A new year, a new start

Firstly, Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and had a great time last night.

I had a good time at Christmas. I went down to Poitiers by train and met my parents at our house which is about 40 minutes drive to the east. Christmas dinner was great as always and there were lots of nice presents.
It was pretty cold but luckily we've got a big fire there so it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately there was no decent snow (only a couple of flakes) but at least it was sunny.
We got a bit of work done on the house (there's lots to do) and it was nice to relax for a bit.

I got back to my apartment on Thursday and was a bit unsure about what I'd be doing last night as nearly everyone I know is in the UK or on holiday elsewhere.
Luckily not everyone had left so I went to some friends' apartment not far from Gare de l'Est where we all helped make some Chilli con Carne. After that we headed for the Champs Elysée to celebrate midnight. We arrived at about 11:50 and there were loads of people there.
This year there was no official fireworks display. I think this was due to the recent riots and car burnings in the Paris suburbs. I think this was a bad decision as it meant that people just brought their own fireworks. There were lots of people setting off firecrackers in the road and I saw a rocket go up...and then back down again into the crowd. Luckily it didn't explode when it hit the ground!


There was also no big countdown so there were about 5 random cheers as people celebrated what they thought was midnight. It was good fun though and I opened the bottle of champagne I'd brought with me. Afterwards we walked back to the apartment and chatted for a while.

I've been in Paris for about 3 and a half months now so I'm about 1/3 of the way through my time here. I guess it's about time for a bit of reflection...
Coming to Paris has been a big change to my life (obviously). As well as learning lots of French I think I've become more independent. Working has been an interesting experience. It's not always been everything I'd expected but generally I enjoy it. I've made lots of friends although I think I need to do more with French people as most of the people I know are English. I also want to try and relax and settle into the French lifestyle a bit more.

Now I've got a new digital camera I'm going to start putting lots of pictures up. The one at the top of this post is the view from the top of the steps up to La Grande Arche de la Defense. It's several pictures stitched together so that's why it looks a bit weird but in the centre, in the distance you should be able to see the Arc de Triomphe.

I hope you all have a great 2006!