Busman's Holidays and Lectures in French

Charles de Gaulle Terminal 1 is very swish and futuristic. Why they reserve it for those flying to places like the East Midlands is beyond me. But that is where I tap away from. Having only flown back to Paris yesterday evening more tired yet also more mentally refreshed than when I left, I’m now off again to visit Loughborough. (“Ah oui, la plus grand université sportive du monde. Je la connais bien”, my coach said when I told him I wouldn’t be training today, his initial frown turning into an impressed smile – phew) The weekend did feel like a bit of a busman’s holiday as I ended up watching 4 rugby matches in person (2 at Goldenacre, strangely) and more on TV. Still, the aim of setting myself up for March had been accomplished.

This morning (Tuesday) I was supposed to be at the Boulevard Raspail at 8.30 for my first Phonetics class but by the time I got out the shower it was 8.02. How odd...It took me 5 minutes to realise that my alarm had been set on my phone which was still on UK time. I was running an hour late, with no chance of getting to Raspail in half an hour. So I didn’t try, took a leisurely breakfast and just went in for my French class as normal. After destroying last week’s test and ending up the ‘champion’ of the class – a win for the male race if ever there was one – I was fairly relaxed about today’s test. The chances of male dominance continuing are slim, to say the least.

I then went on to my first Geographié lecture which was very well done. A young lecturer excited about Longshore Drift, Gabions and the beach/human environment took me back a year, as did his keenly put together diagrams which I copied down with a colourful relish I had missed since the summer glory days of A Level revision. It wasn’t as good a lecture, however, as my 20^th Century Théatre one last Thursday. The professor, bald, half-moon spectacles, very smart 3 piece suit, Professor de Littérature, l’université Paris-Ouest, Nanterre, on that occasion gave a very good start to the course which left me looking forward to nicely balanced Thursday afternoons of obscure French plays and then weights and speed sessions. I have now set myself the challenge of getting to grips with En attendant Godot by the time we cover it sometime in the next few weeks.

With my course taking up more time, both before rugby and after in the form of grammar exercises (where it’s finally hit me that the French language uses 3 words when English uses 1), I feel like I will become more comfortable with the rugby. The game should return to what I feel it should be and always has been – a release from the days pressures, an opportunity for a run around and some fresh air, not the source of the day’s pressures and mental activity. I’m probably just more comfortable with rugby in a place that I have always known it, at the end of a school day so it is unsurprising to find myself happy with the current arrangement, having experienced weeks and weeks where it was simply rugby with little other outlet. My rugby should improve with the increased balance.