How I've changed from my almost year abroad

So as of now I'm 7 months into my year abroad in France and here is a little introspective of what changed.

1. I learned to speak up
Whenever there was a problem bak home I would usually hide behind someone and ask them to speak up for me or not speak up at all.
Now, with all the 'issues' I had here, and not having someone to do the talking for me, I've grown some courage and started fixing my problems. Whether it's going to complain to somebody, ask for information and/or clarifying something.

2. I learned that life is tough
Now I know I don't have it as bad as others, my life is pretty cushioned as of now, but there are some things my parents sheltered me from. Like incoming problems. I feel like here in France there are always problems hiding around the corner, so I need to always be ready to start fixing them (lots of problems caused by the excessive bureaucracy) . I know I wouldn't have had the opportunity to do it back home to lean to not hide under a blanket or my dad and start fixing shit.

3. I've learned to do chores
I'm going to be honest, back home I did basically nothing. Other than vacuum my room, I would do nothing. Now, not only do I vacuum my room, I wash dishes (I still avoid doing it cause I hate it), do groceries, dust, clean the bathroom etc. These things taught me some well needed discipline that one should learn. I wish my parents could read English cause they screwed up teaching us how to have a balance. It's not all about staying in school Dad :p

4. I learned that family and friends are irreplaceable and hard to live without
Having my family and friends 1500 km away really is tough since I unsuccessfully managed to make a group of friends here. Granted, I made some decent friendships but I didn't make 50 Erasmus friends from all over the world that I will keep in touch in the future. False advertisement much?
Also, I and my family learned to appreciate each other. We still get on each other's nerves but we saw what's it like not having each other. Now, I will confess, going back from a 'one person living space' to 5 sounds pretty scary since I am now used to not share a bathroom... Ye...
But I miss my assh**** (I say this lovingly)

5. I learned how to stay on track with bills and budget
Money doesn't grow in trees and if you have a rent to pay and limited money, you better prioritise it.

6. I learned more about the French
Honestly, other than the young generation, I like French people. Always polite, mostly happy and generally helpful. I noticed this difference between Romanians and French. Romanians hate working, they always seem grumpy, they hate their general conditions of work and will do nothing to at least make their life better. The most obvious difference is in the cashiers. I go grocery shopping up to 3 times a week (spend around 6 euros every time, don't freak out) and whereas French cashiers are always smiling, greeting you and overall interact, Romanian cashiers make it a little obvious they don't like their jobs, they would rather be somewhere else and I get it. Their salaries are not the best but we have to make an effort to at least see the positive in things.

7. I've learned that nothing comes for free
I'm not talking money here, I'm talking about education and grades.
Whereas in Romania it was quite easy to stay in the top students, here nobody is giving you pity points. You want to pass, you have to work. They don't give attendance points, the don't give 'you tried' points, what you give is what you get. This made wake up and raise my studying game cause I want to pass and I want to go back home with a decent scholastic situation. So this was definitely a wake up call and a realisation that we Romanian students have it pretty easy. Now, I can't speak about all universities but as for mine, we do have it easy. First year was child's play compared to what I'm doing here. And this took me some time and emotional distress to get back up and willing to finish this God damn programm cause it is not for weak, lazy people. (btw I have around 3 more months to go)

SO yeah, here's another serious post. Guess the conclusion is that I've changed and I'm overall grateful. God bless, enjoy life, take risks,

Later

Alexandra 

My exchange experience in Lille Part 1

So, as of today, I have been almost 4 months into my exchange program.
I am currently studying in Lille, a nice cit 20 km away from the Belgian border, north of France.
The city is lovely with it's influences and all, but I'll say one thing. It looks boring to me. Maybe because I've been travelling too much. The overall city architecture did not blow me away. Not to mention that when I arrived in September, people were drinking and pissing on the streets. At least my dad loved it.
For me, it's been a tough time. I'm away from my family&friends. What makes it tougher is that the other people my age are quite...uninterested in life in general. If never heard such quiet people. They do talk, but sometimes I can barely hear them. Most of the times, they are glued to their phones. Which basically means there's not much interaction happening. So my routine became such a routine that I no longer feel motivated. If it weren't for all the school trips, I would have been severely depressed by now. While all the adults here seem to have some flavor in their life, the 20 year old are dead.
Other than that, I have been quite able to take care o myself, do all the things that I wouldn't usually do(like laundry or groceries).
Classes are soo different here I am still having culture shock. A class here last about an hour and they happen one after the other, no 10 minute recess in between. It's been a daily race o get to class. Also, the teachers seem to like to talk to a muted class. Students rarely engage in conversation, probably because that's how classes happens here. Teachers talk, students nod and go to their next class. It's so different than being asked each and every one of us to talk like back home.
Also, I nicknamed Subway my weekend restaurant cause that's where I have lunch every weekend. Most of the week days, I eat at the school cafeteria. They offer decent meals for 3,25 (you get a pat on the back for this France.)

