Some news about...... Passport!!

UUUHHH... What a pain, this "passport-story"... At last I have some news, and not bad ones.. Still, I haven't won the game yet. Yesterday, I called the ministry, to take some news about this bloody piece of paper (which I hope is not bloody for real...) and they merely replied "No Sir, still no news from consulate.." Well, then I decided to write an email to my chief there, in Saudi, who replied me "don't worry, I'll try to control the situation".
Then he called the consul himself, to ask him what was going on, and the latter told him that I could call by myself, if I needed some information... which I did. Now, it seems that everything (... almost everything) is ready for me to go... except the flight tickets. It would be good if I left from here on the 6th or 7th, which would leave me some time to finish.... errr.... start packing everything up.
This morning I called a former colleague that was in Ryiadh, to ask him some questions, but it seems that Ryiadh and Khobar are 2 worlds apart. (please no joke about "worlds apart") First about religion, it's much more strict in Ryiadh whereas it's much more cool in Khobar. As well as for the climate... I'm expecting hot-damp weather..
Now.. I still have to buy a little container to put my stuff inside, I haven't done this yet, and an "emergency box" with a big pot of sun-cream (why not buy a brush to spread it...?), and a lot of things that could be very useful. I'll try to leave stress at home, because if I decide to take it with me, then there won't be enough space anymore for clothes and books.
It's not easy to find something really special to report on this blog, during this "waiting" period... Not that I have nothing to tell, but days look like each other, even though i'm often outside doing some activity.

I'll go back to my "pre-packing" activity... See you later..

it's been a long time!

After almost one month away from "home" because of exams, I'm back to my lands.. Exams were generally nooot thaaaat bad, but the best way to confirm this is to wait for exams : until then, I prefer not to give any firm opinion..

On Tuesday, everything was ready to leave St Pryvé.. 4 big boxes contained books, the printer, clothes.... in other words, my mess :P . Today, I realized I didn't turn back towards the house, to see it a last time before a long one. Despite little misunderstandings that have no more meaning to me, I'm sure I will miss this place. Everyday, to have dinner there , to study, to sleep until the next day... and sometimes not sleeping.. It's there that I discovered my "student profile", or a "student philosophy (which is definitely not wise at all, according to some colleagues) : for almost each assignmen, I waited for the eve of the deadline before efficiently working on the topic. On the other hand, from the very day when the professor gives the topic, I start thinking about it... I read some articles, look at some websites, and sometimes, take some notes but not too much ! : otherwise it would mean that I work in advance, and that's definitely contrary to my methods.

It's true that the level of stress kept increasing, along this academic year : this method was still working but at the end, the results didn't exactly correspond to my expectations. Sometimes it was much higher than expected (in this case, why complain?) but sometimes, it was lower.. Well, it seems that I didn't master that well the fiability of the method. Luckily, I've never had to face a tragedy...

Now, about my departure, I still have no news from the ministry. They are waiting (so am I, by the way...) for my VISA, and only then, they'll be able to book my flight. The big question mark now follows the word "WHEN"... Actually, I'm not worrying that much and I don't think there is a reason to feel very concerned : when it's time to go, i'll go ! :) However I had some news from the FR school in the city where i'll settle : its director sent me an email and proposed to provide me a temporary accomodation, leaving me the time to find my own roof. I have some chances to find it in the FR compound, but I'm still thinking about the advantages and defects of such a choice... This topic will be dealt with later..

That's it for today.. Tomorrow, a family meeting is planned, from the Italian side, to celebrate Mother's day with the grandparents. We should be 32, all in all, it will be one of the last meetings until a long time from now.

Take care, and see you soon

The end of exams...

I'm done with exams! Today was supposed to be the most loaded day of exams, all in all I was supposed to write during 6 hours. In the morning, there was the exam of textual linguistics (or "speech analysis"), the topic was a funny poem from Fourest, about sardines. The task was not to explain the meaning of the text, but to analyse its poetical features as a linguist would do. Then, I had some hours to think about something else, before the other exam (at 2.00 PM) which was to last 4 hours. It took 2.30 hours to answer the questions that were not very difficult. However, I prefer to t for the results before giving any pronostic. I preferto be careful, any "accident" can happen.

It seems that today was my last day at university before the month of September when I come there again to defend my internship. I realized this after leaving University with Mathieu, a good friend of mine that I've known for 4 years.

After the exam, we had some relaxing time at the Library, playing Legion on the Internet (a game online made of questions about general knowledge), as we often did during the year, before attending Mrs Volpe's lecture about "didactics of French as a Second Language", on Mondays and Wednesdays. Tonight, we were supposed to meet Xavier at Mathieu's flat but he was unfortunately not available, it would have been nice to spend a "laughing session" altogether as it was the case in 2nd year of Bachelor. Well, I keep my fingers crossed hoping that I'll be able to meet them again in September, after the defence of my Training. The little "goodbye party" of tonight was nice, simple, as usual we made jokes with Mathieu and François and had good time. Now, I consider having the same kind of celebration with my other friends : not more special than usually, as if we were to meet next week.....

