It's 2013.

So I have actually set this blog to post at exactly the time that the clock on the computer changes from 2012 to 2013, because I have no idea yet what I'll be doing. 

I'll most likely be drunk somewhere not knowing what time it is, and missing the countdown like every year.....(it's getting to be a bit of a running joke with my friends after I went to outside a club for a cigarette in 2010 and came back in 2011, totally missing all the countdown and hugging stuff that happens around that time of year).

And now i'm in France.

The coming of the new year, at this moment, signifies two big things to me: I have just under a month left here; and time is going way too quickly on my year abroad. The first semester felt like just a few weeks and not actually 5 months!

With regards to resolution-making, I've got a list of quite realistic goals that i'm likely to do, rather than things like 'i'm going to be a more motivated person' since at the time and place, no-one thinks "oh I must wake up early tomorrow and every day after because it's 2013 and I said I would". No.

I'm going to start going back to the gym in Spain, start learning Spanish properly and try as hard as possible to stick to a monthly budget I've set myself. I'm also going to try and look for a job in the area (although that may be easier said than done given i'm only there for 3 months-ish) and put money away into my savings account by direct debit every month.

None of this, gym every day, be a better person rubbish or that old 'eat less, smoke less' chestnut....it never lasts. I enjoy my vices too much.

pre-emigration jitters.

So it's a dreary Sunday afternoon and I'm about as nervous as a Mexican drug mule in Dover. I really don't have much to write about since the only thing I've been doing since my last post is getting drunk, enjoying my last few days in Newcastle with friends and worrying about everything. I haven't even packed yet, which is the worst thing, as I really don't know how much stuff I need or can physically take with me, since I'm travelling for almost 2 weeks before I actually finally settle down in Aix (see previous post for travel details). 

That's great and all, but if I break my back in Provence I don't have the right health insurance to cover my own insufferable stupidity. 

It's funny though, I've bought a bottle of wine for the train down to London on Tuesday and I've planned a night out in Soho getting our gay on, but I haven't even began to pack 6 month's worth of my life into one bag.......

All booked up!

Finally did it!

I pulled my finger out and actually booked everything for my jailbreak from UK! :

• Getting the train from Sunderland to London King's Cross
• Staying in London for 6 days with a friend.
• Getting the Megabus from London Victoria Coach station to Paris (with awesome ferry ride too)
• Then staying in Paris for 4 days, staying in a hostel called 'Friends Hostel' in Montmartre. 
• And then getting the train to Aix-en-Provence, via Marseille!

all for literally -just- over £100..... 

I'm properly shitting myself now though! Still haven't been greatly lucky accommodation wise, and the owners haven't been so great about even just simply responding to e-mails, but I guess that's part of the excitement of being potentially homeless for the next few months! Wooooo!

Friends Hostel, 122 Bvd de la Chapelle 75018 Paris, France:

Blatantly going to be a massive shit-hole...but for 10€-ish a night,  I wouldn't care if they ask me to hand over a kidney as downpayment......

How to travel Europe for diddly squat (from the king of corner-cutting himself).

I have just made an extraordinary discovery. More extraordinary and life-changing than the Higgs-Boson quantum particle could ever be, and certainly more useful to the layman:

I just found out today that the Megabus has a new European service from London.
This actually brightened up my day. It was that good.

On the Megabus, which trundles through UK cities with their bright, bold, blue exteriors and instantly-recognisable fat controller mascot Sid, you will now be shuttled to Amsterdam, Brussels, Boulogne or Paris in an attempt to make crossing The Channel a much cheaper, simpler affair. Ooh la la, indeed.

With tickets from the minimum (but nearly impossible to get) £1 + 50p booking fee to anywhere on their route map, travelling Europe and getting onto the continent has never been so promising, especially to me, a skint student from the North of England who has previously found it impossible to get anywhere onto Mainland Europe without it biting a sizeable chunk of a budget.
Not only that, but every Megabus journey that i've ever taken has been an experience. I've either been stuck next to some random tramp, or there was this one time some poor doddery old lady fell asleep on my shoulder and drooled everywhere, or the dog that barked from Birmingham to London, or the stag (coach) parties or breaking down in the middle of the motorway and having to walk up the hard shoulder for miles to the nearest service station to be rescued a few hours later.

