Departure and holiday

Thursday, my sister left Paris for Singapore, where she will spend few days before going to Cambodia for 6 months, and all the family sent her off at the airport. I really envy her now and hope to see her in april if I go to Asia for my internship. Today, christmas holiday officially started :).

London

Here are some pictures about London, where I spent my last vacation with my friend Hélène, before I've started school. I really need some rest now, because school is so exhausting, and I'm impatiently waiting for christmas holidays :).

September

Some news !

I'm in France since 2 months already ! Time flies so quickly.

Do you remember the exam I was so anxious about ? It turns out that it wasn't as difficult as I thought and I've finally made it. I'm now studying in the university I wanted to. I'm a proud Sorbonne student :). But hell, I have plenty of homeworks to carry !

September was a month filled with good surprises :). A new school, birthday wishes and gifts, a london trip, and friends meetings. In this period of time, I was able to meet again friends that I've met in China. I saw Vincent and Emilie, the two frenchies, Yuyi and Xiao-mi from Sweden and China. But infortunately I missed Benson althought we were in Lhasa at the same time, Dany when I went to London, and Céline, that came twice in Paris :(. I've also ate at a Korean restaurant with my old classmates. Regarding family, when I was in London, I met again two of my cousins that are studying there and my cousin Alex is now studying in France, so I can see him when he comes to Paris.

I wonder how is life in Wanli going, and salivate when I think about "xiandan nangua" (fried pumkin with salted eggs). It was sure a good time of my life, and make me think about going back to China for my internship. I am also considering other countries in Asia :).

Blue

Again, I'm late, and I don't really have any other excuse than my laziness :p.

I've been in many places, and saw a lot of beautiful, curious, and different things before going back to Paris. A change in my situation made me change my travel itinary and seize the opportunity to visit Tibet. And it was an amazing trip. The landscapes were nothing compared to what I saw before. Snowy mounts and cold wind lashing my face, a lot of green places and semi-wild animals. I'm not sure if I liked Lhasa, because there was a strange atmosphere in this city, but I enjoyed it in a way. This city was really colourful and contrasted with the blue-green-gray tones out of the city, in the mountains :). I didn't really enjoy tibetan food, since I went to Sichuan just before, and it seemed tasteless compared to the really spicy specialities of the province.

In the mountains, in high up, you can easily get mountain sickness, I was afraid to feel sick and not be able to breath. But surprisingly, I did pretty well and suffered more of travel sickness when the roads became tricky haha.

Here are some pictures I took. They're not really flattering the reality, but I hope you will still appreciate them :).

I felt a little bit sad when I saw this heart shaped hole in the sky.

Then later I've found the missing part :).

(more pictures to come here)

It's been a long time

I haven't wrote here for a while and I have a lot to tell and show. I just came back home a week ago, after 6 months abroad. It feels weird to be here now, to hear all the people speaking french and understand every little word they say. The first day I arrived, I thought that it was strange that most of the people on the street were "lao wai" haha.

Since I arrived in Paris, I didn't get to go out a lot, because I was preparing for an entrance exam. I had 3 books to read within less than a week, and one of them was really big and complicated. Before that, I was in Hong Kong to celebrate my cousin wedding so I didn't get the time to read them and be well prepared. Anyway, I'm not sure of the result of the test I passed on wednesday, but I hope I did well ! After the test, I felt more rested, even with the uncertain issue of the exam, so I started to contact my friends to meet them :).

This afternoon, I took the bus to visit my aunt, and lived again a typical french tradition. French people like to moan (or grumble?), especially when they drive. I was sitting in the bus and daydreaming while watching through the window, when the driver start to shout at a woman because she was blocking his way. So they argued for about 2 minutes and blocked every other drivers on the same road. At this moment, I felt bad that I returned to Paris, and missed China and the insouciant time.

One good thing that happen when I was in China, is that really near my home, 3 or 4 new milk tea shops have opened :). I though I will miss them a lot since I drunk them almost everyday in China. It's more expensive than in China, but still affordable (about 4 euros) to drink it sometimes. An other good thing related to that fact, is that Emilie is doing her internship in Paris and we planned to meet around a cup of milk tea ♥.