Today, Friday 19th of May, I think I'll put an end to my Internet connection in my studentroom of St Pryvé, then it means that I will maybe not update my blog until a few days. Now, even though i'm not totally feeling that "exams are behind me", I'm trying to think about something else. I've put my friends aside those last days, because of exams, and I think I should meet them again very soon. Pressure of exams, papers to hand in made that I thought too much about myself, now I want to think about my friends and to feel available again for someone who counts even more than anyone.

Soon I should receive some news about my Visa, I'll report them on the blog as soon as I can do that. Until then, take care.... and thanks for reading...

(Also, I want to thank Louis for the little modifications that he did to the blog, namely to the banner that is much cleaner now... )

After Literature exam...

This is the sponsor of the day...

Well, this day is not bad... The commentary of the poem was not too hard, there were many things to write about it. Even though 4 hours seem to be a lot for an Literature exam, I think it's just enough. In the afternoon, the professor who teached us "FR Culture and Society" gave us the CDs with the works of everyone, which is a good memory of what we did this semester. At the end, the professor cried a little, because she felt sad to leave us..
Another good news is the fact that my doctor gave me some news, she will send me back my papers for the VISA application.. At last !!
The sun has come back over Orleans, the mood is better... I hope it will last !!!
See you..

Another grey day above Orleans...

After a weekend that was shared between sun and rain, it seems that clouds had the upper hand. It's 11:30 A.M, but all the lights are on, in the library of the faculty... Not the best atmosphere to study!

Sore throat and running nose are on the program of the day, I hope it will change rapidly. I'm at the library with Cyril and Louise, trying to study, and at the same time I'm growing hungry. Many things are left to be done, some papers to be handed, some dates to be remembered.. I hope I will have enough time.

This morning I received a call from the ministry about the certificate of baptism.. It seems that this document is necessary, but we'll try to ask for the visa without sending this document, hoping they won't refuse my request.

Another funny thing is the fact that my doctor, who was in charge of filling the papers for the medical analysis, won't be available before the 21st of May... which is... convenient, isn't it? Well, i asked for another copy of the application form, i'll see anther doctor and send everything rapidly.

As soon as I have more news, I'll report them there...
See youuuu...

Exams...

Here comes the period of exams, in the University of Orleans... The faculty of Humanities didn't suffer that much from the strikes and the blocking that the Anti-CPE organized... The dates of examinations were maintained, we even had a week of holidays (a real one....).

The dean of our Faculty promised that the value of our diplomas wouldn't be decreased this year, but according to the topics we received for the 1st exam - which looked more like an exam from secondary school - we can doubt this assessment.

Present a book that left its mark on you. <--- No comment.

Well, now I'm preparing for the exam in Linguistics for the Master Degree - on Tuesday, it shouldn't be that bad.. The surprising thing is that our approach of Literature, Linguistics and Humanities in general is very scientifically oriented. I'm still wondering why it is so. On Thursday, I'll have an exam in Literature written in French (which is not the same thing as "French Literature"), then on the second week of exams, I'll sit for English, linguistics, 20th Century Literature and.... French as a foreign language. Everything should be over on the 18th, hopefully! I have a thought for all my friends who are studying now, preparing for their exams as well or for their master thesis and for whom it's a period of high pressure. I keep my fingers crossed!

This Sunday afternoon, I'm going to study some linguistics, and tonight I should be downtown to watch the show dedicated to Joan of Arc. It seems that this year, the municipality of Orleans invested a lot of money and human resources for those events. I'll try to get some pictures and then publish them... it's a pity that I don't have my camera (yet).

Wish u a good day..

My first message..

Heya....

I've decided to create a blog, a few days before my departure for Saudi, where i'm going to get my first full-time job. The purpose of such a webpage is to give some information to my relatives about my settling there, also my impressions and feelings on arriving in this country which I know nothing about yet.

I will try to publish some pictures as well, with some comments.. As the FR people write on their "skyblogs", don't forget "to drop your own comments" about what I'm going to write there. This space is not only mine, it's also yours.. If you feel interested, or want to write a few words, anything, feel free to do so. I'm not going to delete any comment, I'm a reader and not a censor ;)

Well.. I think that's it.. Don't forget to send me some pictures, as far as possible I'll try to do the same, in the next days i'm going to open a FTP space on which we'll be able to exchange files... Pictures, movies.. I guess all of you have my email address, from June i'm going to use my GMAIL.COM account since the FREE.FR account won't work there.

See you in the next days..