News

Long time no news from me here..., I know.
Well, autumn is coming to Paris. The weather is still quite nice, sunny and not that much rain, perfect.
My sister came back from vacation in Riga and entered HEC, it's her first week. Some are lucky to enter the first year of a business school! And their campus is pretty nice, though really lost in the middle of nowhere...No comment, those who've ever been there know what I mean!! She brought loads of cool pics that she took with her new camera Nikon D50, I'll upload the best of here this week.

The other news is that Emmanuelle, a good friend of mine arrived to Beijing for a four-month exchange at Beida. I quite envy her, Beijing is such a great place to live! She stays 10 mins away from Beida campus, which is 15 mins from Huaqingjiayuan, where I used to live. Check out her page (in French) here or on my links toolbar =>

Emma, si tu me lis, il faut absolument que tu ailles voir LE bar étudiant du coin, le Lush, à côté du métro (ouvert 24H/24H! avec des anims tous les soirs et projections de films gratuites le jeudi soir). Et aussi le café thailandais un peu plus loin dans la même rue, leur riz à l'ananas est absolument délicieux!

Treasure hunt in Monmartre with MELT

This Saturday MELT (ESSEC International students association) organized a Treasure hunt in Paris, Monmartre. That was really fun! and really well organized: merci MELT!

There were 5 teams of 5-6 people, all from different countries, mine is on the picture: people from all over the world, Russia, Thailand, Austria, Finland...
Each team had to resolve quizes, prove our artistic talents(on the picture, Sandra, our team's chief artist), get hints and walk around the area of Monmartre to discover the ultimate place.

It lasted about 3 hours, we explored the area between Pigalle and Sacré-Coeur, learned stuff about mills (cause there are real mills in Monmartre!!) and streets, saw the grocery shop from the famous movie "Amelie from Monmartre", and had a lot of fun! This is also one of the most romantic places in Paris, and early spring sun made it even more beautiful.

(spring view from Sacré Coeur)

Chinese language alternatives to .com (link here)

= China disconnected from the standard internet!

Once again, thanx to Emlyn, who has a chance to be in China at the moment! Do I start missing China?!...

Speak - read - not write!

quite an amusing article about learninig Chinese, advised by Emlyn, a Welshman in Singapour and my classmate at Tsinghua last semester.

I don't quite agree with M. Watts though. The tones are indeed difficult in the beginning, but characters are hell! After a year and a half in Beijing, I can now speak quite decently, can read almost all the characters I know, but just can't write them!! Without constant practising, I forget how to write the most simple characters, although recognising them is not a problem... It's more than frustrating not to be able to read or even pronounce words because you don't know the character.

But still, it's a great experience, the Chinese are warm-hearted, very practical indeed, but also have lots to teach us!