London Calling ♥
Pascale History More

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I am Pascale and will be living in London for a while. You can read all about my brain-dead tourist situations, embarrassing cultural mistakes and see all the pictures and videos I make. I will also post some proper blogs about the work I do to please my parents and teachers. I'd appreciate it if you left a comment. Use the links underneath the top picture to navigate.













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Halfterm!

Saturday 19 February 2011 17:38


It's only me with Danny Jones

So, it's only the first day of the halfterm - not really, it's still the weekend - but so far I'm definitely enjoying myself! I went to BBC Radio One studios this morning together with Amanda (and her mum), Jenny and Johanna (all from Sweden). McFly were recording there and they came out for a chat/photo afterwards. After that I quickly went back home to defrost my feet because, OH MY GOD, it's absolutely freezing! I heard it snowed up north (and had a pleasant conversation with tour manager Tommy about it). I really hope it's not gonna come down - I'm definitely in need of spring!

At 7 tonight I'm meeting Maddie for dinner. We don't know where we're gonna go yet, but she knows about a million different places to go so I'm sure we'll be fine. After my dinner date I'm heading to Kensington because Fabienne, one of my friends from Manchester, has traveled down to London and is in desperate need of booze. So that's my Saturday/Sunday morning sorted!
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How to measure 'being religious'?

Friday 18 February 2011 16:29


Helen's little classroom/office

Today was a short but fun day! I managed to figure out who all the 'fun' people are on the staff (the people that actually drink and go wild at school nights). I was in Nursery all day today (we finished at 1:30pm because of halfterm) and Anna - one of the Nursery teachers - sort of started questioning me about the Dutch schools. Do we wear uniforms? Are all our schools gender-mixed? What about religious schools? She wasn't at all surprised at my answers and in fact told me that she thinks England is a bit old fashioned when it comes to education. She then told me to read this article she found on the internet about why single-sex schools are bad for your health (if you're a boy), only to add that this is probably why the men from England are 'insane' (her words).

The talk of the day was the Quiz Night the school had had for charity last evening. I was going to attend but I felt a bit poop yesterday, so I decided to go to bed early. I regret this now though, hearing all the stories of drunk staff and parents who did silly dances up on the stage in the school hall. A couple of teachers went out afterwards as well and Megan, one of the PE teachers, showed me a video of Allan - the Music Director - doing tumbles on the rails in the tube whilst incredibly drunk.


The display that I created!

Now... I am completely confused about a couple of things. To me, a school doesn't get much more religious than St Christina's... I mean, the classroom teacher of Year 6 is a priest for crying out loud! But yet, several teachers (I'm only 100% sure of 1 of them, he also has a boyfriend) are gay, we all openly discuss drinking nights out and people tell how completely hammered they were (most of these stories really are hilarious) and there's a fair share of gossiping every lunch break about teachers that aren't in the same room! I'm so confused - I have absolutely no idea where the line is between being religious and being, in my opinion, a normal person! I wouldn't know when someone goes 'too far' in anything, because I'm not sure how you measure 'being religious'...

Oh by the way, I reaaally enjoy reading your messages, so make sure you leave one at the top of my page!
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All By Myself

Thursday 17 February 2011 18:19

This time that blog title is meant in the most positive way you can imagine. Well, there's two sides to it, but one's pretty good. Because Helen has some blood pressure issues (I'm not sure what's going on exactly, but she's got medication and something's gone wrong) she hasn't been coming in. That means that basically I can pretty much fill in the day myself... which is awesome. There's a couple of things that I have to do - there's my French girls that I read/do comprehension with every day - but other than that I have just been wandering into classrooms, offering help to whoever needs it. Today I've been in Year 4, Reception (both classes) and Nursery. I have also started and finished one of the displays in Helen's room - what a creative day.

The other thing that relates to my blog title is the fact that Joselyn has moved out. Last weekend when I was in Birmingham, she moved out and when I got back I found a note that had been slid under my door. Her work had found her a room that was closer to her work space - lucky! She left her number, so I'm pretty sure we'll meet up once she's settled down in her new place!

I'm still looking around for another room for myself, but there isn't much out there... the places that I do find are usually only available if you're willing to move in for a minimum of 6 months. I've already been here a month (on Monday) so there's only 3 left... Next week I'll have the week off (halfterm!) and on Wednesday I'm going to a 'Speed Flatmating' event. It's a bit like speed dating, except this is with people offering places and people looking for places - especially flatshares! I'm not sure what to expect, but I've made a reservation and hopefully something good will come out of that!
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Bus D3

Tuesday 15 February 2011 20:32

Today when I walked out the door and it was drizzling, I decided to have a quick peep at the bus stop right outside the main entrance of the hospital only to find out that instead of walking to the tube station every day, I could've easily taken the bus.

