The End

So I realize that I didn't do too well with the whole blogging thing this year. But I figured I should do one last post.

My last trip was amazing. It was great to travel without the thought of having to go back to work and knowing that I would be home soon.

Now I have been home for 3 weeks, though it feels like much longer. And in these 3 weeks I have been asked the whole, "How was France?" question many times. And I usually just give the answer everybody expects and say that it was awesome, or great, or amazing although I am happy to be home now blah blah blah. But really the answer is much more complicated than that.

Yes, I loved living in Europe and being able to travel so much, I loved being able to walk to the boulangerie and buy a warm baguette with a pain au chocolat, and being understood when I spoke French. I loved that I saw a castle on my way to work every week, and I love that I made friends from all over the world. But if you ever listened to the conversations I had with these friends, you would hear us complaining most of the time. About our job, the students, about the bank, and pretty much about France in general.

The job was okay, but I think having some sort of teaching experience would have made it so much better. Not knowing what I was doing was stressful for me.

Really, it seems like living and working abroad for a year is all very exciting, which it is at times. However I only worked 12 hours a week, if that, and the rest of the time I was mostly just in my apartment watching netflix and eating nachos made with strange cheeses.

My dad also died back in November while I was in France, which was a big reason why I couldn't fully enjoy my time there. I came home for a couple weeks, but decided that I should finish out my contract. Coming back to France after that and leaving all my family again was extremely hard though, and I really was just counting down the days until I came back home. I tried to make the best of it, kept busy and traveled as much as I could, but I still desparately just wanted to be back with my family. I don't know that if that hadn't happened how much more fun I would have had though, since my other assistant friends were also counting down the days at the end.

Really, I think this whole program is all luck. What city you are placed in, your schools, if housing is provided,  your teachers, other assistants, etc. You just have to work with what is given to you, and I think I did that the best I could in Saumur.

Overall, it was definitely a great experience.  

Well now that there is one month left...

...I might as well start blogging again.

I have 4 and a half weeks of work left. Some things have changed, but most things are still the same. I still don't really know what I'm doing. I just fake it and it kinda works out. I at least sort of have a schedule now, even if it is only week by week. As of last Friday my visa is finally complete, it only took 6 months and going to the OFII four times. I've traveled to Budapest twice, Prague, Vienna, and the South of France.
I went to Disneyland Paris. But things in Saumur have not really changed, except that I now have a functioning bike.

I'm starting to figure everything out for when I leave now. I just bought a plane ticket home for May 10th, so that is super exciting. And before that I am going to Brussels for three nights and Berlin for three nights (one of those nights I'm seeing Pentatonix!!). Then I come back to Saumur for a couple nights before going to Nantes to spend my last few nights with my boyfriend :)

So until then, I am going to try to make the best of my last weeks in France! And maybe try to blog a little more...

On commence doucement...

So I have sort of been with classes for the last two weeks. Although it started out with me just sitting awkwardly in the back not saying anything and children whispering about who the strange person in the back is. This moved on to the kids asking me questions in order to find out who I am and what I like. And then in some classes I have actually (sort of) taught something. And by something I mean Halloween. I don't know if they actually learned anything though, but we can pretend they did.

So I will technically work 12 hours a week. As of right now I'll work at the school I don't live at on Mondays for 5 hours, and then every other Friday for 2 hours. Then I work at the school I live at on Tuesdays and Thursdays for about 3 hours each day (although I don't quite have my schedule yet for them). So as you can see, I don't have to work on Wednesdays, and I get a 3 day weekend every other week. Not bad, eh? Also this past week I haven't even worked all of these hours because a lot of classes have big tests before the break and the teachers have meetings. As one teacher put it, "On commence doucement ici," or, "We start slowly here."

Also, after barely doing anything these last couple weeks, I now get a 2 week vacation. So on Saturday I leave to go see my boyfriend in Budapest! I'll be there for the whole vacation, plus we are going to Prague for a weekend. So I am super excited :)

Here is a little mini classroom that I will be using this year at one of my schools. I think it's cute :)

Also here are some of the questions I got from the students (they get more entertaining near the end):

• What is your name?
• What is your nationality?
• How old are you? - I say 21, and then hear them whisper that I'm 31...really?
• Do you have any pets?
• What kinds?
• What is your favorite color?
• Who is your favorite celebrity?
• Have you ever met a star?
• Do you eat fast food every day?
• What is your favorite flag?
• What is your favorite piece of fruit? (lolz)
• Do you  have children?
• Do you have a boyfriend?
• Do you have a lover? 
• Do you have children?
• Do you have baby?
• Do you like baby? 
• Do you speak French? - I say no
• Do you speak any other languages? - I say no again, feeling lame

Then and Now

So this past weekend my friend Angie came and spent the weekend with me in Saumur. She is also an assistant but in Savenay, which is 20 minutes from Nantes (you can check out her blog here). We were talking about how things are so different this time in France than when we studied abroad in Dijon. It's almost as if the magic has faded, and now it's just France. So thinking back to the first time I came to France when I was a mere 13 years old, here are some things that are different.

