Thanksgiving, Versailles and STRASBOURG!

I know you probably feel that it’s the same old same old but the past two weeks since I last wrote on here have literally been a whirlwind adventure. And now it’s less than two weeks, (10 days to be exact) until I fly back to the UK for Christmas <3 Now, where to start....

Thanksgiving Dinner:

On Saturday 27th November, 21 of us gathered together for Thanksgiving Dinner at Enar and Liz’s apartment.  Ironically the majority of the people present were not American but none the less everyone was in the festive spirit and took making their dish seriously.  I was assigned mash potatoes with Lisa and Lilly so from midday on Saturday we slaved away in the kitchen peeling 5kg’s worth of potatoes, boiling them and mashing them. In my opinion, we got progressively better and it was the third and final batch of mash which was perfecto! Everyone else’s dishes were just as good too; it was nice to see that everyone had put in a lot of effort. To be honest, it was HEAVEN- great food, great wine and great people! It was that, that I was thankful for that night....

Versailles:

The very next morning (a Sunday and day of rest too I may add), Liz, Louise, Rosalind and I got up early and headed off to Versailles for the day.  After having studied the Palace of Versailles in Geography last year, I was pretty excited to see the beast in real life despite it being so early on a Sunday. And I was right to be excited; the palace was BLOODY MASSIVE, with gold plating everywhere, intricate details inside, paintings on the ceiling, thousands of rooms and even a hall of mirrors... It’s so hard to describe it and I’m not doing it any justice, just go see it for yourself OK?!

So we managed to get in for FREE to this fabby palace (courtesy of our teachers cards) and spent the best part of several hours wandering around with an audio guide. We even got to see Marie Antoinette’s bedroom and where she fled from the people of France. Then we realised that the gardens were triple the size of the palace. So after having a very expensive lunch, we headed out to the gardens and decided to hop aboard the ‘petit train’ which explored Marie Antoinette’s hamlet as well as the Grand Canal and the Grand Triannon. We finished off the day by wondering around Versailles itself a little bit, and realised there was quite a bit to see here too. We went to a pizzeria and had some dinner before heading home. I will definitely return to Versailles at some point, I didn’t get enough of it!

Harry Potter:

Everyone in England was harping on about how good Harry Potter 7 was, so after much debate I decided I’d have to give in and go and watch it here in French. Little did I know that I would actually prefer it in French and would return a second time to watch it.... Okay, okay, it was in French and it was slightly annoying at the start when you’re not accustomed to the lips moving differently to the words but you barely notice it after 10 minutes and it was also pretty amusing to hear the French equivalent for ‘Hogwarts’ ‘Gryffindor’ and mostly ‘wand’. It is no other than BAGUETTE in French so call me immature but for the first ten times it was said I couldn’t help but giggle. Especially when it was a really serious scene with Voldemort and you hear ‘baguette’ which is such a nice friendly word. Also, Hermione’s voice is much better in French as the actress had this real husky tone and she didn’t sound quite as bossy. PLUS, I understood it! I think it’s their greatest film yet, they really did go all out and now I cannot wait to watch the final, final one.  I also invested in two Harry Potter books in French; I really am going Potter mad!

Strasbourg:

On Friday 3^rd December, Lilly, Liz and I boarded the TGV to Strasbourg. The day had finally come, we were going to STRASBOURG for the ‘marché du noel’ J When we finally arrived (we were delayed due to ‘les conditions climatiques’), we were feeling a tad delirious but managed to find the hostel easily enough. My first impressions of the hostel were ‘jeez, why is it so cheap?’ It only cost us €26 for the night for a 3 bedroom, private dorm with our own w/c, shower and sink AND we had free breakfast. Perfect. After checking in and dumping our stuff off, we headed into ‘centre ville’. I must tell you, Strasbourg is a very pretty city. There was a sprinkling of snow and uncountable Christmas Decorations. On Friday night we ended up in the posh area of town but it was worthwhile as the food was just gorgeous. I had ‘Salade landaise’ for starter which consisted of salad with foie gras and ham and then proceed to have the most beautifully cooked salmon with hollandaise sauce, potatoes and fried vegetables. Lilly and Liz opted for the Alsacian dish- Charcutorie Plate (I have never seen so much red meat on one plate!) and after eating a lot, we popped for a drink or two and then wandered back to the hostel. All too quickly the alarm went off at 8.20am, ready for a full day in Strasbourg. The breakfast served by the hostel was SO good considering it was included in the already small price tag.

Upon arriving at the markets (there were several scattered around the city centre), I was just amazed at how pretty everything was. The huts, the shops: everything was decorated to perfection and you could tell they must have put a lot of effort into it. They sold lots of lovely chocolates, Alsacien biscuits, decorations, crepes and vin chaud and the atmosphere was very festive! We wandered through them all, sampled good food including a ‘boules de neiges’- quite literally meaning balls of snow and also bought some rather expensive chocolates. After lunch we visited the cathedral (THE greatest cathedral I’ve ever seen), and inside they were concerts going on which were great and really got me into the Christmas spirit. After this we went up the cathedral tower which was 66m’s tall and therefore gave us a great bird’s eye view over the city. With the snow, it was super duper cute. To finish off our lovely day, we had vin chaud by the ice rink and wandered through the old city of Strasbourg, all the way back to the train station that we arrived at just some 35 hours ago....One word for this trip: WHIRLWIND.

