Return To London!

Now I am back in London and it more or less looks like itself.

The past couple of days I used to unpack my things and settle in. It feels a bit weird to be here again but also very familiar. The weather is behaving quite strange; one moment sun the next moment hail. Sky changes every few minute and is really beautiful but at the same time it is a bit depressing. I started reading an amazing book that I have had for almost a year. It is called "The Future of Nostalgia" and deals with questions about nostalgia and homesickness. Something which I am really interested in these days also in relation to my work. Turns out the term arose under the many European wars where soldiers who were placed thousand of miles from their home country suffered from what they called maladie du pays, and that it at that point actually was considered as a sickness. 

Windows!

Some last pictures from Nantes. I just love window reflections or when people put their window frames to good use.

4 Months of Nantes!

It is weird to think that I in the beginning of January got on a plane to go somewhere that I didn't knew at all, and fell completely in love with the place. It feels like so long ago and still it went by so fast. My idea of time is becoming more and more abstract these days.
I had no idea what to expect when I arrived and maybe that is why I had such a great time here in Nantes. The past 4 months has been fun, exiting, full of work, new people, leaning another language, great food and wine.
Later today I will get on a plane and leave this wonderful place that I will truly miss. I feel a bit melancholic about it in this moment, perhaps it is also the weather and the lack of people around the city. It is public holiday and as I was taking a last walk around the town it felt almost like a ghost town.
One thing I will miss besides all the nice people I met is listening to the french language, and feel that I am improving every single day. I hope that somehow I will be able to keep it up once I return.
The pictures above are some random photos I have taken during my stay here, including my last coffee today. Now I will see what awaits me in London, there is still one more month of school so luckily I know what to do.

Le Dernière Week-end à Nantes!

This has been my last weekend in Nantes, and I must admit it feels very sad. I had such a nice time here in France that it is hard to have to pack my suitcase and return to London. I spend this weekend doing a lot of lasts.
Friday the weather was really beautiful and summer like. There was only one cloud in the sky and it looked like this, but unfortunately that didn't last beyond midnight.

As you already know I went to Rezé Saturday but also had time for a visit at the closest flea market and have one last coffee at Le Cercle Rouge. I have just finished reading my first novel in French and started a new one. I am bringing 12 kilos of books back to London, and I am not quite sure when I will have time for all that reading.

Today I visited Talansac: The closest market to my place. It is something I really am going to miss: The French food markeds and actually the French food in general. I am also putting some French specialties in my suitcase along with all the books.

After I went to do something I have wanted to do forever but kept procrastinating. I walked to the other far end of Nantes to take pictures of this abandoned Ice factory.

"Neighbor like yourself"

On the way home I passed Le lieu Unique which is also in a great old factory building

And at the end I went to see Manon make a performance, where she made a fantastic cake landscape that we all got to eat at the end.

Hope you all had a nice weekend too.