Then:                                                                            

• Everything was GO GO GO
• Hardly understood any French 
• Spoke English to French people
• When trying to speak French nobody understood
• Always with people 
• Everything was new and exciting    

Now:

• Everything is wait wait wait... (i.e. opening a bank account, getting a work schedule, etc.)
• Can understand most French
• Speak French to most French people
• When speaking French most people understand
• Living alone
• Everything is normal

However, some things never change...

I'm here!

So I have officially been in France for 5 days! I suppose I will start at the beginning of the trip.

My parents took me to the airport nice and early. Turned out my big backpack was too big as a carry on, buuuut the lovely lady at the counter said I could check it for free! Whew! That was a relief. So then we got some cheesy fries at an airport restaurant and said our goodbyes. The flight to London went well, except the lady next to me liked to talk. After a good amount of wine and cognac, I learned that her husband died a few years ago and she hasn't quite let go yet, all of her friends are dead, and her son lives 5 minutes away and never see's her. Luckily she had an English accent and a pleasant voice so it wasn't too bad to listen too.

Then when I arrived in London, I found that I had to go through security again. I believe this is the first time I've had to do that when I had a connecting flight so I was a little confused. I didn't really care though since I had a while to wait. Except, I suppose I forgot to put some lotion and hand sanitizer in my liquids baggy with my mascara (which I didn't need to do in Baltimore), so my bag was set aside to be searched. The man searched it and had some sort of paper thingy that he rubbed on the bag and my stuff to get tested. It seemed like he was taking a longer time to do the test for me than the person before me so I was a bit confused, even more confused when he asked for my passport. Finally a man came and asked if anyone told me what was going on, which they hadn't, and he told me that the test came positive for something at first, but then when the tested it again it came out negative and that they have to document all these things. I think it might have been GSR or something, I didn't really hear, but afterwards he asked if I carried a firearm or if anyone in my family carried a firearm, since, ya know, people do that in America. Obviously I said no, and they finally let me go. I then went and got a sandwich and a new bottle of water, since I had to throw my old one away, and had some lunch.

When I boarded my next flight, I was supposed to have a window seat, but somebody was already in my seat and I was really confused and didn't feel like asking him to move so I took the open seat on the aisle. It was only an hour flight so I didn't really care.

So finally I am in France at the Orly airport. It's much smaller than Charles de Gaulle. I get all my bags, and I take one of the Cars AirFrance (really it's a bus though) to the Montparnasse train station (only 10 euros for students and definitely better than dealing with the metro). I take the earlier train to Saumur (someone was in my window seat again here) and end up waiting a bit for my contact person to pick me up, but I didn't mind. I got some credit for my phone and another bottle of water (since I lost the one from London somewhere along the way) while I waited. Finally she gets there (at the time I told her I'd get there) and she takes me to my lovely apartment! Here are some pics!

 

Dining room I guess

 

Living room

 

Kitchen (with a sink, little oven, and two burners on top, plus a little fridge and microwave)

 

There's the fridge and microwave, and you can see into the little hallway and my front door

 

There's my lil toilet

 

And my bedroom

 

And of course the bathroom with a bathtub and the lovely shower that I have to hold myself. But at least there is good water pressure. 

The first night was a bit rough. I was tired and homesick and all alone, but I discovered that there was internet and that made everything better. I was able to send emails to my mom, and call my dad on Viber, and Skype with my boyfriend which all made the large apartment seem less lonely

On Monday I went grocery shopping with Audrey and met the other English teachers along with the Principle. They all seemed really nice. The secretary gave me some paperwork to start filling out, which I just turned in today. Then the next day I went and talked to the other teachers a little more as they were trying to figure out how my schedule would be (sounds quite confusing). I got an Attestation de Logement from the secretary so that I could open a bank account, which Audrey helped me do on Tuesday as well. Then afterwards I went to her  place and met her husband and her 8 month old baby boy, who was obviously adorable. They were all super nice, and they drove me back to my apartment afterwards. I haven't visited my other school yet, and I also haven't really talked to them besides one e-mail, so I'm not really sure when I will go there.

I also met up with the other assistants in Saumur a couple times. There is Rebecca, who is another English assistant, Ana who is a Spanish assistant, and a German assistant named Katharina. They are all really nice and seem like fun, so it looks like we'll have a nice little group here. Unfortunately we have discovered that there is nothing really to do. So it looks like we will be planning many trips to Angers and other surrounding cities.

So in this short week that I've been here I have discovered that my apartment is extremely far away from everything. It is at least a 30 minute walk to get to centre-ville, 20 minutes maybe to get to the grocery store (haven't attempted this yet), and I believe it will be an hour at least to get to my other school. There are buses, but they only run once an hour it looks like. It takes about 20 minutes to get to centre-ville and will take about 45 minutes to get to my other school by bus, which I guess is better than an hour. I would like to get a bike, but I'm not sure where to find a cheap one, since I don't particularly want to pay 200 euros for a new one. So it is a bit of a bummer that I am so far away from everything and everyone, but it will get better. I am extremely grateful to have this apartment for so cheap, and that I have access to internet here.

