Comments de Cummins

Adventures of a language assistant abroad. Plus drawings probably. You're Cummins with me.

[vinetfromage]

Again, only 24 hours in Budapest, but we made the most of it. We went to one of the city's famous ruin pubs, of which I could absolutely not get a good photo - my best attempt is above. We visited a stunning café at the top of a bookshop, so absolutely my kind of place, and wandered round the Buda Castle area, where there are surprisingly cute hooded crows all over the place. Everything is also really cheap, and everyone was friendly and sweet, and basically I'm going back, you should go too.

[vinetfromage]

We only had about 24 hours in Vienna, which we mainly used looking at art. We stopped by the KunstHaus, which was designed and houses works by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who seems to have been somewhat of an eccentric but his work is stunning and he works in interesting social ideas. The KunstHaus and the Hundertwasser houses are round the corner from each other and both are beautiful. We then headed to the Belvedere Palace, which has a fantastic collection including Klimt (The Kiss is there) and Schiele. A lovely thing about Vienna was the breakfast there - they really know what they're doing, and I got gluten free Brötchen, which was fantastic (the place was called Café Museum for any coeliacs out there).

[vinetfromage]

Some more from Prague. We stumbled across a good exhibition of Tim Burton's work (in which we discovered his version of Hansel and Gretel, which is incredible - mainly for the wrong reasons, though I'm sure it's not his fault), and I do not know how to pose with a tree. We also went to a little museum called Speculum Alchemiae, where you are given a tour of a 16th Century alchemy lab that was recently discovered underground, complete with some remaining bottles of the 'Elixir of Life', which you can now buy made from the original recipe found in the lab. Unfortunately we didn't buy the elixir, so we'll have to continue on in our mortal bodies for a while.

The statue here is by a Czech artist called David Černý. There is a hole in the bottom of the giant pregnant lady (you can see Paul's legs hanging out of it), giving the viewer the opportunity to be 'reborn'. I was relatively traumatised by the experience.

[vinetfromage]

I absolutely loved Prague. We went on a couple of tours here, there's a huge amount of history in such a small space. The castle alone has been added to by each new ruling power that inhabits it since it was first built in 870 BC (yeah that's right, I did some research). As such the interior complex is a very strange mixture of different architectural styles,even with restoration of old buildings being just rebuilding the broken part in the fashionable style of the time. One part we saw was even built over a window to accommodate the new portico. 

Obviously one of the first things we saw was the astronomical clock in the old town square, which while not the most impressive clock of its kind, is very old and very beautiful. Our guide told us the sad story of the man who made it, who apparently had his hands cut off to prevent him from making an equally beautiful work for a rival state.

We also had a coffee in the café in the photo here, which is one of the only examples of cubist architecture in the world. I will say however that Czech cubism is different from the general notion of the movement, and to me seemed more like what I would call art deco. We found also that the definition of art nouveau varied widely in different countries, even those that weren't far apart.

The statue of a young naked man that you see here represents the youthful spirit of the former Czechoslovakia. Our guide told us that the soviets had it removed only to relent and put it back after public uproar. To annoy said soviets the people decided to start rubbing the statue for luck. It's pretty clear which part of it they rub.

We also took in some culture in Prague, and went to see a string quintet in the beautiful Spanish Synagogue, shown in these two photos that do not do it justice.

[vinetfromage]

I also have surprisingly few photos of Berlin - there is a possibility that my camera has been deleting things at random. Here we are at the DDR Museum, which is really interesting. This is us trying on the clothes that would have been available to us, and Paul looking surprisingly relaxed in a prison cell. We also went to the Berlin wall memorial, which was fascinating and very sad. The whole city is full of monuments to various tragic parts of its history, but celebrations of their triumphs as well. The blocks in the photos are the memorial to the holocaust or the murdered Jews of Europe by Peter Eisenman and Buro Happold. It's a thought provoking and immersive monument though it's particular symbolism is left open for the individual viewer to decide. We went on another walking tour here - the story that I remember the best is that of the janitor who one day got himself and his family successfully over  the Wall by means of a zipline.

[vinetfromage]

I appear not to have taken many photos in Amsterdam, though we were there for a while. We went on a great free walking tour here (the company's called Sandeman's and they do quite a few across the world so look them up), so we learned a lot about the history of the city, which is fascinating, and quite funny in places (turns out vomit plays a large part in Amsterdam's origins). We did walk through the red light district but, being the sophisticated young lady that I am, I didn't find it particularly exciting. Visited the Van Gogh museum which was exciting if only because Paul bears somewhat of a resemblance (and has now bought a t-shirt with essentially his own face on it). 

We also rented bikes, which is the best way to travel around the city, but is also somewhat terrifying, especially for me as I hadn't ridden a bike in many years. I survived however, and feel that I fully deserved the gluten free beer in the photo. As for the headphones, we stopped off at the beautiful library and visited the lovely café on the top floor, and on the way we discovered the music section with little stations for listening to and discovering new music, which was delightful.

As for any other activities in which one might partake in Amsterdam, I can't possibly think of anything else...

[vinetfromage]

Bruges

We took a day trip out to Bruges, which is obviously very beautiful and al of that. We went up the belfry, which gives you a wonderful view, plus we were right next to the carillon's mechanism when it started chiming, so we got to watch it (the giant music-box looking thing in the photo). 

