Que faire à Paris ?

This week I have decided to make a proper Parisian post. I present to you "Que faire à Paris ?", a list of some of the places that I really like visiting. Paris is small enough to make it easy to walk to all of these locations which is something I try to do quite often.

Clockwise from top left: Sacré-Coeur, Moulin Rouge, pont de Bir-Hakeim, sushi at Rue Mouffetard

Sacré-Coeur 

The Sacré-Coeur (literally sacred heart) is a Roman Catholic church situated in the 18th arrondissement. It is located at the highest point of the city and, whilst being a beautiful landmark, has slightly sinister beginnings. It was built in order to instil fear over the Parisians and to force them to follow the Church... 

Liv (left) and me outside the Sacré-Coeur in October

ANYWAY, this is the place where Liv (my flatmate) and I walked to on our first day here. As a result, it's got really happy memories. As we looked across Paris it suddenly dawned on us that we live here. Whenever I feel sad or simply need to leave the house, this is always on the top of my list. The cobbled streets of Montmartre are full of restaurants and artists and it always has such a good atmosphere. It's even alive on Sundays!!! (Nothing else in France is).

View from the Sacré-Coeur

Pigalle

It may be because it's within ten minutes walk of my flat, but a trip to Pigalle is always a favourite. If you're unaware, Pigalle was is the red light district and contains the infamous 'Moulin Rouge'. However if you ignore the slightly dodgy men loitering on the paths, there are some really nice bars and restaurants nearby. And if you get too scared there's always the Sacré-Coeur up the hill. My favourite bar is in Pigalle and on Wednesday nights you get a free slice of pizza with every drink. What's not to like?

Rue Mouffetard

Rue Mouffetard is in the quartier latin (Latin quarter...) of Paris, in the 5th arrondissement. As a result of it's proximity to many universities and prepa's there is a huge number of cheap places for lunch. My friend Eve first showed me this area in September and now we go most weeks for some of the best sushi I've ever had. In our favourite restaurant you can have a soup, two salads and eight sushi for 8,20€. Bargain.

Sushi!!

Pont de Bir-Hakeim

For anyone that knows me at all, this choice will not come as a surprise. The 'Bir-Hakeim' bridge in the 15th arrondissement is where certain scenes from Inception were filmed. When I came to Paris with my family in April 2010 I made it my goal to find the bridge and ever since I've always returned and taken the same pictures. I still go out of my way in order to cross the bridge even if it's miles from anywhere useful (apart from the Eiffel Tower and cool people who live in the 15th's flats).

You're waiting for a train...

Also I am not alone in this obsession. Ben from Parks and Recreation (one of the best series' ever) also appreciates this bridge. Click here for proof.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about these places and that they'll help you if you come to Paris in the future/live here currently and want to stalk me. Where have I missed?

Alice

Being a BAScer

There are many things which make up my life here in London; different aspects which are amazing in their own way but which have all contributed in some way to making my first four months here surreal and exciting- and being a BAScer is one of them.

Those of you who don't know about my university choices or who don't study at UCL may be a little perplexed by the term "BAScer" (pronounced "basker")- a natural reaction, which I also experienced on my first day of freshers'. A quick explanation: a BAScer is a student on the BASc programme, or bachelor of Arts and Sciences, which is the degree I am studying at UCL. Think IB, at university level (kind of). 

A photo of UCL, because it looks nice.

It's a tough one to explain, and when that inevitable question of "What do you study?" comes up, I have to judge whether it's worth having the 15 minute conversation that tends to occur as a result ("Hmm, so what is that exactly?"- turning small talk into a deep conversation about the value of studying a breadth of subjects), or whether I should twist the truth ("Oh, I study International Relations and Spanish"). For all intents and purposes, I do actually study International Relations and Spanish, but it seems a little drawn out to add "also, Philosophy, Classics, Engineering, Science Policy and some core modules". I've taken to explaining it as a progression from IB (see above), but that brings all sorts of problems of its own when people stare at me like I'm crazy to want to put myself through all that again (this is especially true of TGS students).

I've long accepted that there will never be an easy answer to that question, and I am sure that the term "BAScer" will remain relatively obscure for the time being , but I can put up with that since it is so heavily outweighed by all the benefits that come with being an Arts and Sciences student. Being a BAScer gives you ultimate power over your degree- meaning I can choose what to study from pretty much the whole range of subjects offered at UCL, which is pretty amazing as it means everything I do is stuff that I'm genuinely interested in. As a BAScer, you also become very good at using the word "interdisciplinarity" in everyday conversation, and more often than not you find yourself (or at least, I do) having a quick 'power-nap' between lectures on the incredibly comfortable bean bags in our common room.

