Roads to Asia again

Life has passed since I last wrote here. 2011 is a good year, full of new experiences. I've been travelling to England, Spain and Switzerland, attending classes with a very new feeling: nostalgy, working for saving money, going out with friends...

Two weeks ago, I went to KTV with some classmates for a farewell party. One of them was leaving for Cuba for his internship, an other one will leave for China. It was a pleasant night, and I had a lot of fun. I will miss them and our pasta nights.

Now school is over, and everybody started to work as intern, most in Paris, and few abroad. I will go to Cambodia to do mine. Current feelings are a mix between edginess and curiosity, about how these next 6 months will be in this country I barely know. I feel like it's sometimes difficult to bound with people you only meet twice in a decade. But I see my stay in Cambodia as an opportunity to better know my family and share good moments, a chance to catch up with them.

Routine can be inspiring

I've just came back home few minutes ago. I was visiting my uncle and aunt, in Paris surburbs, and had to take the bus to get home. Outside, it started to rain and the traffic is always terrible approching the holidays celebration. I sat on my favourite seat, by the window on the left side, just behind the driver, but he can't see me, as there was a wall between us. Half way, everybody left the bus. Because the traffic was really slow, they decided to take the underground instead. I didn't have the courage to brave the outside wind and rain so I stayed in the bus, and was the only passenger left. Believing he was alone, the driver turned the lights off, so he can drive peacefully, without being bored by the passers-by. He also started to whistle. Feeling comfy in this intimate atmosphere, I looked at the cityscape and started to analyze it, it was a peaceful moment.

I'm kind of into stop motion now, and had decided few weeks ago to try making my own one, and the rainy and blurry scenery through the window was going to become the theme for my video. The melody the driver was singing, remind me of a song, and at this moment, I found that it will be the perfect one to go along with the video. I had everything. The lights were beautiful, the atmosphere flawless, and even the song and the title came to me. Only the camera was missing.

Breaking my daydreaming, the driver walked in the bus to turn the last lights off, and was surprised to see me. We then started to talk about our lives, and random things. This encounter was very pleasant, and helped each other to pass the time, as we were blocked in the traffic jam. He asked me why I stayed in the bus, while every passengers left and if I wasn't in a hurry. I had all my time, didn't want to face the rain, and the time spent in the bus gave me inspiration. Usually, when I'm in a car or a bus and look through the windows, I let the weather influence my mood, and rain always make me feel melancholic, but this time was different. I enjoyed this little journey, and I'm now thinking of taking the bus more often, with my camera in my bag.

When we reached the terminus, I said goodbye to the driver, but forgot to ask his name.

Thanks to this blog, sometimes, I think and write in english, and also notice things that I usually don't pay attention to :). I often think that it is pointless to continue to write here, as I may not have any readers left, but the two reasons given previously are good enough to continue. If you still read this, it would be nice to let me know it :).

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 :).