Do you mind knowing my classroom?

Dear readers,

I guess it's time for me to introduce my studying environment in France. I realise that this is supposed to be the first thing that I should have done when I come to Colmar, hope that it's not too late. Let me begin with the physical condition, which means my classroom, my language school. It's true that I am attending 2 schools, one is where I learn my french (Centre d'Etudes de langues, for short:CEL). The other one is where I take my scientifc lessons, IUT. Unfortunately, I will not be presenting both at once. Let me start with my second home: CEL.

The facade of CEL.

The car park in front of the building. Most of the Malaysian students cycle to school!

The bridge that connects the CEL Building to CCI(another building for commerce students).

So, you have seen the exteriur of CEL, what do you think? Well, for me, I feel really comfortable being in this school. they have all the facilities needed to train a zero to hero. And the working condition is superb too. Let's see, come let's go inside. Firstly, I will show you the corridor that I have to pass through before I come to my classroom.

The corridor outside my classroom (it's underground).

Where am I going to bring you next?

Voilà; this is my classroom for my french class.

The decorations on the wall; they are the masterpieces of the students who have finished their studies in Colmar. They were once in this class too.

Where is the canteen? you might ask, sorry to say that there isn't one but what we have is a re-energising fountain, which means a coffee vending machine, I always buy my coffee or hot chocolate here.

Right now, allow me to introduce my classmates, don't be surprised that there are only boys in my class, all 9 of them, each has their own talent but we are not very different from each other, and since we have been being together since our arrival, we are more or less a family. So they are actually my brothers. According to the birth date, I am the oldest among all. But, I seriusly, I don't think that I look that old.

Now, let me introduce them: from the left: Izham from KL, a witty and funny guy; Khairul from Kelantan who is also sitting next to me in the class; Akmali from KL, the chief of the group (don't judge the book by it's cover, do you know that Napoleon isn't that tall?); Shafiq from KL, the sponge, and it seems like he doesn't sleep at night, (sorry Shafiq but it's the truth.); Next to me, Akmal from Perak, quite quiet; Kong Yan Siong from Sibu, really good in scientific subjects; Thinagaran from Seremban, the only indian in the group who really likes to talk about politic; last but not least, Saiful, good at controlling the atmosphere, he is always delivering joy.

Here we are, the 9 boys.

Nicole, one of my teachers

Nicole, one of my french teachers. Well, i will talk about her when I have the pictures of all my other french teachers. So, readers, you just have to be patient.

I admit that this essay is shorter than my previous one, but i promise that the next one will be longer and the content will be richer. Wait and see. Or, you can make a demand of what you want to know about France, I'll try my best to satisfy you. Salut! for now because I am having my french test and my geometry test tomorrow, all the best for me!

La Randonée (Jungle-trekking)

The azure sky, the brilliant sunlight and the chirping of the birds on the branch of the trees outside my window, all these indications lead to one hypotheses, the day is superb. But that is just an hypotheses, to testify, I have to blend myself in the nature. How to devote myself to the nature? Obviously, there is no other better experiment than to trek in the jungle-mountain-forest (a combination of these three natures of elements.)

Since the train service is well-managed here, we never hesite to take train to anywhere we intend to go, including this time. So, 11 students and 2 french teachers of mine and a friend of one of the teachers took the train to Metzeral from Colmar, in between, we pass by Colmar-St-Joseph, Logelbach, Turckheim, Wihr-au-Val-Soultzbach and Munster. It was a journey of 30 minutes. We chatted gayly in the train, basically, we chatted on any subject that we could think of. And the most funny thing was we created a cacophony of 4 languages: Malay, English, Mandarin and French in the train.

As soon as we reaced there, we started trespassing the village of Metzeral to reach the foothill which is our starting point. We are being informed that another teacher of ours, Rosie would be joining us. And when she arrived, most of the malays were shocked because she didn't only bring herself but also her beloved enormously large dog, Balou.

At the foothill

My 2 smart friends: scholars of Petronas, left: Danial from Royal Military College; right: Nithes, the natioal badminton player from Kedah.

Akmali, a funny friend of mine who sits beside me in the scientifique classes.

Left: Akmal: JPA scholar, he jokes all the time. In the middle: Danial (again). Right: Izhat: TELEKOM scholar: really good in cooking.

The arrival of Rosie marked the beginning of the journey. 1, 2, 1, 2 hop-là, off we went. The whole jungle was full of fresh air and the yellowish leaves of the trees gave a sensation of the pesence of autumn. I marched and at the same time took some pictures, not much, I admit. So, this writing will be more to sense and sensibility.

The panorama

Check out the cleanliness of the lake.

