Three days in Paris - Monday , October the 29th 2007

Lauren and I, a canadian friend from the rowing club, left Nantes to go to Paris in order to spend three days visiting the city and meeting friends. We left at 6h30 A.M aiming to use the whole day to visit Paris. The train ride was fun, talking about the monuments we would see and making jokes.

At 10h00 we went to Pierre's ( a Club Med friend) to drop off our luggage. Afterwards, we went go to the " Palais du Luxembourg" to see the Arcimboldo exibition. Then after having walked 1hour instead of 10 minutes ( I didn't exactly know the the way to go) we found the entrance and the 60 m long line. So we decided to come back the day after (but early) and went to the "Musée Georges Pompidou", the Modern Art Museum instead - but the line was worse. Nevertheless we wait 50 minutes to enter the museum then another 10 minutes to buy the tickets and another 15 minutes to go to the cloak-room.

Once all these hardship over we reached the the museum rooms in order to see 3 exibitions, 2 were temporary and the last was permanent. The first was about the correspondance betwenn two filmmakers: Victor Enrice and Abbas Kiarostami but I did not like it, it was too gloomy and I certainly did not understand the message. The second was about the Alberto Giacometti's work and I think it was worse. In a work of art I like the technique used to do it, colors and the feeling of joy which emanate from the work. Here the colors were sad and dark, the technique so basic, and the feeling of joy inexistant. Fortunatly after two boring hours the permanent exibition was a real pleasure.

The shapes and colors were so diferent and their diversity was so large. The technique was so developped and with the light colors it was easy to spend time walking in the different rooms. Once the tour finished we walked around Paris close to "Chatellet" and the "Hotel de Ville" and we came back to Pierre' s flat near to the Panthéon. In the end we spent the evening with Pierre and his friends, watching films on the TV.

Three days in Paris - Tuesday, October the 30th 2007

We woke up "early" and we went to the "Palais du luxembourg" and once again the line was long. It was 45 minutes after we entered and bought our tickets. The exibition was short but I loved it. The paintings were great: amazing technique , light colors and understandable symbols. And the best thing about it was that you could see the works of art in different ways looking at the whole painting or only different pieces.

After we went to the "Musée d'Orsay". The different exibitions were interresting and the painting styles too. I liked a few works like Van Gogh and Matisse. But several works shock me: the look of a few portraits or paintings made me inconfortable.

Once the tour finished we went to the "Jardin des tuilleries" then to the "Concorde" and "Avenue des Champs Elysées" and to finish to the "Place de l'Etoile" with the "Arc de Triomphe". At the end we went to the Museum of "Quai Branly" to see the building with grass on its walls.

In order to finish our tour we went to the " Tour Eiffel" and went back to Pierre's for dinner and spent once again the evening with his friends playing video games, chating, listening to music and joking.

Three days in Paris - Wedensday, October the 31st 2007

As the party had finished at 4 A.M the wake up was hard but at 10 A.M we went to "Mont Martre" in order to visit the "Sacré Coeur" and the "Place du Tertre" with all its artists and drawers.

The visit was interesting and "Mont Martre" is a district I love, it is so quiet, there are no cars and lots of gardens. The atmosphere is so different in comparaison in other places in Paris. The "Sacré Coeur" hill is so nice with it gardens and its white stairs. In the "Sacrée Coeur" inside, I did not understand in what kind of architecture the church was built. I think it's a mix between Gothic and barroque art because one can see different elements of these architectures.

After our little walk in "Mont Martre" we went to the " Place de la Bastille" and the "Canal St Martin" to have the lunch (at 3 P.M! but lunch!) At the end we went back to Pierre's going by the Seine river in order to see the "bookinistes" and "Notre Dame". We finished our journey in a Mexican restaurant to have our dinner with mates and to laugh a last time before our rushed departure to Nantes. Half an hour to go from the "Panthéon" to Montparnasse Station.

This journey was amazing. I have spent lots of unforgetable moments with Lauren, Pierre and his friends. I would like to thank them for their good moods and their hospitality. Special thanks to Pierre who put up with us during three days (Pierrot when you come to Nantes... DO NOT HESITATE!!!!) and to Lauren who tolerated me during three long days!!!!

My Sunday, October the 21st.

Today, is a particular day, it is my sister's birthday! Yes I have got a little sister but she does not live with us because she studies management and marketing at the ESC Grenoble, a great business school (6^th in France). So I sent her a message to tell her Happy Birthday.