I have only one complaint with Strasbourg, and that is: must the people be SO rude? I mean it’s the first weekend in December, the Christmas markets have only been open a week or so and you’re already this rude to tourists? The thing is, it wasn’t as if we were just speaking English to them! Over the course of the 2 days we had several encounters with rude Frenchies from Strasbourg and so now have the impression that they aren’t too helpful or pleasant to foreigners...

Meet the gang....

Meet the Gang...

I’m just about to enter my eighth week here in France, so I feel it’s about time that you people back home met the guys I’m hanging out with...How you ask? Through the only way possible, photos!

There are roughly twenty of us assistants actually living in Le Mans: the majority of which are from America and Britain, but others are from Germany, Spain, Mexico and New Zealand! These guys are primarily the reason that I’m having such a ball here in France, without them I’d probably hate it...and with 20 of us, there’s a nice group. I find that because people come from difference origins, it adds diversity to the conversation and it’s like my dream has come true as there is always someone who is free and feels like doing something. So, without further ado, let’s get introducing!

Here you have (from left to right): Olivia Cheng (US), Lilly Manzi (US), Alice Fyffe (UK), Claire Stavenga (US), Jess Carpio (US), Lisa Stuart (US) and me. This photo was taken at a ‘Pot Luck’ party at Lilly and Lisa’s house.

Next you have (again from left to right): Kate Townsend (NZ), Me, Elizabeth Bruner (US), Enar De Dios Rodríguez (ES) ,Carly Fox (US) and Louise Clarke (UK) and this photo was taken in ‘Place de la Republique’ (the main square) after a party at Liz’s!

Here is a photo of the 3 LAD teaching assistants: Nathan Stewart (UK), Ashley Carlin (UK) and Tom Stottor (UK) in their second home ‘Mulligans’!

Here is a photo of Rosalind Wright (UK), Alice Fyffe (UK) and me at Ros and Alice’s apartment right in the centre of town!

This is a photo of when we got invited around for dinner with the ‘Moreau’ family. I rent my flat off Francois (the old man there in the background), as does Casey Paige (US) and Vanessa Hapi (CM) (far left and far right). In this picture we also have Alison Gerrish (US) and Anette (DE), both teaching assistants at the University in Le Mans.

Ah, this photo reminds me how sunny it was when I first arrived in Le Mans- this is an assistant called Annie Rutter (UK), having lunch on the Place de la Republique when it was like 25 degrees!

Finally, here is a group picture of most of the characters I’ve told you about plus a couple more in one of our favourite pubs, the Union Jack! Going around in the circle you have: Casey Paige, Adrianne Himmel (US), Carly Fox, Alice Fyffe, Sonja Butler (US), Fiona (US), Elizabeth Bruner, Myriam Salazar (MX), Enar De Dios Rodríguez, me, Louise Clarke and Alexandre (DE).

So now you’ve met everyone J

In other news...

If you remember back to when one of my schools (Val D’Huisne) burnt down 4 weeks ago, I can now finally update you on the situation. They have moved to another ZEP Collège called ‘Les Sources’ and although they remain two separate schools, they are sharing facilities until Val D’Huisne gets rebuilt. Just to let you know, I promise that schools being burnt down isn't a regular occurrence in France during the strikes! To prove it, even French people look at me, eyes wide and mouth open when I say I work(ed) at Collège Val D’Huisne. Until now I have only been working at Berthelot as they were still sorting out the new timetable, and by the sounds of it, it’s a complicated affair. Trying to satisfy numerous teachers, keep things hunky-dory with the kids and not clashing with les Sources timetable= numerous days spent trying to figure it out! Anyway, I spoke to Emmanuel earlier this week and I finally have my new timetable! It’s pretty similar to before but I now work: 6 hours on Tuesday, 4 hours on Thursday and 2 hours of Friday leaving me with Monday and Wednesday FREE! WAHOO!

Teaching:

It’s the same old story since I last wrote to you I’m afraid! This week I have taught a grand total of 3 hours which means I spent about 30 minutes lesson planning... I taught about ‘English food’ this week which proved to be a good topic to teach and my French vocab of food has definitely improved. Next week is definitely looking more promising though as I start back to work at Val D’Huisne or should I say Les Sources and I have to say I’m actually looking forward to doing a full week now. I know I will most probably report back next week and say I wish I had no classes again but you can’t have it both ways ey?

Speaking French:

So, bizarrely, Sarah (a friend from Birmingham who’s doing her year abroad in Grenbole) told me about a friend of a friend who lives in Le Mans. So we started emailing over facebook and yesterday we got to meet up! She is the cutest French girl I’ve ever met, SO nice and she taught me a lot about Le Mans. We went for coffee and talked for an hour. So hopefully we’ll be meeting up every now and then, improve my French some more and practice her English!