We also went to the chocolate museum where we bought some fantastic chocolate and particularly enjoyed the parts of the display where they had illustrated the history of chocolate with playmobil. Here we have some Aztecs doing some worshipping and making chocolate, and the rainforest. I personally did not previously know that the rainforest was inhabited by giant squirrels. 

Also the restaurant had cute crackers with faces on them (we had moules of course).

[vinetfromage]

We came across these in the back of a record shop in Brussels. I think my favourite it So Many Doors - A Novel of Tenderness and Brutality.

[vinetfromage]

These are from our visit to the Belgian Comic Strip Centre. It's a lovely little museum in a beautiful art nouveau building, with exhibitions about the history of the comic strip, artists, and their techniques. BD are very important in the city and there are monuments and murals dotted around the place. 

Bonus: If you look carefully you will see that Paul has styled his hair here to look like Tintin's.

[vinetfromage]

Brussels we liked very much, especially the prevalence of Smurfs. Plus they had a door within a door within a door, which is excellent. Paul drank lots of Belgian beer, and I lived vicariously through him due to my incredibly unfortunate allergies. We saw a very famous statue of a boy pissing, and of course were blown away by it. The estaminet in the picture was lovely, and they claim that Jacques Brel used to drink there. We also went to a museum of letters and manuscripts, which was very interesting. They have the letters and notes of a lot of famous people on display, with sweet letters from Ernest Hemingway and Einstein's notebooks to official documents drawn up by historical regents and musical manuscripts written by monks. Being interested in handwriting, I loved it, and the letters to family members and friends tended to show the sweet side of the famous people's personalities.

[vinetfromage]

Les Serres Royales de Laeken

We started out trip in Brussels, and these greenhouses were one of the first things we visited. They're in the grounds of a palace in the north of the city, and they are absolutely stunning. The houses themselves reflect light off each other leaving the kind of colourful reflections you see on bubbles, and they're full of beautiful plants, the corridors of fuchsias you can see in this photo (which seem to be completely overwhelming Paul there), and also some smurfs but I couldn't get a good photo of those. Plus as you can see there was a mirror which I can only assume is to facilitate the modern visitor's need for selfies. 

To my knowledge, they're only open for a couple of months out of the year, but if you ever are in Brussels, these are well worth the time. Also they smell really nice. 

[vinetfromage]

Better Late than Never?

Hello there. I am well aware that I have written fuck all in this for a long time. But you know it's time consuming living the glamorous third year abroad life. However, I do have many a photo to upload so I figure here is as good a place to put them as any. Y'all can stalk me on facebook when I bother to deal with their uploading system.

So, small update: I have finished my work at the lycée in the certain knowledge that I was not born to be a teacher. 

Mine and my students' reaction to my departure:

So I got back yesterday from a two-week trip InterRailing around Europe with my gentleman caller, and I shall write about it here before I forget (I'll be showing this tumblr to my grandchildren in years to come, saying things like 'and this is your granny posing provocatively with a statue for comic effect'. It'll be ever so heart-warming).

So I'll get on that. For now, take my apologies for never posting anything. 

x

[kokusuz]

[100reasonstobecheerful-blog]

All of my students

[vinetfromage]

Parc de Brabois, Nancy

These are some photos of the park next to my school. I go walking in there quite often - it's basically the woods with a wall around it, it's very peaceful, and the view from the hill in its centre is beautiful. Plus it has a very Secret Garden-esque wall, which is a bonus.

[vinetfromage]

Back in France

Hello all!

I know I have been shockingly neglectful of all of you loyal patient followers but fear not, updates are on their way.

In the meantime, here is one pretty and one stupid France gif to keep you going.

[vinetfromage]

A typical conversation for me in France

Me:

French person:

I try to introduce myself:

French person:

Me:

:

French person:

Me:

French person:

Me:

Suffice to say, my French could do with some improvement.

[vinetfromage]

As promised: My school is insane

So I have lived and worked at Lycée Stanislas in Villers-lès-Nancy for just about three weeks now, and it still surpises me multiple times a day. This is just not the kind of school I am used to. Here is a list of ridiculous things that confuse me daily:

The building itself. It is a humungous concrete (but not necessarily ugly) maze that makes you feel like you've just stepped onto the set of a sci-fi movie.

The subjects taught here. They don't just teach normal things like maths. Oh no. Half the students study hotel skills and as such wander around in little suits looking very professional. I don't know why I find this so adorable but I do.

Due to the last reason on the list, this is not just a school. It is also a functioning bar, hotel and restaurant. Which is very convenient/bad for me. I can't decide. Again, adorable fifteen year olds in suits run all of this, and I found it hard to conceal how cute I thought it was when my very sweet waitress took me through the menu for the night. Excellent food though. These students make better meals than I ever have.

The bell here plays a little tune instead of an ugly noise. As nice as this is it still takes me a minute to realise it wasn't someone's phone going off every time I hear it.

In short, being here makes me look like this a lot:

As well as this:

This has led to some of the staff here referring to me as 'la petite anglaise' (the little English girl). I don't particularly mind this, but I'm not exactly used to being seen as little or unassuming. It is quite shocking how much a language barrier can take away from your personality.

But for now, oh well, I'm doing ok, and I'm getting to be rather fond of my crazy gastronomie lycée.

I read an article the other day about how annoying year abroad blogs, and the author seemed particularly annoyed by the sign off 'à bientôt', so I now have a compulsive need to end all of my entries that way.

A bientôt,

Laurie (my name in France - not a fan of the way French people say Laura).