Can I use hospitalisation as an excuse?

OK, ok, I know I have not posted an entry for nearly a week now, but my excuse is that I have been stupidly ill :o( So here is a very LONG explanation!

Last week, when Ellie was still staying with me, my cold spread to my lungs and turned into "suspected pneumonia" and an asthmatic's worst nightmare. One evening, I felt like my body was trying to cough up my internal organs; I could barely breathe and I had a hacking cough which left me feeling light-headed and woozy.

Ellie and I went for a walk to the late opening pharmacy to buy some cough medecine, but all we could find was some herbal syrup made with belladonna and arnica. We got this home and I practically drank the stuff but it didn't do any good, except make me quite hyper! Not the best idea when you are already struggling for breath, but as I understand it, fairly amusing for onlookers :op

After realising that there was no way I would get any sleep that night with such difficulty breathing, with the help of some worried parents on the other end of a microphone, we found a hospital near the Notre Dame and Ellie offered to take me there. I hate hospitals and doctors so I was pretty worried, but by the time we had reached the place, I was so drowsy from lack of oxygen that I felt extemely drunk and was almost falling asleep on my feet. Still, we got in to the building and I managed to give the woman at the reception desk my passport and she gestured for us to wait in the seating area. I poked Ellie and told her not to sit down because every bench in the waiting room had a dopey homeless/drunk/ill person collapsed on it!

Eventually we were called into a small room where my blood pressure was taken and I had to do the asthma "blow test". This involves you puffing into a little cardboard tubey thing and it measures how strong your breath is. Mine should be about 450-475 when I'm healthy, but it was just under 200 when they tested me. The nurse took me into the main hospital building and told me that Ellie would have to wait outside til I was settled. Of course, being afraid of this kind of thing, I was terrified by the thought that I'd have to go through it all alone!

After waiting (next to a guarding policeman!) outside a ward-room, I was led into a small room filled with all kinds of equipment and with 3 beds in it, 2 of which were occupied by very still patients. . .

I was shaking as they asked me to sit on the bed and take off my clothes. Luckily, they just meant take off my hoody, but I think if they had meant more than that I'd have run back to the apartment! They gave me a gown to wear and asked me to lie back. Then a series of tests and needles were inflicted on me causing me to sit there with frightened tears streaming down my face. Fun night out.

First they took some blood from an artery on my right wrist; later on they took more blood from the vein in the crook of my right arm:

They inserted an IV drip into my left forearm which got taped in place with some weird clingfilmy stuff and they told me the drip was feeding me anti-inflammatory drugs to calm down my lungs.

They put some little liqui-tabs of chemicals into a little nebuliser-steamer and attached a mask connected to that, to me:

All in all, I felt like a pincushion and was feeling very sorry for myself despite the male nurse being very kind to me and trying to make me laugh. I kept pestering them throughout these tests if they would let my friend come in yet, and finally after they had finished prodding me with sharp things, they let Ellie come and sit beside me.

And after 3 hours, they finally allowed us to go home (this time we caught a taxi!) but I was obviously still not feeling great.

I spent the next couple of days lying in bed with Ellie waiting on me; she was an absolute angel, feeding me and keeping me hydrated whilst I should have been showing her the sights of Paris. However, THAT is why I have not posted for a while; because I could not even sit at the computer very long before I needed to go and lie down again :o( Pathetic.

On the last full day of Ellie's visit, I forced myself to get out of bed and I took her to the Picasso museum which is only a short walk away from our place. It was quite interesting in there: although I can't say Picasso is my favourtie artist, it was intriguing to see how some of his most famous works had progressed through numerous sketches and rough copies!

Speaking of artists, when I took Ellie to CDG airport to wave her off, we noticed that someone had, very artistically, decorated the ladies' loos. . .

Twas a sad day on Friday though as I had to say goodbye to my best friend, again, as she disappeared back to England without me :o( We took a few last pictures before I plonked Ellie on a plane and I toddled off back to my apartment, alone.

I shall miss my nutter :o(

This coming week should bring some news about my course as last week was the last of the French refresher lessons. Can't wait to get my modules sorted! Will let you know how it goes soon. xxxx

Been there, Done that, Didn't have time to buy the T-shirt . . . :o(

Well, last night was fun :o) First we went for a meal at a French café near the Sorbonne; we had a really yummy meal, followed by chocolate brownie and ice cream :o)

Hehe, I put eyeshadow on Ellie's nose. Don't ask! These strange things always happen when we get together :op
Then, we wandered around Paris looking at all the monuments in their night time glory: Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, La Defense, Pompidou Centre.

