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!

And the countdown begins!

Less than one month before I leave for France! Three and a half weeks to be exact. I know, it's crazy. Luckily I feel like I'm pretty on top of all my preparations for the year. Besides the whole birth certificate translation, which I happen to still be avoiding, I have almost everything else I am going to need. I got my passport back in just 8 days, with the visa inside (it appears that the passport photo I had given them was to their liking, since that is the photo they used, and I guess they still had my fingerprints from my last visit). Also my visa doesn't expire until the middle of June so I'll be able to travel around and stuff after my contract ends! I also got my apostille (if you're curious as to how to say it, like I was, it's ah-post-eel) on my birth certificate, for $5. I bought a new rain/winter jacket to get me through the wet winter I am expecting, along with some cardigans for extra layering. I wish there was more I could do though, because just waiting around is hard.

This week though, my boyfriend's sister and her friend are visiting DC and staying with me during their stay, so that is cool and I'll get a chance to practice some more French before the big move.

I also joined the gym with my mom for this last month home, so I can get in shape before all the cheese and baguettes.

It's starting to hit me though that soon I am going to be leaving for 8-9 months, and won't see my friends or family until next May or June. So I'm basically trying to spend as much time as I can with my family and my friends.

Time to make the most of these last three and a half weeks!

Visa Visa Visa

So on Monday I went into DC with my mom for my visa appointment. We got to DC like an hour early, so we walked around a little bit, then my mom waited in the car while I went to the appointment. I was supposed to go at 12:15, but they took me at 11:45 when I got there. I handed the guy all of my forms and stuff, then he gave me a number and then I waited for someone else to call me up. Then I signed some papers, then sat down again, and then the last guy called me up and told me my folder is complete and that I should get my visa in the mail in 2-3 weeks. Pretty easy. Except on the section referring to teaching assistants on the website for the DC consulate, they said nothing about filling out the OFII form. I had heard of other assistants needing it so I printed it out and filled it out anyways. Good thing, since they asked for it. Also, I am a bit concerned because they didn't take my picture there or take my fingerprints, which I thought they always did. But I'm thinking that maybe they still have it on file since I studied abroad so recently. Oh well, guess I'll have to wait and see and hope it all goes well!

I have also been in contact with last year's assistant for my schools and she has been super helpful. Apparently Saumur doesn't have much of a young crowd and she hung out in Angers a lot of the time and was mostly friends with the assistants there. I've talked to the other English assistant for Saumur this year and she seems nice, so I hope she will live in Saumur, because apparently last year the other assistant lived in Angers.

Also, I realized that I've never really talked about where I'll be in relation to the rest of France. Soo here it is!

Nantes, Angers, and Saumur. And you can see Paris up there on the top right. It looks like Paris is about 3 hours by train, maybe a little less.

 I looked at my itinerary for my flight again, and I realized that I am flying into Orly and not Charles De Gaulle. Glad I didn't buy a train ticket from there ha. Good thing is I think there is a shuttle bus that goes from the airport to Montparnasse which is the other train station that will take me to Saumur

I am also trying to decide what kind of luggage I want to bring. I have one of those big backpacking backpacks already that holds 40L. And today I just bought a smaller normal sized backpack. That covers a carry-on and a personal item, so that just leaves my big checked bag. I'm not sure if I want to bring a big suitcase or a big duffle bag. A duffle bag might be lighter, but a suitcase might hold more. I think I'll have to wait until I know how much I'll actually be bringing before I can decide. I have also bought a luggage scale and another plug converter, which I am waiting to get in the mail, and today I bought a travel towel. The travel towel is super thin and really light, which is good, and it will be useful for when I am staying in hostels and if I don't have towels or something when I first get to my apartment.

Still need to get the apostille on my birth certificate and maybe get it translated, but everything is slowly becoming more and more real!

Updates!

So first of all, my plane ticket has been purchased! I got it through STA Travel, which is a pretty sweet site wiith some pretty sweet deals. I used it when I studied abroad too. I leave on September 21st, arrive in London on the 22nd and spend 3 hours there before flying to Paris. Then I am hoping to take a train straight from Charles De Gaule to Saumur (with one change of trains). I'll only have a little over an hour to get to it though, so I'm gonna hold off and buy that ticket when I get there I think. Otherwise I'll go through Paris to get to the Montparnasse train station and get a train from there. I'd much rather not have to deal with Paris though.