Sorry this post is so long, but here are a few pretty pictures of Saumur that I took this week!

 

 

 

 

Here I go!

So last Saturday I was planning on trying to get everything packed. My dad came back to MD on Wednesday and I spent my last couple nights with him so I needed to pretty much have everything ready by then. Without really organizing all of my things I wanted to just do a quick trial pack. I really just wanted to see if all the stuff I had set aside would fit and if it would make the weight limit. And it did, even with a few pounds to spare! But then after wheeling the large, stuffed duffel bag around the house a little bit I realized how heavy it still was and how I'd have to be wheeling that around Paris and carrying it up and down many stairs. So I decided to go with a big suitcase instead. I cut down on a few things, and packed everything up in that on Wednesday. It is still under weight limit at about 48 lbs (I get up to 51 lbs), and wheeling that around already feels nicer. I think it has to do with the way the weight is distributed in the suitcase, because the duffel bag literally felt like I was wheeling around a dead body.

Basically the way I have everything packed is like this:

In my big suitcase (thank you, James) I have all my clothes and just about all of my shoes. This includes sweaters, tank tops, t-shirts, dressy tops, dresses, jeans, shorts, underwear, socks, tights, leggings, hats, scarves, gloves, mittens, a jar of peanut butter, and two packs of ramen noodles. I realize that I probably won't need half of the stuff, but it's comforting to have.

Next I have a large backpack. In there I have a couple pairs of shoes, a sweatshirt and sweatpants (gotta have comfy clothes), a winter coat, make-up, toiletries (of the appropriate size of course), electronic stuff (chargers, converters etc.), belts, a French/English dictionary, make-up, jewelry, a teddy bear (also for comfort), and some other random stuff.

Finally I have my smaller backpack, equipped with a laptop, a kindle, books I had bought as teaching aids, an empty water bottle (I plan on filling it up after going through security), a brush, a purse with my passport and wallet in it, gum, and snacks.

I have about 15 pounds that I'll use to get lunch while I am in London waiting to change planes, and then I have about 120 euros for when I get to France. I wish I had more (kinda forgot about getting it from the bank until it was too late), but there should be an ATM at the airport, or that should last me until I get to Saumur where there are definitely ATMs. I didn't end up buying my train ticket from Paris to Saumur ahead of time, because I didn't know which train I'd be able to make. Although it would have saved me some $$$, I feel less pressured this way.

My last week at home has been lovely. I saw my friends last weekend, had lunch with my grandparents on Tuesday, and spent some quality time with my parents the rest of the time. Not to mention eating crabs my last night in Maryland, I mean what could be better than that?

While I am super excited when I think about where I'm going and what I'll be doing, it makes me sad to think about everything and everyone I'll be leaving. I know I am going to miss home a lot, but I also know that time is going to fly, so I plan on enjoying every day.

So as I wear my heaviest boots, comfortable leggings, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt (yes I am already roasting), my journey begins.

Here I go!

One week to go!

Well everyone, we are down to one week now. I've decided that it is an acceptable time to start packing, so I have already started going through my winter clothes and picked out what I might want to bring. Although once I can add my clothes that I still wear regularly, I'm sure I will have to take away half of what I have now. Earlier this week I went shopping for all the toiletries I needed, got a flu shot, and got a haircut.

I also finally bought a pair of Tom's. I've been wanting them for a long time, but putting off buying them because I never feel like spending $50. So, of course, I wait until the time that I should be saving money the most. But now I have some nice walking shoes that aren't large touristy tennis shoes.

I also need to start thinking about the actual job part of this year and what sorts of things I'm going to bring for that. I went to Barnes and Noble today to look at some books and I got a book on Thanksgiving, a book on Halloween, and a Mad Libs, but I need to think of what sorts of things I could bring that are specific to me and where I'm from.

I also got a book for traveling in France :) Apparently it was written by Harvard undergrads who were just told to go and travel and then write about everything. Jealous? Yeah, me too. From what I've read so far it seems pretty cool.

Now that my departure date is so soon, I'm also starting to realize all the things that I am going to miss (in no particular order):

• the rest of Project Runway
• peanut butter
• my family
• my first homecoming as an allum
• nachos
• my dogs
• my friends
• Pretty Little Liars Halloween special
• ABC Family's 13 Nights of Halloween (I like Halloween)
• being able to call my mom whenever I want to
• being able to say anything I want with ease
• my roommate's dog having puppies again
• pumpkin pie
• Netflix and Hulu
• plus a lot of other stuff that I can't think of at the moment

So while I am going to miss all of these things terribly, I'm still super excited for everything else that is to come.

Gah, I can't believe I'm leaving in a week!