Her Campus blog number 6 AND 7!

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas and it is time to get thinking about what you want this Season to bring. So here's a double whammy of two Christmassy blogs written by yours truly :)

http://www.hercampus.com/school/nottingham/dreaming-green-christmas

and

http://www.hercampus.com/school/nottingham/make-difference-christmas

Her Campus blog number 5!

Good Goings on November! Still in date so you can take a look at all the good things to be done this month in Nottingham :)

http://www.hercampus.com/school/nottingham/good-goings-november

Her Campus blog number 4!

Another slightly outdated post but one of my most popular so far. In fact, due to demand there will be a Christmas edition coming out soon too!

http://www.hercampus.com/school/nottingham/hallowe-en-your-house-party-without-buying-anything

Her campus blog number 3!

I quite enjoyed writing this blog. Whilst it is another "BuzzFeed" list style article, it suits this structure so I don't mind. Although there is a truckload of gifs (they like us to use lots of them in our articles) so if you are on a mobile phone, I apologise in advance.

http://www.hercampus.com/school/nottingham/10-small-ways-make-your-day-or-someone-elses-little-brighter

Her Campus blog number 2!

Eek! This one is a bit out of date now, sorry! I'll link it for you anyway but I won't mind if you don't read it. Every month I write a calendar for all the forthcoming good things that are going on in Nottingham. You can take a look at October's by clicking the link below :)

http://www.hercampus.com/school/nottingham/good-goings-october

Her Campus blog number 1!

My first blog post for the Her Campus organisation!! As much as I hate "BuzzFeed" journalism it is quick, easy and well suited to a blog format. Don't worry, though, I'm keeping it to a minimum.

Read my article here :)
http://www.hercampus.com/school/nottingham/10-ways-buy-good-karma-your-uni-room

Guess what?

I know I said I'd be blogging a lot more this year and it might not look like I have, but that's because I've been blogging for Her Campus! Her Campus is an online global community for college women and is branded as "A Collegiette's guide to life". I blog for them!

Even better I'm blogging about what I care for: ethical, sustainable and environmentally friendly living, but in a way that isn't all preachy or involved wearing hemp.  I blog about easy but effective ways for college women to make a difference in their communities and to our planet.

Here is a link to my author page (!): http://www.hercampus.com/author/danielle-greenspan
where links to all my blog posts are put as they are published.

Don't worry though, I won't abandon you all here :) I'm going to start publishing the non-Nottingham specific posts on here too to keep you all in the loop!

Things to do before I leave for good

I am about to embark upon my MSci. My fourth and final year of proper university. If all goes to plan, next year I will still be a student, but I will be in France studying in French so that will be an entirely different type of experience that may not even happen. While I have had a brilliant time at university thus far there are still plenty of things I would like to do before I hang up my onesie.

So here is a list of my 20 To Do's before I graduate:

1) I will actually ago to all the taster sessions I sign up for in Fresher's week

2) I will resist the pressure to study soil for my MSci

3) I will attain a certifiable achievement in something other than academia

4) I will do more laundry... ahem...

5) I will get my Imgur addiction under control

6) I will get fit

7) I will succeed in earning money through dog walking (www.BeestonDogWalker.co.uk if you are looking!)

8) I will take advantage of the student discounts

9) I will continue to never have hangovers

10) I will go to more Ocean Fridays (the student night at cheapest, cheesiest, best student night in town)

11) I will learn how to open a bottle without a bottle opener

12) I will buy a University of Nottingham hoody/sweatshirt, scarf  and shot glass

13) I will swim in the lake

14) I will do all the touristy stuff in Nottingham that I still haven't gotten around to doing yet

15) I will explore every building on campus

16) I will climb a tree on campus

17) I will get a picture with the Trent Building in my cap and gown

18) I will go to an on-campus musical or a capella concert

19) I will go to Sherwood Forest and see Major Oak

20) I will finish with a 2:1

French Kissing

Someone should really standardise the number of kisses you give when greeting people in Europe. I mean it is fair enough for different countries to do different numbers; German, Dutch and Swiss people do three, British and Russian people do two and Polish people only do one kiss, but different regions of different countries vary too. In Marseilles apparently they do four kisses while here in Cannes they just do two!

How are people meant to know how many kisses to do if you don't know where the other party is from? Also if you do know where they are from but it is a different place to you, how is it decided which party alters their kissing number? What if they both alter? What if both assume the other will?