Recovering from a 3 hour Friday morning engineering session...

But more than anything, I think it is the BAScers themselves who make the degree so good. Everyone is interesting and fun, and they all have stories to tell. I've been inspired by so many people I've met, and not just in the clichéd way, but genuinely inspired to try new stuff and do new things- you could almost say this blog is a part of that inspiration. In reality, it's difficult to not feel part of something special when you study Arts and Sciences. 

I do have a tendency to gush about my course once in a while, but the point of this blog post is not to get you all to transfer to BASc (that might be a little problematic). Instead I think it comes back to what Alice wrote about in her last post: what makes you happy? Being a BAScer really does make me happy and I love studying what I'm studying (yes, even engineering, most of the time). So all I can say is, whatever you're doing, be it studying, working, travelling... Just make sure that you're doing what makes you happy. Don't sacrifice your happiness for a long term goal, for other people, or to do what is expected of you- because if you do what makes you happy, you really can't go wrong.

Quick plumbing session with the engineers!

#100happydays

"Happiness is a state of mind, a choice, a way of living; it is not something to be achieved, it is something to be experienced." (Steve Maraboli) 

I think we often sacrifice our immediate happiness in favour of a long-term goal and, while this can lead to success, it's an unhealthy way of life. As Maraboli said there is no way of measuring happiness, you can simply feel it. However this isn't always easy.

I recently discovered an online project called "#100happydays" and was immediately intrigued. The concept is simple: everyday, for one hundred days, you upload a picture of what makes you happy. Depending on how much you value your privacy you can choose to use Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #100happydays. Alternatively you can come up with your own hashtag or even email the photos directly to the website. The intention of the project is to make you value the moment and become more happy with yourself. According to the website, people who have successfully completed the 100 days "become more optimistic" and "fall in love during the challenge". We will see.

Inspirational messages for a Tuesday...

All this thinking about happiness made me realise that photos each day might not be everyone's cup of tea. Particularly for people who've recently left home, January is a difficult month. After the warmth (both figurative and literal in my case, my flat is freezing) of home during Christmas, the shock of being back on your own is noticeable. I've got a few things in my room which make me feel more comfortable. For example, Helena gave me a calendar with an inspirational quote for each day of the year. Whilst it's very tempting to cheat and read all the quotes now, I appreciate discovering a new message each day.

Ten things to do when the odds are stacked against you.

Another help, currently on the fridge, is a small piece of paper my old school gave me detailing Chris Evans' advice for when the odds are stacked against you. I find the fifth piece of advice most useful, "Get away - to anywhere, be it the other side of the world or the woods round the corner." There aren't many woods in central Paris however there are lots of green spaces to discover. In October I went to the Chateau de Vincennes (to the east of Paris) with a friend. It was pouring with rain as we walked along a country trail and was extremely refreshing. Something I find difficult in living here is the lack of greenery, so discovering that place was very important. 

Now back to me (Miranda reference for those of you unaware). When I was in sixth form I did a photo-a-day project and found the experience strangely therapeutic, if traumatic to look over now. That totalled 623 pictures of dubious quality (e.g. Starbucks, food, selfies) so 100 days should be relatively easy. If you're interested, I'm posting the pictures on my Instagram with the hashtag "100happydays".

What do you do to be happy?

Why blogging scares me

So, I concede, my first blog post doesn't really have anything to do with London, but it is something that I think I need to address before I properly get started: my fear of blogging. 

I don't really tend to share a lot with the internet- my current tweeting speed is under 1 a month, and, other than a few photos here and there, my Facebook wall has remained pretty sparse over the last few years. 

It might come as a bit of a surprise to some of you then that I've decided to start publicly sharing my thoughts on the internet in the form of this blog. And I admit it's something that even I am rather surprised by. Sharing my opinions is scary because, in reality, I've never really thought that my thoughts were worthy of an audience. Not because I think my opinions are bad (at least I hope they're not), but because I still don't know what I think about a lot of things, and I don't yet feel qualified to make judgements about the world. 

The other aspect of sharing things on the internet which rather scares me is the thought of being judged. I imagine most people will be able to empathise with this feeling. Who hasn't ever been worried about what the person on the other side of the screen is thinking when you post something about yourself? 

