come fly with me, lets fly, let fly away!

Dealing with flights to and from home for Christmas was quite easy. Siân and myself decided that we should book well in advance because of the rush of people flying to and from France to get home for Christmas. We used Airfrance for flights, they were very reasonable and the flights were regular so we didn't need to worry about getting stupidly early trains to make it in time or have to sleep in the terminal at the airport. 

http://www.airfrance.co.uk/cgi-bin/AF/GB/en/common/home/home/HomePageAction.do

The flights were from Charles de Gaulle airport, it is a big international airport there is no need to worry about getting lost and there are a lot of security and staff to help you. At the same time we booked the flights we booked the train tickets, the trains from Besanҫon are quite regular from the main train station and go straight to the Gare de Lyon. Then from there you get the Airfrance shuttle bus which collects from just outside the train station. It is about 45 mins journey on the bus to the airport, it also drops off at all the terminals so you just have to make sure you know the right one to get off at, but it is very clearly sign posted so it is easy.  We made sure that we allowed ourselves plenty of time to get from the station to the airport and then enough time to check in and have time to relax before the flight. its best to allow yourself plenty of time and to allow yourself to eat something because it is an all day journey. 

Charles de Gaulle airport with it being a international airport it flys to a lot of the United Kingdom airports. 

Now we have come back from Christmas we have already booked our flights and trains back home for Easter. For trains we have a railcard you get up to 60% off prices and it costs 49euros. 

http://www.sncf.com/fr_FR/flash/#/SEARCH/ZGlzY291bnRz/ 

Tut tut!

Ok! I have been very bad with updating my blog... to be honest I forgot all about it. From now on I am going to be much better at keeping it up to date. 




So I have had time home over Christmas, which was fantastic it was so good to be home and see everyone and catch up. the journey to and from Besancon to home was easy enough to do. we caught a direct train from Besancon train station to the Gare de Lyon in Paris, then got a shuttle bus to the correct terminal at Charles de Gaule and from that point onwards it was fine, just checking in and waiting to be called for the flight. we were so lucky to be able to get home because the very next day all flights were canceled due to snow and several of our American friends were stranded in Paris until it was safe again to fly. The return journey was much the same other than a very cold and tedious four hour wait at the Gare de Lyon for our train to leave. 

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

Oh the weather outside it frightful,

but the fire is so delightful,

and since we have no place to go,

let it snow! let it snow! let it snow!

It doesn't show signs of stopping,

and i have bought some corn for popping,

the lights are turned way down low,

let it snow! let it snow! let it snow!

Ok its not quite Christmas but it is getting there and the weather certainly is set for a white Christmas. Sian and myself have just been to collect the post. I took my camera with me because we have had load and loads of snow and it looks like a winter wonderland. It is very crisp and fresh out, and it is defiantly the sort of weather when you need to wrap up for. I have up loaded some of the photo's I took, they are just from around the campus but very pretty.

Workshops.

Whilst I am here in France I intend to do very different workshops to the ones I am doing in England., I have opted to do Photography, engraving and bookbinding.


For Photography, I am taught by a lovely man called Gabby. He speaks quite good English, we occasionally teach him English words he doesn't know and he teaches us practical French words. the course teaches us Black and white SLR photography. So far he has taught us, how to do Pin hole Photography and photograms, both of which I have already done before but I enjoy learning the skills again.

Engraving/bookmaking.

For these workshops we are taught by Didier, he is speaks very good English, but he pushes us to speak French when we can which can be very embarrassing at times. At the moment all we are being taught is engraving but soon we will be taught bookbinding too. so far we have done engraving in wood and then printing with the engravings. I have also done fine point engraving which I found really interesting.

 

Here are some images from our class as we are working. 

Paris

This week Sian and myself visited Paris, we met up with her two sisters Luisa and Nina. we stayed in a nice hostel in Montmartre, called the Vintage Hostel. The rooms were clean and tidy, the en-suit was ok a little grubby but not to bad. It was a quick minute walk to the metro station. It was also situated near the Sacre Coeur, which we visited the first night we were there. It is a beautiful building there is so much detail and beauty in the architecture, the interior is absolutely stunning but sadly because it is a church you aren't aloud to take pictures of the inside. We pottered about Montmartre for a while having a really nice ice cream, then we went to the Eiffel tower. I had never really understood the fascination with it before but now I have been I can appreciate the amazing structure of it and the genius of the construction. I went right to the top of the tower and was stunned by the amazing view, though didn't really like it when I look straight down felt rather ill.