Oh, I have to tell you something very important. I've finally bought a new camera when I was in China and we are now inseparable :). It's a little bit hard for me to handle it since I'm not used to reflex camera, but I will learn with time right ? Now I have a lot of pictures to show you :).

My new lover and me :).

Last days

I wanted to write this earlier but I was quite busy and also had problems with my proxi. I'm now in my hotel room in Nanjing, and have difficulties sleeping, even after the long day behind me.

The last days in Ningbo were the most intense ones. I had to pack and send a package to France, and it was really an adventure. I had to go to 3 post offices before suceeding to send it, and it was not easy with a 20 kilos box to carry. I also had a lovely day with Vincent. We visited Tianyi Ge, the old library of Ningbo, where we were frightened by birds that can speak chinese and english. After that, we went to Tianyi to do some shopping and ate at Ajisen ramen and finish at Starbuck for the dessert. Thank you Vincent :) !

The last night was really cool. Fredrik, Vincent, Emilie, Céline, Viyaletta, Juliana and her sister, Ruru, and I, went to an Indian restaurant and ate a lot ! After that we decided to drink a last French kiss shot and some cocktails, and went to dance. This night, I felt that I will miss them all, but I enjoyed every minute of their company. We promised each other to meet again, and I already know that for some, it will really happen :).

After the party, I went home with some rest of alcohol, and had to finish packing before leaving 3 hours later. I had to jump on my luggage to close it because it was too full. Few days later, I realised that I forgot things in Ningbo :(. At 7 o'clock, I had to met Simon to take the bus to Shanghai. At the bus station, we've met Viyaletta and it was a good surprise :).

Ningbo days are over, and I can't help myself of feeling nostalgic; but now, I'm living an other experience by travelling through China. In less than 2 weeks, I will go to Tibet and make an old dream come true :).

Packing time

Last week was the longest week ever since I am in China. It was also the most waited one. I've finished my last exam last Tuesday, and really felt relief. I am really tired, but in a good way :). These last two weeks were full of good memories and activities.

The city of Ningbo had organized an International student festival, which was a pleasant surprise. I've met a lot of new people coming from all around the world, and shared short but unforgettable moments with them. Now I have plenty of email to write and new destinations to visit :).

Final of World cup was really boring, I drank too much and felt asleep about 95 minutes after the beginning of the match where nothing happen and missed the goal >_< ! This night I’ve met interesting people and it was a great night. I love the british accent and girls with short hair :). A friend of mine told me something that I didn’t really suspected, I was nicely surprised and in the same time felt a little sad. This friend also really took care of me because I felt so bad with the amount of alcohol I absorbed. This night I was hugging everybody haha. Thank you 哥哥 !

Packing time is so hard ! Even if I didn't have time to do shopping because of school, I was really surprise of the amount of things I have. My books all together weight 10 kilos !

These past days, I took time trying to help a friend that seems really lost. Even if she only call me when she need help, she reminds me myself three weeks before, so I can’t refuse to help her and try my best to ease her pain, plus she is super cute :).

I also had dinner with chinese friends that were my classmates. They're all so nice with me, and offer me little present that I will keep preciously. My listening and speaking chinese teacher invited me to her house to have a dinner with her family. As we were preparing the dinner, I learned how to wrap 饺子 (dumpling) :). Yesterday the 阿姨 that take care of the building came to my home and cooked a full table of dishes, and Xiaomi, Fredrik, Vincent and Vietta joined us for lunch.

These two weeks were also the last times with lovely people that returned to their homeland. I didn’t have time to properly say goodbye to two of them, so I am a little bit sad :(. But we all attended a last KTV together and I had a good night with them. I will really miss the people I've met there and I hope to see them again, but I know that it is not as easy as we think to travel and have time to welcome people that come to your country.

I decided to stay a day more in Ningbo before starting to travel, for the last big night with the people that still here. I can’t leave without a last goodbye. Saying goodbye to this not so loved city will be not so easy finally. 宁波我终于喜欢你了!