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!