"if you don't like the culture you're living in, make your own....."

I wish, it's as simple as that. here. in france.

on est en vacances? j'en suis pas sure...

nous sommes en vacances pous une semaine.
mais comme on a pas de chance, il faut qu'on fasse notre memoire de la merde!!!!

on voulait aller faire du ski, pas assez de neige sur la montagne. (it's global warming, i tell ya!)
on voulait aller nager, la piscine est fermee pendant une semaine pour la vidange.
on voulait aller a l'italie, on attend un peu jusqu'au printemps.

so, you do the math!!!

il faut que je me mise mes fesses sur ma chaise et type away my 60 pages of memoire..!!!

et merde, merde, merde....!!!!

I know I don't really have lotsa of free time, but I still take my own sweet time to drown myself with books which are not related at all to my memoire!

"Five people you meet in heaven", "Tuesdays with Morrie" both by Mitch Albom, "On beauty" by Zadie Smith, "Saving fish from drowning" by Amy Tan, "Everyone worth knowing" by the woman who wrote devil wears prada, "Angela's ashes" by Frank McCourt and "Incredibly loud and extremely close" by Jonathan Safran Foer.

And what have I read for my litterature review???????????.............

Rien, vrachement zero! en fait, j'ai lu quelques pages de quelque bouquins...il faut je m'y mets plus fort!!

Au secour....

more of Madrid

continuons-nous alors.....

Guess what! We found Starbucks in Madrid, i know i know....wth rite..??

But hey! there's none in Toulouse and when we were in Paris we did not get to go there since I was juz weeks away from Startbucks in The Mall. hehe. So this time! we were really missing it, BIG TIME!! So, in we went, ordered our cappucino venti, vandalised the chocolate powder and invaded the huge sofas...HAHAHA!! uuuh...heaven heaven, oh and the 2nd time we went, we fell asleep on the sofa for like, 30 minutes and my friend told me that people were looking at us sleeping, either they took us like some freaks, or pity us cuz we were looking so tired....heheh...(self-pity).

We also ate loads and loads.....the foods are basically cheaper in Spain.

The last day, our spanish teacher treated all of us (like 40 of us) for a glass of wine or beer or coke whatever just to celebrate the end of our trip. She is just so nice and sweet, that woman!

Then, up we go hit the club!!! All like, 30 of us walking up and down the street looking for clubs that can give us free first drink!! HAHA!! We managed to get 2! Not bad eh....

The nite went really well, all of us dancing away, even the algerian guy...haha!

Some parade celebrating i dont know what we happened to see.

Et voila, notre prof preferee!! Hehe

Nice mascot huh, very spanish.

MADRID

Last week my classmates and I, and Pierre-Louis bien sur, went for a study trip to Madrid.

You know what, actually this trip was meant for those who are learning spanish, and seeing that I am not (I am a foreigner, must learn french....sigh sigh sigh....yea yea yea...) I was not supposed to go. BUT, knowing that french students are sooo good in protesting and complaining...et VOILA! the rests of the students can go with them too! Transport and rooms paid!! Kesempatan doooonk....ya ga sih...

So, long story short, there I was sitting on a bus ready for 12 hours journey Toulouse - Madrid.

Reached the city exactly at noon, and ooh lala!! Qu'est qu'il faisait beau!! Sun shining and warm. Checked in and decided straight to start the city exploration! Wiiiii.....!!!




Having lunch in one of the local restaurants. Trying the different kinds of Tapas and Paellas. It was not bad but could have been better, specially the Paellas, the rice was not so cooked and the seafood looked not fresh.

Well, no harm, it was a try!!










Plaza de Toros. An arena used as an entertainement center during the olden days where people watch, what's the guy who kills bulls called again?, killing bulls.

But i'm sure Coloseum is waaaaay more impressive than this.











to be continued ok.....

I did it!!!

Yes! that's right. I have sat for my first semester exams in french. HAHAHAHA.....!!

But trust me, it was frightening and brain-squeezing and moral-degrading.....haihh....

