Marseille

I've been fortunate to have spent the past couple of weeks with a lovely family and now it's the end of my time here in France. From Parthenay, it took around 10 hours to get to Couges where the family normally stay. One thing I appreciate about London is the frequency buses and trains, instead of running every hour as it does im this town..
I luckily got dropped off at Aubagne ( another town which is around 20 drive from here) in order to get to Marseille St Charles, which is around 20 minutes on the train.
I had the loveliest day and spent it at Notre Dame Cathedral which was about a 20 minute walk from Vieux Port. The walk up was steep and you'd definately need a strong pair of legs for it!
Was it worth it? You can see for yourself. Despite the climb in the strong heat and being drenched in sweat. The view was idyllic and truly picturesque. Within the cathedral there is a crypt and even a restaurant.

Travelling around France

This summer I decided I wanted to get away from London and try to practise some French. My aim was to get to a region calles Poitiers. I contacted a French family and volunteered to provide private tuitions to their son whilst I'd receive free food and accomodation in return.
But just how was I going to get there?
Eurostar was going to cost around 200 euros. Pretty unaffordable for me. My only option....
The coach. I didn't mind as I still have about 7 weeks left of school. I found a life saver website called rometorio which is the Googlemaps of international travel. Yippee.
It was going to take me 8 hours on the ID bus. I had never heard of this. But would def recommend it. I arrived at 6am at Victoria station to hopefully arrive at 4.50pm in Paris. 4.50pm became 6.50pm due to the traffic. Horrible! But in terms of the comfort. It was really good, lovely reclining leather chairs. It also helped that we took the tunnel and did not go via Dover! I would say I'd recommend it though.

Bristol Carnival!

A friend of mine who is a fanatic of Nottinghill Carnival cannot make it there this year and so he suggested we go to Bristol Carnival. This would be my first time and I had thought to myself if London has the biggest carnival, could Bristol match up?

We got the National Express coach which was only £20 return and we were due to arrive there on Saturday 1pm and leave at Sunday at 5am! That's a lot of partying! How will we cope??
Well we sure did. We found our first sound system which was buzzing ; full of junglist vibes!
Then we moved onto the dancehall street...

Girls were doing it all from the ' one drop' to 'bruk out'!

The vibe wasn't as crazy as London's, but it had the same diversity which I love and it didn't have the dangerous air which you often find at Nottinghill. Everyone was having a drink and simply enjoying themselves!

The ride back home meant we had to wait for the coach.We partied until 4 then got the coach at 5.30am.
We were shattered!

The Best Tour ever!

I dragged my parents out of the house this morning adamant that we were in need of a gisit to the Bob Marley museum. There such is a steep price difference depending on whether you're a local or a resident.
Resident $500 Jamaican dollars which is around 5 USD and 20 USD for tourists.
Rip off, although my dad has been living overseas 50 years + he sounds like he never left the island, which worked wonders today!
He showed his I.D card, yet the lady behind the desk wasn't really buying it, saying we each need to have I.D. We got there in the end, thank goodness!

Our guide was a lovely lady named Natasha, who had Rastafarian roots and was very informative about the culture as well as Bob's life and his 12 children by several different women.
We even had the chance to go to the recording studio he recorded hits as well as Damian Marley's ' Welcome to Jamrock' and Lauryn Hill ' Turn your lights down low'.

The museum is the site which he lived and smoked his spliff, much to the disagreement of his neighbours!
"Likkle Georgie who mek the fire light" even has a small house still on site. The murals throughout the museum remainppoignant, especially the image of him uniting Edward Seaga and Manley who were of opposing parties.
Definitely a must-see!

What Would Beyonce Do?

Before going to see this stand-up comedy. I didn't have a clue what to expect...besides something to do with the Queen Bee. Luisa Omielan reveals how dating standards have changed overtime as we embark on her journey of life. Covering all issues from love, suicide, depression, and one night stands. Luisa informs us on how she should have dealt with certain situations by simply asking herself " What Would B do?". All women within the audience displayed tears of laughter due to some of the predicaments Luisa shared with us, most of which we could relate to.

Luisa displays a narrative of different accents throughout the sketch from a gyrating yardie , a southern belle to Margaret Thatcher (whom she reveals as her idol, despite not knowing who she was until she saw 'The Iron Lady').
Luisa takes it one step further than most female commediennes which is reflected by her attire; a gold sequined too revealing her stomach and leopard print leggings. Reminiscent of a a character you may encounter on Benefit Street. Having said this, this is what made her so relatable. Especially as she claims those leggings were her last purchase which she spent the last of her budget on. She simply isn't afraid to reveal all of herself to us, by rolling around on the floor having a fit after being dumped and simply letting us know she has no idea about the Coalition!
Luisa is truly entertaining and involves her audience, embracing being a " Single Lady" to making us all aware that despite what we are going through, we are all "Survivors".