Hey there!
My posts will unfortunately not include any pics for the next while as my computer has mysteriously decided to die on me :) Thats what you get with a 300$ ebay special I guess....lol...
It's been pretty stressful here recently with work and school getting pretty busy. Work, my english teaching job, has been pretty interesting. I'm teaching three adults who are pretty much beginners. We did the ABC's, "Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes" song, simon says, etc, etc. Its pretty funny doing this with a group of adults.....
I went to visit my friend Anna in Germany and Denmark...lol....she lives in northern Germany in a border town called Flensburg and her family lives in Denmark. I tried some traditional German food: Pork, Cabbage and Potatoes :) one of the biggest plates of food I've ever seen!! I couldn't even eat half of it. We spent a day in Flensburg touring around, it is a nice little town with a beautful harbor and architecture. We spent the rest of the weekend in southern Denmark with Anna's family . It was a pretty relaxing time, touring around the area and getting to know Anna a little better (we had met once in Canada 4 years ago and have kept in touch through email since) ....overall an excellent weekend....
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Craziness here at the ESC Lille!!!! We are in the middle of the elections for the student councils here at the school, so things are getting pretty intense! The way that campaigns are run here are like nothing I have ever experienced before....
There are two competing councils for the BDE "Bureau d'entertainment" so each one has to organize a bar night for the school....These bar nights are in fact open bars, tickets are 5euros and one is able to drink as much as they'd like... :)
I went to one last night as I've been told over and over that these nights are something not to be missed, an integral part of the exchange experience...lol....It was definitely fun, a new experience one could say. I personally didn't drink too too much, but it was funny to see how drunk people got as the night progressed. I think that even by 11:30pm there was puke on the floor, not a good sign!! A little gross, a little crazy, but all in all a good time.
School is getting pretty busy now too. I think I've got 3 projects on the go now, so my schedule is getting a little bit more busy now...Im going to Germany next week to meet with an old friend from Centennial College, Anna, who is working there (a small city called Flensburg north of Hamburg) and Tanne will be coming down from Copenhagen to spend the weekend with us as well. Tanne has been battling pneumonia for the past week or two, so Im really hoping that she is feeling better by then and is able to come!!
Updates on that trip to come for all you loyal readers....
Ian
There are two competing councils for the BDE "Bureau d'entertainment" so each one has to organize a bar night for the school....These bar nights are in fact open bars, tickets are 5euros and one is able to drink as much as they'd like... :)
I went to one last night as I've been told over and over that these nights are something not to be missed, an integral part of the exchange experience...lol....It was definitely fun, a new experience one could say. I personally didn't drink too too much, but it was funny to see how drunk people got as the night progressed. I think that even by 11:30pm there was puke on the floor, not a good sign!! A little gross, a little crazy, but all in all a good time.
School is getting pretty busy now too. I think I've got 3 projects on the go now, so my schedule is getting a little bit more busy now...Im going to Germany next week to meet with an old friend from Centennial College, Anna, who is working there (a small city called Flensburg north of Hamburg) and Tanne will be coming down from Copenhagen to spend the weekend with us as well. Tanne has been battling pneumonia for the past week or two, so Im really hoping that she is feeling better by then and is able to come!!
Updates on that trip to come for all you loyal readers....
Ian
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Work Started - Finally!!!
So, after nearly two months of waiting to get some action going on, it all comes in one big heap! Thats always the way it is I guess....
,
I have a number of good things to mention. Firstly, I got news that I won the EDC student scholarship, a $3000 prize! On top of the cash is the added prestige that the award will bring to my resume....awesome! There is also the possibility of working with the EDC in an internship for the summer, something that is a great opportunity, but is kind of away from my plans to stay in Europe over the summer. I guess this is a good dilemma to be in though eh?
The second good piece of news is that I got myself a job here in France! Its actually in Belgium, but it is only a 20 minute train ride to the town, so its not that bad. I will be teaching english at a private company that caters to professionals mostly I think. I started training last saturday, and it was pretty interesting....I arrived and the trainer started speaking to me and my collegues in Arabic! He continued to speak in Arabic for the next 3 hours :) The point of this was to try to put us in the shoes of our students, arriving and knowing very little (in our case nothing) of the language. Needless to say it was an interesting experience, and I actually left with a few words of Arabic under my belt....salaam alakoum!
I started a class on Monday, the first one that will actually be worth credits for me....it was an intense case study on the wine industry. We were in the place of a Bordeaux winery that is looking to expand internationally. We had two days to analyse the market and create a marketing strategy for the company....we ended up working 12 hour days, but made the presentation today. Intense, but fun.....
Anyhow, thats all for now. Im off to Brussels tommorow and have my second day of training on saturday (maybe itll be Hindi then :) Ill be writing soon!!!
,
I have a number of good things to mention. Firstly, I got news that I won the EDC student scholarship, a $3000 prize! On top of the cash is the added prestige that the award will bring to my resume....awesome! There is also the possibility of working with the EDC in an internship for the summer, something that is a great opportunity, but is kind of away from my plans to stay in Europe over the summer. I guess this is a good dilemma to be in though eh?
The second good piece of news is that I got myself a job here in France! Its actually in Belgium, but it is only a 20 minute train ride to the town, so its not that bad. I will be teaching english at a private company that caters to professionals mostly I think. I started training last saturday, and it was pretty interesting....I arrived and the trainer started speaking to me and my collegues in Arabic! He continued to speak in Arabic for the next 3 hours :) The point of this was to try to put us in the shoes of our students, arriving and knowing very little (in our case nothing) of the language. Needless to say it was an interesting experience, and I actually left with a few words of Arabic under my belt....salaam alakoum!
I started a class on Monday, the first one that will actually be worth credits for me....it was an intense case study on the wine industry. We were in the place of a Bordeaux winery that is looking to expand internationally. We had two days to analyse the market and create a marketing strategy for the company....we ended up working 12 hour days, but made the presentation today. Intense, but fun.....
Anyhow, thats all for now. Im off to Brussels tommorow and have my second day of training on saturday (maybe itll be Hindi then :) Ill be writing soon!!!
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