Illnesses:

EVERYONE gets ill in Le Mans. It’s obviously the change of scenery and along with it a change of germs. So this week I’ve been ill L which has meant that I’ve spent a good few days in bed, but don’t you worry, I’m gonna make up for it in the next four weeks....

The Plan:

Saturday 21^st Nov: Dinner with Alice, Céline (teacher from Berthelot) and her friends to celebrate Beaujolais wine.

Saturday 27^th Nov: Thanksgiving party at Liz’s

Sunday 28^th Nov: Day trip to Versailles

Friday 3^rd Dec: Strasbourg for the weekend

Saturday 11^th Dec: Day trip to Paris J <3

Saturday 18^th Dec: HOME TO ENGLAND FOR CHRISTMAS (28 days today!)

I’m sure other things will crop up as well, but I am now SO excited for these next four weeks and I’m actually getting scared that this year abroad is going to go far too quickly for my liking... 2 months down, 5 to go.

Bisous,

Kate

Quoi de neuf?

It’s amazing how quickly time goes here in France. Never before has time flashed before my eyes this fast, it just goes to show that when you are having lots and lots of fun, time really does fly by! Since I last wrote you all I have encountered many a French strike, had Toussaint’s holiday (half term for schools and universities), made it England to see Pedro, the rents, Leah, Sam, Kat, Sarah, Lara and Lauren J and finally made it back again to France...

That last week before Toussaint we lived the ‘stereotypical’ French life; the strikes disturbed our daily lives, we had many days off work because of the blockades at school and in my case because it had been burnt down...! The buses didn’t run, there were protests in the streets most days and the train station was utter CHAOS with everyone asking if there train was running and swopping if not. The poor man stood at the help desk was continually getting hammered for answers and I felt sorry for the poor chap, he looked haggard by the end of the week! Of course, I was one of these people as I was heading back to England at the end of the week, but I tried to be very polite and I swopped my train for an earlier one without a problem! I then spent countless hours refreshing the website for Nantes and East Midlands airport with the fear that my flight would be cancelled. Against all odds I made it to Nantes, our flight flew on time and I touched down in ENGLAND! J

Those first three days of being in England went by like a TGV at its highest speed. I spent them mostly with Peter, trying to pack in as much time in as possible with him before he left to go back to Edinburgh. I had an amazing time <3 I also managed to catch up with Frosty and the Twins a couple of times as well as both my Nan and Granddads and a couple of Aunts! Then, on Wednesday night, the night before my flight, I found out that it was cancelled... I couldn’t get back to France because of the petrol strikes. I don’t think I’ve ever been quite as annoyed as I was at this moment in time...I was really looking forward to coming back and I had plans to travel around Brittany with three other assistants, which would have been great... So after spending a while moping around, I decided to make the most of my extra time in England, so we visited Sheffield to catch up with a couple of home friends. It was a good night J

I arrived back in France on Tuesday 2^nd November so I have now been back in France land for a week. As per usual, time is flying! Last week I had a grand total of four hours of lessons and this week I will only do two. Don’t tell me...you’re jealous? I have come to realise how much I love my life at the moment. I literally work no hours and just get to spend my time travelling to places and arranging trips. C’EST LA BELLE VIE. Of course, I will eventually work my 12 hours a week when everything gets sorted, (because of the fire, and in Collège Berthelot’s case just sheer disorganisation) but until then I’m lapping it up. Now I have plans to go to Paris and Strasbourg in December and other plans are in the pipeline at the moment. Today, I visited Tours with Liz and we shared some great laughs... I had a really good time.

As Liz said to me today: ‘Its travelling that restores my faith in humanity’. I have to say, I fully agree.

Bisous!

Just as things were getting quiet...

This past week in Le Mans has been somewhat quieter than the previous two; everyone has started getting into a bit of a routine for the school week, people have sorted out flats and friendship groups are forming. This is not to say that I was bored last week, there was still ample going on but it was a tad less manic...

On Friday, Alice and I completed our one hour of teaching before being told that the ‘quatrième’ which we were supposedly teaching for the rest of the afternoon had disappeared...! The class that we did have was super though. Afterwards, I nearly got ran over by a car, having just come out of MGEN where I collected my health insurance papers. Ironic to say the least! That night was Pot Luck night, so armed with my baguette, wine, cheese and apple tart, Alice, Ros and I went around to Lilly and Lisa’s with Olivia, Claire and Jessica. I’ve come to the conclusion that you can never go wrong with this American idea. If you’ve never heard of it before (I hadn’t until2 weeks ago), the idea is that you each take a side dish/accompaniment to the main dish which is prepared by the host. You always end up having an amazing meal, drinking lots and lots of wine, accompanied by bread and cheese. PARFAIT!  You probably know the score by now, after this delicious meal and lots of photo taking, we headed into town to our only home for drinking (Mulligans) where usual shenanigans occurred The taxi back that night was seemingly less than last Friday and was a mere €6. Score!

