This week started well; I met up with some people from the French course to go to the Braderie for moules frites, we left at five but it took us two hours to get into Lille (usually a ten minute metro ride.) This was due to the metro having broken down… busses were called but it still took forever and then because all of the inner city roads were closed we had a twenty minute walk. We laughed about it and enjoyed the last of the evening sun walking up through streets which had turned into car parks- people just parked in the lanes and on the paths, it was insane!

We found a bar packed with people and ordered ‘moules frites’- a must have at the Braderie and wee watched the ‘moule’ shells pile up out the front. It’s tradition that restaurants compete for who can sell the most and to do this they throw all the finished shells in a pile outside- the biggest pile wins. The Braderie is essentially a market- it takes over the town and it feels like your lost in Arabian Nights, I didn’t find any magic lamps but there were magic cards for sale, magic glasses and magic things in general, it seemed to be a theme.

Sarah and I went back Sunday to shop, it felt like we were walking through e-bay; everything you could imagine and more was on sale from antiques to bric-a-brac, there were professional stalls and residents selling their junk from carpets thrown on the floor. Add to that the fact everything was drowning in the perpetual rain and it was the most bizarre experience; but I haggled in French for a Venetian mask and sat in a café watching the crazy world pass by, I considered it a success.

Then Monday came; administration day for my courses and the start of some real work, I met my tutor and was handed someone’s Masters research project and told I’d be continuing with it… No, I was thinking, and then my brain shut down in fear, I lost the ability to talk, let alone talk French and then had to translate my way through a two hour introduction lecture (none of which was particularly relevant), amble my way through signing up for Japanese (which was the only thing I really cared about) and find myself in a lecture. It wasn’t a real lecture however as ten minutes in the room was invaded by a lot of people screaming in French and covering us in water- all brandishing chemistry water bottles- one guy was pinned to the table, half drowned and had his hair cut but I’m told he was aware that it would happen.

Meanwhile the rest of us, slowly acclimatising and letting the horror slide from our faces started to sing along (in my case try to catch the words as I was wet and still quite horrified). We were given keys (to our ‘mariée’- someone to help us out) and dragged outside for more water and flour throwing… I wasn’t amused. I did find my mariée but left shortly after but my astonishingly ridiculous day didn’t end there, oh no! Now in an emotionally wrecked state I walked to Auchan (hypermarket) where upon having bought my shopping the metro broke down, I got lost in the shopping centre trying to get out and took a shortcut home which turned out to be a ‘longcut.’

I realised I was being ridiculous quite quickly but that didn’t stop the absolute fear of labs that I felt; thinking they were going to ask me to do something really hard that I couldn’t do and that I’d make an idiot of myself. Luckily only the second happened… which I was prepared for; the language ‘barrier’ makes it hard to joke and of course I knew there would be misunderstandings, so far nothing too grave but I sometimes say I can’t do something then realise actually I can for example; it took me ages to realise my tutor wasn’t saying ‘eremen’, which meant nothing to me, but was saying RMN which is, of course, NMR and I do know what that is.

The rest of the week did slowly pass, I wasn’t expected to do anything impossible in labs; just follow a recipe, with which I had help, everyone seems really nice and they all talk to me in French even though it must be annoying to repeat things three times- they speak very fast!

The lectures are a bit of a problem and I wonder now why I chose to do statistical thermodynamics (which is worse than it sounds) when I can’t understand it in English let alone in French… although by yesterday I was understanding at least 75%.

Anyway, I’ve rambled for long enough, it’s the weekend which means a trip to Lille to see it without the market stools; and hopefully a trip to Wazemmes market then another week of labs and lectures to get through, I wonder if I’ll ever stop feeling nervous in the lab? And, if my French will ever be good enough to start a conversation without worrying?

…Oh and I just found out that the laundrette has gone- literally, on Wednesday there were washers and dryers- now just an empty room… odd…