The hill is quite sloppy at the beginning and it's quite rocky, so my advice is that you really have to wear those hiking shoes in order to reduce the impact of the ground and your feet. If not, you will get hurt (obviously) and the hiking takes generally a minimum of 4 hours. Be prepared!

During the hiking, we stopped at one of the lakes before continuing our journey to the hill-top, We had our lunch there, in front of the lake. We touched the lake water, it was cooling and clean. Besides that, we saw a lot of other hikers as well, young and old, they were also doing what we did. So, I sat at the bank of the lake with Akmali, Nithes, Caroline, Patricia (organiser), Rosie, they are all my french teachers and Marc, a friend of Caroline. In the conversation, we talked about the language, Alsacien. It is the language of this region, it's a mixture between french and german, with a very funny accent. By joining the conversation, we have learned some Alsacien.

So, after 30 minute of rest, we continued our journey to the top, this time was even slopper and rockier, really have to be very careful, but it was fun though. At one point, I knew that I was approaching the hill-top, so, there was a satisfaction in me. So, a competition of becoming the first to reach the top among the boys commenced indirectly, people ran. And, finally, I was the second to arrive. I felt good. With the wind blowing strongly in your direction, you would have the feeling of being on top of the world. The feeling of "I am the conqueror of the world".

A group photo after reaching the destination.

A more complete group-photo. (With Rosie's dog). I was beside Patricia, the organiser cum my french teacher. A really fiendly lady.

There was an Auberge (a small hotel) right there, but since the things sold were few times more expensive than at the foothill, so we just stayed there for a few minutes and we descended.

On our way, we saw a lake, that became our point to rest automatically.

My friend, Thina, the JPA scholar. He is a very attentive and alert guy, he pays a lot of attention in the class and he likes posing the questions during class, the questions are generally the good ones, not a typical asian student.

The chatting continued. From time to time, people broke into laughter. I wondered what was so funny. And during the journey back, we reached a place where there was an Arc right above us. Without missing the opportunity, we took the pictures there.

Kong Yan Siong aka Prince Siong aka the maths genius and I, but sometimes a little bit stiff. By the way, he and I are the only chinese in the group. And he really creates an atmosphere of competition in studies, nice to be his friend! I am glad!

A natural one.

In about an half a hour time, we have reached the finishing line. We headed back to the train station. And in conclusion, I have learnt a lot of new things in the conversation between Patricia and me during the journey, and we have the intention to have a jungle-trekking during winter where everything will be covered by snow. Wow, how is that?

When we reached Colmar, it was already 7 pm. "Il fait entre le chien et le loup." (meaning it's already dusk). Since there wasn't any bus, we walked together back to our appartment. Seeing that the whole thing was ending soon but the memories of the rando that we have gained will stay in our head equally signified by this cliché: We left our footsteps in the jungle and we took away the good memories. Au revoir.

A visit in Paris! (Part 2)

Dear friends, are you waitng impatiently for the release of the second part of my visit in Paris?After a few days of repose, I resume my work. Before telling you about the visit, I have to make myself clear that I was staying in the ambassador's house for that night, sleeping on the sofa particularly with many other students who were sleeping on the floor, so I claim that I have a better night than the others but it wasn't really as comfortable as you think.

Let's move on, that day was breezy, and it was drizzling. But we had to take this opportunity to discover this amazing land regardless how bad the weather was. So out we went, our first destination was the well-known, Eiffel's Tower. It was a tower situated in Le Champ de Mars. It wasn't that crowded that day because as I mentioned, the weather wasn't that nice. In addition, the wind was so strong and it could even blow a person away. Here comes the pictures:

Under the Eiffel Tower.

This was taken from a further view.

Look at the intensity of the light behind the Eiffel Tower.

My friend and I spent about 1 hour plus right at this square, I really became a labourer by taking pictures for the others. During our visit, there was so many vendor selling souvenirs, epecially those keychains, there were convincing the tourists to buy and the tips is if you come to encounter these people, try bargaining with them, you can even have 10 keychains for just 1 euro. For example, pretend not to be really interested in buying them. Well, this is the best solution that I have ever tried.

A picture of the building opposite the Eiffel Tower.

Another picture of the building opposite the Eiffel Tower where people usually go to take a picure of the whole Eiffel Tower.

A group picture of my friends and I on one of the bridges that connect the two banks (left and right).

Ok, I promised to tell you who's the one that I fetched from the train station, who lost her phone, and who helped taking a lot of pictures of mine. She was the second person standing from the left. The chinese girl, her name is Xin Ni.