But, starting from now I'm going to try and not let that thought get to me, because I don't think that you should ever be prevented from doing something that you want to do because of fear, particularly when that fear is an irrational and inconsequential one. And anyway, as Alice's friend Ryan so eloquently put it- "yolob": you only live once- briefly (although I must say I do rather prefer the slightly more sophisticated Latin version, Carpe Diem). 

So, before I finish off this post, let me just issue this disclaimer: I don't know really that much about anything, and what I say or think won't necessarily always be what is right or what you agree with. Writing a blog is a scary prospect for me, so please be lenient and not too judgemental as you read it! 

K.Venosdale

Thanks for reading, and let us know if you have any thoughts. 

Helena 

A very British New Year

From left: Nynne, Helena, Cloe, Alice, Duncan

I consider myself very lucky to have suddenly acquired a network of friends living all around the world as a result of people going off to enjoy university/gap years/life. One of the main advantages, apart from them all having amazing experiences which make me jealous, is FREE accommodation in exciting locations. So when Helena mentioned that she would be celebrating New Year in London I had to join her. 

I've never been someone who 'properly' celebrated the New Year. In previous years I have watched French TV at 11pm GMT or had slightly awkward parties with distant friends. However, seeing as 2013 had been the year of change and all things exciting I felt that it deserved a proper send off. We went up to London together on the 31st, dropped off our stuff at Helena's flat and walked to Charing Cross at around 9:30pm. There was such an incredible atmosphere due to the sheer volume of people on the streets. To begin with, at least, we didn't feel threatened or worried. It was simply a collection of people wanting to welcome in 2014 together. 

Note the phone screen...

The official viewing points had been closed off because we were 'late' (it turned out that some people had arrived before 11am to get a good position...) however we found a nice spot by the Embankment. We spent the next two hours trying to keep ourselves entertained. This didn't prove to be difficult when a friend from Helena's halls provided glitter paint and someone else strangely agreed to be painted gold. About 20 minutes before midnight, the rain started. Typical Britain! Umbrellas started to be raised in epic proportions and we worried that our already-slightly-dodgy-view would be impaired further. This turned out not to be an issue because as the clock struck midnight (in other words when the drunk crowd shouted the countdown) there were screams of "umbrellas down!!!" and the rain stopped. Very bizarre. The fireworks began at midnight and they were pretty spectacular. Granted I saw the majority of the display through someone else's camera display which was quite annoying. It begs the question of who is going to want to watch a seven-minute, blurry video of some bright lights and the London Eye. Also, the fireworks were apparently fruit scented. We were either too far away or they LIED. (Hopefully the former, though my cynical mind is thinking the latter.) 

The return home from fireworks was tricky because obviously everyone wanted to get back as quickly as possible, despite people arriving at points throughout the day. In the middle of a huge crowd of tourists, a German man turned around to face me, clutching a bottle of Jagermeister which was apparently his "best friend". He offered me some, however somehow I couldn't bring myself to drink his meilleur ami. 

The next day, New Year's day, was deadly quiet. Possibly as a result of the bank holiday or, more likely, due to everyone nursing hangovers. We braved a rainy, hungover London and went ice skating at the National History Museum. Because of the rain the ice resembled more of a lake which must have broken certain health and safety regulations. However we battled through and, helped by two small penguins, succeeded in skating! All in all, I had a great few days and enjoyed being a tourist in what was once my local city. 

Alice

Bonne Année !

2014: new year, new beginnings, new blog.

After extensive pondering over what to name our joint venture into the world of blogging, we have settled for the rather telling but also extremely truthful name"Young and Indecisive". Anyone who knows us to any extent will know of our lack of decision making skills, so to be at a point where we're able to write an actual post for an actual blog is a pretty proud moment for us. 

2014 is going to be a year of new experiences for both of us, as we are both on the verge of starting our second terms of our first years at our respective universities. Between us, we may have considered a good fifty possible alternatives for what to do after school, but, after many extended discussions and a pros-and-cons lists, we (rather astonishingly) both came to our own decisions of what to do with our future. These decisions have sent us off in opposite directions, to two rather different but equally amazing cities: Paris and London. 

This blog is a chance for us to write about  and compare our experiences, opinions and general ponderings about life in the city and in our respective countries, and to keep each other up to date with what is going on in our lives. The idea is that we will try to write individual posts about once a week, and possibly joint posts when we're back together. It may be a little rough around the edges to start with, but hopefully you will find it interesting and entertaining to read. 

Let us know what you think, and enjoy!

Alice and Helena x