*The European WP Meet in Central Southern France!*

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I don't know if everybody will have arrived by then. Which is why I'm going to pm people to ask them, ( Wednesday, if they don't post here first ), or someone else could before then if they like.


When the reception is shut ( from 11.00 am until 5 pm ) checking-in has to be done on the machine outside, with your reservation number and credit card, and most Etap Hotel check-in machines don't allow you to do it, and obtain your entry code etc, until after 1 or 2 pm. So if met there at noon some of us might have to wait outside, and not even be able to drop off bags at the same time.

I rather fancied meeting in a cafe in a square, or a cafe in one of the two parks in the centre ( the one not far from the station or the one on the hill near the Palais des Papes ). In case people are late and have to wait for ages. Whereas the lobby, or the porch outside, would be a fairly dull place to have to hang out, but it depends on what time we will be meeting.

As I say I don't know what time Seashell and English-Lulu and Darth and Raggle are likely to get there, it could be late on the Friday, in which case the hotel might be alright. And handy to drop baggage off at that time too, but at lunch-time I think it's likely to be more frustrating and inconvenient than anything.

I'm going to be arriving, all being well, by train, at about 10.00 am on the Friday.

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That sounds like a good idea- I guess we should all do that?

Oh, grim...I didn´t know about that, I´m glad I know now. Hope I can figure this all out. And my French is atrocious these days....

The machine offers a choice of languages; it will do English screens.
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My flight gets into Nimes at 14:10, but I'm not sure when I'll arrive in Avignon. I haven't had time to look up a train yet as I've been busy revising for my exam but after tomorrow I'll look up a train and let you know when I'll be arriving.

Thank you for the info. If you arr. at Nimes on the Friday at 14.10 that probably means a mid to late afternoon arrival at Avignon, ( make sure you get off the train at Avignon Centre not Avignon TGV ), depending on whether you manage to catch the next train from Nimes or have to wait for the one after. Sometimes the shuttle bus, ( airport to station, 5€ ), is very fast and efficient, ( 15-20 mins ) and other times it seems to take ages dropping people off around Nimes before getting to the station ( 30+ mins ).

I'll look up trains again too. I did look a couple of months ago but I've forgotten the details.

Good luck with the exam! I hope it goes well. What subject is it?

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I just looked up train times.

You might be able to get the 15.16 from Nimes which arrives in Avignon, ( Avignon Centre ) at 15.42, which would be the quickest and most convenient.

Otherwise the 16.00 which unfortunately goes via Tarascon, small town not quite en-route, ( and maybe even changes there, not sure ), which arrives in Avignon at 17.12.

The price for a single varies between 8.30€ and 11.10€ depending on the time/train.

Good luck! See you there. Will pm with details of meet up when know what time others arrive.

I have just realised today that I am terrified about this. That hollow stomach feeling. . But just about excited enough to cope.

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You can probably maybe definately count me in. I still have to ask around about how easy it is to Hitch from Toulouse to Avignon, but I can't imagine it'll be that hard. I'll probably stay at the hostel in the campsite (thanks for the heads up ouinon:)

My only problem is work. I've been pissing about in Toulouse for the past few months learning to dance for lanigan's ball. I should start looking for a job pretty soon and if I find one (and thus avoid homelessness!), I might have to work that weekend. I guess it's all down to luck. I'll make sure to make it down at least one of the days. I can't wait to meet you guys. I hope there's some history buffs ammong us, as I'd love to hear all about the Avignon Popes.

Thanks again to Ouinon for keeping me up to speed and to the rest of ye for organising all of this. Looking forward to it

Hi everybody.
I will arrive at Marseille Airport the 28th of May 5 : 10 PM and my Grand Parents will bring me to Avignon the day after.
I think that the best time for the Grand Meet (for me) is in middle afternoon (3 PM to 4 PM would be the best for me, but we're all deciding about this, and I'm quite flexible, but I need to know the time of the Grand Meeting, because my grandmother is asking it ), and we should try to meet in front of the Etap hotel or in a café nearby (again I wait for everybody to express their opinion, and I'm also quite flexible on that too).
Except that, I'm so impatient to come to this meet... First time I will met with other people with AS...

