(whispering to you: To be very accurate, the title of this post should be “First Five Days in Nice, France” but I wanted to alliterate as much as possible)

Hello everyone! I’ve been pretty absent from this blog because I’ve been busy preparing an international move! Today is day 5 since I’ve arrived (starting from Day 1, not Day 0 for arrival) and it’s been a really eventful five days, so I wanted to write about it here!

I commented on Siena’s blog the other day about not really having a blogger identity, but then I struggled a little bit when it came to writing this post. I really enjoyed just blogging about everyday life in Japan, but since I’ve been back I’ve been writing more information-rich/opinion based posts, so I did wonder if there was any point to writing down bits and pieces of my life. But since I want to do it, I’m doing it hahaha.

Day 1: Arriving here

I took a midnight flight from Singapore and through the magic of different time zones, finished a 13.5 hour flight by arriving in Paris at about 8 am. There was a slight delay in the flight and so I didn’t really get to look around Charles de Gaulle airport, but the place where I boarded from was really beautiful (maybe I’m just a sucker for all that glass).

The one thing I was worried about when it came to this transit flight would be whether my vaccine cert, which is notarised by the Singapore government, would be enough as a ‘health pass’ for a domestic French flight. Luckily, it was when I presented it with my passport.

After arriving in Nice, I met the driver arranged by my school and was driven to my dorm. It’s pretty sparsely furnished, by which I mean I had a sofa bed and a shelf, but my flatmate brought me to the local supermarket and I managed to buy food and survive the afternoon before sleeping as early as I could.

Day 2: Health Pass Woes

I had grand plans for my second day in Nice – I wanted to convert my vaccine certificate to a passe sanitaire (health pass) at a pharmacy, and then go to a huge Carrefour to buy all the things that I needed for my room.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.

The pharmacy recommended by a coursemate was closed, one pharmacy did not have staff that spoke English, and the third one I found told me that I did not need a health pass because my vaccine cert was sufficient. I later found out from a French-speaking coursemate who arrived about the same time as me that there was a change in the rules and pharmacies could no longer issue health passes. We now have to email them in – which I had done, last week before I left, but I’ve not heard back from anyone.

I didn’t really have the energy to see if my vaccine cert would be accepted at the mega mart, so I bought some hummus and a cup from a local store and headed home where I tried to buy what I needed from Amazon and IKEA. My order for Amazon went through but sadly, I couldn’t make an online order for IKEA because I don’t have a French number yet.

Day 3: I met people

Day 3 was a blur, to be honest. Or rather, I have very little memory of Day 3 even though it was the day before yesterday.

BUT, I have written things down in my Dayre and from that entry, I realised that I spent Day 3 cleaning (the floor was so dirty my feet turned black on Day 1 and I had to wear slippers indoors) and in the evening, I met some of the Chinese students who were/are enrolled in EDHEC. This was a pretty huge accomplishment for me because I’ve always considered Chinese to be my weakest language (even weaker than Japanese, because I’ve managed to study in Japanese for 4 years but I don’t think I could do that in Chinese) but I managed to take part in the conversation the whole evening. I didn’t understand everything, but I understood most of it and I felt pretty happy about it.

I probably also used the most ‘brain energy’ on this day and that may be why my memories are a little fuzzy.

Day 4: Fireworks

This day started on a GREAT note because my kettle came!! #priorities

I immediately made some wakoucha (the Santomi wakoucha if you’re curious) and shared it with my roommate. It was really fun and I realised how much I’ve missed having hot tea.

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In the evening, I met up with one of my future classmates and we went to have gelato and watch the fireworks! The gelato place is called Fenocchio and it was recommended to me by a friend who used to live in France, the unofficial MBA guide, and the Best of Nice Blog. It thankfully lived up to the hype/multiple recommendations and I loved both the chocolate and cookie flavours. The ice cream is about €2.50 for one scoop and €4 for two scoops, which I think is pretty reasonable for the quality and size.

The fireworks were amazing! I don’t have much to say so I hope you enjoy the gallery.

Day 5: Church & Beach Day

Day 5 (yesterday) was Sunday, so I went to the Anglican Church in town and really liked it. The service is in English and since the liturgy for Anglican services is similar to Methodist services (especially since Wesley was an Anglican), it felt very familiar and a link back home.

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In the evening, I met up with more MBA friends and we hung out at the beach for a few hours and just got to know one another. I’ve been curious about my future classmates so it was good to know a few more of them and between the beach conversation and the fireworks on day 4, I am feeling extremely positive about the programme, which will start next week.

Plus, it’s so cool to know that I live fairly close to the beach!

That’s it for the last few days. I’ve had a great day today and I might actually be doing more things this week, so I’m looking forward to