Settling in on 01 september

Busy day yesterday! First stop: University. Had to queue with other erasmus students to collect the paperwork for my CROUS accommodation while I watched others queue who hadn't organised anything/applied too late (thank god I applied the day after application opened!) Then I found out I needed some stuff from a bank before I could get my student card. It looks like you can put money on it too, so I guess thats to use in on-campus canteens e.t.c... Well, I'm lucky we decided to do everything around the uni that we could because I got insurance from the bank which was needed for the accomodation. I also got civil liability insurance there, which was needed to get the student card. After signing about 50 sheets of paper at the bank (I'm sure there's only a little exaggeration there) I left with a bag full of paper, including the 2 sheets that I needed. I wouldn't mind all the paperwork in France, it's just everything still seems disorganised!

So I had my student card so me and dad walked over to the residence to queue there. I vaguely understood something about buying a box in the fridge in the kitchen so I agreed to that, filled out paperwork, signed on the dotted line, paid and went to find the room. It was bigger than I expected, and being situated in a gorgeous old building, has high ceilings, big windows (a rare find in france), wooden shutters and is just lovely. Ok, the paint is peeling towards the ceiling, but that adds to the charm and character of it. Maybe. I do get my own sink in my room though! There's lovely long coridors (20 rooms on each floor) and big common rooms, it makes me think of somewhere Madeline might live when she grew up. We were starving by this point, so we went to find the supermarket, not very far away and got some lunch and essentials then went back to my room to eat.

After lunch dad went to get the car while I went to try to find out about the kitchen and my fridge-box and the kitchen. despite desperate searching we could only find one kitchen with 3 fridges and several hobs. The fridges all had numbered metal boxes with padlocks on them, up to 26, and there are at least 3 floors of rooms. There was a larger queue than earlier on, so I decided to leave it for now and ask about cuisines later. Dad came back, we unpacked the car, said goodbye and I was unpacked by 5pm.

The storm started at about 8, shortly followed by torrential rain. I'm not normally a fan of storms, but in the south of france they take on a spectacular, dramatic quality, often accompanied by torrential rain, thunder that echoes off the mountains and old buildings and flashes that light up the purple sky. As long as you're indoors to enjoy the show, it's ok!