Mar
6
Next Step!
Filed Under Daily
Now that I know that I will most likely end this paralegal formation in June, I can concentrate on my next move. I was a bit uncertain to when exactly I will finish before. The real game being to find a job in the end. Many students here don’t seem to incorporate this fact into their everyday thoughts. I have asked several friends and none has started to apply for jobs yet. I know from personal experience that it takes at least 4 months to get an interview and 6 months minimum to get a job. WIth the economical crisis, it will be even harder. I think I have applied to 30 positions since I arrived to Manchester and I have received 17 negative replies. I will concentrate on the french job market, maybe I can make a bit of a difference with my multicultural background.
Good swim today. It is getting so crowded with Sping coming. With more sunlight everyday, people wake up earlier. Yesterday, we were almost 12 in the same lane. I tried to change lanes but then there were 2 team Squads so the admin told me it was closed. Tuesday and Thursday are the worse days of the week.
Dave M is organising a skiing event next Wednesday and I said I would join. It will be fun I think. It would be my second skiing experience.
I found a very cheap flight back to Paris on Friday 27-Sun 29 of March. Only 72 GBP for a return flight! Cheaper than the train or any other means to go to Paris. Incredible! Maybe Air France is cutting on the fees to fill up any empty seats and take an advantage on its competitors during this economical crisis time.
Mar
5
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! One good thing done and no Resit in August!
I got my grades this morning and it is such a relief. It is a PASS in both courses I took. No great marks but an easy pass in both cases around 50 out of 100 for a diploma student that I am. For the effort I produced and the material provided, I think anyone can pass these courses without sitting in the required courses. All you need to do is study the passed exams and learn by heart three questions. Since I have never done Law before I am happy with these marks and I do not expect more. Since they are not great I will not stay longer for the Master. I do not want anyways. Delaying things has never been good.
The EPO has again rejected my application. I applied to several jobs in France as "ingenieur en propriete intellectuelle". I was thinking about doing some interim but the salary is pretty bad, only 1/3 of the "SMIC". I still apply because it is better to have some options than nothing. I can always decline when the time comes.
I was in a very bad mood the last few days because of theses stupid results! Now I can relax and think about the future!
Mar
4
Student Life!
Filed Under Daily
It is not that great and I understand now why I wanted to finish school quickly when I was a student. I am inherently anti-social by choice and I do not get much out of the social side of students’ life. Yesterday, I joined the hiking club on Dave M ‘s suggestion and I attended their Jazz Club event. The Jazz club was a bit under my expectations. A lot of young people there! The food wasn’t great and the music so so. I finished my two drinks and my pizza and I left early around 8 pm. I could not stay there longer and talk nonesense with the other three. I did not really know what to say. They were waiting for the rest of the hiking club to join them at 9 pm for some live jazz concert. I should have known…! The good thing about me nowadays is I do not even try anymore. I go my way when I do not enjoy something and I make it very clear to people so that they do not get upset and it works better this way. "Being social" is somehow being loyal to your friends’ expectations.
Didier M, the french tutor from Africa, sent out an email for a meeting. I really but really do not like the guy. He is some sort of social parasite to me. He got the tutor position and does nothing. I haven’t seen the lazzy ass for ages. As a tutor he is supposed take care of few flats inside our building and attend emergency calls…I think he does strictly the minimum.
Amy is back with her loud phone calls through Skype. I had a good sleep despite the noise yesterday.
Mar
3
3 Years of Swimming!
Filed Under Daily
It has been indeed three long years of hard training at early hours. It all started at Notre Dame, only 2.5 Kms back then. Nowadays, I am one of the fastest amateur at the local pool. People have noticed my strange workout. I always have my underwater mp3 player on. Regular swimmers know me very well because of the speed (46-52 sec) , the length (6 kms) and the technique (only freestyle) of my workout.
The best pool has to be the one in Dublin. There, they reserve only 5 lanes for good swimmers and leave the rest to whoever. Here in Manchester, they only give 4 lanes to the public at the beginning. I have contributed to change that and I am very proud of myself. I guess they do not see many people who are not part of the Squad swimming that regularly at a very decent speed.
Karen has become very friendly, we’ve spoken several times since the day I discovered she was not what I thought she was :). I asked her about her training and she was indeed part of the Squad and did some competitions younger. It is quite obvious with her excellent technique. She used to be a bit faster than me since she only comes at the end of my workout and she only swims 2 kms. That was why I was a bit annoyed. She would not let me pass her. The last few weeks, I managed to pass her no matter what she does. So I was happy to take a revenge! But now we are friends! Martin, Jane, Karen and a few other regular faces at the pool have been nice to me nowadays.
It is strange, I rarely talked to anyone but with my strange ritual they all get to know me. I will be very sad to leave Manchester. It always takes time to get to know people and then when I know them, I have to leave.
Mar
2
Horrible Monday!