But the great moment of my Sunday was the visit of the Airbus factory. I went to the visit with Poulet, one of my rowing club fiends. The visit was interesting because I could chat mechanics with several engineers in particular about composite materials ( one of my university subjects). The interesting thing was I could see several parts of the Airbus A380 and the different tools used to build the plane's parts. It is amazing when you see an aluminium bloc of 750 kg which the weight is divided by 20 after to be machined. Another example when you see a titan piece big as a dictionary which resist to a 160000 Newton strength you can say only one thing: Wao !!!! My last example is when you see a carbon piece, with a circle shape, 3m width an 1m high which the weigh is only 100 Kg ( 8 times less heavier than steal !!!!). But I am quiet disappointed , I think a guided tour would have been more interesting and more alive.

The rowing integration day

Saturday, october the 13^th, we made an integration day in order for the students of the different UFR or schools to meet each other. The idea was simple. During the first part of the afternoon, (because students sleep the saturday morning), we organize a 300 m long gig race mixing in the crew : boys and girls, engeneering school and university, beginners and confirmed. The race took part in this way: At the beginning there were sevral pools of boats. Each pool had a match racing and we kept in competition only the best crew. After we made other pools with only the best crews and we started again until the final to find the best. The award ceremony took place during the party with stupid prizes such as wooden spoon or ...

At the end of the afternoon the students came back home to have a shower and to change clothes. During this time, the organisation staff prepared the room for the party with giant screen and video projecteur to watch the rugby match ( this famous match where the France lost !!!) and prepare the barbeque.

At nine, the match and the dinner started with the enthusiasm proper to this kind of event. Until the end of the match people believed the France team would win. But that's another story. The match finished and the real party started with dance and music and with a short cut for the traditionnal « bateux de l'Erdre !!! », the club members would understand !!!!!

The party finished in a good mood. Everybody was glad and smiling.

It was such a good nigth!!!

I would like to thank Milou and Momo for the media instalation, Seb for the room tidying and Poulet for the race organisation.

My summer - The first week of July

Normally I would have to make a blog only for my summer, it was so much busy : there are too many thinks to say about it. To start I took part to the J80 world championship at the “Trinité sur mer” the first week of July. The J80 is a 8m long sailing boat, and you drive it with a 4 or 5 persons team. It’s a funny boat because you can have some feelings equal to those bring by a smaller boat, but you are on a crew.

The trip starts the Sunday to go from Nantes to the Trinité. The travel was 6 hours long. However it’s nice because you see all the coast and it was the same to the return to Nantes. The championship started Tuesday. The sun was shining although the wind was strong (25 knots) and it didn’t decrease during the whole week. To give you an idea of the wind strength, the first day 21 crews were allowed to repair their torn sails, 21 out of 124!!!!! Imagine?! The other days there were 3 rounds / days. It is tiring, because it's necessary to be at the harbour at 8 A.M, in order to be on the water at 9A.M, to start at 10A.M, and come back to the harbour at 4 P.M , with the wind, waves, sun, it’s hard; and this without eating because between the rounds you haven’t got the time to have lunch.

Besides there are the important race steps: On the boat, my job was to hoist and flop down the spinnaker (what a great job, but sometimes dangerous when there is a lot of wind but so fun!!!!) I remember, once , the skipper jibed and the wind was so strong the boat flattened when the spi changed side. And I tried to keep my balance on a boat that the mast was quiet parallel to the water. It’s not easy !!!!

The other steps were when you arrived on a buoy where there were 30 boats you have to scream “starboard!!!!!” or “water!!!” to get the priority during the jibe. It’s amazing. The last important step or the first on the chronological order: the starting. I have said we were 124 boats to the participate to the championship divided in two pools; the gold and the silver pool. So imagine more than 60 boats on a starting line with a maximum of 1m between two boats. Here my job consisted in to be kneel on the stem and told to the skipper if we were too near or too far from the starting line. And I can tell you when you heard the starting signal, the crew pulls on the ropes and you feel an adrenaline rise in your whole body . It’s so exciting!!!! So to conclude we finished 112th for the first time. There is worse!

My summer - From the second week of July to the first week of September

Two days after the world championship, I started to work as a sailing teacher in the Club Meditéranée of La Palmyre - between La Rochelle and Bordeaux. It was my first summer job, and an unforgetable experience. The sailing teacher's team was so, so… it’s not possible to describe them. They were so fun!!! Everybody has a nickname such as “L’endive”, “Polo”, “Rico”, “Tricard”, “bibi foc”, “La pintade”, “Fred”, “La rafouille”, “ptit ‘homme”, “Pierette” “Max” and mine : “Le dernier Kayakiste” but it's too complicated to explain.

My summer - From the second week of July to the first week of September- the spot

The spot was so beautiful. Imagine a close bay, with white sand, blue water , a big white and red light house and green trees all around the bay. After there was the club. All the houses were so cute in the middle of a large park with trees and grass and a point of view on the Atlantic Ocean.