My point, is that it is an experience. I kinda love it. And the price isn't half bad too....

Actually, today I've been looking at prices for trains all the way from London to Provence and they range from £100-£200 depending on time of day/week, whereas a train from Paris to Provence costs a meagre £35.

The Eurostar is officially dead then, you'd think. You'd probably be wrong. The main reason that the Megabus can afford to keep such a route is because so many people don't want to spend a great deal of money on the Eurostar. But on the other hand, the only reason that Eurostar hasn't been killed off by the big, blue 6-wheeled monster is because the journey across La Manche takes a fuckload of time.

It takes 8-odd hours to get from Victoria Coach Station, right in the heart of London, to the drop off point in Paris which lies outside the city itself (but is still served by the RER) but as long as you've got tons of books and a comfy pillow, and you get the lucky seat next to someone who isn't a tramp or a general sexual deviant then you're sorted.....

I need a roof over my head, at least.

So, this is my second post on my year-abroad blog. I can definitely say that i'm panicking now, and it's only March. 

I think given the fact i'm studying towards a dual language degree, I will first of all speak about Aix-en-Provence from here on; it's my first port of call on my year abroad. I think i'll end up speaking more about Koblenz, and my plans for that part of the world later on in the year when i'm already settled in Aix and i'm beginning to plan to move over there, what i'm expecting and travel info etc blah blah.

So.....Aix-en-Provence.

I've been told that it is a very expensive place to live, though not to put you off I have also heard it is -possible- to find cheap accommodation and live on a shoestring budget, but I am personally yet to witness this.

Aix-en-Provence is located in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Côte d'Azur region of France. Right on the French Riviera, Aix is around 20 miles away from Marseille (the second largest city in France).

I've had an absolute ballache trying to find relatively cheap accommodation in Aix, even in Marseille, although I'd wanna live as close to Aix centre as possible.

If you are reading this for your year abroad, I would suggest starting to save money es early as possible, even from March/April.

www.appartager.com has so far been VERY helpful in working out how much I will expect to pay for anything.

I don't know whether i'll be renting a studio, sharing with people from uni, sharing with locals or going into halls yet. Really need to sort finances out, but I can say one thing...it will be expensive.

www.pap.fr is also a very useful resource. All you do is plug in the postcode of Aix (13100) and search for Location/Colocation



I guess that's all I can really say. I don't have any plans set in stone yet and I guess it's a bit too early but I am a panicky mess and I know for a fact that one month before I leave I will be even more of a mess!

I decided to write a blog.

I tried this once and failed dramatically at it. Hopefully this time won't be as disastrous.

This is me. My name is Gareth Hunter.

I am currently a BA French & German Student at Sunderland University.

I'm 21 and i'm about to embark a great, scary, terrifying adventure which will (hopefully) change my life, I'm about to go on my year abroad, as part of my languages degree. I thought that documenting the year abroad would be a great thing to keep for myself, as well for others to look at in the future to see how much of a struggle it can be, but also what an exciting experience this will be.

As of August/September I am living in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France for 6 months, and then in Koblenz in the Rhineland area of Germany 6 months after that.

To say i'm shitting bricks would be an understatement.



View Larger Map

I had to make a smaller map because Aix-en-Provence was so far off the map if Newcastle was to be shown too!

The really worrying this is that I have nothing sorted yet - through my own fault and seemingly all of the universities faults. Not only does the Université de Provence's website not show or document student accommodation, but it also gives no help into finding local accommodation.

Pretty much same with the Universität Koblenz-Landau; it shows only photos of the campuses and photos of the university library. 

I don't think i'll be living in the uni library to be honest.

I've lived away from home quite a bit since I was 18 (moving to Birmingham for a year, and instead spending a large part of it with my ex-boyfriend in Northern Germany, then living with friends in Newcastle instead of staying at home with my parents) so it's not such a major step for me; that major step is the language barrier and will be either my greatest achievement or my downfall.