Hello everyone! Isn't it a beautiful day? The sun is shining (okay it's getting dark - stupid winter!), the birds are singing (okay they've migrated to the South - stupid winter!) and everyone is looking great in their summery bright-coloured clothes (stupid winter). But seriously, life is good! Life is awesome! And do you know why? Because I've overcome the shit phase!!! That's right - it's been achieved!
Hang on, your face is blank. Why is that? You should be amazed! Why is there tumbleweed rolling around your feet? Oh yeah, you don't know what I mean by the shit phase do you? To the Olford dictionary!!!
(Origin = 'phase' from phases, plural of phasis, referring to 'appearance' of the moon and stars, used to determine time. 'Shit', in its stercoraceous original meaning, is believed to be derived from to 'split' and to 'shed', graphically depicting the egestion process. With the product of the process being thought of as bad, the word 'shit' has adapted this connotation, which has been used in this phrase).
So now you realise why I'm feeling so good! You see, I haven't really updated the blog properly for quite a while. You've been expecting stories of my activities and experiences in Rennes and beyond, but recently I've only been feeding you updates on one aspect of my life - my failing internship application process. Indeed that has been a dominant part of my life at Rennes this past month, but it has hardly been all of it!
You see, I have been going through this shit phase, where the novelty of living in Rennes was starting to wear off. I was getting tired of the constant bullshit I was being fed at school, the group projects, the fact that I will soon be saying goodbye to some very close friends, the stupidly overpriced bars and the lack of open bars, the fact that I'm too scared to go to the hairdressers for fear that they'll give me the most gay haircut, the difficulty in being able to eat well, the fact I am constantly tired and the lack of decent hangover food, the corridor in the business school resembling the Room of Requirement in Harry Potter because it kept changing, the lack of rooms available at the school to study in, the....oh you catch my drift! A particular moment that made me question why I'm here in Rennes is when a Belgian friend asked me why I didn't just do a masters in France so my year abroad counts for something - that made me really think about what I was doing. Am I wasting a year here?
So basically, I didn't want to update my blog properly, because it would all just be emo stuff that nobody would want to read. Now if this was a diary, I would definitely have gone through with it, but despite it being a great opportunity for catharsis, I refrained and instead started listening to some hardcore music again. It's quite soothing if you feel pissed off and emo, but I hadn't listened to it in a while. Here, if revision/end-of-term blues are getting you down, enjoy! Of course, if you're all good, or just plain hate this kind of music, then don't worry! It's just there if you need it, if you are in a shit phase, or need some loud music to keep you up at night as you have an essay due in the morning.
Also, I am writing this blog post in a lovely cafe in Dinard, having just returned from a weekend in Leamington visiting my closest friends who are stuck at Warwick Uni for a third consecutive year. It was lovely to see them, and to have a fry up (which took bloody ages to arrive!), some proper chips, some lamb, curry and Cadbury's chocolate - all luxuries that I cannot really enjoy in France. Gathered around a hookah pipe saturday night, sharing stories of my year with my good friends and listening to their stories, I couldn't help but remember how chilled weekends at Warwick were, compared to the loud and bustling nights out in Rennes, where everyone went out. At Warwick, the big student nights are on Tuesdays and Thursdays - pretty inconvenient, but that's how it goes in the UK.
But it was great to have a relaxing weekend after the stress and sleepless nights of my three presentations and reports, and to see the guys who I've spent so much time with the last two years. Matt, an Australian expat who lives in Singapore, picked me up from the airport and I spent most of the weekend with him. The guy's a legend, great to drink with, a superb musician and much cleverer than he thinks he is! I also stayed with John, my only eurasian brother who is still in England. He and Amar, another good friend of mine, have secured jobs as investment bankers when they graduate - so I know some top dogs already! Might come in handy to get me out of my graduate job at McDonalds.....
Last night I ate at Cosmos with those three guys and Lil Chris (he's called Little Chris because there's another Chris who's a lot taller than he is, and they just happen to be best friends with each other!) - this guy is an awesome dude - as kind as he is talented, he is a very handsome man, loves dogs, fronts a kick-ass band, and was a football captain, and he is also an avid reader of my blog, so LC, there's your return shout-out! (That'll be £10...) It was lovely getting impregnated with food babies with these guys, but maybe not the best idea to overdose on MSG the night before a flight! Luckily I survived, and am in this lovely cafe in Dinard, waiting for my bus back home. By the way, due to my poor planning and poor French public transport, I wouldn't have made it to the UK were it not for my very kind Belgian neighbour Mathias, who very kindly drove me to the airport as a last-minute favour. Mathias, I tried to bring you back some Stella Artois Cidre, but the airport security confiscated it - sorry! I'm not used to this whole flying thing - was the first time I boarded a plane in 4 years! I came out feeling like my ears were squeezed to fit inside my head!
Also, I am typing this blog update with total freedom, not tethered to a mains socket - all thanks to my beautiful new MacBook Pro (a nice big step in my transformation process to become a pretentious business student!) I love it already and I think once you go Mac, you can't go back! Thank you Erasmus grant! In fact, let's have a nice happy song, to make up for the BMTH number earlier. You can't be upset listening to this - it's impossible!
Woohoo! Bipolar blog posts FTW!
So now, I am ready. Ready to give you a more traditional Ollish update of life so far in Rennes. I had promised stories about Halloween, Amsterdam, and how the blog saved me from an essay deadline. Apart from that, it's mostly been about the group projects and internship applications. We went out a few times of course, searching all night one night for a club called 'Museum' (got seriously lost - turned out we were asking for directions to an actual museum, at 01h30...). Plus, I stupidly decided to go to an open bar last week (they finally showed up again - and there had to be 3 in my most stressful week. Bye bye 100% attendance!) - which was great fun anyway, but a silly decision. But hey, I was stressed, and my friends were very persuasive.....
But anyway! Time for a quick summary of the last month! Or it would be, but I need to catch that bus back to Rennes. Hang on, will continue writing this in 15 mins.... Bear with me!
.....(frantically running for bus, babbling in French with the driver, convincing her that my ticket is valid.....)
There we go! All good - will be back in Rennes in about 2 hours. Currently on the French equivalent of the National Express, so of course it will be stopping at every single house on the way there. So I'll have time to finish this, with plenty to spare!
The next post describes the awesome experience that was Halloween, and the discovery of my new favourite bar. The third post documents what happened in between the other 2 posts - most notably my trip to Amsterdam!
But for now, remember this. If you're in a shit phase, don't worry too much about it. Think about what's getting you down and try to just sort it out! I got a new computer because my old one would not survive without a charger (and even when the charger was inserted it took some convincing for the PC to actually charge!), I visited my friends at the UK, had a quick break from Rennes, and reminded myself why I'm there. I'm definitely changing as a person, becoming more confident. All Warwick has done for my confidence was to bury it, and maybe a third consecutive year there would have put the nail on the coffin. But I feel better here, like I have developed more as a person through the challenge of living abroad. Maybe that in itself is worth it.
So without further ado, enjoy the next two posts! And remember, don't let the shit phase get you down!
Rant just beginning
Ollie
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