The next destination, Paris Opera House. When we were on our way to the metro, we saw many musicians playing violin beautifully, they are those who prefer musics more than money. It was really interesting, looking at them, you will be thinking why are they here since they can play so well, they should be in the orchestra. I didn't ask them, well, it's not that good to disturb them when they are so into the music that they are making. In Paris, they are called 'Musiciens RATP'.

When we reached the Opera House, immediately we took some pictures of it, and one of my friends who is a lover of The Phantom of the Opera kept remembering me the story during our visit here, Christine Daé, Raoul and Eric. Ok, he really added some colours in my visit.

The Paris Opera House - Regardez, C'est magnifique, non? L'architecture.

The plan of the Paris Opera House.

Let's go inside and explore the charm...

The ceiling of the entrance, not really that interesting but it surely gives you a better view of this House.

When we officially passed throught the security, we took a picture with the help of a japanese visitor.

One of the great contributors of this opera house-Haendei

Another one

Lulli

Gluck

The well known "Grand Staircase" (30 m high)

It is one of the most famous features of the Palais Garnier. Built in marble of various coulours, the double stairway leads to the foyers and the different levels of the auditorium. The Grand Staircase is itself a theatre where, in years gone by, the crinolines of fashionable society ladies would brush. The four sections of the painted ceiling depict different allegories of music.

The Grand Foyer (18 m high, 32 m deep, 31 m wide max)

The vast and richly decorated foyers provide the audience with areas to stroll through during intervals. The vault of the avant foyer is covered with delightful mosaics in sparkling colours on a gold background. There is a splendid view of the grand staircase.

Oh là là!

From one of the windows.

At one of the balcony

At one the Balcony. Alone.

Take a deep breath, you are about to see the secret of the Paris Opera House...

The chandelier! which weighs 8 tonnes.

Close-up!

Of course, the stage! There were having some kind of practice that day.

Sad, yet we have to move on,around 1 pm, we decided to go to Le Musée du Louvre. If you have read the Da Vinci Code, I'm sure you know what am I talking about, it's where the curator was shot and he posed like the Vitruvian Man before he died. Yes, or maybe you have watched the movie, it's the part where Robert Langdon was escaping from the polices with Sophie in the car, they passed by the pyramid. Nevermind, I show you the pictures but I have to tell you that there is hardly a chance to take a good picture because there were so many people, for your information, the entrance is free on Sunday. Obviously, me, such a penny-wise student wouldn't waste much of my money, so I went there on Sunday.

So, this is the pyramid that I have been talking about.

One of the statues which I think is nice enough. Frankly, I don't know what is it called.

The Ceiling

Here comes the reason why people go to this museum so often, La Joconde, Monalisa. Sorry, I couldn't take a good picture of it because the painting was guarded so strictly with the vitrine and some security guards there. Hope you don' mind. And now, at least I can tell people that I have seen the genuine painting of Monalisa (oops, someone is showing off.)

La Joconde (Monalisa)

In case that you all can't imagine the situation of Salle 6 where La Joconde is kept, look at this video.

So that was it, my visit in Paris. After having had my lunch, I went back to pack my bags and left Mr. Yusri's house at 6.30pm because I had a train to catch at 7.20pm. I looked around again, this lovely city of Paris. I propose to you that this is a place that you must visit, no matter how much you are going to spend, because all the memories that you will be bringing home are all good ones.
I boarded on the train, seached for my seat, talked to the mister who sat beside me during the journey. And he is a doctor. At 10:55pm, I reached Colmar. Home sweet home...

A visit in Paris! (Part 1)

On the 4 and 5th October 2008, I went to Paris to attend the "Hari Raya Aidilfitri Open House" at Malaysian's House situated in the west of Paris. My train took off at 6:43 am that Saturday, and the bus that could drive me from my house to the train station would depart at 6:20 am yet, I was still cleaning my studio at 6:22am. I knew that the remaining one minute was extremely crucial in order not to be left walking 3 kilometres. I ran down from the third floor to the ground floor, hoping that the bus would wait for me. When my wrist-watch striked 6:23 am, I saw the bus stopped at the bus station which was about 400 m from the point I was standing, in 10 seconds time, it left.

I was left with the only choice: run as fast as I could to cover 3 km in 20 minutes time. This task was seemingly impossible, and in between, there were a lot of doubts, I was wondering whether can I make it in time, I ran like a professional runner, with my formal shoes on (luckily I have been having the habitude of jogging every evening, 3 km is just too little). The continuous running was fun and that morning was freezingly cold, and I was informed that it was snowing at the Vosges (a mountain near Colmar). the breezy wind numbed my receptors, but the determination to catch the train kept me running.