The next day we went to Notre Dame, it is a fascinating building it is stunning to think that people built it before there were any electric machinery or heavy duty cranes. it is also disturbing to think that people may have lost their lives to build it. it is such a beautiful and serene place. the interior is amazing, it is so vast and elegant. when we entered there was a choir singing it was such a gentle atmosphere. Even though I am not religious myself I found it very inspiring and peaceful. We then walked around the island near Notre Dame, it was very rich and the shops were expensive but lovely. After that we had lunch in a nice cafe then we took a boat tour along the river looking at all the buildings along the river side.

After that we got the metro back to the hostel, nipped to a supermarket and got a picnic to have in the room. After eating we walked back to the louvre, and to pictures of it in the dark. Then strolled down to the Opera House (couldn't help but hum songs from phantom of the opera) then walked back to the hostel.

The last day we had to get up really early to go to the Gare de lyon to make sure that there were trains running regularly because it was a day of national strike (another one).  We then visited all the other places we hadn't yet been too. it was a very busy day but fun. I had a really enjoyable time in Paris it is a lovely city and i will defiantly want to visit again.

Getting organised

The preparation for the sandwich year was, for me reasonably stress free. I knew pretty much from the beginning of the second year that I wanted to have a break before I went into my final year, I wanted to be able to relax for a year really become focused on what I wanted my work to be like and develop a style I would be proud of and wouldn't get distracted from. 


I had initially look at going to Finland to study but when I heard of the school in Besanҫon and looked at the teaching plans, really liked it. But to give myself options I applied to both schools. The applications were simple enough. The French application was a little more complicated than the one for Finland but mainly because they wanted a lot of information about qualifications and coursework grades. Both of the schools required an portfolio of work as a type of interview process. i photographed my work and created a Powerpoint presentation burnt to a disk to send with my application. 

These are an example of the work I sent on the disk.

 


I was accepted into both schools but by this time I had done some research into both cities where to schools were based and I decided that I wanted to spend the whole year in France. Now I had made my decision i had to go about preparing for the year ahead of me. the most important thing was arranging the accomodation, the english tutor at ERBA actually helped arrange it for us.

Week 4: I was a bit late setting up the blog! Ooops!

Brief information on Accommodation.  I this to come out really negative but they initial part of moving into to the flat was a nightmare. my parents brought me to Besancon in the car, we took the ferry from Dover to Calais, then stayed a night at a hotel in a place called Whisques, we then gradually made our way through France to Besancon staying over another night in Dijon. We travelled from Dover with my friend Sian and her parents, both of our cars absolutely full to bursting. When we arrived at the accommodation reception, we had to fill out a stupid amount of forms and my parents had to give evidence of their household income etc... 

 After we had filled out all this information we had to pay the deposit, which was a month and a half rent. Their card machine was down so we had to pay in cash, which obviously we don't carry that much cash on us so we had to go and come back again. when we got our flat keys it was a relief. Because by this point I was getting a little panicky and considering going home. The impact of what I was doing hit me, living in a foreign country, speaking the tiniest amount of the language and being so far away from home. I think it stunned me a bit, I don't think it helped that I had a really bad cold. We got to choose what block we wanted to live in and also what rooms we wanted, we chose the rooms with en suit, otherwise you had to share bathrooms with 30 other people ( worst nightmare). The rooms are small but comfortable and the en suit is tiny a bit like the bathrooms you get in ferry cabins. The only down thing about the flat is the kitchen, it is small with no ovens and just 4 hot plates, between a flat of 30 not very good. Its a good job that me and Sian both brought kettles and toasters. Sian's parents brought her a microwave , which we share thank goodness. I have made my room cosy, covering it in posters, postcards and pictures. the view from my window is good too.

Sian from her bedroom window.