If you have questions, feel free to ask them :)


See you guys in the next one :)


Alexandra

Your feelings can affect your perspective

Dear reader,
Have you ever felt very happy that other person's sadness didn't affect you?Or very sad that you felt that nothing could ever make you happy again?
Let me tell you the story of my first time in Bucharest.
It was a Friday, sometime in April. I just arrived in the train station at around 9am. After a sleepless night, I was feeling pretty weak. Yet I wanted to sort out the stuff that I came here for. After that thing was not sorted out, everything came down on me, no matter how much I tried to convince myself it was ok. I started visiting the sites that I planned on seeing since I had a full day to travel around. After an encounter with a rude person, I felt quite sad and wronged. But then again, I went on with my day.After I boarded the train back home that evening, I felt relieved, yet sad that I knew another 9hour train ride was awaiting for me to get back home. Again, I didn't sleep and the following morning, I arrived back in Timisoara feeling happy that it was over. I described the city as being ok, yet I confirmed to myself what everybody said: Bucharest inhabitants were rude, the city was ugly; I never want to see it again.

Around two weeks later, I am landing on the Henri Coanda Airport in Bucharest. I felt so happy coming back here, travelling in style on a plane that took us here in 50 minutes (screaming internally of joy). Thsi time I was on a short vacantion with my father. I met the nicest people ever in my dad's friends. They fed us, hosted us and showed us some amasing places. Also, I helped make a tiramisu which was way better than a bakery made one. I met nice people all over Bucharest: a couple that are more than willing to help and cook with and for you, a waiter who served us nice cakes and the best orange juice in Romania(reminded me of the one I had in Spain), a joking museum ticket seller, a willing to aid us underground/subway helper, a dancing snake, proof that narwalls exist etc( I know the last ones are not humans but yolo right). I left Bucharest with a peaceful soul because now I knew I can always come back and not feel so lonely or scared.

The conclusion to the story/stories.
The time when things didn't go my way altered my view of the city overall. It wasn't its fault at all. We are the ones who are in control of what and how we see things. Even how we react to them. When things go wrong, everything seems like clouds are above us. The same goes the other way round. Positive sees positive, negative sees negative. So if any time you feel like something/ everything goes wrong, think back of the good times, and remember not to judge the book by the weather( haha smart word play ) :D
Always find a different perspective to look at something. And try to give second chances. That second chance, you're giving it to yourself ;)

Thanks for reading,

Take care.


Alexandra

You would look great...

                                              
This will sound strange, but I was peeing, and then a thing that happened to me back in highschool sort of clicked and maybe triggered me to write this post.
I've talked in a couple of posts how people have always commented on my appearence , and this episode was quite shocking for my 15, maybe 16 year old self.
It happened on the corridor of my highschool back in 9th or 10th grade, and I was chatting with some classmates (girls of course because the great majority of my classmates were girls) and, I don't remember how the discussion was oppened, but one girl said this to me:
"If you would do your eyebrows, put on make-up and straighten your hair, you would look great".
My old version kind of was left perplexed and just smilled and ended the subject there, but my 19th year old present self feels this way. I hate it so much when people try to change the way I look. They think that a better version of myself would please people around me. But have they ever asked themselves If I was pleased with my looks? Or maybe ask me more important stuff like, how's your health? How's your moral? Are you feeling sad? Did you eat your meals?
I've never understood why people would do that. Especially girls. Because, let's be honest, I think one or two boys commented on my looks but that was it. Why do girls feel like saying these things?Do they feel better about themselves? Do they think they're helping?I don't feel helped. When a 15-16 year old girl hears stuff from like that from other girls, it hurts. It's like saying "change your looks because people don't like you and your current one/ones." So what if people don't like me because of my looks? So what if I dress like a hobo or like a heiress? I don't think it makes me be more human.
So what if I have a unibrow, big bushy eyebrows, a make-up free face? Who allows you to spread venom to young girls who are insecure? Why do you, being yourself insecure, spread more insecurity. Just shut up!
As I get older, I've lived enough to know how to deal with this kind of crap. And I couldn't be more proud to be an older sister to teach my younger sibling what's good for her and how to deal with bitches. That's right. Bitches. If you don't have nice things to say, you're a bitch. Go to the mall and spend as much money as you want on make-up to cover up your imaginary flaws. I'll be sitting here, drinking my hot chocolate and watching Scooby Doo episode because I like it. And I couldn't be more proud :).


Spread positivity because that's what you want to  come back to you :)


Good luck in your new year :)


Alexandra

Careful what you buy online

                             

So, in todays post, I will relate to you my latest experience with online shopping.
I'm a big bibliophile , so I love me some books. So I when I saw a sponsored add on Facebook for an online book shop which had an offer, I went for it and placed an order. But what was a clear red flag was the biggest amount of money I've spent in my life on delivery. So being conscious that I was on a tight budget, I ordered just one book and a tote( the tote was very cheap and to be honest, very cute so that was what pulled me in placing this order.). Of course I chose the economic version of delivery which was 2 to 4 weeks. When it finaly came, the book was a pocket edition and had a rip on the back cover and some pages were turned. Basically, the book was not in it's best shape. The tote was better though. Judging by the amount of money I spent, I could have done my research. Truth be told, it was more expensive on my usual site but I've never got a book in a bad condition from them.
I hope you'll learn from my experience the following:

-Don't buy something only if they're is a limited edition cute tote or sock or something. Stick with what you were buying in the beginning. If that cute tote was the reason you went on that site in the first place, then do your homework, check other people's comments or check on other sites for better offers.

