Jen, Ken and the Meat Heads do Freelance Camping in Derbyshire!

What's freelance camping you might ask? Well instead of camping on a camp site, with toilets, showers and other such facilities, it's camping on a random field. Really Roughing It. And that's precisely what we did on Friday.

My first full weekend home and I went away! To the Peak District, a national Park about an hour and a half south of Manchester. The day started with breakfast at my house, a shopping trip to Morrisons to buy booze and cake, and then we filled Jen's tiny Beetle up with camping gear and hit the road.

Road trip entertainment included teaching Jenny the Eddie Stowbart game, whereby you punch your road trip companions every time you see an Eddie Stowbart lorry, poor Jen wasn't very good at this game. And the sound track was provided by Stacey who found an old indie compilation CD.

We arrived at Uppertown Farm, Ashbourne, at around 2pm and spoke to farmer Paul who indicated to us a flooded field where we were allowed to camp for the small fee of £5. The field was full of sheep poo, but not even this could dampen our mood. Full of enthusiasm, we had our outer tent erected in no time, but we couldn't figure out how to put up the inner tent. Finally, after much deliberation, and an emergency call to Stacey's Dad, we reached the conclusion that we had put the tent up INSIDE OUT!!! And we had to start again.

We took this opportunity to find higher ground, which was less flooded, although more shit-covered. And once again we set about putting our tent up - the right way round!! All in all I'm ashamed to say it took us almost two hours to get set up, and to celebrate we tucked into our picnic lunch of quiche, sausage rolls, ham, crisps and loads and loads of cake!

Next to our 'camp' was Carsington Water, the 9th biggest reservoir in England and we had a wander down and used the toilets! The rest of the evening was spent eating, drinking and chatting incessantly as we do. And we were quite comfortable in our tent, with a gas stove, lanterns and an inflatable bed to keep us above the puddles! Our make shift toilet was less luxurious, let's just say there was a field full of sheep next to us that got more than a eyefull over the course of the evening.

We were lucky with the weather, it rained all night, keeping us up, but during the day it stayed more of less dry. And we woke up the next day to bacon butties and brews courtesy of Stacey Groom!

In the morning we took a walk around the reservoir, all 8 and a half miles! It was really beautiful and reminded me of some of the nice things England has to offer, it's often easy to forget living amongst the grey working class squalor of Swinton. The sun even made an appearance and it was a lovely walk, although almost three hours later when we arrived back at the tent we were shattered.

Packing the tent up was even more of a trauma that setting it up. The wind had picked up and it was flapping all over the place, sending sheep poo and mud in all directions, and I have no idea how it fit in the bag in the first place, the tent seemed to have tripled in size when we came to squeeze it away!

We set of home, smelly, unclean and exhausted. And all in all it was a brilliant experience spent with my two best friends. The only two people in the world that love me enough to go freelance camping in February!!

Here are some photo's of the trip:

Waterproofed and ready

Tea making facilities

Me and my little munchkins

Some neighboring cows

When we finally got the tent up!

Our shocking 1st attempt

Home Sweet Home and the smell of tramps arse

Here's an amusing anecdote for you. I was getting the bus home from Manchester today, and not surprisingly the stench on the bus was making me heave. It smelt like the arse crack of one thousand tramps. Welcome to Manchester. I stood up to open the window. Then I sat down again, not realising that my pull down seat had sprung back up to the upright position and I landed with an embarassing squeal, on my arse, surrounded my by shopping. I was right at the front of the bus too so all the common smelly people were looking at me.

Today I got my yellow fever vaccination! It cost £45 and I was told I will probably experience flu like symptoms for the next ten days. Lovely.

I also bought a fabulous pair of hiking boots, they're brown, hideously ugly and wonderfully confortable. They're also my replacement Markus for climbing mountains :(

Other than that home life is going very well, seeing friends, eating bacon and doing all the little jobs that I couldn't get done from France. Feeling super efficient and Haven't even had a lie in yet.

END OF CHAPTER I (France)

France. Six months. DONE.

So I'm on my way home from France, for good. I'm no longer an au pair. I no longer live in France. So, as I sit in the departure lounge of Nice airport, I feel it's time for some reflections on my time here:

Au Pairing: My experience as une fille au pair was greatly different to what I had imagined when I signed up. I imagined I'd feel like a member of the family, but I can't say I did. I was generally treated like an employee and I lead my own separate life to the family, however I think this improved my experience rather than hindered it. It allowed me to make friends, travel, explore, and get ridiculously drunk and do stupid things. And still in spite of this I still formed a really strong bond with the children. Charlotte, who I consider like a little sister, who confided in me things she couldn't talk to her parents about, who make me relive my experiences as a 13 year old girl, where boys, friends and clothes are all that matter. Barnabé, such a sweet intelligent and sensitive boy who was better than me at maths and always made me laugh. And Merlin, my baby, who corrected my French, entertained me with his hilarious 4 year old jibberish and taught me how hard it is to raise children!! I've learnt so much from this family, I had moments where I wanted to give up, moments where I wanted to stay forever and moments that I will cherish. It has really been a memorable experience living with another family, adapting to there way of life and helping them in their day to day routine.