So, a mon avis, I did, well what can I say....I dont know really. I will tell you when the results come up. But definitely Geographie is dead, cuz you know what......***drum rolls*** I didn't even realize that we had to choose one of the questions to answer!!!! **ta..daaa...!!*** What worse thing could have happened than THIS!!! I actually did ALL 3 questions, im such a beyond dumb ass. Well for my defend, there was no indication saying that we had to chose one out of 3!! You see! can't blame me at all. Even though the lecturer already said that few weeks beofre exams, but HEELLOOOWWW...... it was few weeks ago, I, of all people, tend to forget things! More over, it was in french, he spoke faster than TGV train, and during that few weeks I gotta study and learn more things more important rather than remembering your "warning" which was as important as well.....but you know.... haiiih.... what does it take to put few words saying "Chose one out of 3 subjects below to discuss" Or " Vous devez choisir l'un de trois sujets dessous" .

Well, what's past is past. Now let's see what I did after exams.

-- Went to Kashmir to eat indian food which we missed a lot! And we did eat loads! 6 Nans, Lamb and chicken tandoori with some Dal.
-- Catching up shows on cinema, we watched Rocky Balboa, NOT my cuppa tea, just because Pierre-Louis been bugging me sooo much... ( what love is all about, rite??) Hihi..
-- Ate japanese food. Which was not really satisfying knowing the price we paid. Well, at least my craving was fulfilled.
-- Had tea and cake in our favorite salon de the in Toulouse. Yumm..yumm...

So, finger crossed for my results eh!!

Btw, it is FREAKING FREEZING down here!!! God, i miss tropical weather, sunshine, air-conned shopping malls, swimming pools, tennis court and yada yada yada......

It's snowing outside. Rite now. How cool rite! My first snow ever!
I can go skiing!! (yea rite..laugh to self)

About today's exams.

GOD!!!! I wish i can juz die there and then! No, it's not the haiyo-so-hard-cannot-do-lah typical student post-exams whining I'm doing here. Not at all, I must spell it out clearly. It is far worse, waay waaay worse.

Remember the last post I said about being the proudest Dita on earth, I may haf to wait for that in a gazillion years. I have never felt so.......uuurrrrgghhh...!! (burry my head deeper than akar pohon beringin).

The day turned out to be better after all.

So, two more down!

TWO DOWN!!!

Yes, two subjects down!

Today I sat for Gestion des Ressources Humaines (HR) and Gestion ( Accounting)

The first one was tougher than we all expected before. And there were juz too many questions for 3 hours duration. I managed to do all questions Alhamdulillah... But I am not really sure that I will get a very good mark.

The latter, the most hideous, frightening, despicable, appaling, wicked subject of ALL!!! No offense to accounting addict out there, but it's just I could never get myself into liking it, EVER! Gosh..!! Maybe because of my brain limit of calculation and benefits/loss analysis or whatever that is, but Gestion, ca me fait vraiment chier!!!

However, I guess I did manage to do some require tables and "ribet" calculation. And I am optimistic to get 10/20!!! HAHAHAH!! That's the spiriiit!!! Join me, will you!!
God, if I really ever get 10, I will be the proudest Dita in this planet!!!

Pray for me people.

Tomorrow: Marketing and Economie.

Sigh.

Some site in Madrid, Spain. Just as a motivation cuz after this hell hole, we will be off to Spaaaiiinn...yeeeyy!!!!

I feel extremely and abnormaly calm, relaxed and laid-back knowing that exams are starting tomorrow.

I wonder why?

All those make me freaking out even more.

Wish me TONS of luck, ok!!!!

Exams are in one week time, ONE FREAKING WEEK!!!!!!!

That's all the time i haf to gulp and swallow all my notes in FREEEEENNCCCHH!!!!

AARRRGGGGHHHH......!!!!!!

I am freaking out, freaking out, freaking out!!!!!

note to self: if i did good for my exams, I , Pramudya Widita Isfandiari, sincerely determine to puasa for one week and absent myself from all the "interdits" and pray more.

