La onzième semaine

First all-nighter, Valentine's Day, Disneyland...Awesomeeee!

I hope you enjoy this update because even if you haven't, I have been looking forward to posting this one!

​Saturday 11 February - I think last time I left it on my Skype call with Mum and Gabby that ended at about 1am when Mum realised what the time was and made me go to bed. And I was quite glad for that considering I was going to a party that night where no one packed anything for sleeping because the whole plan was to not sleep (but I didn't know it at this stage). The party was at Giulia's house and we got there around 7 pm. There were 10 people altogether however two of them left around midnight. The beginning was slightly awkward but as the night went on, everyone was comfortable with each other and the conversations flowed easily (mostly for the others - I just tried to understand what was being said most of the time). We played a game where everyone writes down some words (for example a person, an object or an animal) and they are all put into a hat. We were split into pairs (the first game I was with Aimy) and spread out around in a circle. For the first round in the game, we have 30 sec to pick out and describe as many pieces of paper as you can (you pick the first one, describe it, if they get it right, you pick another and do the same). Once all of the papers have been guessed, the papers go back into the bucket and the second round begins. In the second round, you pick out a piece of paper however you can only describe the thing with one word. In the third round, it is a game of charades so you have to act out what is on the paper. It is really fun even though it is quite challenging in another language. We played this game a couple of times which went well over midnight. For the second game, my partner was Tanguy.

Sunday (it was about here anyway) - Between the games we had a break and I had my first proper conversation in French I think! It was with a girl called Manon and she asked me a question in English and I thought I may as well try to answer it in French even if it isn't perfect. She asked a couple more in English and I answered in French until she got stuck on one question so I told her to try it in French and I was able to understand it so we continued to have a conversation in full (but probably not great) French! This was very exciting for me because it is the first time I have answered questions with an explanation and not just one word answers (when it hasn't been scripted or studied like in school).

After that game, we did some jellybean tasting which was entertaining and also disgusting. Again, we went in pairs because the beans were in pairs. We would choose a number, get given two identical jellybeans and hope that it wasn't the gross one. In my team with Naomi, the bad ones were dog food, vomit and snot - luckily I only got one but it was absolutely horrid. It was much more fun watching other people try it I have to say.

We talked some more, ate crepes with nutella, took some photos...by this time it was around 3am. Yanis was forced into playing the guitar for a bit but it was pretty cool. Around 4:15 am we opened Naomi's poker set and started to play. It was really fun and Naomi and I (who were in a team) weren't too bad. The game went for ages (although it didn't feel like it) and I think Tanguy finally won around 6:20 am because everyone just went all in. The party finished off with some Fooseball, lying down, talking, another game until about 11 am when we left.

That about sums up the night! I stayed awake for about 30 hours which is my record BY FAR but when I lay on my bed "just to rest my eyes", I woke up two hours later. Good "rest" but definitely much needed. So yes, while I was extremely nervous to go to a party where everyone spoke a different language, where I would only know 3 people, where no one was planning on sleeping knowing I had never stayed awake for so long, I ended up having an awesome time and meeting some really cool people.

Monday - A much more restful day than the night before. Breakfast, read "All the Bright Places", watched TV (which has also helped to improve my french listening and reading understanding), showered, all the standard stuff. I also found out that my Aunty Heather died today so there was also a few tears but in a remembering how awesome she was kind of cry.

Tuesday - The day that is either anticipated or not cared about - Valentine's Day. I am the person who does not care so this day was like every other day however everyone in the house, except for Lise, went out with their significant other for either the whole day or just a few hours. So Lise and I just chilled at home not being too productive. In the evening, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 was on (in French, yes) so of course I had to watch that. During the movie, I started talking with Aimy and Joe about differences and similarities between the names of things in the Harry Potter series and it was pretty interesting! Like Snape isn't Snape, he is Professor Rogue, the Snitch is called "Vif d'or", the quaffle is "Souafle" etc. Joe showed me the photos from their trip to the Harry Potter exhibition and it was awesome!!

Wednesday - The day you have probably all been waiting for...DISNEYLAND! (I have written 6 pages about this in my diary so be prepared). Definitely a day to remember.

We got up about 7:15 am and left around 8:25 am. I felt pretty good - not very tired - but I, along with everyone else, still rested my eyes on the way there as I wasn't sure how long the day would be. And I am very glad I did.

We went to Walt Disney Studios first and looked around briefly before heading to the "Armageddon" ride. First, we went into a room where we watched a video about special effects in the movie Armageddon which also included a brief history about special effects. Then we got to be 'part of the cast' and entered a room designed as a space shuttle which simulated a crash with an asteroid in space. It was pretty cool although the suspense of what was about to happen was scarier than the actual ride - although there were two sudden bursts of fire a few metres away from us which gave us a fright! There were also two massive bursts of flames in the middle of the console in the center of the room which were very impressive and also "set the sprinklers off" so we were partially sprayed with water. It was a good way to introduce me to theme parks and show me the type of thing that I would experience at Disneyland.

The next ride I went on was the other extreme - the Hollywood Tower of Terror. But before we got to go on the ride that lasted maybe 20 sec?, we had to wait for about an hour and a half. No exaggeration. They set up the lines at Disneyland so that the queue is out of the way of everyone looking around and also to make it seem like you are constantly moving even though you really aren't.

Pro tip: If you ever go to Disneyland or something like it, be prepared for insane queues.