Filed Under Daily
I barely slept an hour or two last night. I was in a bad mood. Sharada, the stupid Canadian-Ghanaen born girl, invited as usual young brainless friends over. One of them talked on her phone in the hallway loudly at 8:45 pm. I went out to tell her to go away. Then the other flatmate, Kat, had a late dinner at 1:30 am. It would do her good to skip few meals, Methink. Such is life in a dorm with 5 other students. I really should have chosen a nice apartment in town. The rent’s quite expensive on campus. There are two main advantages living on campus: Internet and the swimming pool. Besides I did not know where to look when I was in Dublin.
Now it’s systematic, there is one extra lane on Monday and Friday as soon as the Squad is gone. And perhaps 2 extra lanes on Tuesday and Thursday because they leave the 50 m lanes much longer. The swim was damn nice and fast even with a terrible night. I had three long hours powernap afterward.
Coura, my long time friend, from Notre Dame is flying to Lyon on March the 15th.Very Good! We shall meet again sometimes somewhere in Europe. I am looking forward to these “retrouvailles”. One of the rare person I get along with.
Dave M aked me to join the hiking social event tomorrow. It’s a Jazz/club night this week. I told him I would join him for the early dinner but I won’t stay for the Jazz show at 9:30 pm. We shall see. I hope to see Dave E again also. I would like to give him my part of the petrol and the dinner I had last time. I do not want to have debts too long.
Feb
27
Intense Work Out
Filed Under Daily
Last week, I have been pushing myself very hard at the pool. I am now at the speed of the Squad. With more lanes and better swimmers in my lane, it is a real pleasure to race them. There seems to be a consensus about extra lanes now. I am partially responsible for these lanes because since the beginning of the year, I kept on pushing my luck by using the empty lanes as soon as the Squad is gone. Doing so, I got more people to follow me and also the admin realized the need for extra lanes. British people are so obedient and ordered that they do not change lanes until there is a sign. I always changed lanes as soon as they are free and before the signs. Swimming for the last 3 years or so has helped me to build up decent technique and speed and I am not ashamed of moving to the Squad reserved lanes since I can match their speed.
I went to an Italian restaurant with Dave M yesterday. He was in town for a drive test with a minibus and a concert. I only joined him for the dinner. He mentioned a possible Week trip to Scotland sometimes in May. I said I am interested but I do recognize their more laid back and less luxurious taste when it comes to accommodation so if they aim at something cheap it is fine with me.
Tonight’s movie is Kingdom of Heaven. It is an excellent epic movie and I shall see it with people in the building. It is funnier to watch movies with people.
Feb
25
and I am still awake! Swimming will suck tomorrow morning and then I have class at 10 am so I cannot even sleep a bit to recover. I really feel like skipping Unfair Competition but it is before the other class and it would be strange to skip one and not the other one.
Someone, really really messed up, hit all the floor butons from 7 to 1 in the elevator. I was the one taking the lift and I really wanted to kill the fucker. So stupid!
Feb
24
I have received today an email from my old friend, Herve M. He is a good friend from my time at CPE Lyon, my engineering school. We typically write to each other every year or so just to see how things are going. A typical french man: funny, easy going, quite optimistic in life and a bit lazy. Whenever there is an easy path in life, Herve will not bother with any other hard ones. One anecdote that will always make me laugh was his final course choices. He managed to pick not only the two easiest ones but failed both at the end of our second year. He told me I was foolish to pick the two hardest ones, ironically I passed both!
He told me he will be laid off sometimes this week and gave me also news about some of his friends. Looks like many of them are facing hard times as well because of the economical crisis. Herve is thinking about reconverting himself into a physiotherapist. I know why he wants to do that. Even though he practices a bunch of sports and is a decent tennis player, he has a weak constitution. He was sick most of the time I knew him. There was always something wrong with his body.
If I ever go back to Lyon someday, I would be happy to meet the bastard again.
Feb
24
The day has finally come where the stupid admin at the pool opens TWO extra lanes. I cannot believe it took them that long. It is such a stupid thing. We had lanes 5 and 6 completely open today. Too many people! I really hope it will become a normal trend. I always wonder why they do not open the lanes even sooner. I had my best swimming time ever. A very fast dude joined the pool the last two days and I tried to keep up with his pace. I congratulated him about the nice speed and he was very happy. I hope he will join regularly so that I can have a proper training.
Cool song: Amy MacDonald, This is the life
Feb
23
Job Quest!
Filed Under Daily
March, April, May, June, that’s 4 months left before the end of this formation. I applied to everywhere for a job in paralegal. I aimed at a job in England but the economical crisis has hit the UK very hard so I was aiming at some jobs in Europe. For the 3rd year, I applied again to the EPO, European Patent Office. They rejected my application 2 times already. I started to apply for french jobs also in patent. I have all the requirements but my formation is English and not French. The swimming pool was really crowded. I wish they officially open a new lane. I do not mind the number of people but some of them are not fast enough to be in this lane and I kept on passing them. It is very delicate with so many people. I almost ran into some people who were passing like me. I talked to Karen and Martin, two regular swimmers, this morning. Karen was very kind, I thought she was a cold “stuck up” bitch. lol
Burn after reading is a good movie. I saw it last Saturday.
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