At 6:39 am, i reached the main entrance of the train station, after having my ticket composted, I went to the platform indicating "Colmar-Strasbourg-Paris Est", it was platform 1, I climbed the stairs, the sense of victory that was generated within caught the better side of me. Suddenly, the speaker was on, "Messieurs-dames, le train TGV 2352 en destination de Paris Est sera eu un retard de 20 minutes... Merci pour votre compréhension." In your opinion, what was my feeling after hearing this announcement regarding a delay of 20 minutes?

At 7.03 am, i boarded on the train, I sat beside an auntie who knows Paris very well, during the trip, she explained to me places that I must vist before leaving Paris, suchas Montmarte, le Sacré-Coeur, le Jardin de Luxembourg, Les Champs-Elysées, La Tour Eiffel... She even showed the map of métro of Paris and gave me some advices like:

1. Be careful with the pick-pockets.

2. Get the map of Paris as soon as you reached, it's free.

3. Have fun.

At 9:54am, I reached Paris, got down from the train with my backpack, and walked all the way the platform which was surprisingly quite far, i followed the signs shown to the métro station. Oh là là! There was such a long queue in front of the métro counter. While I was waiting, I chatted with a couple standing behin me who was actually visitor from England, so we spoke in English and we chatted for quite a while. Nice talking to them. Did I tell you that I had an assignment of fetching another friend of mine who came from Blois? For your information, there were 6 main train stations (for TGV): Gare de l'Est, Gare du Nord which goes to London, Gare de Lyon which goes to Lyon, Gare Montparnasse, Gare St.-Lazare and Gare d'Austerlitz (I have no idea), but my friend was right there: Gare d'Austerlitz.

After having the information that I need from the counter, I followed the arrows to the platform. When I was approaching the platform, I saw the train there and the door was still opened, I slipped into it. Voilà! Here comes my first experience of taking the infamous, le métro de Paris.

At 10:10 am, I reached the station, I saw my friend sitting there, typing messages on her handphone which in no time would be lost in the métro. My first destination is the Tuilleries Garden (Le jardin de Tuilleries). The starting point of taking pictures frenzy.

The first picture that I took in Paris -Tuilleries Garden.

A nice place to read.
A standing position.

In front of one of the statues in the garden.

La Concorde.

The creator of this Garden, 'André, Le Nôtre-Auteur de ce jardin de ceux de Versailles Chantilly'.

The views are extraordinary except that there are too many falling leaves on the grass which indicates the coming of autumn. And there were many statues made of white marble around this garden especially around the fountain. All in all, it gave me a peaceful atmosphere. Around 11:30 am, I was on my way to Malaysian's House, my friend and I took the métro from La Concorde to Charles the Gaulle, boarded on to another train to Trocadéro, changed again, to Ranelagh. and finally, arond 12pm, I have arrived Malaysian's House, there was a buffet, I served myself and I talked to many seniors there, wasn't really that interesting but I enjoyed meeting my friends who were separated from me since the first day in France and also talking to the seniors who have had already stayed in France for several years which means they have a lot of experience. And guess what, I caught a sight of our Education Minister, Dato Hishamuddin, I took a picture of him.

In front of Malaysian's House.

Dato Hishamuddin was in front of me.

In the métro

Then, I took the opportunity to visit Paris, I went to La Place d'Italie, the chinatown in Paris and I found so many cantonese speakers, and the whole street was full of chinese. I was actually amazed. I finished that day promenading in that place and also St.-Germain-des-Près, a street for the artists.

St.-Germain-des-Près

I crossed Le Pont Neuf where I took a picture. Le Pont Neuf is one of the bridges that connects La rive Gauche et La rive Droite de la Seine (The left and the right bank of Seine in which the living styles are totally different). As we were walking (with another friend of mine) I came to Notre-Dame de Paris, we didn't go inside because there was such a long queue but I managed to take some pictures.

Near the Pont Neuf.

At Le Pont Neuf.

Notre-Dame de Paris (Look at the people)

Notre-Dame de Paris (with me in the photo).

Close-up of Notre-Dame de Paris.

What really intrigued me that day was the trip back to the metro station from Notre-Dame, I found a really big bookstore (you all know me), I went inside and I was so much in love to it because the books were so cheap, I chose 3 books and it only costed me 11 euros, anyway those were second-hand books but they looked really new, so I bought Le Petit Prince de St.-Exupéry, Les Misérables de Victor Hugo and Next de Michael Crichton which is actually a french version of an american novel. I told myself, I will be very busy with all these books later on. Anyway, I just like that store so much... All these pictures are taken by my friend who I fetched that morning. Later, you will know who she is in part 2 of my visit in Paris. By the way, ask me how could I do so many things in one day, I don't know!

Last picture of the day, a statue near Notre-Dame.