- Holiday is almost over. On monday i gotta go back to class. And i don't feel well.
No, i am not sick. I just don't feel well. Exams are coming in two weeks time. I am not ready. But i don't know what is to be ready. I don't know what they expect me to do, how they expect me to perform. I am not sure. I started studying, revising, reading my notes, understanding given articles. But, I am still not sure. -

- I was surrounded by 17 people. Everyone was laughing, joking, exchanging stories, catching up with one another. I understood what they said, or did not I? I followed their stories, or did not I? Everyone seems swimming comfortably, enjoying each others' company. Me, I was drowning not far from them. Maybe because I did not try to swim or save myself. But nobody seems to notice that, that I was sinking every minute among them.
I wanted to be there. I did. I wanted to celebrate new year with people. Having fun. Drinking. Eating. Talking. Laughing. Dancing away. So, did I do all that? I apparently did. But there was just something not right. I did not feel right. I felt, i dunno, misplaced. I was oceaned with people, partying, but somehow I just did not want to be there. I wanted to leave so bad. --

- I have never missed my family so bad before. But now I do. I really do. --

- What will you do after you finish your Masters? The golden question often fired at me. And sadly I gotta answer by "I dunno" most of the time. Eventhough in my head I have the answers, whether they are certain or not, it's my problem. I was imagining beautiful things, disastrous things, grown-up things. I imagined myself working or not, whatever. I pictured my wedding day. I pictured my life in the next 5 years, hoping so much there will be pierre-louis as my beloved loving husband and father of my child/children. I pictured sweet and bitter things of my life happening after France. The next chapter will be what? I have no idea. But I want it to be simple and happy. --

-- But somehow I'm scared. All the "what-if"s keep coming into my head.

Look what i've got!! Look look..!!!

A pair of red leather gloves for my freezing hands, from the loveliest Mr. et Mme Genier.... Merci..

The brown porcelain bracelet from Pierre-Louis chayaank and the black and blue stone ring from Mamie... Merci..

This pair, I got them myself. They are super cute and adorable, dont you think??? (replacing my another lifeless pair of brown flats)

Protecting my cold feet from vicious winter cold that creeps inside the house. They are warm and cushy. I got them only for 8euros. Pas mal, non!

And a novel of " Everyone Worth Knowing" by Laura Weisberger from Sean. Merci..

HAHA!!!

Special Visit

Guess what!! Ronald came to Tours that day on thursday to deliver his words that he was gonna visit me and pierre-louis.

So, he dragged himself out of bed that cold cold misty morning in Angers to catch a bus to the train station and the train left at 9.30am, (isit, Ronald??). He reached Tours at 10.30am (ok..ok..not so long journey, im juz exaggerating).

I was super excited to see him and being a sweet Ronald that he is, he brought me tons of chocolats!!!! YYYEEEEEYY....!!!!

We showed him around Tours. Visit Tours by foot. haha!

Had lunch in best kebab resto in Tours. Shared stories and experience in France. Our ups and downs (mostly ups for him).

Stopped by in pierre louis' parents house and introduced him to them. Talked and talked and more talked.

By 5pm we sent him back to train station to catch the train to Angers.

What a day! Tiring but fun, really refreshing to see some familiar face in France. And remember the good old days (ok, not too long ago, but STILL!) of Alliance Francaise and the best group of Slip Rouge. Haha!

First christmas in France....

No, actually it's first xmas EVER!!! secara emang gue ga pernah tuh ngerayain natal... But even this time, I was juz attending the dinner and family gathering.

Pierre Louis and I spent christmas in Tours, his parents' house together with Sean, we brought him along with us.

We had dinner on xmas eve with the parents and his brother and his girlfriend, Anne.

We had some "molecular gastronomy" food as starter. First is the "fake caviar" made of fresh orange juice.

They tasted....hhm...well....a bit disgusting. HAHA!! it was pierre louis who made them since he was sooo into this molecular gastronomy thingy so he decided to try it for xmas starter. He succeded to impress everyone in terms of making caviar, but in terms of taste...yucky!! NEED IMPROVEMENT eh!!

Then we had foie gras (duck liver cooked in fat) too, which was one of my favorite menu.

Followed by lobster cooked in chestnut sauce. Incredibly delicious.