After a late night on Friday, an early start on Saturday followed. I decided to ditch the buses ‘au cause des grèves’ and on my walk into town a creepy thing happened... I was wearing my thick black leggings, brown boots, a polar neck dress jumper thing and my big cream winter coat when a man pulled over in his car and beckoned me over to the window. I ignored him three times but he kept pulling over so I finally gave in and went over to the open window. He asked if I wanted to get in with him and when I replied no he asked if I was okay. I replied ‘yes until you stopped me, GOOD BYE!’ (in French, obvs) and walked off. Seriously, did he really think I‘d want to get in a car with him? Talk about sleazy.  It angers me a tad because I had no flesh on show and I even had my hood up. It’s been happening to me ever since I got here and I know the French are more conservative than us Brits but I honestly don’t know how I could be any more conservative than I am being. Oh well, I’ll take it as a compliment I guess!

But with that rant over, our day trip to Nantes on Saturday went well and our trains ran smoothly, despite the strikes. We visited some lovely gardens, the cathedral and the castle before having a galette for lunch at a lovely little café followed by a good old pastry. We also visited Ile de Nantes across the other side of the river, where they have the strangest tourist attraction I have ever seen! There’s this huge, mechanical elephant which does circuits of this hangar and which people ride. It’s a bit bizarre but very funny. There were also some crazy pirates doing some sort of weird drama/dance thing whilst we sat having a coffee/tea.

Sunday and Monday were both chilled days. Claire, Louise, Annie and I met at Liz’s to arrange travel plans for ‘Toussaints’, the half-term holiday which is coming up! So hotels and trains are now booked for Monday 1^st Nov- Weds 3^rd Nov when we’ll be visiting Rennes, St.Malo, Dinard and Cancale in Brittany- exciting times! On Sunday night, I also managed to get Skype to work without stuttering and therefore had a great conversation with Pedro... it unfortunately didn’t work quite the same with Sam on Monday morning but a great conversation was had nonetheless.

So as I was saying, everything had calmed down here in Le Mans. That was until Monday night...

Emmanuel (my teacher at Val D’Huisne) emailed me on Monday to warn me that I may not have to go to into school on Tuesday because there was going to be a massive strike and the pupils were planning on blockading and protesting at the school. He said he would phone me in the morning to confirm and I’ve got to say, I wasn’t expecting to have to go in. Yesterday was THE major day of striking as Sarkozy is signing the law for increasing the retirement age today. But when Emmanuel phoned yesterday morning, I couldn’t have been any less prepared to hear what he told me: ‘Morning Kate, you won’t need to come into school today because...well, your school has been burnt down...!’  In the one second that it took for me to register what he had said, I experienced so many emotions, but mainly I was just so shocked that the grèves have come to this. Whether it was a complete accident or a criminal offence I’m still to find out but I certainly know that the kids that I have met and taught wouldn’t have wanted this. Things must have got out of hand.

So now I’m left with one school (which as far as I’m aware, has been completely functioning throughout these grèves), and 6 hours on my timetable. Hopefully after Toussaints, they will sort out other schools for the children to go to or provide a temporary shelter for them, but for now all I can do is wait...I have to say, seeing my school and head teacher on the national news was surreal, and I don’t think I’ll quite believe it until I go and take a look at the remains...

One final note, I may not be able to get home to England on Saturday as public transport has taken a hit because of these strikes and now to make it worse fuel strikes mean that some planes aren’t running! Oh France, what a country you are!

And I’ve only been here 4 weeks...

I shall keep you all updated,

Bisous

xxx

It's a hard not life...

I’ve just finished my first proper week of teaching and I’ve got to say, I love it! Okay so it was only my first week and everything could change, but the majority of kids are brilliant and are really eager to learn English. They see it as an amazing opportunity and a great language to learn plus the teacher always threatens that if they misbehave, they will never get to come into the class room with me again...

My timetable has worked out well: I have Mondays and Wednesday’s off and work Tuesday afternoons, Thursday all day and Friday afternoon. Thursday is the only day I don’t look forward to as I have 7 of my 12 hours on this one day, but even that wasn’t bad this week, it was actually quite a rewarding day. I can see that each week is going to pass very quickly and before I know it, it will be Christmas, and then February half term, and then April and time to say goodbye...(NOOOOOOOOO L)

This week for classes, I started with the basics to see what they know. So I created questionnaires, and did general conversation tasks. At Val d’Huisne, the standard of English is a bit lower than at Berthelot and on Tuesday I found out that the lunch time club didn’t know the difference between England and America- WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT?! I’ve found that the teaching here in France is very influenced by America. For example, they teach the date as: Tuesday October 5^th and use American textbooks. The kids also know a lot of American music, films and are keen on basketball, so I’m going to do a lesson on England next week and show them what we’re about. I also taught the parts of the body to the 6ième (the youngest, think they’re about 11) and we finished the class by playing bingo if they were good (a little trick that always works: touch wood).  Next week is the week before Halloween and seeing as they don’t celebrate it here, I plan on doing lessons about it.

Berthelot on the other hand is...there’s no other word for it: disorganised. Alice and I turn up for our lessons and get sent home, which is perfectly fine by us! The two lessons that we have got to take so far, we have done so together which makes lesson planning much quicker. The kids are just as eager if not more so than Val D’Huisne and we played hangman at the end of the lesson today and started off by using the words we’d learnt in today’s lesson. However we then made the mistake of saying ‘okay you can use any English word you know now’ and so the following 3 boys used words such as ‘tequila’ and ‘whisky’. Cheeky gits. But I’m feeling that it will be a pleasure to teach here, they just quite simply need to get their act together!

