Last Saturday, myself and some 20-odd film and media students made away from little old Hampshire, England to Paris, France. We were going to watch a media-based conference with a number of guest speakers whilst staying in Disneyland Paris. We then made a hell-ish journey home on the following Wednesday (more on that in a bit).

We were in Disney by about 5:30 Paris time and spent the evening looking around the park and getting some space themed food in the Buzz Lightyear kinda area. The Sunday was the day where we got to go around the two parks ourselves (Disneyland & Walt Disney Studios) and go on some rides. I went on a couple but me not really being a fan of rollercoasters didn't go on THAT many. And before you all ask, no, I didn't go on Space Mountain. Sorry. Although, we had a awesome lunch at one of the buffets. All-you-can-eat for €30-ish Euros was a definite yes!! In the evening, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then watched the fireworks which were in one word; amazing!! They were super pretty and the little story they had along with it was adorable! We ended up watching them twice during our visit and managed to get a closer and better view the second time around.

Monday was when we attended the conference which was actually really interesting! I wasn't too sure what it would be like as I've never been to one before but, there was David Garrido from Sky Sports, Lucy Brett from the BBFC (the certificate rating people) and Tim Samuels, a documentary director/producer who had some amazing stories to tell. He also created a rock band from a group of elderly people who were called 'The Zimmers', which you can check out here! I thought that the conference was really interesting and it gave us all a insight into each of the roles and the media industry as a whole. In the evening, we just headed back to the hotel we were staying in and played some games and ate there.


On the Tuesday, we headed into Paris itself and saw a number of iconic places and some film locations.  Firstly, we saw the Moulin Rouge which was incredible to see in real life! It's so iconic and it can be spotted from a mile off. We also saw the most expense street to live on in Paris which was just beautiful and understandable as to why it was so expensive. As well we saw the statue of Marcel Ayme, a famous French writer, where it looks like he is stepping out of the wall. There was the bridge from Inception as well and of course, The Eiffel Tower which was just incredible. Although, there was a three hour wait to use the lift to go up it. I decided not to. Despite the fact that it was only 2 degrees, we also bought ice-cream and sat in the cold sunshine. As well, because this was our last night, 14 of us went and watched the fireworks all together one last time and then went and had a great meal at Planet Hollywood. We had the best waiter as well (you're awesome Rudy)!

Finally, on the Wednesday, we travelled home. Although, this was an absolute nightmare in itself. To start with, there was a strike, so we switched our tickets from sometime in the morning to 1o'clock in the afternoon. However, the tickets were not confirmed in France so they were re-sold. We then got new tickets for the 4o'clock Eurostar and had to wait 3 hours for that. To pass the time, there was a piano in the station and one of our students Joe played some Adele and Coldplay on it. And absolutely nailed it!

After a 2 and a half train ride back to St Pancras, we got the tube. The plan was the go from St pancreas to Leicester Square then change and head to Waterloo. But, somehow between St Pancras and Leicester Square, we managed to lose 5 people. We got off at Leicester Square and waited thinking that they would turn up there. After half an hour of waiting and tube-chasing (one of our lecturers went on about 6 different tubes to find them) it turned out that they were at Waterloo the whole time. The journey home was a bit of a mess but, we all got home in the end although we were all extremely tired.