Anyway when we finally reached the front of the line, we were taken to a room where a TV presentation briefly explained the haunted history of the Hollywood Tower and that we would be entering the "Twilight Zone". We left the room and walked up a couple of flights of stairs and waited in another line - this time only for about 5 min. We were directed to stand on a number in front of an elevator. My number happened to be 4 which is one of my favourite/lucky numbers. I was not feeling too lucky, let me tell you that! I don't think I was the only one that was nervous because when I made a joke about what was happening, people laughed so you know they weren't quite right in their minds because I am not that funny. The elevator operator (thank you Count from Sesame Street) explained the basic rules and let us onto the elevator. After a quick briefing of safety rules and making sure our belts were secure, the doors closed and we moved backwards...the elevator went down one storey slowly and stopped in front of a room with holographic images of five people. The screen changed and suddenly they were down a dark hallway coming towards us. At this point, we just dropped. Then we stopped, rose a bit, and fell. Each time we stopped, we could see over Disneyland which was lovely but I was concentrating on appreciating my life at that point. This process continued all the way down, along with my screams. I have to say, despite the fear of when the elevator would drop next or stop dropping, the view over Disneyland was pretty incredible.It finally ended and despite my fear, I had a lot of fun. I couldn't stop laughing afterwards (a contrast to my constant screaming) and I think that was due to the relief of surviving and probably partly hysteria, Who knows.

Our next stop was lunch which was much appreciated by everyone. I hadn't realised how much time had passed which was a good thing I think!

After lunch, we entered the Disneyland park and wandered around for a bit before we decided to go into the "Phantom Manor". Again, another line which took about an hour to go through so quite good time compared to some rides. We went into the haunted house and then into another room. The floor started to go down and so did the lights until it was pitch black. You couldn't see anything however the floor kept going down. When it stopped, the lights turned back on and we stepped onto the floor below. We walked down a hallway and to little pod like seats that two people could sit in. Aimy and I sat together and I was super nervous after the Tower of Terror, I had no idea what to expect here! We rode through and saw skeletons and wolves etc. but because it was so fake, it wasn't really scary at all. Not for me anyway, I'm more scared by realistic things I think.

Our next ride was to Neverland! We waited in line for over an hour to go on the ride for Peter Pan. It was pretty cool. We sat on a boat and when the ride started, the boat was only attached at the top so it felt like we were flying. We flew over a city, some lights that looked like stars, we saw Peter with Wendy and her brothers, Peter and Captain Hook fighting while the children were captured, Captain Hook almost being swallowed by a crocodile. It was very pretty and the characters and sets were very well done however for me,it wasn't quite worht the 1 hour and 20 min wait in line for such a short ride.

Once the ride was over, we made our way over to the section of the park with the "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Indiana Jones" rides but unfortunately, they were both closed so instead we explored for a bit.

We wandered back towards the Princess Castle and went inside it to see the story of Sleeping Beauty in stained windows. They were beautiful! I love stained glass. Around the room were books on particular pages of the story with tapestries hanging behind showing what part it was. There were also props like the spinning wheel with the dreaded spindle, and the Armour. That didn't take too long to look around so we decided to go to "Discoveryland" which had some cool sculptures and a couple of cool looking rides but unfortunately "Space Mountain" was closed. We did go into a 'haunted submarine' but I am pretty sure that is aimed at a lower age group.

Then we had some time to kill because the time it took to wait for another ride was the same time that the Disney Parade started and we didn't want to miss that. So we went into a store where I got to buy my Minnie Mouse ears! We finished looking around and then headed back out to the middle of the square in front of the Disney Castle. We waited for about 15-20 min for the parade to start and when it did, it was so cool! There were so many different Disney movies and characters with floats although I am disappointed there was no Aladdin and Jasmine. They did had Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel + Flynn Rider, Elsa + Anna + Olaf, Baloo + King Louie (the orangutan), Winnie the Pooh + Tigger + Piglet + Eeyore, Pinocchio, Peter Pan + Captain Hook + Tinkerbell, Pumba + Timon + Simba, Minnie and Mickey...I am sure I have missed some but that is enough I think. When the floats had all gone past, the barrier behind the parade was being moved as well so we could walk on the street again.

So we ran to "Big Thunder Mountain" because we didn't go on it before as the waiting time was 90 min. We still had to wait for about 50-60 min but it was definitely worth it. BEST RIDE EVER. I loved it so much! It was so fun and fast, the stomach dropping and screaming until your voice is hoarse type of ride. It was over way too soon but it was by far my favourite ride I went on. Afterwards, I couldn't stop laughing from the adrenaline rush I had. I would've loved to do it again but the line was even longer than before, plus we went to look at the shops before we left. There were some pretty cool shops and things in them but they were super expensive so I didn't buy too much.

It was an amazing day and the weather certainly helped that! At the beginning of the day, there were no clouds but as it went on, there were a few scattered around. It didn't affect the warmth of the sun - and it was actually warm. Warm enough for me to be in a t-shirt kind of warm. And on this day with spectacular weather, I was fortunate enough to go to Disneyland with my amazing family. It could not have been better.

Thursday - It was a much more relaxed day than Wednesday! It gave my feet a chance to rest and also my neck because that was a bit sore from me tensing it and the sudden jolts from the rides. I would certainly do it all again (although even thinking about the Tower of Terror makes my hands feel weird and the rest of me very nervous). I wrote the blog today (I told you I wanted to post it!) but I realised it was't the end of the week so I should wait.

Friday - I went to the post office this morning to post a couple of things and I spoke in french with the person at the counter! Yes I was quite nervous but luckily Matthieu told me the main word I needed (stamp = timbre) and then all I had to do was ask the question and pay the correct amount of money (which I did woohoo). Even though I didn't say too much, it still feels like I have accomplished something which is good.

So this week has been pretty cool I think. Here is to another awesome 2 weeks! (yes that is all the time I have left here).