So this week, I taught a grand total of 8 classes and sat in on 1.  As if the 12 hour timetable week wasn’t easy enough already... To add to this, when you teach, an hour flies by- it almost doesn’t seem like work. I’m already excited for next week and I really want to make sure I fulfil my role and make sure that they can speak better English with a better accent, and a better set of vocabulary by the end of April. Only time will tell if I can make an impact on them...but of course learning the difference between England and America was a good place to start!

Une soirée chez Liz’s...

So on Friday, Alice and I had a hard 3 hour day at Collège Berthelot which consisted of us compiling a list of places to visit whilst we’re in France and then playing on a ‘Learn English’ game on the computer. I have to say, whilst playing this game; we did actually get a question wrong- OH THE SHAME! Admittedly, it was the software’s fault- putting a glass of juice with an orange by it would automatically mean orange juice to anyone, surely? Apparently it was fruit juice...

Later on, a bunch of us went to Liz and Enar’s abode for a rendez-vous. When we eventually found our way to Lycée Sud, we were shown around and it’s HUGE. There are only two of them living there but they have 3 tables, various storage cupboards, 3 bedrooms (one which is painted with animals on the wall, it must have been a former nursery), a lounge and a dining room! In the end, five of us turned up so we laid the table for seven and got chopping for the chicken and vegetable stir fry. Everyone had brought different things and so it worked amazingly well. The stir fry consisted of chicken, peppers, onions, carrot, mushrooms, and courgette, alongside A LOT of ‘pain’ with Brie and Camembert and of course zee Wine Rosé! The conversation was flowing very well (peut-être au cause du vin?!) and we got talking about the differences between England and France and England and America. I found it pretty hilarious at times because sometimes when Carly or Liz spoke (both from America), I couldn’t understand what they were saying because the words they use are totally different/have a different meaning compared to England. So, even though we speak the same language, at points I had to say: explain please? Funny! After what seemed like only an hour, we realised it was about time we headed out, so we met the others in the Jazz bar. Needless to say, it wasn’t actually very jazzy so we resorted to our normal pubs and then proceeded to Café Noir (Le Mans version of Mainstreet in Newport!) But a good night was had by all and I caught my first taxi home which worked out to be €8 for 2 stops, so not bad at all!

On Saturday morning I had a McDonalds to recuperate and then Alice, Louise and I hit the shops. I spent €16’s on essentials in the 2 euro shop and then went halves on a DVD offer with Louise in FNAC. This now means that we have a mini dvd store between us as we both have 5 DVD’s each for €25. They’re pretty up-to-date too, so I was happy. We then went for a mid-afternoon coffee (slash tea) and this time I didn’t make the fatal error of ordering a ‘thé naturel’ (without milk) or a ‘thé citron’ (lemon tea.) You can see that they immediately know I’m English when I order my ‘thé au lait’. I also bought Pete’s birthday card and 2 postcards for my grandparents before popping home before popping back out again to the cinema. This second film was far more successful than our first; it was called Donnant, Donnant and in my opinion, it really captured the true humour of the French...

I’m going to finish this blog with some cultural differences that I’ve noticed about the French, since living in France (Apologies in advance if I have completely got the wrong end of the stick about the French):

·         Okay so the first and foremost thing that I have noted about zee French is how relaxed and chilled out they are about EVERYTHING. I wish I had grown up here because I would not be the worrier that I am now if I had of.  The teachers waltz around trying to remember which class they’ve got and whilst the teaching here is pretty good, it’s just so much more chilled. The first day I turned up 15 minutes early for my class, now I just catch the bus which gets me there with 3 minutes to spare.

·         The second thing I have gathered is that ‘the French love striking’ stereotype is VRAI! I have now been here two weeks and a couple of days and there have been 2 strikes already. Apparently I should get used to it too because it’s going to be a ‘bad year’. Ha

·         The French are much more about quality than quantity, which is great for making your room look nice or having great food but not so good on the pocket.

·         Fourthly, the French work/study for far longer hours each day than the English. Being a student here involves 8am starts and 24 hour weeks, teaching/going to school starts at 8 and can go on till 5pm. No wonder the French are striking for a lower retirement age!

·         Everyone smokes and drinks coffee. FACT.

·         Here in Le Mans, and from what I can gather throughout France, they provide a much more effective and greener transport network throughout cities- the setram network here in Le Mans is perfect and always on time (apart from these bloody manifestations)

·         You don’t have to smile to be polite...

·         And finally, I have learnt a few French table manners: you must share the bill equally. If you invite someone out to dinner, you’re expected to pay and don’t take a second round of cheese at a dinner party, the host/hostess will think you’re still hungry.

That’s all for now folks

xoxox

Discovering a lot of things...

