Message from the Brummie!

Hiya!
Wow, it’s already been a month since I arrived in Birmingham!! I know, I should have written before, but I still don’t have an internet access at home, and I usually only use the University computers to check and answer my emails... So: where to begin?

Well, I live in a residential area near the University of Birmingham (which is only one of the Universities in Birmingham) in a nice house. I have four housemates: Fatma and Abdul are German and Stacey and Tina are English. I get along very well with Fatma and Abdul, they are really great housemates and we help each other a lot: I help them with their English, and they help me with my German.

Term really began on the 11th of September for me. I had to spend a week in a primary school to get familiar with the British educational system. Believe me; it truly is different from the French one. Actually, I struggle to find anything in common between both systems. Right, ok, there are little midgets and teachers in schools in both countries. But honestly, apart from that, nothing much in common...

Then, I began the University on the 18th of September. Carmen D’Arcy, with whom I had the interview back in May, is the tutor in French and Spanish, and Carol Gray is the German tutor. Most students have two languages (mine are French, of course, and German). There are about 25 students in the PGCE course in MFL (Modern Foreign Languages), and everyone is very nice and friendly. We all know each other now, and we go to the pub together at least once a week. Actually, I didn’t need to be worried about making friends, as only very few students in the PGCE course come from Birmingham (or were at the University of Birmingham for their studies), and most people are foreigners like me, which means that everyone is eager to meet people. The University is great, and I was pleased to know that it is one of the best in England! It is so huge that it would be quite easy to get lost in there! Fortunately, the Clocktower (see photo) in the centre can be seen from the distance, acting as a lighthouse.

Right, the people that I see the most are Nadine (French, from Moselle, moved in Birmingham 3 years ago), Mounir (French, from Paris, moved in England 2 years ago, married with an Englishwoman), François (French, I just can’t remember where he’s from at the moment, has been in Birmingham for 2 years), Nirvana (English, from London, lived in France during a year), Alex (German, from Munich, trilingual in German, French and English). There are others, of course, but I suppose I’ll talk about them later...

Gosh... There are just SO many things I want to say... But if I did, this message would be at the very least 3 pages long, so I’ll stop now, and if there are precise things you want me to tell you about, please, tell me, and I will, I promise, and you won’t have to wait for a month or so. Promis, juré, croix de bois, croix de fer, et tout le tralala!!!

Bizzzzzzzzz
Aline
PS : je pense beaucoup à vous tous, et je vous embrasse tous TRES fort !!!

L'été est bientôt terminé...

L'été avance à une allure folle... Je suis chez mes parents, à Plouaret, jusqu'au 1er Septembre, et ensuite, je m'envole enfin vers Birmingham! Les nombreux papiers demandés par l'Université de Birmingham sont remplis et envoyés: stage d'observation en école primaire, check; casier judiciaire et traduction certifiée, check; trouver une chambre pas chère proche de l'Université et ayant un accès internet, check; acheter le billet d'avion, check.

Je finis de travailler au Foyer Logement des Personnes Agées de Plouaret le 22 Août, dans moins d'une semaine, vivement que les vacances commencent! D'ailleurs, pour ceux qui ne sont pas au courant, j'ai obtenu mon année de Master 1 Didactique et Linguistique des langues, mention français Langue Etrangère, avec 12.9 de moyenne! Pas mal, non? Ok, je sais, très modeste, mais un peu d'auto-congratulations ne font pas de mal, des fois...

Donc, d'ici au 1er septembre, je vais peut-être essayer de voir des amis, je dois aussi aller quelques jours à Rennes, histoire d'être là, quand même, pour assister à la rentrée d'Abel et rencontrer sa nouvelle maîtresse, et puis, il me reste bien évidemment des choses à acheter avant de partir.

Dernière chose... J'ai commencé une nouvelle histoire sur HPFF, intitulée Tom Marvolo Riddle ... I Am Lord Voldemort. Si le coeur vous en dit, le lien vers my page d'auteur est dans le titre du post intitulé "First Fic", mais je vous préviens, c'est en anglais!

Allez, bizzzz à tous, et surtout, n'hésitez pas à m'envoyer de vos nouvelles! Je suis désolée, mais je n'ai pas été en contact avec grand monde cet été, mais je pense à vous, soyez-en sûrs!

Holidays.. Humm...