Second of all, I have secured the apartment at my school! It will be around 185 euros a month, not positive becaues the person who deals with the budget won't be back until September, but it's cheaper than other apartments, so that is good. The only bad part as of right now is that it doesn't have wifi, so I will most likely be buying some sort of livebox or something when I get there. But that is doable since the rent isn't too much. So far my contact person seems really nice and helpul. She gave me a bunch of information on the apartment, and offered to get me from the train station when I arrive! 

So then once I get there I'll have a little over a week to get a bank account set up and cell phone and all that good stuff. I have my cell phone from when I studied abroad that I will most likely use for the first few weeks, then I am thinking that I will try to use my cell phone from here, which means I will need to get it unlocked.

So next on my to-do list is my visa appointment in a couple of weeks. So I need to get all of that stuff in order. Meaning my work contract, passport photo, a long-stay application form, drivers license, OFII form, and copies of everything. 

I also need to get an apostille on my birth certificate, which I think is just a sticker which certifies it internationally. 

Thennn I need to make a decision about if I want to see if I can get my birth certificate translated here or if I want to wait until I get to France. 

It would also be a good idea to start brainstorming things that I can do in the classroom, since I have no ideas right now. 

In the meantime, I'm in Texas visiting my dad and my brother. Nothing too exciting, but its nice to not do anything since I have a feeling the next couple of months are going to get busy. 

It's Official!

I got my arrêté de nomination (work contract) in the mail yesterday! So now I can certainly say that I will be working at two middle schools in Saumur. And...they have an apartment for me! With a bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom! That means that I won't have to worry about finding one once I get there, and usually when you stay at the schools it is much cheaper, which means more money for traveling! So now I need to mail in a paper accepting the job, and sometime soon I should probably email my contact person to find out more about the apartment and ask other questions that I need to think of.

In other news, I am back home in the US. My last couple days in France were fantastic! Our drive up to Normandy was so beautiful, and so was the town that we stayed in.

Parc Asterix was also a lot of fun, pretty much your standard amusement park. We went on all of the roller coasters and a couple of the water rides, not all of them though because it was a bit chilly. The next day we went to a cute little town called Verneuil (top and bottom right pictures) because we needed some internet, then we walked through the town which was lovely. Afterwards before going back to the house we stopped by a chateau (top left). It was closed so we couldn't go in or anything, but it was still beautiful. So then we ate dinner and relaxed a bit before leaving at 1am for the airport. It was quite a long day. But overall my two flights went really well. All until when we were landing in DC and a boy near me started throwing up. Glad it was at the end though. Yuck.

It is nice to be home now, but after getting my work contract I am all giddy thinking about next year :)

France Part II

Hellooo, sorry it's been a while since I've posted anything. I've got lots to tell though!

So in my last post I had said that we were going on a road trip to the South of France and that I was super excited for it. Well, the day before we were supposed to leave the car wouldn't start, and it turned out that it needed a new alternator or something (I'm not a car person) and so it was taken to the shop. By the time we got it back, the people who were supposed to host us in Marseilles couldn't do it anymore, so we decided to just cancel the trip. I was pretty disappointed, but it all turned out okay :)

We couldn't do a whole lot since we didn't have a car, but last Tuesday we went to a little town on the coast called Pornic. It was raining so we couldn't do a whole lot there, but walking around was nice. And we got some delicious ice cream!

That following Friday, we went to this place called Le Puy du Fou. It is kind of hard to explain, but it is sort of like an amusement park place, but just with a bunch of shows. If you've ever been to a Rennaissance Festival, it is kind of like that but throughout all of history. There were little "towns" from different centuries and shows going along with it. Overall a cool day.

Then this past Monday we went back into Nantes. There I bought my carte 12-27, which is a discount train card. It costs 50 euros but it's definitely worth it. I also put a little bit of money on my old cell phone, it won't last until I come back but this way I won't lose my phone number and it will still be active when I come back in September.

Tuesday we went to a place called Planète Sauvage, which is sort of like a zoo, but you drive through it and can get super up close and even feed the animals! It was really cool.

So one of my boyfriend's best friend's mom works for the Académie in the language department, so he went out on a limb and asked her if she could find out where I was placed, and she did! She told him that I would be at two collèges (middle schools) in a town called Saumur. So Wednesday we went there!

It is a super cute city, not that big but not too small either. It is only like a 10 minute train ride from Angers which is the second largest city in the region. The night before we left we were looking on leboncoin.fr at apartments there, and actually set up a meeting to look at one! Just so that I would have an idea of what I could get for my money. We looked at a studio which was really small, but only 200 euros, which was awesome. the guy who was showing it to us showed us an actual apartment that was right next store and was much bigger, with a bedroom, a living room, and a full kitchen for just 320 euros, which is in my budget! The apartment was right next to the train station, and not quite in centre-ville, but it was super close to one of my schools. So that was good too look at. After looking at the apartment we just walked around the city for a bit until it started pouring rain, then we decided to go back to the car and eat a lunch we packed before driving to Angers. We didn't really walk around that much because we were both tired, so we just drove around a bit, also a cool city. The drive over there was awesome too because we were following the Loire and driving through adorable little towns.