Another week has passed here in Le Mans and I honestly cannot tell you where the time has gone. It’s now only two weeks until we have 12 days off for ‘toussaints’ (all saints holiday) when I’m popping back to the UK for 4 days to see my family and Pete (YAY) and then for the rest of it I’m planning on travelling around (haven’t decided where yet!).  Again, it’s been a crazy week and I love the lifestyle I’m living: Student finance loans, Erasmus grants, salaries, 12 hour weeks and APL benefit allowance all add up and allow me to be doing the things that I’m writing about, plus the weather has been amazing this week...This is the life!

The first half of the week consisted of mainly sorting out the nightmare pile of French paperwork which needed filling in. I know I keep going on about the amount of documents and signatures and that are required but it really is a notable comparison to what I’m used to in England. You spend your time going around in circles, one person telling you to do one thing, another person telling you that the other person was wrong and that you should do this, only to be told that when you eventually hand in the papers, it will take an age to go through! It’s quite tiring and apparently you only get your ‘carte vitale’ just before leaving France in April. Sacré Bleu! But enough is enough on this topic; I’d like to hope I’m over the worst now so all I can do is wait...

This week I also discovered that Le Mans isn’t half bad for clothes shopping. We have a shopping centre called ‘Centre Jacobins’  near the Old town, amongst all the winding streets, as well as a handful of shops just off the main square. You have a couple of English/international classics- H&M and Zara, a few French masterpieces: Gallerie Lafeyette, Monoprix, FNAC and then little boutique shops such as Belle Hélène (introduced to me by my housemate Vanessa for shoes) which proves to be extremely cheap. Then of course you can’t forget about the 2 euro shop. Wow!

On Wednesday 6^th October, all of the secondary school assistants attended the Nantes induction day which actually proved to clear up quite a lot of queries. So getting up at 5.45am wasn’t a complete waste of time, but it definitely could have done with starting a tad later and also being at end of September instead of a week and a half after arriving! But it was a great way to meet other assistants and it was comforting that everyone had the same worries. We also got taught the best ways to lesson plan, what a good lesson is and what to avoid. We also got given a pack of teaching materials to give us a head start along with tips on how to deal with difficult kids. I’m hoping that I don’t have to use them...

I also realized how much more I love French food than I do English. They have pasta bars here and you know how I love pasta...You can get a box of the great stuff for just €6’s and its scrumptious. I also LOVE cheese, bread and wine- so this is the perfect country for me! The majority of the restaurants are cheap also- they have a €10 offer going on for 2 courses and a drink and other slightly higher class restaurants offer a four course meal for around €17. Annie, Louise and I ate lunch on Friday in the sunshine at La Bourse on La Place de la Republique and enjoyed our huge baguettes a lot despite the waiter refusing to speak French back to us no matter how many times we still spoke French...

 As per usual, I shall finish this post with a list of random/exciting things that I also wanted to tell you but which didn’t really fit in above:

·         I got my first French cold which made me feel pretty ill for a couple of days...

·         One morning at a ridiculous hour, I poured apple juice into my cereal (obviously whilst I had that stupid cold) HILARIOUS.

·         Louise and I bought 10 dvd’s from FNAC for a mere €50, so we have a mini library already

·         We got stressed out at Radio Taxi’s for being 15 minutes late at 6.30 in the morning and even angrier when Mr Taxi driver blamed us for it!

·         I cooked Alice and Vanessa spaghetti Bolognese which was delicious!

·         And I finally met my flat mate Casey from Maine in America.

Of course in between the wonderful things I write about above, I spend the odd hour or two feeling homesick, it can’t be helped! I miss Pedro, my mum, dad and sister, my friends and some home comforts but then I think about the amazing time I’m having here and it disappears. Everyone will still be there waiting for me when I get back ey?!

I best dash; I need to plan my weekend trip to a German Christmas Market...

À bientot xxxxx

Mon premier week-end au Mans...

It was Friday that has been the best day so far; a lot of things slotted into place and I finally visited the schools and saw where I was going to be working for the next 7 months...

First of all, I visited Collège Val D’Huisne. I’ve got to say, I had reservations about this school as it’s a ZEP (a school funded by the government for those in deprived areas) and I had been told a few horror stories by the past assistants, so you can imagine how worried I was. However, upon arrival the kids came running up to me shouting random English things at me and I also got told that I was ‘very beautiful’ by a few of the girls-bless them! This definitely was not what I expected...Emmanuel explained to me that it’s rare for the kids to see a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes- appaz its ‘uber sexy’... So as the morning passed, I continued to be treated like a celebrity and not a single person was naughty for me! I was thankful for being blonde and I sincerely hoped that it will continue like this....

Then I went to Collège Berthelot, where I didn’t get quite the same arrival. Turns out that they didn’t realise they had two English assistants and therefore didn’t know about me at all! And the secretary got annoyed at me for not having come sooner. How they didn’t know about me when I sent letters and emails I don’t know, but the secretary eventually calmed down (it was a Friday) and they assured me that it was brilliant that they had two assistants and that they’d do me a timetable ASAP. The other English assistant here is Alice- one of my first friends in Le Mans so this should be funJ. Again this afternoon I sat in on two lessons and the kids were just as excited to have some ‘vraies anglaises’ or ‘vraies britanniques’ (just for Alice) to talk to. One thing that really came across is how enthusiastic both Céline and Emmanuel (the English teachers at Val D’Huisne and Berthelot) are. They have a very laid back way of teaching compared to England and learn far more conversational English- something I really would have benefitted from learning at school...

