Information
In the news: Finland wins 2nd ice hockey world championship
Monday, May 16th, 2011 at 20:29 | categories: Information
May 15th 2011 was the day when Finland won its second world championship in ice hockey. The final against Sweden started out as a thriller but ended like a splatter as Finland scored 5 goals in the last period, final result being 6-1. The tournament was held in Slovakia and the final was played in Bratislava.
To illustrate the significance of the tournament to the Finnish people, almost 2.5 million out of 5.3 watched the game on TV–almost half! As soon as the game ended, the streets of Finland were filled with people. In Antibes no one noticed except for my roommates when I was yelling and shouting during the game.
Webcam from Helsinki on the following Monday
A free lunch
Thursday, March 17th, 2011 at 19:27 | categories: Information
I finally got my contract for the apartment this week from my lazy landlord, which meant I was able to open up a bank account and apply for the French housing benefit. I’ve no idea if I’m going to get any money, but I guess it’s worth trying. An interesting fact is that when you open up the account in BNP Paribas and tell them you’re a SKEMA student, the account will be free for a year. On top of that they’ll give you 50 euros with no strings attached–or so I’m told anyway. Maybe the free lunch does exist after all?
On a different note, while I’ve been here, the weather’s been about the same with temperatures in the 10-15C region. I feel like the spring is coming since today somehow felt warmer–even if it necessarily wasn’t really. Also the forecast says it’ll be 17C tomorrow, which is the highest predicted so far. To celebrate this I bought strawberries. They were good.
Strawberries. Mmm.
Getting around in Côte d’Azur
Monday, March 14th, 2011 at 14:30 | categories: Information, Travel
The public transportation system here in France is really good, even if the local busses are a little bit slow. You can get pretty much anywhere using either a bus, train, plane or a combination of them. What makes all this even better is the price: local busses cost 1 euro and the trains aren’t that much more expensive either. If you’re under 25 a train to Nice is about 4 euros, a bit more if you’re old.
By bus
To go to school I take the bus 100, which is an express bus to Sophia-Antipolis. It doesn’t really feel like an express bus since the 6,4km to the school takes usually around 20-25 minutes, but it’s ridiculously cheap: a 5-year-pass (yes, 5 years) costs 5 euros. The local busses in general are notorious for being slow and unreliable, and the trip from Antibes to Cannes (around 10km) can take up to an hour. If you’re in no hurry, the most convenient way to get to/from the airport is number 200, Nice-Cannes-Nice.
The fun part in the busses is that they’re usually full and there are no seats left. Because the drivers are usually crazy people, the passengers standing up have to perform all sorts of acrobatic movements to stay alive.
Commuting
By train
There are two types of trains: local and the fast TGV trains. The local trains usually stop in every town and are fairly slow, but still way faster than the local busses. You can check the schedules at voyages-sncf.com. What’s noteworthy is that the long distance TGV trains can be booked online on two sites, the SNCF site and at iDTGV site. The latter one can sometimes be half the price and you can choose the seating and even the ambience.
Choosing the ambience. I feel zen.
A scary haircut
Monday, March 7th, 2011 at 16:30 | categories: Antibes, Information
It had been over two months since I last got a haircut, so it was about time I got a new one. I figured the shops would be open at around 3 in the afternoon, but I was proven wrong. Every single one in Antibes seemed to be closed. I wandered around looking like a proper tourist, trying to find a barbershop that was open–with no luck. After a while I ran into a Dutch exchange dude, who recommended an Arab barbershop close to my place on Boulevard Wilson. I decided to head back there.
The experience was interesting, and definitely first time I’ve been scared in a barbershop. Our conversation was something along these lines:
– Court?
– Oui, comme ça (showing about 3-4cm with my fingers)
– (silence)
In 2 seconds he’d started going for it like no tomorrow, and I was sure I’m going to be bald after 15 seconds when I saw the patches of hair falling on my lap. The sound of the Dutch guy mentioning the price echoed in my head: “12 euros.. 12 euros..” It can’t be good for that price, really, can it? After 10 seconds of trimming, he took an old-fashioned blade to get rid of my adolescent sideburns, but I was still committed to smile throughout the process.
The end result, however, was decent, and the whole thing took about 10 minutes. The price is easily the best in town, and if you’re not that strict about your hairdo, I don’t see any reason not try it.
Yes, I took a photo of myself thru a mirror. Yes, I felt like a girl doing it. Sacrifices have to be made for the blog.
What’s different: Opening hours
Monday, February 28th, 2011 at 15:21 | categories: General mumbling, Information
So you want to go and handle your bank business during the lunch hour? Not going to happen. Maybe you want to go to the local phone store and recharge your prepaid subscription? Nope, not possible.
Everything except the places for food are closed here from noon till 2:30 in the afternoon. And if that’s not enough for your inconvenience, most places close early on Saturdays, on Sundays everything’s closed and even on Mondays some places keep their doors shut. In Finland most places are open till 9 or 10 at night, and most shops nowadays are open on Sundays.
All this is probably traditional and cool, and I might even enjoy the ideology if I was here only for a short holiday. However, if you actually live here and forget to do your grocery shopping for the night, you’re simply f.. in trouble.
Maybe on the next lunch break instead of trying to do anything I'll go to Monaco zen garden, and take a deep breath.