My French: I finally feel I deserve to have 1st class honors degree in French. When I graduated I felt like a fraud, who'd gotten lucky on the day of the exams, but know I can confidently say, "I can speak French". I think in French, I dream in French, and I spent six months speaking nothing but French. I genuinely am proud of the progress I made. I made the effort to study and to learn the impossibly complicated mess that is French grammar, I can have complicated conversations about politics, education and what-not in French, I watch films in French and understand as if it were in English. The aim of coming here was to get my French up to standard, it's not perfect, it never will be, but I achieved my goal. Pat-on-my-back!

My Opinion of French People: Has not changed. I really wanted it to, but I'm afraid the stereotypes are true. I've met lots of cool, friendly, and open minded French people. Frenchies that participate in couchsurfing for example, or people I’ve met hitch-hiking. However there's still something about them that drives me crazy. Je sais pas quoi! It’s the way they drive. It’s their stubbornness. It’s their conviction that France is the best country in the world. It’s their coldness. I’m not saying I don’t like them, I love them. And I love to hate them. It’s a love-hate relationship in fact.

Reform: If you read my blogs from when I first arrived you’d think I was a born again Christian. I was starting again after a 3 month long post-graduation binge and I was an angel. I was eating healthy, I stopped drinking, I started jogging and I was studying French grammar in my spare time… And then I realised it really wasn’t for me!! What have I learnt about myself in France? I’ve learnt that I like to party, I like living a random crazy life, doing stupid things and that people like me because of that. So although I’ve kept up the jogging, I’m also proud to be returning to England with a rather impressive pain au chocolate filled belly and some rather amusing drunken anedotes!

International Relations: Another misconception I had before coming here was that the friends I would make would be French. Yeah I made French friends, but I also made German, Polish, American, Italian, Mexican, Dutch, Danish, Hungarian, Lithuanian and Swiss friends – just to name a few of the nationalities I’ve come across. We were a load of foreigners living in France, and we make a pretty handsome group. I have learnt SO much from my friends here. I can now swear fluently in German, I know all about American TV and religious cults, I’ve learnt about their countries, their food, their politics and customs and education systems and I’ve laughed from start to finish. Together we have our own special language of Foreigner-French mixed in with some set phrases that became part of our everyday vocabulary but that no French person would understand! I’ll miss them, but I know I’ll see them again some day.

So that’s just a few thoughts on my stay in France. Generally I prefer for this blog to be a factual rather than sentimental/feelingsy account of my life, but still I think its nice to summarise all the things I’ve learnt and experienced.

Now I’ve got a month or so at home to prepare myself for chapter two:

SOUTH AMERICA!!!

France, it has been a pleasure!

Saint-Valentin

Valentines Day in France, the most romantic country in the world. Not. Although I did spend a lovely day shopping with Melissa, who by the way knitted me an AMAZING scarf! I've never had a scarf knitted for me before and I LOVE it!!! Thank you Little Oddy!

Tuesday last week we had a farewell meal cooked for us and hosted by our wonderful German boys Markus, Christopher and Paul. It even had South American themed potatoes! We had champagne and ended the night dancing the Macarena. Perfect.

On Thursday the schools were on strike. Surprise surprise. Not like the French to strike is it? It was nice though because I was able to spend a nice day with the kids. We went for a walk along the cliffs at Six Fours, saw a castle, and played at the park. Then had McDonalds for lunch.

On Thursday evening me, Markus, Christopher and Pablo went for a nighttime hike up to Le Fort de Six Fort, a military look-out on top of a hill. The fort was built 1875 and is still in use today. It was dark, so our view was limited to enjoying the lights of the surrounding towns, Toulon, La Seyne and Sanary.

And at weekend Giulia came to visit to say a final farewell. Sob. I lost my motorbike virginity when Paul came and picked me up on his bike! And the 3 of us went on a bike ride (normal push bikes that is) into Sanary. Hilarious. My bike had no brakes and Paul's had no gears, and Giulia had to balance on the back on mine! Needless to say we ended up abandoning the bikes for the uphill journey home and walked back instead. Stopping off at Bard'O for a beer to quench our thirst.

Saturday night we went to Villa, the one big club around here. And I have never missed Manchester nightlife so much. Looking around at the sea of conservatively dressed Frenchies; the girls in long sleeved baggy black numbers and the guys in their tight white pants and unbuttoned shirts, I found myself cursing the DJ and his housey-techno music and his mumbling in French. I also almost had a heart attack after paying €10 for a vodka mixer. We didn't stay long.

Sunday we had kebabs for breakfast and went to Cassis for ice creams and coffee. Cassis is beautiful but there really isn't much else to do there in winter other than eat ice creams and drink coffee.

And now my final week in France is upon me....