Céline invited me and Alice to dinner that night and I have one word to describe it. AMAZING. Her house was about a half an hour drive out of Le Mans and was pretty damn big. The evening was filled with great food, wine and conversation and I finally felt relaxed. Their family was so hospitable, nothing was a problem so whoever said the French were rude and obnoxious (clearly me in the past) must have been lying. Everyone has been super friendly so far.

That night was the first time I slept properly in Le Mans. Alice and I slept in that next morning and even though we weren’t hungry, we had a huge breakfast before returning to Le Mans. Saturday afternoon consisted of doing all the bits and bobs that I hadn’t managed to do so far, such as unpacking and making my room my own. I also went food shopping and managed to get quite a lot of stuff for €30. Whilst doing so, someone came up to me and asked if I was English, guess it’s still dead obvious! Need to work on that...

This post is getting pretty long already and I’ve still got a lot to say so I will resort to a list of other exciting/notable things that happened this past weekend:

·         I cooked for myself for the first time since god knows when...

·         I got stood up by the bus- I’ve now learnt that you have to sort of wave it down like you do with taxi’s in America

·         I met lots more assistants and students

·         We all went to a free concert at ‘des expositions du Mans’ and watched an Irish band called Two Door cinema Club

·         We took a trip to the Old City for the Sunday market which is so quaint and pretty

·         I had my first experience of French cinema in a French cinema. It definitely was NOT a rom-com...

·         And in order to facilitate my listening practice I started watching Desperate Housewives in French courtesy of Youtube.

I promise I will finally get up-to-date with this blog sometime soon,

Beaucoup d’amour xxxxx

LOVING LE MANS...

Okay, so I’ve only been here just over 5 days and I have only seen a small part of my new city but I love it here so far! I have been so busy; today is the first time I’ve had a few hours on my hands and the first time that I’ve reflected on my time in Le Mans so far...

It was Tuesday that I arrived here and wow it was an interesting day. Waking up at 6am in order to catch the plane and having had only about 2 hours sleep was a nightmare... but I guess I ran on nervous energy. Before I knew it, it was time to say bye to the rents!  I passed through security holding back the tears but once I was on the plane I felt much better- it also turned out that two other assistants were on the same flight so we made friends and helped to calm each other’s nerves...We shared a taxi from Nantes airport to Nantes train station and got some lunch. It was so nice meeting two other people who were in the same boat as me and who were experiencing the same worries as me. As I took the TGV to Le Mans I found myself getting nervous again about meeting Emmanuel and for the first time, my thoughts turned to teaching. Until now I had been concerned with actually getting out to France and sorting everything out but now but as I thought about teaching I realised how much fun it was going to be, I just hoped the children liked me.

The rest of the day passed quickly: I met Emmanuel at the station (my contact here) and then once I was settled in at ‘Le Flore’ I made my first two friends: Nathan and Alice, two other assistants from Ireland and Scotland and we spent the evening getting to know one another...

Wednesday and Thursday passed very quickly too and before I knew it I had moved into a flat on Avenue Bollée, one of the main roads from the centre of town. I had signed up to appartager.com sometime at the start of September and a woman called Annie had emailed me about moving into a flat with two other people ( a French girl and an American boy).  So on Wednesday I visited it with Nathan (I think Annie thought we were boyfriend and girlfriend, ha!) and signed the contract right there and then. It felt right and it was much nicer than I’d expected. I was also having second thoughts about living at Le Flore as although it is perfectly nice and clean, it lacked character and it would be so hard to make it your own. So, it pretty much put Le Flore to shame and its only about 10 minutes from town so it’s perfect! Since moving in I now feel a lot more settled and I have somewhere to call ‘home’. Vanessa, the flat mate that I have met so far is very nice and helps me with a lot of things; she’s kinda feels like my second mum.

Both Wednesday and Thursday night we headed into town for some drinks where we met more assistants: Olivia from America, Alexandre from Germany and Tom and Ashley from the UK. We also met other ERASMUS students from Germany and I have found that having a glass of wine or two certainly helps me when speaking French... All of this occurred at an Irish bar called Mulligans which is surprisingly French! It’s not full of English people and has a nice atmosphere. Another thing I’ve noted is how good the German’s are at speaking French! They really do put us English to shame but its great practice for us and slowly but surely I think I’m finding it easier. Best not speak too soon...

Of course me being me, I’ve had a few incidences so far such as buying après crème instead of après shampoo for conditioner and laca instead of hairspray for my hair...They both seem to be working fine though! I also got stood up by the bus, which just straight drove past me without stopping, NICE! I had a slight problem working the passport photo machine in Monoprix (the French equivalent of Primark) and opening a French bank account proved what I had forethought about the French bureaucratic system. I must have signed about 20 pieces of paper and the best thing was that sometimes I had NO idea what I was signing!

