumps. The higher jump we made was 12m high!! I prayed each time before jumping as I was always pretty scared. But Cécilia and I had really a lot of fun! Franck, on his side, was like a kid: jumping in the water without calculating were he was about to land, sliding without any fear or regret, enjoying his time and the people he was with, wanting to go always further and first...

We finaly arrived in a cave. It was incredible! The landscape so far had been really nice and awsome as, in the canyon, you really felt like being part of the river going down the mountains. I was discovering the water cycle at each step. I was so little in this water path compared to those giant walls!
In this cave, things were even more emphasized. The water was flowing down the walls, there was a small waterfall straight upon my head and we had to go through it, stalactite were decorating the cave everywere... it was just awsome being there, feeling like nothing in the middle of the ice-cold water.

But I am not sure Cécilia really enjoyed this landscape. Short time before, we had to abseil a wall next to a waterfall. Everyone did good... except for Cécilia. She got stucked under the waterfall, the two ropes tangled around her leg, the head upside down... about to drown herself!!
She screamed and struggled... and when we finaly managed to take her out of this hell, her shoulder was really hurting.

We continued the canyon until the next exit (that means for at least another half an hour!) and then we asked Eric to bring Cécilia, Franck and me to the closest hospital (Menton's one).
A doctor saw her, she got some X rays and they determined she got a dislocation of her shoulder (no kidding!).

They anesthetized her and replaced her shoulder. She is now on sick leave for 1 month!
She finaly called her father and he came to pick us up and to bring us home.
When I arrived, after having been worried for the whole afternoon, tired and exhausted of this athletic day, it was already 11pm.

Regarding the guide, let me tell you he was not educationist AT ALL!! What happened is almost all his falt. He didn't look after us, didn't gave us the basis of security... was simply not the guy we needed.

Though Cécilia got this accident and, therefore, appreciated less the activity, we all had a lot of fun and will, FOR SURE, remember this day!

Oh! I missed the plane!

Back with bad news. Well, bad is not exactly the right word but what is definetly true is "news"!

Last Saturday, I had clients leaving from their hotel to the airport to take a flight back to Romania. The bus supposed to take them had problems so I called the hotel and asked to call a taxi for them (which we would have payed back of course).

Unfortunately, these two (stupid) clients had left the reception and were waiting at the corner of the street. This means that when we called the receptionist of the hotel, as she didn't see any clients, she didn't call the taxi.

The flight was taking off at 5.45pm and everyone knows the check in closes minimum 20 min before.

At 4.50pm, seeing that the bus supposed to pick them up was not coming, the clients went back to the reception of the hotel asking to call a taxi because their bus was not coming. Of course the receptionist, understanding what was going on, hurried and the clients left. They obviously arrived too late for ckecking in and obviously they missed the plane.

To show you how dum these two are, instead of looking for the guide and the rest of the group at the airport or, AT LEAST, call the two other guides in charge, these two grabbed another taxi and went back to the hotel were they booked another room for the night.

And there the problems began!

- There are not so many flights for Bucarest
- My manager was on holiday
- We were a Saturday evening so no reservation department open in any hotel
- Who would pay for this extra room booked (and for the ones until they would leave)?
- Who would pay for the extra tickets to Romania?
- Whose fault was it?

All this had to be sort out really quickly, on a week-end, disturbing my manager on her cell phone with bad news (which obviously she didn't appreciated), loosing the less money as possible and facing the bad faith of the clients that kept on repeting they didn't have money to pay 1 extra night in the hotel (while they just payed 1 week there, come on!) and that the guide told them to go at the corner of the street (which she didn't do).

They blackmailed to call the Romanian TV to make scandal and didn't really helped us finding a solution.

Anyway, they left this morning with an early flight and now I am waiting for any feedback (scandal, trial or maybe reporters making a report on how bad services we provide - Maybe I will go online on Romanian TV!!?!! :D).

Athletic resolutions

Walking on the Promenade des Anglais in the morning or in the evening, you can see lots of people jogging, cycling or roller blading. This gave me the impression of walking along Miami beach and, looking at those people, I felt like I was the only one not motivated enough to practice some sport.

One day, talking with Cécilia, we agreed on the fact that we both should exercise a bit and we decided that we'd go jogging after work a couple of times.

Between the day we took that decision and the one we actually did it, one month passed. Yes, the lack of motivation some days, the various activities we both had planned already and the late hours work prevent us from doing it.

But finally we put our jog suits on and went.
1st time: just a rapid walk all along the Promenade - 1h
2nd time: rapid walk for 10 min alternated with a 5 min run - 1h

And here we are now. We planned to do the same thing the 3rd time to get the habit and decided to do this jogging thing twice a week.

Good resolutions and healthy living, here we come!!!

Time flies away

Back here, under the sun.

I finally managed to bring some pictures to show a bit how my life is here. I can't show as many as I would like to but at least enough for you to have an idea.

On the left:
Here at Cannes' Film Festival on the 24th May.
I saw: Frédéric Mittérand, Dany Boon, Dany Brian, Brigitte Fossé...

On the right:
The main room of my studio. 20m², 3 windows and a comfortable sofa-bed!

On the left:
A good part of my work team. Cécilia, my lovely colleague and friend is the girl with the dark hair. :)

On the right:
Just before spending a great day in Eze Village. Mum and Greg.