Next was roasted duck, classic xmas french dish. It was a bit burned and over-cooked hehe. Nevertheless it was still finger-licking good. And all this excellent spread were the results of the hard work of Ms. Vincent Genier and Pierre-Louis Genier. Bravo to them! Haha!

As dessert, we had mummy-made Xmas Bouche (a special french xmas cake) which was yummy.

Apologize for the absent of pictures but i was sooo into the food that i forgot to take photos of them.

Oh! And i've got presents too!

(what the fuck is wrong with my blog!!! I cant put up pictures!!! Guess better start a new one then...sigh...)

Why not some change, eh!!

I cut my hair SUPER SHORT!!!!

Why??

1. The amount of falling hair everyday worry me
2. I hate sweeping the floor and finding lotsa hair everywhere
3. This is the chance for me to change and look different after so many years with the same haircut. Even if my short new hair does not turn fine, it's ok cuz i'm in France. Nobody cares. More people look worse than me sometimes. So what the hell.

However...

My hair turns out juz fine!!! Thanks to Sonia, a genius hairdresser who did magic to my long tangled hair into SUPER SHORT hair. Well, for the price I paid (pierre louis did, not me), I deserved a great cut!!

Happy Belated New Year

to everyone...

may everything will be better this year...!!!!!

Voici quelques images que j'ai prise il y a quelque jours a Toulouse. Et j'espere qu'elles vous plaisent. Bonne journee a tous, gros bisous!

La Garonne flowing through Toulouse city.

The giant pine tree in the middle of the park in Place Wilson ( it is real, mind you, not like the one in KLCC)

The Xmas market in Capitole, juz in the center of the city. Selling bunch of delicious fatty food!

They are sandwiches, topped with grilled cheese and charcuterie, pork mainly.

Best pretzel (or Bretzel) I've ever eaten!!! Warm, freshly baked and salty! Oh, and it costs a bomb! 2euros each!

Le Vin chaud, hot wine, boiled with some spices, like cinnamon, orange, lemon etc... It tastes...well...funny for me...
The larger view of capitole and Marche de Noel.

This one is a fake papa noel...hehe...

Us, freezing but could not stop eating!!!

I feel such a world's greatest loser....!!!!

What am I good in, i wonder...

Even a simple thing I could not do it well....

Cursed Sushi Night

I thought Halloween has passed but apparently Toulouse is still haunted or maybe it's the japanese restaurants were...

Ok fine....maybe it was juz my bad nite....sigh...

So, what's the story??? Here goes...Very simple indeed...

From a long tiring wednesday, I was so hungry since the class finished at 6pm ( we started at 8.30am that day) and I juz wanted to comfort myself by eating sushi... so Pierre-Louis, Sean and I left at 7.30 to go sushi party-ing!!! I was so,so,so excited since ive been craving for sushi all this while (see my previous post..)

We went to this restaurant called "Japan" (okaay...d'uh!) which turned out to be so pretty inside and huge, considering restaurants in France are very seldom big in capacity. And the decor is juz nice, so we sat down when suddenly they put some french jazz song... we were like...okaaaaay....very "japan" indeed.

The waiter came and handed us the menu, flipped here and flipped there... Oh dear....a part from being deadly expensive ( one full menu is like...24 - 40euros!) we could not choose what we want, it was all set menu and there is no pictures of what they consist of, i mean, we dont know what kind of raw eel or fish we r gonna eat??!!

So after lotsa consideration we decided to leave...YEESS we left!! U had no idea how bad i felt, but hey!! customers not happy here!!! ( They let us leave of course but this guy were asking us lotsa qstn on what the problem was, and saying that he can check with the kitchen and bla bla bla...but we strongly managed to exit the door..hehe)

Solution: walked in windy winter nite to find another japanese resto in town. We did manage to find one which apparently has good reputation (testimonial from close people). I was so glad UNTIL the jap resto lady boss said that "sorry....no reservation, we cant take you, it's really full tonite..." WHAAAAAAAAAAATT!!!!!!!
Noted, it was already almost 9pm, we were starving and it was fuckin freezing.....ok!!!!
You can imagine how FURIOUS i was....HEEY!! I was COLD, HUNGRY and REJECTED!!!! and I had a loooong rough day, so i needed those sushi.....uurrgghh!!!! CURSED CURSED CURSEEDD!!!