-If you decide to buy from that site, first read the description of the product. See if has the format or size, or just google a picture for it to see how they usually sell it. Most of the time, pictures have a link attached to it so that's how you can have an idea on what you are buying.

-Really be sure that you need that product. Don't make a hole in your buget if your not sure you want. I was superficial and placed this order because of an almost free tote with a kitty on it. That earned me a scratched book. And 50 lei flew like this.

-Document yourself if you're a first timer. There are many bibliophiles out there that can give you advice on where to find the best deals. And also they can warm you on where not to shop.


At the end of the day, I have a new book and a tote and a lesson learned well.

Hope you found this useful (or at least amusing).

Have a nice day <3


Alexandra :)

Sticking to better priorities

                                               

Guess who's in Colege? :D
So today I want to talk about how to do the important stuff before anything else.
Procrastination is something that can affect anyone and not just students, I myself find it difficult to do important stuff right now and I'm thinking what could I do to finish my priorities first.
The first thing that comes into my mind is thinking how can not doing that or those things first will affect my life. Will I have a bad presentation if I do it last minute, will I run late if I leave in the last 5 minutes? If the answer is yes then I'll have a bad presentation and I'll be late and I might be kicked out of class. Consequences can leave a mark on you and the more, the worst you'll feel.
Things like those might seem easy sometimes to fix, but there will be a time in your life where you don't know which to start because you're running out of time. Stress can also put a strain on your work if you are pressured by time like me. So try and schedule everything beforehand and you'll see a big difference.
Let's picture a scenario where you have one day to get a project done and study for a test. What do you do? Panick ,not give a fuck and go to sleep or do best that you can?
Avoinding a worst case scenario can actually save your butt.
Being an adult isn't a matter of age, it's a matter of thinking. Of course there will be days when you'll want to watch a season of Asia's next top model and not finish your presentation because you have enough time during weekends. That's when thinking should step in and say" No , you won't have a good presentation if you don't start working". But maybe that's not something good to say. Try more like this : "Okay, first half an hour of work, then half an hour of watching TV ".
Perspective and automotivating yourself can make a difference in a better time management.


I hope you'll find this interesting or motivational :)


I wish you all a good day.


Alexandra <3

At some point, I was afraid of going to school

                              
So, in today's post we are going to explore a weird fear of mine, which is or was going to school.
Growing up, I was always pressured by my parents to study and be the best at everything. Being young and vulnerable, I would listen to their demands of me studying. I wasn't the best, which made my parents a little frustrated, which had a negative impact on myself. I would hate going to school. If it wasn't for that handful of friends, I would have been a lonely kid. Later in life, I made the choice of switching schools and choosing another profile with other things to study. Things have gotten a lot better. But still, the pressure was there, both encouraged by my parents and teachers. I would come home and study for the next day's subjects, no mather which one. Even in Highschool I had subjects I disliked, even hated. But I kept studying just to please my parents and teachers. Maybe even subconciously I was pleasing myself because that was all I knew. Having good grades elevated me in the eyes of many people. They haven't elevated me in mine, but still it was something.
At some point, I hated going to school. I didn't want to take that quiz in Biology or Maths because I didn't want to study. Not didn't have the time( which in some cases was what happened) but didn't want to. I was too tired from a recent quiz or a recent event, so I just didn't want to bother going. And other classmates who dichted that quiz totally made me frustrated and stressed and left me feeling like life was unfair. I was demonstrated later the effects of them dithcing. They were either punished with taking the test again and alone or just beeing graded somehow. I was a little happy that at least I wasn't being miserable alone. But the ease of my classmates also infuriated me because they could have straight eights and I was expected at least a nine. And I wasn't aloud to have less than that at exam subjects. This made me realise how focused we are on small things like grades. My physics teacher said something really smart after catching me cheat on a test. In life, there are things that will bring me down far worse than grades. So what you would have gotten a 4 today? Someday your loved ones could die. Isn't that worse.
After crying and calming, I took in her words which were filled with wisdom. I will remember to tell this to my kids when I'll have them.
Another suprise and good example was when a friend of mine was straight 4 in some subjects and would barely pass at exam subjects. In the end, he had straight 8 in the exams and entered colledge without problems. Everybody underestimated him. But in the end, he had the last word. He wasn't stressed until senior year in highschool. And he passed in grades in the exam a lot of good students. I wish I was like him at this point. Carefree in Hichschool while kicking ass when it was the right time. He wasn't expected to succed. While I was. Can you imagine my pressure?

That's all I have for you guys today. Please leave my feedback somehow. And don't forget to life in the present!


Much love :)


Alexandra