My Philosopher Crush!

One of the writers I enjoy reading the most, is Roland Barthes. Not only because he is a theorist who is actually not too hard to read or because he is French, but because he writes incredibly beautiful.
His most famous books are probably Camera Lucida and Mythologies but my personal favorite is A lovers discourse which I read more than once.
My next reading from him will be his lecture series on How To Live Together. It is conveniently placed in the pile of my dissertation research books, and once when I pull myself together I will start for real on a little essay in French called Le Plaisir du Texte which I know will require a lot of energy.  
He is one of the people I would most like to meet, but since he is died before I was born this will remain but a dream. Instead I have to settle for reading his books (which is not too bad) and look at the few pictures that exist of him from his study where he looks so cool.

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.

The Tale of Samosas!

Preperations

Stuffing is made, now it is about folding

Still Folding

More folding with different stuffing

Almost done

Et Voilà

Yesterday evening Alix had invited me to his house to teach me how to make Samosas. We have bonded over a common interest for philosophy and food. In exchange I have offered to teach him the recipe of Sweet potato gnocchi. We had great fun with the preparations, dinner and talk, and doing thing like this I find actually is the best way to improve on my language skills.
 

Leaving On A Propeller Plane!

There is just a few things left in my room now, the most necessary for me until tomorrow night. I spend most of my weekend packing up things. I said my "Au Revoir's", and now I am ready to leave. I have gone before but this time it is a bit different. This time I'll go to a place that I've never been before and take classes in a language that I haven't spoken so much, with no real connection to the rest of my world for the first couple of days. I am very exited in what is going to happen and at the same time it fells a bit terrifying.

A New Years Resolution Or Two?

The other day I was talking to Vincent about New Years resolutions and expectations for the New Year. I hadn't really though about anything until we started discussing it. Last year I made the resolution to start making my own hummus again after having had a lazy fall with ready made hummus from Tesco, and I have managed to do that. I can't remember if I did have another than that. I also don't remember what I expected of 2012 or what things I wanted to do, so I guess I am pretty satisfied with how things turned out now I have nothing to compare it with.
I don't really believe that much in making resolutions but one yeah I made one; to each day give a compliment to comeone else, which was actually nice cause it made me better at giving compliments and also made other people happy. So I thought that maybe the best New Years resolution is not about things you should do for yourself but what you could do for the people you care about. Sometimes it is even easier to do things for others than ourselves. I guess there is enough that could be added to that list and I still have to think about what I could do. But after having a think about it I decided that at least one resolution should be to try and procrastinate less. As for my plans and hopes for 2013. Hmm...
It seems a bit silly to say that I hope that it will be a good year and that I will have a nice time in France and hopefully get much better at talking French, but those are the things that are occupying my mind right now.
I know for sure that I will have to say goodbye to my friend Man as he has to leave London before I come back, and it is always sad to part. On the other hand it might give me the opportunity to visit him somewhere else at one point and travel to somewhere new is always exiting.
Here are a couple of random pictures that I took around the days of New Year.

Paris Je T'aime!

As part of learning French I am trying to find time to watch at least one French film a week in order to get some new vocabulary and just getting use to listening to the language. I feel like I have never been so dedicated to leaning another language as I am now.
This weekend I watched "Paris Je t'aime" for the first time. It is a bit weird to watch a movie containing many small movies cause the level of engagement varies from scene to scene. There were of cause some I liked better than others but I think my favorite was Gus Van Sant's contribution from Le Marais.
I imagine soon being in a similar situation when I in less than 3 months will be living in Nantes and go to a french university. Maybe without the soul mate part but for sure me being totally oblivious to what is going on around me.

Je Peux Passer Tous Les Jours Comme Ça!

One of the perks of being on holidays is that I can take my books and go anywhere I want to do my studies. Which is especially good on days where the weather is like it is now. Today I was trying to improve my French in the shadow of a tree with some help from Vincent.

Ich wünsche mir das jeden tag könnte wie heute sein!

Summer feet

The sun reflecting on the wallpaper

The Sun reflecting in the sky

DImanche !

Spend the days listening to Frenchmen talk and trying to see if I could get some meaning out of what they were talking about. It is funny how it seems easier to talk than understand.
In the morning Vincent and I went for brunch and took a walk around the neighborhood. Ended up enjoying the sun from a bench in the park for a while.