But hey, what do you know, like the french advertisement says....... "McDO, si tout etais aussi simple que chez McDonald" ( If everything as easy as Mcdonald), there it was, McDonald juz few steps away from the sushi resto, calling us to order Double Cheese Burger, medium with coke, s'il vous plait....

( Being a sweet, genuine, sincere person Sean is....the next day he bought me some sushi from that jap shop near Esquirol......aaaawwww.......i was soo sooo touched!!! Thank you my dear Sean, you understand me better than my own hunk!!!)

X'mas is definitely getting nearer.......

Bonjour a tous et a toute!

It's been a while, yea i know.....but I really did not have anything interesting to blog about. Except the fact that i've been extermely lazy.

I know my list of things-to-do is getting.....sigh.....it's a gazillion meter now... but STILL!!! What do i do lately don't help at all in contributing in getting-things-done!

So I have been....reading novels, i'm reading Amy Tan's latest book now "Saving fish from drowning" the beginning is interesting, on account of me having only read 60-70 first pages....

So I have been.....going to cinema, even seeing movie which is not worth seeing for, like Happy Feet, well what to do, i can ANYTHING i want, HOW MANY TIMES i want since i have unlimited cinema card!! COOL huh!!!

And so I have been as well...wasting my time watching Prison Break the 1st season, I knooowww.....sooo out-of-date......but HEY!!!

And also, guess what!! I have juz come back from Marche de Noel in Toulouse.......Ooh lala...... xmas in europe is really beautiful.... Toulouse have magically turned to city of pretty lites.... aaww.... it looks actually like in the movie and those children books describing how christmas looks like.... except that there is no snow here in this part of france. And believe it or not....the temperature is quite hot knowing it's winter. Today was only about 10-12 degrees. which is nothing!!! Mais quand meme, jai froid au fesses!

In Capitol, the city center that is, there is a christmas market juz specially opened from 8-28 December. So the Mairie de Toulouse have built this cute small wooden "houses" which are in fact the shops, and they are decorated nicely and chrismast-y and some of them are selling delicious french delicacies of xmas...

So we went today, the first day yes...! Cuz i cant wait.....hehe..... So, the first shop already attracted me. Selling some chocolate dessert looking juz like cinnamon rolls but smaller, but it's not made of the same dough... Mais quest ce que c'etais booonn......!!!!!

Continued we walk.....I found another food stall, this time selling "Aligo" which is la puree de pomme de terre ( mashed potatoes ) avec du fromage fondu (with melted cheese) which tasted sooooo heavenly.....hhhmmm..... fatty but yummy....vraiment irresistable..... so we bought one small bowl..

Next stop, du Bretzel (pretzel) d'origine Alsace, which tasted not at all like Auntie Anne's. This one is salty, freshly baked and really tender.....ooh lala....

Je sais que je suis tres gourmande, et c'est pour ca que j'ai arreter a plusieurs "food stalls"

Next. We tried this cute macarron, which according to the seller, they are made without farrine (flour) and (i think) without eggs or something...it cost 1euro EACH!!! but it was worth it. The macarrons were very tasty (chocolat, framboise and almonde) and craquant. tros bon!

Not satisfied yet, we decided to have our "real dinner" which is a sandwich filled meat cooked in lotsa onion (YUUUCKK i know, but the guy convinced me that you cant taste the onion since it's slow-cooked), which actually i did taste the onion, but i tried to focus on the taste of meat which is tasty......hehe....

And, Pierre-Louis gave up, but ME, DITA! No waaaay......i thought i still have some room in my stomach, so i bought some "churros". which is a typical "funfair" food made of flour and egg and they put in some kind of machine that press the dough out and it then comes out long and ready to be fried....and you eat it hot with sugar or Nutella.....yuuuhuuuuu......perfect closure...HAHA!!

Et voila, the latest from me from Toulouse, where it starts to get freezing and I HATE IT!!!! UUrrghh.....!!