All my love

-

11 blog messages long, I have tried to paint a picture of my life here in Nice. But sometimes words fail, so I thought I put it down in one massive video... 

But not before I wrote my very last #OnlyInNice blog message! Don't despair, though, you aren't rid of me just yet! I'll keep spamming you with some messages about my next trip which goes to... Madrid! And I feel slightly ashamed to admit that I'm not really looking forward to it, and you know why? Because of Nice.

Nice was just so nice. (yes, at last I'm guilty of using the pun). The city, the country, the scenery, the people, the adventures, the soirées. Oh, and the food.... Although that was maybe the worst part. Of all the expensive things in Nice, the food was relatively cheap. And it shows - I still got it on me. And I'll even be carrying it all the way to Spain, along with my 3 suitcases. And over there, I bet the food will be as ridiculously good as it was in Nice. So I'll have to carry it all the way back to Belgium.

See why I'm not looking forward to Madrid? Because I'll be rolling back into my country and then I'll have to pay two seats when I'm flying to Australia next summer... But hey, wow, stop. I haven't even properly finished this blog and I'm already spilling the beans on my future travel plans. I guess it's because everything's coming together now. Whilst trying to get over my PED, I'm having my work cut out with Madrid, internships, e-mails to the Australian ambassy and in between I also have to manage to get a First-Aid certificate, do an additional teacher training and pass an exam.

Speaking of which... Those good old exams. For my French and Eramsus friends, it's a vague memory by now. It's what they - and I - have been whining about the last month of the old year - whilst buying our Christmas presents. Exams. They're an odd thing. First we curse them, then we celebrate them. And some celebrated them just a bit too much... (yes, you! 😉) 

And then it's over - just like that. I may have cursed those exams but I cursed that last week even more. It started with my first friend who also left first. The others followed quickly. In between morning coffees and croissants, we said our goodbyes. We had our first and last Antillean meal, our last shot of ti-punch and again - goodbyes. We hurried for the last sunset with a Ricard on the promenade. More goodbyes. We sought solace in sushis with salted soy sauce, but it could not hold back my salted tears. And then I went home. Or was I leaving it behind?

To get back to what I said about the food, I guess it's not true: it's not the food, but my friends. They are the worst part of my Erasmus... because they are the best. For months, I've grown close to a bunch of awesome humans, forging friendships through a fast-forwarded process and yet they have become genuinely good friends. In fact, they haven't just become my friends, they have become my family.

My Erasmus-family, of course. Because it's only when I got back home that I realised that I had been living a double life, being part of two families, of two worlds. And that's the worst part: you can only live one life at the time. So one by one, my Erasmus friends were cut out of my life as fast as they walked into it. Or faster. And that kinda sucks. So I decided I'm loving Angels instead. 😉

To end this blog on a symbolic note, let's get back to my very first blog message:
"You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place", said Miriam. Well, Miriam, I knew this moment was going to come and I knew the price I'd have to pay. So here: I pay. You can have all my money. Because hell yeah, it was worth it!


Thank you to everyone who had a seat on this rollercoaster! Here's my gift to you:

https://wetransfer.com/downloads/562d402cd28ee6c1c34fac2cecbf2b7220180111172325/c8b7d4e4bd9ee6384436b378e266667320180111172325/a29945 

 (the link to my Erasmus video, since it was blocked on YouTube). 





All my love

Elise

PS. In hindsight I'm going to need my money after all. I mean how am I ever going to get to Madrid and pay for the tapas when my Erasmus family is coming over?





Enjoyed reading this blog? Let me know and drop a comment below ⇓⇓⇓

Comments

  1. UnknownFriday, 12 January, 2018

    Elise, keer op keer, blog per blog, land per land tover jij een lach op mijn gezicht. Guess who I am. Keep writing !!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The City

-
In case you haven't noticed, I’m a romantic. Born and raised in a forest, I shun chaos, noise and crowds (Except for Rock Werchter), for they bring misery, stress and destruction. So being a romantic anno 2017 isn't easy, for everything happens in the City.   The City  is everywhere. Grey and concrete, she rises from the ground, repelling every last bit of nature, radiating only pollution. Roots are replaced by foundations, plants by people, harmony by chaos. No, I don't like cities. But if you want to work, study or make a career, you need to go to the City, because progress and prosperity awaits there .  So I inevitably had to go and live in  the City.  But how would I survive in the fifth largest city of France? No friend has ever heard me say " I could actually live her e " when talking about cities. But despite my negative expectations and attitude towards cities, I could actually live in Nice. In fact, I absolutely adore Nice. Colourful instaed of gre...
Read more

The start of an adventure

-
What I like about day -1 is that things can't get any worse than that. Any experience that follows, which in my case was my Erasmus, would automatically be a better one. So when I woke op on day 1, I actually felt good - set aside the shivers running down my spine or the gastric acid moving up my throat. It was the start of an adventure! As for me, honestly admitted, I never even went through a Day -1-phase. At least not on Day -1. On Day -1, I actually felt quite good, simply because I had been travelling for the past month and had never been home for literally one day. So when I got home from my latest adventure -  only 4 days before my departure to Nice, the unfamiliar ritual of unpacking and packing my backs and the unfamiliar feeling of knowing I would not be home for a long time, felt oddly familiar. In fact, I even felt safe. Safe, because I was going to live in a country I knew rather well, a country I would even want to move to. Safe, because I knew I wasn't going ...
Read more

Erasmus honeymoon

-
Thursday 31 August. Lille Aeroport. Early afternoon. My dad, my stepmother and my best friend waving me goodbye. Trying not to cry. After all, why would I? I was kicking off my Erasmus honeymoon! A honeymoon. That's how I like to refer to it. Not that I'm experienced in that field, but I might have some idea after having watched too many  romcoms. Those first days where all is well and overwhelming... Visiting the city, exploring the counrty, meeting new people, soaking up the sun, going out, sleeping in, sipping coctails at the beach and most importantly: no school! I fell in love with Nice, and after all those months, I still am.  Of course, not all was cakes and ales. First of all, my aeroplane was delayed, which forced me to take a 40-euro taxi to my future home I had never seen before, where I had an appointment to do the état des lieux with a woman I did not know . Sweaty, hungry and exhausted from my travels, I arrived at the Ruelle . A woman was awaiti...
Read more