I hope to take Ellie to all the arty places in Paris this week: Les Galeries Lafayette, the Picasso museum etc. . .

I felt awful getting up this morning to go to my French class; I've STILL got that blasted cold, grrrr. Well, I shall have no time for it this week, so it had better realise that and disappear quickly! I have too many plans :o) and I will not let it ruin them!
We plan to do some wandering and just exploring today so I will have to leave it here for now.
xxxx

YAY!!! ELLIE!!!!!!!!

Yippeeeeeeeeeeee!!

The Smellie Ellie is in Paris! :op
It took an incredibly large amount of stress to get her here but she IS finally in Paris with me :o)
She was left stranded at the airport when she landed here today because:

1.) I had forgotten to replenish the money in my purse, so I couldn't afford a metro ticket. As I was planning on walking a little of the way to save what little money I have at the moment ( my cash hasn't come through from the English to the French account yet), I didn't realise that I had less than 2 Euros on my person until I was too far from the apartment to go back for the money. Stupid. 2 Euros wouldn't even buy me a drink and by the time I reached Gare du Nord (not even halfway to the airport because I needed to take a long distance train) I had walked 4 miles by wandering around Paris trying to find my way closer to the airport!

2.) I couldn't remember my PIN for my English bank card. I called my Dad, who, luckily, was at home. Unfortunately, all he could find was the password for something else, so that was a dead loss.

3.) Every two minutes or so, my mobly was uttering a persistent beeping sound to remind me that the battery power was running low. . . a great comfort when you are stranded 4 miles from home and even further from the destination, knowing that you will need a way of contacting the one you are going to meet!

4.) When I got to Gare du Nord, I realised that I wasn't going to make it close enough to reach Ellie in time, so I called her and tried to suggest that she gets the metro to the station, where I would meet her. However, just as I was about to tell her which train she should get, a strange French woman started telling me that my credit was running low and that I should top it up to allow me to continue with my call. By telling me this, she wasted the remaining few pennies of my credit and I was left with no possible way to contact poor Ellie in the airport!

5.) Frustrated with my mobile and desperate to get hold of Ellie, I darted into the nearest payphone, hoping that I would have enough money to at least make contact with her. As you can guess, that was also a no-go; the payphone would only take phonecards, not cash. Without one of these, and with no money to purchase one, I thought all was lost and I am ashamed to say that I was on the verge of asking a stranger if they had a euro or two that I might have. . . The thought had more than crossed my mind over the past half an hour (I had been running around like a headless chicken for nearly 2 hours by this point). As I was, about to have a temper tantrum right there in the middle of the street, it dawned on me that the station was bound to have a phone in the ticket booth, so perhaps I could borrow it if I asked really nicely. . . .

6.) Woohooo! After entering the station at Gare du Nord, I noticed a Police Office near the entrance. I hurried over to it and tried to explain the important elements of my pathetic story to the officers there. They gave me their telephone, but it was no use. It could only call local numbers, and Ellie had an English mobile number! After several attempts, I was gutted to admit defeat and I thanked them and started to walk away.

7.) I decided to check my purse one last time, just to make sure that I hadn't missed a crafty 10 Euro note hidden in a pocket somewhere. As I opened my purse, I spotted the post-it note inside with Holly's mobile number written on it. Her FRENCH mobile number! I rushed back to the station and showed them the number. They helped me to make contact with Holly, who in turn rang Ellie for me and relayed the message that she should get a taxi to Gare du Nord where I would be waiting patiently for her.

In the end, she managed to get the message and whilst she got a taxi (36 euros!!) to Gare du Nord, I waited outside the station and had to put up with strange men chatting me up in French. . . .


Why me? :os

Anyways, after ALL that! YAY, she's here now, and she brought money!! Wooooooo! I'm finally rich again! I brought her back to the apartment and we are about to go out and explore Paris a bit together. I hope the rest of this week won't be this stressful!


Will update you soon! xxxx

I am ashamed. . . .

Sorry for the lack of recent updates, my dearies; Holly's mum has been spoiling me rotten: feeding me and doing all the grocery shopping, so, I have been lulled into a state of laziness unmatched so far!

Ms Canning arrived on Friday and we spent the weekend doing some exploring around the city with her, involving one rather traumatic meal in a Greek restaurant! Throughout the meal I was getting eyes from the waitor there, and as he handed us the bill, he asked me out. Although he was sweet and kinda cute, I really wasn't interested in going out with him. Still, I didn't like to say "no" to him straight off so I left the option open for me to go back to the restaurant, one day in the future, if I felt like it. He kept asking me to go for a drink with him and told him that I might "possibly" be back. I haven't been back yet, and don't think I will. The language barrier was a bit too vast (he spoke French but I don't think it was his native language and he didn't seem to catch some of the simpler French sentences that I spoke to him) - it would have been too awkward. Plus, I feel weird about being hit on when I'm not out on the pull. I just wanted a simple lunch with Holly and her ma; I didn't WANT to be picked up right then.