HItch HIking to Nimes!

Last weekend was wonderfully random and spontaneous! On Saturday morning Markus and I set off to Nimes, 200km away, with nowhere to stay and not much of a plan. We decided to hitch hike and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to get picked up. We started our journey at the motorway toll station at Bandol, and within 10 minutes we were picked up by 5 girls in a luxury mobile home! They were on their way up north to perform a show, they were actresses/dancers. It was very comfortable inside, we ate fresh strawberries and talked about transsexuals!

They dropped us at a service station just outside Aix-en-Provence, several cars stopped for us but none were going to Nimes. In the end we managed to get a lift of a middle aged man named Vincent who had recently split up with his wife and was going to visit his brothe in Avignon. I think he was grateful of the company. He took us to Orange, which was actually a bit out of our way but seeing as we weren't in any hurry it didn't really matter.

From Orange we got a lift from a young man on his way to Monpellier to visit friends. He took us just outside Nimes and dropped us at the side of the motorway at one of the 'picnic areas' that are commonly found at the side of French motorways. The picnic area was deserted apart from a couple of lorries with sleeping drivers and I started to think our luck had run out! However within 5 minutes a car pulled in to use the toilets and the kindly couple inside offered to take us to the city limits. They even gave us an orange each to snack on. They were very friendly, positive people on their way to Perpignan for their holidays.

From the city limits we decided to walk into Nimes. It was a boiling hot day and after 3 hours sitting in various cars it was nice to walk a while. We finally made it to the city center and naturally, we congratulated ourselves with a nice cold pint of Stella :)

We had nowhere to stay, our search for a couch to surf had been in vain, so we visited the city with our back packs in tow. Nimes is a Roman city, we saw the main sites, had a nap in a park, then ate pizza for supper. As the sun was setting we set off to find a youth hostel that the tourist office had recommened. It was miles away up a big hill, and after 12 hours of walking/hitch hiking with our heavy backpacks it was a depressing journey, made better by the beers we bought on the way! We finally found the hostel and it was splendid. Really nice, clean, modern and rural. We even managed to get a dorm to ourselves for the same price as a shared dorm, even after the receptionist told us that we'd have to sleep in seperate rooms because there were no mixed sex rooms. I think she took pity on us seeing the tired desolate looks on our faces when we arrived at 9 o'clock at night without so much as a reservation!

There was a large party of crazy Spanish youths staying in the dorms around us, making lots of noise and generally being Spanish, but we weren't feeling sociable. We stayed in our room, chatted and drank our beer then both fell into deep sleeps.

Sunday we were up early and cracked open the first beer at 9.30am. Liquid breakfast. We visited Les Arenes, a Roman Colosseum and did the whole guided tour thing. It was once again a gorgeous day. We strolled through the city, it was destitute like everywhere else in France on a Sunday morning. At midday we took the train to Montpellier. Markus knew some people there with a couch we could sleep on and I wanted to see the city anyway. When we arrived we went on a huge walk looking for two crucial things: an ice cream and a toilet - I was brusting! We saw the old town (and wee-ed in a smoothie shop) and then had an overpriced ice cream in the main town square. Then Markus took me to see the Antigone. It's a brand new neighbourhood that was built to handle the rapidly increasing population of the city. Apparently Montpellier has the highest rate of population growth in France. The Antigone is weird. It's like all Grecian-style large imposing buildings, it reminded me of Disneyland for some reason. Very beautiful though, lots of big pedestrianized spaces, lots of greenery and fountains. Once again we had a nap on the grass in the sun. Then went and met our couchsurfing hosts.

The were Eddie and Auld, a young couple studying in Montpellier. They were great. They took us for a walk around, Montpellier is really beautiful. Then we had noodles from a noodlebar for tea and went to the pub for a few beers and a game of pool. It was a tight game and in the end we gave up and called it a draw because nobody could pot the black!! French pool is different to English pool: to win, you have to pot the black (as per) but you have to hit the side of the table with either the black or the white before you pot it. Tricky!

The neighbours came round later on in the evening and we spent a lot of time discussing stereotypes that we have of other nationalities. Apparently English people are known to be open and sociable, albeit a tad slutty. I'm quite happy with that conclusion!

We had planned to hitch hike home, but we overslept and ended up running across the city to catch the train! The train went via Marseille where we stopped to have a McDonalds lunch.

Finally the weekend was over and it was back to au pair life. Fantastic final adventure to end my stay in France.

Nuit Blanche

Monday night was one of those wonderful unexpected crazy nights. The boys cooked us dinner, it was fantastic as usual. And we all got very drunk and ended up skinny dipping at Portissol beach at 2am!! It was COLD! My whole body went numb about 3 seconds after getting in but luckily thanks to the wine, gin and whiskey, I didn't feel a thing! Swimming in the sea in January can now be crossed off my to-do list!

We ended up staying up all night, and then I had to start work at 7am! That's the meaning of nuit blanche, a sleepless night!