Things have been a little slow recently so I've not really had much to write about. Nearly all of my English friends have had exams recently so they've either been revising, taking the exams or at home recovering from the exams. I'm not sure which I'd prefer; work or exams and then some time off.
So, what have I been up to....?
I've been to see Angel-A. Before I went, I looked it up on the IMDb. The comment there said that it was a "Romantic Comedy". There didn't seem to be much in the way of French films to choose from and, between this and whichever other option there was, my friend and I figured we'd go for Angal-A. Now, when I think of something that's described as "romantic comedy", I tend to imagine a film with Hugh Grant in it. Angel-A is not a romantic comedy by any standard. The film is shot in black and white and tells the story of a guy (a swindler/wheeler-dealer) who is at the end of his rope. He owes lots of money to lots of people who are likely to kill him/beat him up. Whilst walking on a bridge, he sees a police van approach and thinks the police are after him so he climbs over the barrier to hide from them. Once there he figures that his life is pretty much going down the pan so he may as well jump. Just as he's about to, he looks to his right and sees "Angela" - who is also about to jump. Anyhow, she jumps, he follows her and drags her out of the Seine (and into his life). From then on Angela takes it upon herself to help André (the guy) sort out his life/problems.
I didn't think it was a bad film - the French was a little hard to follow at times because it's quite and the characters speak quite quickly - but it did the usual French thing of going a bit weird at the end (there's a clue in the name). Whenever I see a French film now I keep expecting to see a dinosaur arrive near the end and eat the main character.
We went to see the film at George V on the Champs Elysee. You'd imagine it to be posh and a nice cinema. Unfortunately it felt like we were sitting in a corridor and wasn't particularly clean.
I've also been to a party on a boat. My friend from work (the one who has now left) invited me to a party her university was having to celebrate everyone getting their degrees/masters. It was held on a boat called the Charlestone which is moored to the bank of the Seine. I arrived a bit early and subsequently felt a bit awkward being on a boat, not knowing anyone there, not even being from the university, and speaking another language. I got chatting to some people as more arrived though (it was pretty empty when I got there) and felt a bit "British" wondering why no-one was at the bar yet when the prices were so cheap (the uni's seem to subsidise events far more than in the UK (or at least at my uni)). I had a good time though and it was a good night ......... apart from the disco. French music doesn't exactly have the best reputation but even the people there thought it was bad when the DJ started playing TLC - No Scrubs remixed and sung by some Indian guy.
I've also been doing a bit of sight-seeing. I went to Ile de la Cité a couple of weekends ago. I looked round Notre Dame and then visited some remains from Roman Paris. Notre Dame is pretty spectacular (both inside and out) but it was rubbish weather so I didn't go up the tower this time. The main reason I went to the Ile was to see the bird market. There's normally a flower market but every Sunday it's a bird market. Unfortunately it's been cancelled due to the bird flu scares. :-/To the left is a picture of a point just outside Notre Dame. All distances in France are apperently measured from this point. Despite this fact, it's pretty unremarkable and most people just seem to walk over it without noticing it.
I really like the gothic architecture of Notre Dame. I'll go back again soon to take some more photos but here are a couple:
I've started putting some more pictures up on Flickr. You can see them at www.flickr.com/photos/aross but if you want to see ones of me and my friends then you'll have to let me know your flickr login.
That's about it for now. I'll try and get back into posting on here so I won't need to write such long posts again.
Before I do go, I was given a chocolate bar by someone at work.......