Having said that, I wouldn't have objected if sexy banker-man had asked me out whilst he offered me documents and forms to sign and date. . . . hmmm. . . . ah well, I can dream :o)

Here's a random little fact for you, kids:
Do you remember the "Where's Wally?" series of books? For those of you with memories like sieves, it involves a very busy cartoon scene in which you had to spot the little nerdy-lookin' guy in a stripey vest, bobble hat and glasses! Here he is:

Anyways, point I'm trying to get to is that here in France, "Wally" does not exist! They search for CHARLIE!!!

Hehehe, not all that interesting but I thought I'd tell you nevertheless.

I'm still ill :o( but plus side to this story is that Ellie will soon be here :o) She's arriving tomorrow, almost the same time that Holly's mum is leaving us. Can't wait!!

Right, am now off to Bedforshire 'cos I feel ROUGH. Have a lot of travelling to do tomorrow so it's gonna be tough considering I feel like crap. But I shall try to get better before Ellie arrives :o)

Bye all!

xxxxxx

T. F. I. F, if you know what I mean!

Thank [goodness] it's Friday today! I've been absolutely knackering myself this week with all the walking and getting up early; It'll be good to sleep in tomorrow. That's what weekends are for, isn't it? :op

Last night, Holly and I went to a party at the house of one of my German friends, Steph. Steph is in my French class and she'd invited us to go to a bash at her place for Erasmus students. It was cool: we dolled up and caught the metro with a few bottles of booze tucked under our arms, ready for a night of revelry:

When we got there (which was a bloomin' chore in itself!), we were the only English people; everyone else was German! We had some really interesting chats with the other girls about the differences between Germany and England. It brought back memories of Mr Kreft's lessons (Ruth will know what I'm talking about!) and it brought forth the few German sentences that I could remember from the dusty recesses of my mind! Basically we had an awesome time, and when we came home, I was so tired that I couldn't be bothered to edit my last bloggage entry, therefore, it has been pasted on the top of this one! :op My blog = my rules.

Anyways, Friday! The first truly chilly day here! I swear, everyday so far has been like summer still but today I felt the "Brrrr" factor! There was a national call for Polo-necked jumpers, and I am proud to say that I was there to answer it! :o)

Speaking of answering calls, my PC Microphone broke the other day and had been giving out mild electric shocks to my bottom lip whenever I tried to speak into it; I think it's time for a new one! A mic is a must-have for me because I make most of my phone calls on Skype these days; it's soooooooo much cheaper (being free and all. . . ) and it's just as clear as if you were speaking on the phone! Great, now I sound like an advert: but seriously, if you want to speak to me in person, call me on Skype :o)

Anyway, to get to the point, I needed a new mic and, having found no computer shops nearby that HADN'T been closed since June 06 (Pfft stupid PC City. . . ), I walked into the nearest electrical shop that I could find after my French class.

The following transaction duly impressed me because: I managed to get across to the salesman what I needed, I understood his suggestions for various different types of mic, I reasonably conveyed my preferences for the mic, and the sale went extemely smoothly! I've probably been diddled out of more Euros than it would have cost me if I'd bought it from PC World (in France) but then again, I needed a new one desperately and now I have one. Problem solved :o)

After this fantastic purchase, I was in high spirits crossing the bridge towards the Notre Dame. . . that is until this came into view. . .

No, it is not THE King Tut, but a silly man dressed in a sheet. If you know me well, you'll know how severely people in costumes like this freak me out (like mannequins) and this one decided to be extra evil and he reached out to me as I passed him. I'm not kidding when I say that, if his hand had made contact with my arm, or if I hadn't noticed him when crossing the bridge, my foot would have quickly found it's way to a soft, squishy, painful area on his person with considerable force. Don't MESS with me when I'm nervous!

Mel left very early this morning; Hope you got home OK mate, and hope you had a good journey!

Holly's mum arrived this evening and she's a real sweetie! She's promised to cook us a curry tomorrow night too! :o) God bless Mummys. (The mothering kind, not the kind pictured above!)

Well, that's enough for today, kids; I'm gonna go get some sleep. xxxx

Mel's last day. . .