I've been on holidays for a few days now... Humm... Well, I've mostly just been resting, so no big news today. I'm trying to write at the moment, both my novel and fanfiction, but it's mostly research. I have a few new ideas that could be quite good, I'm not sure yet, I'll just have to test them I suppose, write them out of my system, and see what they become!

I've recently had some news from Birmingham too, filled a few forms, and everything is on its way. I swear, they really make it difficult for people to register at their University, I even wonder sometimes if they actually want any students!

I'm also about to start packing, as I'm moving out from Rennes on the 1st of July. I'm heading to my parents' place in Plouaret first, as I'll spend the summer there, before going to Birmingham at last, which will be as soon as I find a flat to rent, though probably not before the end of August. We'll just see. And of course I'll keep you posted on everything that happens in the meantime :)

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PS: Here is a pic taken at Abel's school yesterday, as there was the end-of-year show :) Aren't they cute? :D

First Fic!!!!!

I've just finished my first fanfic ever!!!!! I'm just SO thrilled!!!! It is published on harrypotterfanfiction.com, and as you might imagine, it is a fic that takes place in the Harry Potter world, which means that if you fools haven't read the HP books, this might be of little interest to you :) And it is in English of course...
Please, go and have a look, and tell me what you thought about it! And, if you leave a review, it would be best I think you didn't say that we're friends, or that you haven't read the books! There are only HP fans in there, you might be lynched, and then me too :D

Linebelle (by the way, for those who had been wondering, Linebelle is my author's name out there!)

(BTW, the title of this post is a link to my author's page at HPFF.com)

Damn you Liz!!!

Argghhh!!!!! J'y crois pas!! Ces p***** de profs ont casé ma p***** de soutenance MERCREDI prochain!!!! En gros, un nouveau week-end de travail en perspective... Et moi qui pensait naïvement être plus ou moins tranquille ce week-end, ou alors pouvoir me concentrer sur les dossiers un peu moins importants, genre celui de cinéma, ce qui voulait dire re-mater "De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté"... Ben non, je vais devoir le bâcler celui-là aussi!
Bon, pensons à autre chose: Birmingham, par exemple. Je viens de recevoir un super gros dossier contenant genre tout ce qui concerne l'inscription à l'Université là-bas... Déjà, il y a un milliard de pages à lire, des formulaires à remplir. Très simple: adresse au Royaume-Uni (on fait comment quand on n'a pas encore?), formulaire à faire remplir par son médecin (on fait comment quand on n'a pas de médecin en Angleterre et que notre médecin ne parle pas anglais?), et pour couronner le tout, il y a ces p***** de frais d'inscription!!! Oui, je sais, "watch your language, Aline", mais je trouve ça légèrement difficile de garder mon calme aujourd'hui! Bref, £3000 de "tuition fees". Alors, normalement il y a une aide quelque part à laquelle je devrais avoir droit, mais où! Je viens de passer je ne sais combien de temps sur les différents sites (ben non, les anglais ne savent manifestement pas concentrer les informations en un point stratégique), et pas trace d'un formulaire que je pourrais remplir en tant que EU-national, dans un post-graduate teaching course, alors qu'ils disent partout qu'il y en a un. Un formulaire fantôme, peut-être, oui, ça doit être ça... Et les vacances, c'est no-go.
Bon, c'est pas grave, c'est juste une mauvaise journée, ça ira mieux demain, il faut espérer... Et pourtant, ça avait bien commencé, avec l'oral d'anglais... Un petit 18, genre, coeff 5, ça va au moins remonter le reste... Oh, et le point positif pour ma soutenance, c'est qu'au moins, je suis définitivement en vacances le 13 juin!!!! Donc, damn you Liz, mais bon, dans le fond, c'est pas si pire... :)

Creation of a blog

This had been on my mind for some time... I'm not sure how often I'll be sending new posts, or what they will be about... As I am about to move abroad, I guess it will allow me to keep in touch with some of my friends, tell them of my life in Birmingham, and I might publish some stories here as well. Might. Some day. But definitely not now! I'm pretty busy at the moment with the University as some of you know and I still have to figure out how I'm going to get to the end of the semester unscathed!
Bizz to all!
Aline
Oh, and here are a few pics I took in Birmingham this week... (The Bullring and, ... drumrolls: a church...)