Bus D3 will take me to and from the station/the hospital in about 4 minutes and goes about every 10 minutes. So, instead of walking 10-15 minutes, I will now wait for the bus for about 10 minutes (max) and then another 4 on the bus... so in the end, it won't give me more time in the morning, but it's nice to know that my Oyster card can actually take me from my doorstep to my work.

Today at work (I refuse to call it my workplacement or 'stage' because somehow that has a negative vibe hanging around it, ask other HAN students) I realised I am past the whole 'oh you're new' fase. In fact, I am considered a colleague instead of an intern and it's quite awesome. My name appears on the notice board in the staff room every other day when I volunteer for playground duty or if I'm filling in for teachers that are ill. Today I was in Reception most of the time and slowly but surely I'm getting to know all the children in the school. I was also introduced to a couple of parents today - mothers mostly - of children that I am working really close with. It's nice to know who the parents behind a child are, but it's also pretty cool that they want to know who I am!
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Haunted House

Monday 14 February 2011 00:54

I didn't tell you about this in my last blog, because I didn't want to kill the mood. When I arrived at Saskia's, Joly's and Nadda's crib, it was all fun and games until Saskia told me something weird about the house...

From the outside of the house, you can't see any way of going up to the attic. There's nothing that tells you if there's a stairs going up to the attic... yet, there is an attic window.


The back of the house


The attic window

Inside the house it seems that there is only one way to go up into the attic...


Upstairs on the first floor, the entrance to the attic

But upon closer inspection... there seems to be blood dripping down.


Blood!

Now, I had a look around to see if there was any red paint used in the house that could've caused this... but nothing. Nothing in that house is painted red, so I don't see how that could be anything else but blood. Can you imagine what we felt like after watching a shit load of Super Natural?!

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN
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Back in LDN

Sunday 13 February 2011 20:10

I arrived back in London today at about 5pm. The trip back home was quite eventful - some trains weren't going so I had to take the train, the bus and then the train again. I did coincidently see Tower Bridge and the Tower Of London while I was at it though.

Anyway! The weekend in Birmingham - it was so much fun! I already quickly blogged about Friday, but this time I'll give you a more detailed explanation. I was picked up from the coach station in Birmingham by Sass, Nadda and Joly. We took the bus to their place which is about 30-45 minutes. Upon arrival I was introduced to about 15 people in the kitchen/living room and the smokers in the backyard. They were all there to celebrate Esther's last day in Birmingham - she left Saturday evening and went back to Spain. After having had a drink at the house, we all left with the last bus towards the city centre. I don't remember the name of the club, but it was alright. The music wasn't exactly what we'd all enjoy, but there were some good songs and there was alcohol, so we all enjoyed ourselves anyway. At about 3.30am we took a taxi back home - see pictures of Friday night below;


In the bus to the city centre of Birmingham


Me and Saskia... we found a hallway of mirrors.


Aftershock!! Flavour? Blue.


Saskia's finger blocked the flash!


BEER!


Joly lollipoppin' me.


In the taxi. Saskia actually took her glass home.

The next day, Saturday, was just general lazyness. We went for a short walk to see a lake with sailingboats that's pretty much around the corner. Then I got a tour through Newman College and after that we spent pretty much the rest of the day watching Super Natural and playing games. We cancelled our going-out plans because we were pretty much too lazy to actually get dressed, so instead we got ourselves some fish and chips for dinner and watched Zeitgeist (I have already mentioned this film before - I really want everyone to go and see it, so I'll keep promoting until you all do!). It was pretty interesting and intellectual - we could've just watched any other lame comedy film, but instead we educated ourselves with religion, government and bank issues.


Sass and Nadda outside their crib!


Getting rid of empty slash semi-empty bottles.


The sailing lake


Very windy, but at least we had some sun!


Joly, Nadda, Sass


One Stop never give up, hold your head high and reach the top!


The 'beangame'... I think I eventually understood the game rules... sort of.


Before Zeitgeist we got the giggles!


And play!


Joly, obviously the charming one!

All other pictures of the weekend will be uploaded on my facebook so you might want to go and take a look over there! This week I've got a 'touristy day' planned with Maddie! I might also go down to spot some celebs on the red carpet on Tuesday at the Brit Awards!
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