It's been a while since I last posted so I should have lots to share!  I'll just be typing as I remember everything so I'm pretty sure I won't be following any sort of order!

I had the laziest Toussaint ever and it was amazing!  I spent the majority of my holiday catching up with TV from home and just lounging around and making the most of our lovely new flat.  In my opinion that was the best way to spend the holiday!  I think the most energetic thing I did was go to the museum (which is next door to the flat) and the Palais de Tau (across the road from us) with another assistant who came visiting for a day.  We got in for free which is something I won't be getting to enjoy for much longer since it's only up to the age of 25 :( and it was worth the visit.  The Palais de Tau in particular.  It's a palace, I suppose, which is alongside the cathedral and holds some relics from the old days and lots of original parts of the cathedral like statues and gargoyles etc which were damaged during the war and have now been replaced with replicas.  History lesson time - Reims cathedral is where the first King of France was baptised and so they used it for all the coronations after this.  So in the Palais de Tau you can see all sorts of things that were used during the coronations including those massive big fur cloaks they wore (that's about as technical as it gets since I don't know what they're actually called).  Please don't quote me on this history lesson since I'm only going by what I've been told in French and I may have given you a very dodgy explanation considering I don't always understand what I'm told!

I reluctantly went back to school last Friday and I had a whole 3 hours of classes to contend with.  So stressful.  I, of course, did lessons on Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot and Bonfire Night and it went down quite well.  Felt quite sad and far from home though because Bonfire Night is my favourite night of the whole year!  I miss fireworks!  I'm going to remain hopeful that we get fireworks going off here at New Year!  Anyway, on Bonfire Night we had our own little celebration although it didn't include fireworks.  Since it was also Diwali we went to an Indian restaurant for dinner.  The food wasn't too bad but the service was slooooooow to say the least!  I'd probably go back again but maybe not in a group of 20.

On Saturday morning Jen and I got up at what felt like the crack of dawn and headed for the farmer's market.  We spent 30euros and got about 5 times what we would have got in the supermarket for the same money.  We were very impressed.  I intend to return this week!  It felt very authentically French!  Although I was disappointed not to see any French men wearing onions round their necks.  I thought if I was going to see it anywhere it would be at the market.  I remain hopeful however.

The same afternoon when we were back at home our upstairs neighbours paid us a visit (after yet another manifestation had passed by us) and introduced themselves and warned us they were having a party so there might be a little noise.  Little noise?!  The party lasted literally all night.  I finally got to sleep at about 6.30/7am-ish and it was still going.  And it wasn't a little noise, they basically had their own private nightclub on the go up there all night.  It was ridiculous.  Needless to say, revenge was on my mind all night and I sent a Facebook message out to everyone here at about 2am in the morning inviting them to a Vengeance Party.  So we have about 20 attending already and more to come!  It's going to be on the last weekend before we break up for Christmas which conveniently falls around about exam time and it just so happens that our neighbours are students :) revenge is so so very sweet!

I've still not had a full week of school yet because today of course was Armistice Day and rather than our pitiful 2 minute silence in the UK, it's a public holiday here!  And the bonus is that since it's fallen on a Thursday and all the kids at the school would have to travel back to the school for just one day before the weekend (it's a boarding school) they've decided to make Friday a holiday at the school too.  So I had a couple of hours of classes on Monday and Tuesday, one hour at 8am Wednesday morning and I'm not back in school again until Monday!  I love France!  We made the most of last night since everybody was off this morning and went to the Irish pub for English night.  A lot of the students who study English at the university attend and it's an opportunity for them to talk to native speakers so we all go along.  Most embarrassing moment of the night was probably when I heard someone say something in English and complimented on them on their excellent English accent only to discover he was in fact from England.  Still, it struck up a conversation and I know somebody new now!  We also got up early this morning to go and see the memorial service at the war memorial.  We were there about an hour and a half too early though and spent more than 2 hours in total in the FREEZING cold, wind and rain and I was thoroughly miserable.  It wasn't too bad once it actually got going and there was something to distract you from the frostbite eating away at me, but on the whole it wasn't a pleasant morning.  One hot chocolate later and I felt a bit more alive again.  And I've spent approximately the past 4 hours tucked up in bed trying to heat up and I have no intentions of moving any time soon.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something but I can always post again later if I remember, so goodbye for now!