Seashell:
I had another look at trains because although the 15.16 would obviously be the best, if you don't manage to catch that one the next one via Tarascon seems a bit slow and indirect. There is a later train, faster/more direct, at 16.39 from Nimes, arriving Avignon Centre at 17.12.

As Seashell might be arriving anytime between 15.30 and 17.30, ( approximately ), it looks as if a mid-late afternoon meet would be best.

Raggle doesn't know when exactly, ( thanks for update, Raggle ! and good luck with the job-hunting and hitching ) and we haven't heard from English-Lulu yet, but if we settled on meeting around/from 16.00 that might fit for almost everybody, ( including people already there who are doing something during the day ).


We could meet in front of/in the lobby of the hotel, ( because check-in at the machine would work by then ), but the question is if we are going to be sitting around for quite a while it might be a bit boring.

If the weather's nice sitting outdoors in the sun wouldn't be too much of a hardship, and perhaps a "dull" meeting point would almost be an advantage; less to deal with. As far as I'm concerned that would be ok, if unexciting.

I will pm English-Lulu this evening [ Edit: It's done! ] to see when she arrives. But perhaps we could provisionally say 16.00. in front of the hotel, ( or in the lobby, if it is raining/cold which is unlikely but possible, or too noisy in front ), so that you can arrange that with your grandparents.

We might have to sit around for an hour and a half there if Seashell arrives on the later train, or we could agree that if she isn't there immediately, ( by 16.00, having caught the earlier train ), to go to the "garden"/cafe in front of the station, and wait for her there?

What do people think?

Presumably, when everyone is there, and got their rooms etc, we would all go for a meal etc in the evening?

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It sounds good to me. If we do have to wait for an hour and a half then the "garden"/cafe in front of the station seems like a good place for waiting.

Alternatively, if it wouldn't leave Darth, and possibly Seashell, at a loose end for too long, we could just meet at 17.00, which would mean only 30 minutes wait for Seashell if she was on the later train.

Darth, would a later time suit you alright? Do your grandparents have to get somewhere at a certain time and that's why 15.00 - 16.00 was your preference?

And Seashell, would you rather we met later to take the pressure off your catching the earlier train etc?
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Last edited by ouinon on 12 May 2009, 3:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks for looking up the trains, Ouinon. I should be able to catch the 15:16 provided my flight isn't delayed. If I have to get the later train, I wouldn't mind if you don't want to wait around for me - I could phone you when I get there and find out where you are and come and meet you - I still have a map of the town centre from when I went last month. Hopefully though I should be arriving between 15:30 and 16:00.

Thanks. It was a linguistics exam - I think it went OK.



I'm terrified just thinking about the plane journey. Unfortunately I didn't realise that I'm scared of flying until last month, by which time I'd already booked the flights, otherwise I would have come by train.

I didn't mean we wouldn't want to wait for you, ( I hope I didn't sound rude ), just that if we were going to then maybe moving to a more interesting meeting place would be a good idea. And we could still fix on a back-up beforehand in case you don't make the earlier train ... ...


... that's an even better idea. I don't have a mobile phone so it would have to be KenG or one of the others who coordinated that. It would certainly make things a lot more flexible. So a 16.00 meet up at the hotel might be ok then, allowing most of us to meet up as soon as possible, and if you are late you can phone us. Great!


Do you study post-structuralism and deconstructionism etc as part of that? I am fascinated by all that at the moment. The sliding signifier etc!


Oh no! I hope you can find some way to relax for it. I used to be very scared of the air presssure changes at the beginning and end of flights.

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No, you didn't sound rude - I just meant that if my flight was delayed, or I missed the train and was really late, I wouldn't want people to feel that they have to wait in a certain place as I'm happy to meet you wherever you happen to be when I arrive.



I haven't studied any of that yet - maybe next year. At the moment I'm studying the sounds of language and how words are syllabified.