My summer - From the second week of July to the first week of September - My Friends

Besides there was all the G.O Team to make the shows, help and advice all the clients. The amazing thing was, during your holiday (one day a week) you could use the different installations to practice an activity like wall climbing or archery or go to the swimming pool. The team mood was good and you could chat with everybody and meet lots of different people that come from everywhere; it’s so interesting and good for your knowledge. And I make a kiss to my favourite G.O. Alexia, Sharon, Myrthe, Esme, Pierrot, La Mèche, Daniel, Andrea, Domingo, Coralie, Jeanne, Alicia, Barbara, Servine, Nico, Damien and the sailing team ...

My summer - From the second week of July to the first week of September - My Job

Now an important thing: My job. At the beginning my job used to consist in hoisting and flopping down the sails, keeping security on beach or in the bay and giving half an hour private lessons. So ok you do the same thing every day, but every day it's different because the weather was not the same and you meet different people. It’s good for me and for my English too, I hope!!!! Being seated on a catamaran 3 hours a day I think there are worse jobs. After one month, the boss give me an other job: I always had to do the same thing, but I had to do the “mini club” that consist in giving lessons to children. At beginning I was quite scared for the responsibility but after it was so fun, so great, so… I love teaching to children because they live in another world that looks like mine, with games, fantastic stories, sweets….But it’s so difficult because they don’t see and feel the danger.

So I go back home one day before going back to university, tired ( too many parties!) but glad of a wonderful summer and I would like to thank all the GO team and particularly Fred, my boss and the sailing teachers team for their attention, good mood, life happiness.Thanks Everybody

The international sea rowing competition of Saint Malo.

Sunday, September the 30th we went to Saint Malo to take part to a Rowing competition. Wake up at 5 A.M - it’s soon- and direction to UNA . At 6 A.M I was with three of my friends in the car in direction of Saint Malo. In the car the mood was good, laughing and making jokes about all and nothing. We arrived at 8 A.M in order to assist to the strokes and cox meeting. After direction to the harbour to prepare the boat and put it on the water. The race field on Saint Malo bay was beautiful, with the light house, the Chateaubriand’s castle and the little islands on this clear blue water. On the starting line we were more than 30 boats and the race was hard; the boat is old and heavy and the race is long (12 km). At the end we arrived 2nd (but by the bottom of the classification). The race finished, we tidied the boat and the oars, and drink a beer on the sea side. As the weather was sunny, it was a pleasure to chat about the race and other things. Moreover we went to eat a pizza in a little restaurant in Saint Malo laughing like every time. Last but not least we finish our rowing trip visiting Saint Malo before leaving. It ‘ s so cute and full of history. The return to Nantes was harder, everybody was sleeping in the car but super driver Momo was here to bring back us. I would like to thank our cox for his last race with us, J-P you will miss us, and all the team (momo the driver, Seb and Mate (our famous Hungarian rower)) for their good mood and jokes.

My saturday, september the 22th - The Audencia Triathlon

It was a busy day, I started this day with a wake up a 7A.M and direction to the Baule. To take part to the Audencia Triathlon, a race organized by a high selective management school. This triathlon is particular because you are in a three person team and each person make a piece of the race ( swimming, biking or running). I done the swimming part. Imagine 250 persons on a 30m long starting line when the go! ring you have to fight to go to the water and start to swim. After it's 500m with people all arond you, so the battle is bloody. And at the end , when you come back to the beach, it' s not finish, you have to run with your wetsuit to your team. It's very hard.
But the event is huge and you have the impression to fight to a victory. So when you finish you are so tired but so glad to have participate to this race.

My saturday september, the 22nd - The french championship qualification

Two hours after, I was in Pornichet to take part to the french championship qualification of sea rowing as cox, you know, the boy that scream all the race long and after too!! Here we go for a 12km long race in the Altantic ocean with waves and wind. The race was long and hard for the rowers. But we finished 2nd of our category and 18th of the general classification. So we can go to the french championship!!!!
After we go back to the rowing club in Nantes to tidy the boat. And the last but not least . I finish the day (or the night as you want), in the party of new students. What a busy day!!!

Sailing boat

My other passion is the sailing boat, in this case is for the freedom feeling and the fact that you can ressent the wind and the water on your face and when there is a little bite of sun is amazing. But when you fall out it could be so artistic ;-) ..... If I can advice you look the video on my blog called " saling boat 2 " in order to show you how I torn my wrist ligaments. Of course it's not me on the video but I done the same thing the last summer.

Rowing

I start speaking about my passion. In this moment I have two passions the sailing boat and rowing. The lattest is very interesting because it's a complete and hard sport , but it's so amazing when you see 8 rowers in a 18 meters long boats speeding at more than 12 miles/hours.
After, I like the team spirit and the speed and slide sensations.For exemple this little video.