Stedman_Triples

Hi Woodhouse Whereabouts is your daughter going? what is her course and UK Uni My daughter is currently at Nancy II doing her 3rd year Law with French as an ERASMUS student. Her UK uni is UEA and yes she spent the first term doing all the notes 'wrong' because no-one told her or her friends what to do, so they were all panic stricken at exam time. As for student life, she doesnt bother to cook for herself on her floor 20/24 bedsits and the kitchen only has two electric rings one of which doesnt work, there is no fridge, the fridge that is there is full of 10 locked units which you rent. A friend does have a micro wave in her room and Jenni has a Slo cooker so they manage. There is only 1 plug in the room and nothing over 1000watts is allowed, she blew the fuses with her first kettle!! and got a severe telling off. They usually eat very well for a few euros at one of the student restaurants. She was amazed the first day of term, all the students were up at 6am, lectures start at 8am, at Norwich you were lucky if someone got up at 11am!! The day we left her back in Sept I wanted to say come on I'll take you home, I didnt cry when we left her at Norwich 3 years ago but it was hard leaving her all alone in France. She joined a group whereby a local french family invite you home for a meal and she has stayed in touch with the daughter. She has had a few run ins with a few undesirables, she wants to practise her french as much as possible but if she speaks to the male students they start to get a bit ...forward and all she wants to do is practise her language. If you like I will email you her UEA address and you can pass it on to your daughter. Jenni has settled in very well and Nancy is a lovely city,although she is now sick of the sight of snow, and she is coming home for Easter and then after that she goes back for just another 6 weeks, so the 9months has gone very quickly really and she has made friends with all nationalities and creeds and wouldn't have changed anything. elaine56

Hi Phil and Jill Sorry I can't help with your request but wondered if you are the same Phil and Jill (Archer) from Ambridge trying to escape from the rat race of Borsetshire.. dumdidumdidumdidum... and the awful Nooo David Ruth... Sorry couldn't resist it.. Archers Anonymous Member elaine 56

Just been to Borders again!!! bought a smashing little pocket book entitled 'The Rough Guide Chronicle France'. A perfect little book giving a chronological history of France, perfect for picking out dates for further research and if you're like me and don't know much French history apart from the Plantagenets, it's a very useful tool to point you in the right direction. As a genealogist with french connections as well, it helps to put history in context both here and in France, when 4x Gr Grandmother was having her 7th son, so to speak. For your info isbn 1-85828-826-6, author Ian Littlewood, website www.roughguides.com Elaine56

I often run thru Wanadoo Fr and always type in Lycee as my daughter wants to go to lycee, recently have been searching lycee vannes - lycee morbihan. I seem to have found all the lycees locally, also I use pages jaunes, because if a website exist they give you a link. Which lycee are yours at? the Anglo American @ Rennes, suggested an international to my daughter but she says she would prefer to be totally immersed in french. Cant decide best option. Elaine56

Val,Mistral Thanks for those thoughts, I had forgotten I had actually posted that message. Val My daughter was also thinking of Customs and Excise after her degree or Interpol, spoke to her today she is middle of exams at french uni and studying like mad for a 15min oral exam, she came out with a '15' with which she is really pleased. Dont know what she'll end doing, she's not sure herself, she did say she prefered french law to english though,much more straight forward thanks again will bear you other remarks in mind for my 16year old. elaine56

LAST EDITED ON 27-Jan-04 AT 01:32 PM (GMT) Not specific to french culture I know but here goes: Have just returned from Borders (bookshop) with 'oh not another lets re-locate to France and write a book', book. But this one by Michael Sanders looks more intellectual and in-depth, has anyone else read it? Set in Les Arques, Lot it looks at the struggle to survive and retain village life in a remote corner of France, through the only business in the village, a restaurant. Looks like a 'good fireside read' Elaine56 ps no snow yet in Essex

just out of interest Val, what type of Bac is your daughter doing? how long as she been in the french system? and do you find a french university? they dont seem to have a ucas system with all the courses and unis on one site and what if you wanted to study music at uni? Sorry for all these questions but it looks more and more likely that I will remain in France in sept with my daughter who wants to go Lycee rather than 6th form here, she'll probably do a BacL as science and maths are not her strong points. Have bought some Bac books to start familiarising herself with french layouts. thanks for your thoughts Elaine56

i know exactly what you mean, being a classics reader of eng lit before I joined a lit group and expanded my reading list I only read french lit, balzac maupassant, zola so when I wanted to read french contempory lit I didnt know what french authors I would like. So i started off reading some translations of Joanna Trollope I looked on it more of a reading exercise to expand vocab and look at sentence construction but nevertheless enjoyed the books think ive read them all in french now,(no just 4) also read a couple of Du Mauriers in french, but still cant find their equivalents in french. When in france I but Prima to read ther book reviews that can help My daughter tried desperately to get me a copy of Clochermerle for xmas, in german yes, but not french. I have also noticed that french lit is quite regional based a bit like Hardy - Wessex the Brontes Yorkshire and I did come across some books by Yves Viollier (I think thats the spelling, but must have left them at the hse as just checked my bookcases here) they are turn of the century agricultural stories of a family 'emigrating' from brittany to the vendee, you'd think they were going to australia. When we make the move later this year I thnk i'll have to start a lending library/book club Bon Livre! Elaine

>Hello! > >Also, totally unrelated. went to see >'Love,Actually' this week> >Colin Firth?) havent seen it yet but I also wanted to see Colin Firth in 'Girl with A Pearl Earing' it premiered the beginning of November on the south bank but not gone on general release yet!! Elaine56

a quick search of amazon.france revealed no results but I expect you already knew that, I believe the book is also out of print at the moment as I have been trying to get a copy I remember the BBCs serialisation of the book but that must have been 20 years ago and I just remember a tiny sparrow of lady all dressed in black regailing the mayor about the pissoir in the middle of the town, you dont see many of them now but when I do I always have that picture in my head... a bit like the lampost in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe (I treated myself to a new copy of that this week as well) but I digress dont get me going on books Good Luck with your search let us know if you find anything Elaine

> >Gendarme: what does your father do >for a living? >Me: My father died 20 >years ago. >Gendarme: What did your father do >for a living when he >was alive. > > >Honestly! What would they have said if you had replied Great Train Robber!!!

LAST EDITED ON 29-Nov-03 AT 02:14 PM (GMT) My daughter currently doing her 3rd year in France She couldnt believe her first Monday morning everyone up at6am back at Norwich UEA they fall out at 11am, shes in digs no worse than the UK but only one plug in the whole room, no kitchen just a shared 2 ring hob and no fridge,she hangs her food out of the window! However her french has vastly improved, she has managed to make a few french friends and tomorrow she is going for advent dinner with a french family Again she says the work load is much higher than back in the uk but its criminal law and she is enjoying it With regard to your son coming back to UK for uni am I right in thinking that he did not qualify for the uk student loan, and did you getassistance from the french govt instead? Just thinking ahead for my youngest, she wants to go lycee after GCSE next year but may want to come to uk to do uk thanks for your comments elaine

As an active bellringer contemplating moving to France, are there any ex pat bellringers out there, and what do you do for your weekly fix of Stedman, Superlative and Spliced. I havent tried ringing in the continental fashion (yet) although it does seems to have some sort of rhyme and reason but not as methodical as english ringing. Playing Ringbell on the computer just doesnt have the same appeal somehow If I was to win the lottery I would by a house with tower and get Whitechapel Foundry to come and out and set me up with a peal of 6/8 bells and run Bellringing holidays for the brits. Are there any bellringers out there?? stedman triples