However, other than that, things have been going very smoothly...in fact a lot more so than normal and I succeeded in getting a French SIM card and a tram and bus pass without any hassle. Perhaps my French has improved already, although I seriously doubt it. I can’t believe how nice everyone is... everyone is trying their best to make as many friends as possible but everyone so far (including the French) have been so hospitable and have really welcomed me. We have a great group of assistants which is gradually growing bigger and bigger and I’m meeting so many new people from different countries. I’M LOVING IT!

Still to come is: visiting my two schools for the first time, mine and Alice’s trip to the countryside, a free concert at ‘des expositions du Mans’, Le Mans Sunday market and our trip to the cinema...

jusqu'à la prochaine fois xxxxxx

ONE WEEK TO GO...

So...there is only one week to go now until the big move to France and if at all possible, I am more excited than before... I am SUPER excited! Everything is finally beginning to feel real and it is slowly sinking in that I’m moving to France, an hour away from the City of Lights and a TGV away from countless cities...

After having watched Pete (boyf) pack for university last week and seeing how much crap you can accumulate from various draws and cupboards in your bedroom, it has suddenly dawned on me that the 20kg weight allowance on my Ryan air flight is going to be impossible to fit all of the necessities that I need for my seven month trip abroad... I’ve never been one of the light-packing kinds so I going to need to turn over a new leaf and miraculously make this work! I suppose I shall start with the essentials and work from there.  Looking bronzed in the middle of winter= essential. The fake tan is being packed. It’s going to take a while...

Whilst I’m in Le Mans I’m going to be working as an English Teaching Assistant. I chose this option after quite a lot of consideration... I realised that I was far too lazy for a full-time job and the early starts and also not completely ready to give up my student life-style, so I guess teaching was the middle ground. Plus you get paid, bonus! This whole process has been co-ordinated (with some minor glitches) by the British Council and my god it has been a longggggg process but I’m almost there...

It all began over 10 months ago when Andrew Watts, the University of Birmingham year abroad tutor, tortured us with numerous lectures on what to expect from our time abroad and what our options were. The final leg of the process was in July this year when I received my ‘arrêté d’affection’ and was assigned two ‘collège’, both of which are in the city of Le Mans...

The things that I am most looking forward to are:

·         TGV madness

·         Being stereotypically French: eating croissant and baguette with butter and jam for brekky EVERY matin (hopefully),

·         Making new friends

·         Visits from Pedro

·         Visits from friends

·         Getting much better at French and French grammar

·         Day trips to Paris

·         Weekend trips to many of France’s cities

·         Rendez-vous’ing with Becks, Victoria, Sarah, Lorna, Charlotte and whoever else will have me!

·         Visiting the ’24 heures du Mans’ or other car/motorbike races in Le Mans

Right now, there are no more obstacles to complete! I have: booked flights and accommodation, obtained every document needed for the French bureaucratic nightmare, been in touch with the other assistants in Le Mans, started packing (I WILL fit it all in) and now I’m beginning to say my goodbyes...:(

I’m just 168 hours away from the year that I’ve been both dreading and longing... Wish me all the luck in the world!

à la prochaine  xxxxxxxxxx

Off to Le Mans...

Hello, I’m new to this blogging lark so I can’t promise that you won’t get bored half way through this post but bear with me! My name is Kate Wright and I study French and Geography at the University of Birmingham and now my third year has snuck up on me and I now find myself three weeks away from my year abroad to France...

I leave for my seven month trip to the city of Le Mans, France on the 28th September and as much as I pretend to myself that it doesn’t, the thought of this makes me feel terrified. Of course I am amazingly excited about it all as well, it will be such a good experience, and to quote Lauren Kennedy- I shall come back ‘all worldly’! It’s weird because part of me feels ready to get out there, but then another part keeps reminding me of the things that I’m going to miss: my family, my boyfriend, my friends...even my stupid fat cat! I don’t think I will ever feel entirely ready so I will just accept that during the first few days I will probably be extremely homesick and nervous but everything will be okay! I can see that an extremely important motto is going to be ‘keep positive’ and I shall no doubt need reassuring of this in the first few days.

However, at the moment, I’m far more concerned with the everlasting pile of French bureaucracy that I have to fill in, send off or apply rather than worrying about making friends or wondering if my French will be up to scratch (clearly not). With all this paperwork, I feel like I’m moving to another planet when actually it’s just across the channel! Whoever’s idea it was to obtain a ‘certificate of good health’ and the other crazy stuff we've been asked to do  was clearly just trying to make life hard for us Erasmus students!

I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel now though- I’ve completed over three quarters of my to-do checklist and have 20 days to go...not bad going! Obviously I’ll think of a million other things that need doing 24 hours before departure but that can't be helped...

I decided to make this blog as a kind of diary so I can look back and remember what I hope will be an amazing year...with a primary aim of getting pretty damn good at French! Hopefully, I will look back at this first blog in a couple of months and wonder why I was getting so worried- but hey ho, I’ve been told by a certain person who is more wise than I, that 'nerves are positive energy.’ We shall see...

Hope you enjoy following my blog throughout the year,
Bisous xoxoxox