I have made the decision not to sit my exams this semester. This is going to be a very difficult decision to justify, however, in all honesty, I cannot see what good can come from sitting exams for modules when I haven't, for the most part, attended the classes. I spoke to Christine about this during a brief visit to Exeter at the start of December, and while I have noted that if I don't acquire all the necessary credits for the Year Abroad I may well have created a lot of problems for myself, I still feel that little will be achieved by staying in Rennes until just before Christmas and sitting the exams.
Things have not improved much since my last journal entry, other than that I have reached a point where I am now doing more than just coping, and managing to live a more "normal" life out here, but I still feel very isolated and depressed. I haven't bonded with anybody other than my French friend Caroline, who I am in fairly regular contact with but don't really see all that often. I still have very little to do with other Erasmus students here, there doesn't seem to be an Erasmus "Society", certainly not one established by the University. There are very occasional emails about day trips, from a member of staff at the University. It's made me consider the role of the Erasmus Society in Exeter and think about investigating the committee positions for the next academic year, as I feel an Erasmus society here would have been of enormous benefit to me.
In more cheerful news, I did spend a weekend at the end of November with in Paris with my old housemate, and fellow French and Italian student Gaby. Rennes is only 2 hours away by train, so I took myself off there on the Friday afternoon and returned Monday morning. I have been having a one-sided love affair with Paris for years now, and would hate to admit just how many times I've watched "Moulin Rouge" (in all honesty, I probably couldn't admit to it, as I lost count a very very long time ago...) but have not actually been to Paris before. I was slightly nervous that it wouldn't live up to my expectations, but I needn't have been - even seeing a rat in the street when we were out on the Saturday evening was Parisian charm for me. Gaby was a fantastic tour guide, taking me to Montmartre and the Sacré Coeur, Notre Dame, La Madeleine, the Moulin Rouge, the Eiffel Tower, l'Arc de Triompe... The list goes on and on! It certainly tackled my rather paralysing fear of heights head on! It was lovely spending some time with an old friend in the run up to Christmas, and certainly helped break up my time here. Following my brief stay in Exeter, my boyfriend flew back out with me for a couple of days and we went to a couple of gig at the music festival held in Rennes, "Les Transmusicales." Again, this broke up my time here as well as gave me more of an incentive to get out and about within Rennes.
My French is gradually improving, I think the thing I've noticed most is the pace of my language - I no longer have to think about something to understand it after I've heard it, if that makes sense, and likewise the speed of my spoken French is increasing I believe.
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