On the left:
Mum and I enjoying the time of a picture just after visiting the oceanographic museum in Monaco.

Visits and visitors

Still in Nice and still enjoying my busy life under the sun.

Since I'm here, some friends already came to visit me. Some I expected, and some not! Fred, Aurore, Pascale, Daphné, Luca and now it's my mum and my little brother that are at home.

I did so many things with all of them that I'm even not sure to remember everything.

I visited Nice Castle, assisted to Cannes Movie Festival, went to Villefranche-sur-Mer and met Mousse Diouf (I'm not kidding!), went so many times to the restaurant, obvioulsy sunbathed on the beach, visited Sainte Marguerite Island which is part of the Lerins islands, sightsaw in Monaco...

But the most incredible thing I did, I thought I would never have the chance to do, was I went scuba diving. It was amazing!
I went with Cecilia, my friend/colleague, and Daphné. It was only the three of us on the boat (with the teachers of course) and we really took advantage of this. I went first and discovered a world I only saw on TV. I let myself guide by the teacher, keeping my eyes wide open to see the most of everything and it was unbelievable! I loved it. I'm actually thinking of going again and taking the first level course.

Anyway, my life here is fool of surprises and beauty.

I just wish to have a special thought for Thibaut, Romain's brother. He died on 14th of July at the age of 20. He was young and fool of life and success. All my thoughts go to Romain and his family with who I share the pain.

From the Parisian style to the "Niçois" one

So many things happened since my last post!

First of all, I moved in my lovely apartment. I say “lovely” because it is really cute: 20m², 3 windows in the room, a big bathroom and a lot of cupboard just as I like it! I’m now settled (thanks to my colleague Cécilia who contributed a lot in upgrading my life standing) and it is really good having my own space after 3 weeks in a hostel.

Talking about the hostel, I had a “nice” present before leaving: I was beaten by bedbugs and on top of that I made an allergic reaction to their damn bites. So after a couple of days, I was covered from the head ‘till the toes with red spots. It was a nightmare: it woke me up in the night, I felt like scratching all the time and I looked like a sick to death person. On top of that I had my graduation ceremony 4 days after and I wanted to look good…
Fortunately, I took some medicines and now it’s gone.

I came back to Paris for the week-end of the 16^th May because of the big event of my whole student life: GRADUATION!!!
I spent the week-end with friends and on Monday evening I met all friends from school at the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre to celebrate and receive my (fake) diploma (it was actually a blank paper!!). The ceremony was great and I had a lot of fun. Jean Sarkozy, Charles Pasqua and all the people from the school management where there… Only Mr Guillaume Bigot was missing… My mum and brother were present and I could see in my mum’s eyes how proud she was of me.
I finished the evening with my FEGT’s friends in a restaurant close to my place and had fun again.

Then back to Nice the next morning: from the airport directly to the office.
The great advantage of my job is I attend to all cocktails organised by hotels: I spent the first one with a glass of champagne and a magnificent sea view at sunset on the terrasse of a castle where Bono (yes yes, I talking about U2’s singer!) use to come. I saw (from far) Elton John’s villa, went to see an extract of the cabaret’s show of the Casino Ruhl and tasted the delicious pastries made by LENÔTRE at the Hotel Accor’s reception. And I’m not talking about the little presents I receive all the time!

To put it all in a nutshell, my life on the Côte d’Azur is exactly as one can imagine: sun and fun!

Quand stage rime avec plage...

Here are the last episodes from my adventures.

I left Paris 1 week ago to move to Nice where I'm doing my internship right now. Well "right now" not really as I'm completing my blog.

I started last Tuesday and I already have a couple of things I'm responsible for. The only problem is I'm not yet autonomous as I don't know how things work. Fortunately, I have a very nice boss and a great smiling team.
Another point is our offices are located 1 minute walk from the Promenade des Anglais and the sea. So this midday, I bought lunch and went to eat on the beach, enjoying the sun (only few people can say that! ;-) )

I'm still at the hostel so far. I did find a nice studio on which I had a crush on but the procedure to get all the papers for the rent done is so long that I have to wait for another 2 weeks. It's really ennoying but I have no real choice.

Meanwhile, I made some friendships and went to the beach a couple of times already. It was my main activity and I got sunburnt!
After my settlement, I've planned to do some nice and interesting things like cannyoning, diving and rock climbing. Of course I intend to visit the region so I really think 6 months are not going to be enough!

The bad thing is my camera died just before my departure so I have no pictures to show at the moment. I'm planning in buying a new one soon so I'll show you my environment when I get it.

Meanwhile, enjoy the sun!

Last year scolarship...

Here we are! The end of my student life.

I really don't realize I'm done with studies.

I feel lost. Usually, I wake up every morning knowing what needs to be done in the day and in the upcoming months but now...

I left my school building thinking: "And now, what's next?" It is really an akward feeling.

And to end up this period of my life correctly, I'd like to say a BIG "Thank you" to the two people without whom I wouldn't have manage this year: Stéphanie and Staëns.

You two, girls, have brought so much to me and have helped me in so many different ways. I'm really happy to have you and even more of our work together. We were an excellent team and I will remember our main succès (the Junior Consulting Project) for a long time. That was really a nice and happy end.

Now the last formality is my internship so here I am! Departure to Nice to work in an incoming agency.

It may be the end of my student life but it's the beginning of real new one!