Today was the last full day that Holly's mate, Mel, will spend here so, when my French class ended this morning, I met up with Mel and took her to lunch then to the "jardin du Luxembourg". We had a lil wander around and admired the sculptures in the gardens:
(P.S. Wouldn't like to meet the Spider that spun THAT web! ^^ *shudders*)

There were MANY sculptures!

A passing old man told us that these are supposed to be tears, then explained in rather broken english that 'posing for pictures with them makes them happy'. . . I don't know what he was talking about, but I thought, hey! I like Posing! :o)
There are some truly beautiful gardens here that visitors to Paris should definitely see!

Some parts were quite exotic, as you can see! :op Whilst others looked classically elegant:

Unfortunately, I don't. . . . hehe!

After we left the gardens, we treated ourselves to a Crepey-treat each, mmmmm. . .

By way of my latest 'rude photo', I thought that this tree had a rather interesting growth attatched to it. . . but the more I look at the picture, the less I can see what I originally thought it was! The closer I scrutinise it, the less funny it looks, so if you glance at it and don't laugh straight away, you probably won't see what I saw on there!

I seem to have a bit of an addiction to the hats shops near our apartment at the moment! I have to walk past this shop every morning on the way to my French class and it is torture, not being able to go in and buy anything! I have imagined an outfit to go with every hat in this window, so I think the only genuine deterrent for shopping cravings is my lack of funds. And a very good deterrent it is too! I'm on my last 8 Euros until Ellie arrives on Sunday; she's bringing gifts of gold (a.k.a chequebook), frankincense (a.k.a make up supplies from Boots) and "myrrh" money! I'm a riot! I make myself laugh at the smallest and most insignificant jokes. . .

Anyways, I shall leave you with this interesting fact: Did you know, that in France, there is no such thing as being Green (e.g. recycling, not littering etc. . ) Here, it is called being YELLOW! It's because there are different colour wheelie bins for different materials, and the plastic/paper recycle-y one has a yellow lid. . .

You learn something new everyday! :o) Ta ta for now! xxxx

Cocktails at Arts et Metiers!

Today was a bit of a slow, tiring day. Still not feeling totally better, but thought a good walk would do me good, so have not used the Metro at all!

On the way to my class this morning there was a lot of commotion in the roads: I saw three separate processions of police officers, two of these were car/van/motorbike speeding chases (although I couldn't see what they were after). The 3rd procession, was of a distinctly different nature:

It was quite amazing to see! There must have been loads of horses!

On the way home, I walked all over the place exploring the area around the Sorbonne and found a different bridge to take on the way back home, which involved a lovely long walk along the river.

This evening, Holly and I took Mel to a café to introduce her to the Parisian way of life in a pleasantly caffeine/alcohol related way :o) We treated ourselves to scrummy puddings and drinks before heading home again.

Mel was impressed with the chunk of Starfruit attached to her cocktail glass :op

Holly was impressed with. . . erm. . . I dunno! (Pssst, I don't know her really! Hehehehe!) xxxx

Nearly Smellie Ellie Time!

Grrr, dunno when I'm going to shift this cold! It's starting to have a detrimental effect on my sleep and on my walk to Uni. Last night, I would swear that I slept for a maximum of 3 hours; my fitful coughing kept me up most of the night and I was so hot and uncomfortable that I was tossing and turning all through the night! Also, I'm going to have to start leaving a bit earlier for the French classes because I got extremely out of breath this morning walking to Uni. This is the journey I make every weekday until 28th September:

This is the view from the bridge I have to cross twice a day:

And this is the other side of it:

This is the city hall. I also have to walk past this twice a day: Sorry, just thought you might like to see some more pics :o) To make up for the posting drought during my cold-inflicted days. I think some of the buildings here are absolutely beautiful, especially as the sunlight hits the tops:

Unfortunately, these gorgeous views are slightly spoiled by the odd patch of freshly sprayed human urine on the pavement, or the dingy shuttered windows of shops that have gone out of business!
On a vastly more pleasant note, Holly's friend, Mel, is here to stay with us until this Friday, then Holly's Mum is coming, and then it's . . . Peanut Butter ELLIE time!!! :oD

Smellie Ellie, I can't WAIT for you to come to Paris!!! I have so much to show you here and am missing you loads already, after only 2 weeks!

I'm so excited, that I did a Lady Hulk impression on my tights today :op I don't think it helped that they were incredibly cheap and, therefore, extremely thin. . .

. . . but I can't blame the cheapness of the tights for the new designs: that was me.

Anyways, that's enough for tonight! I have some sleep to catch up on. xxxx