It could save a lot of awkwardness is all I'm saying.

*ahem*

International etiquette

My daily battle here is one that few nationalities appear to suffer from.

The majority of students at the College International de Cannes only speak English as a second language and so naturally revert to their mother tongues when possible. My first fortnight here this was almost unanimously Spanish, a language that I can comprehend though not use. My second fortnight here it has been German, a language of which I know how to say 11 things: good morning, goodbye, thanks a lot, you're welcome, I am a Berliner, can you speak German, bless you, moustache, sweat, bratwurst and Germany. All highly useful phrases for conversation.

This has meant that I am frequently talking quite happily in French or English with a fellow student until someone who speaks their mothertongue comes and joins us. This unfailingly results in my friend embarking on an in-depth conversation in German (or Spanish) that puts me in quite the quandry.

You see, were I in England and all this were happening in English, I would either be introduced to the new party and included in the conversation or I would be permitted by social etiquette to excuse myself to pop to the loo and play on my phone. Here, however, neither of these happen... I am left hanging, unintroduced and unexcused. Whence my internal battle begins; do I pretend to look interested in the conversation (despite both other parties knowing I understand none of it) or pretend to be deep in thought and gaze off into the distance for an unknown length of time (which is no less awkward than the first option)?

If I ever find out, I will let you know. For now, however, I remain hopeful that one day soon I may be excused from such an awfully uncomfortable conversation so that I can go and work on my high score at Solitaire instead.

Hon hon hon!

Bonjour!
Ca va? I hope that you are all well and that you can excuse my absence from the blogosphere this past year. But I am picking up the blogging stick again so you can expect frequent updates, stories and thoughts from the mind of Me.

I am currently in Cannes in the south of France studying French. I have been here for 2 weeks and am staying for another 4 after this. And my main thought of this experience so far is (sorry Dad) not to do with learning French. You see there appears to be a distortion in the fabric of time that is active within the perimeters of this college causing time to pass non-linearly at an average rate that is faster than that external to the property. I could have sworn I only got here last week...
Although my French is certainly coming along. I now only have a 50/50 chance of freezing when talking to a French person and can successfully order food, ask for directions, find a toilet, purchase nonessential items and make a reservation. Actually I am selling myself short a bit, I (quite proudly) made a formal complaint in French the other day about an arrogant tosser of a student in my class who would simply not. stop. talking/bellowing/summoning the dead. Throughout this trip I have been writing down all the words that I have needed to lookup as I think of them and my list from that day reads as follows:
(disclaimer: I don't know how to put accents in on here!)

Chuchoter = shhh

Bruyant = noisy

Murmurer/ Parler a voix basse = whisper

La blague = Joking/kidding

Detendre = to relax

N'importe = it doesn't matter

Impoli = rude

Cela ne se fait pas! = That is unacceptable!

Gacher = To ruin

En colere/furieux = Angry

Indignation = outrage

Atroce = outragous

Tuer = to kill

Poignader = To stab

Plaindre/ Rouspeter = To complain

Faire un rapport = To report

Demonter =To take down

Batard = Bastard

On a brighter note, however, he is now (I like to think, as a result of my well worded complaint) much more appropriately behaved and I haven't had to look up the address of the local British embassy...

The Green Mile

Tom Hanks is the best actor in the world. An indisputable fact.

Today I decided to watch The Green Mile and boy oh boy is that a movie. The problem is that I have gotten so emotionally invested in this movie I don't think I want to watch the ending because I am honestly quite scared of what I suspect it to be...
If only I could put my laptop in the fridge. I've had to pile all my folders and books on top of it instead...

I have instead created my own ending and this is definitely how the film goes; Jon Coffey is vindicated and spends the rest of his life happily doing whatever he likes,
that really messed up prisoner across from him gets the chair the next day and is out of the picture,
the horrible police officer goes off to that other job and never returns, maybe he gets an injury or something and is miserable for the rest of his life too,
and Tom Hanks and all the other nice police officers stay happy and alive for many long years. In fact they might even be friends with Jon Coffey, yeah I like that. They can be fishing buddies and who knows Jon might be a great painter or something so he can save up a bit of money and have a house near Tom Hanks. In fact I bet that police chief would help him find a place and get a job. And they can all be happy for ever after. 

It's good isn't it :) any other ending just wouldn't be worth watching in my opinion.

Though I will be avoiding it forever now. Just in case.