Besides those trips, other things that I did was eat enormous amounts, learned how to play French billiards, went to a pool spa thing, went bowling (tied for first place), went to the movies, and went to some other soirées. Also made my visa appointment for August 5th. Hopefully I'll get my work contract by then!

So now I have 3 days left. Tomorrow we leave to go up to Normandie, and from there we are going to Parc Astérix on Monday, and then on Tuesday we will relax a bit before leaving around 1am to go to the airport since I have to be there around 4am for my 6am flight.

I'm sad to be leaving, but at the same time I am excited to go and spend some time at home. Plus I know I'll be back in a couple months!

France Part I

So I am back in France! I arrived last Thursday, after no sleep on the flight, but luckily everything went well. I had an hour layover in Copenhagen, which I was a bit nervous about before in case my flight would be late or something, but all went well. Then once I got to Paris I just had to make my way to gare de Lyon where I would wait 2 hours for my train to Dijon! Unfortunately, with the lack of sleep, I couldn't feel all the excitement I knew I had for returning to Dijon. It had changed a bit since I was there a year ago, but at the same time it was just the same. There is a tramway now, which is pretty cool, and one of the streets is now a pedestrian street, also cool. That night my boyfriend took me to an adorable little restaurant that served all of the region's specialties, and was quite delicious, and then we walked around a bit. The next day I met up with a friend from school who was studying abroad there and we walked around some more while we shared stories. 

. 

Then I met back up with my boyfriend and his roommates at one of my favorite coffee places for some food and coffee. Then we drove 9-10 hours back to where my boyfriend calls home, along with his best friend. I got some much needed sleep on the way, but I was still able to see some of the beautiful countryside 

Then the next few days consisted of family lunches and soirées with his friends. On Tuesday we went into Nantes and walked around a lot. We went up to the top of one of the big towers there and got to see the whole city from above, which was obviously beautiful. It's funny to think about how by this time next year I could know this city better than I knew Dijon, (if I am lucky enough to be placed near it). 

Then yesterday we  drove to an adorable little town called Pornichet. It is right on the coast so we got to go to the beach for a few hours. Now I can say that I have seen the Atlantic from both sides! Later we went out for dinner and ate some delicious moules-frites with some crêpes for dessert. 

Overall it's been lovely so far. Always a little frustrating though when I can't quite express everything that I would like to. I am sure it will get easier the more I practice though. 

Monday we leave for our eight day road trip! We are going to Bordeaux, Toulouse, Marseille, and then some other small towns on the way back. We'll be staying with some friends and family on the way down to Marseille, and then on the way back we will be camping! I am super excited!

So much excitement, so little time!

Welp, I did it. College. I graduated yesterday and it was so surreal. It seemed as though I had been waiting and ready to graduate for so long and then all of a sudden it was over. I also had some of the most fun at college just during that last week there which makes graduating even harder, but I know that I'll have my friends forever so that keeps me smiling.

In other news, I am leaving for France in 3 days! That also doesn't seem real. Usually before a trip I do a ton of researching and start packing and planning weeks in advanced, but I wasn't able to do that this time with the end of school and finals and all the craziness of moving out, so it's kinda weird. I'm not too worried though. I guess after studying abroad and having to travel by myself a lot for that I have gotten used to it, but I still feel like I should be more stressed than I am. 

I'm so excited though because I will meet up with my boyfriend in Dijon!! There was a lot of construction going on when I lived there so it will be cool to see how it all looks now! I'll only be there for a night though, which is kind of sad, but the next day we will be driving to Nantes, where my boyfriend is from (and where I will be next year). I'm excited for the drive because I'll get to see a lot of the country this way. Then I am not sure what we will be doing, I guess relaxing a bit and seeing some of the region. The second or third week I am there we are planning to do a bit of a road trip down to Marseille, and we'll be stopping at a bunch of other cities on the way. I think this may be what I am most excited about because I have never been to Marseille or any of the cities we are stopping at. Also during the four weeks I am there, I will get some much needed practice in speaking French. I know I am a bit rusty so while I'm sure there will be a lot of stressful/uncomfortable/awkward conversations, it will all be good for me and helpful for when I go back in September.

I also have this crazy unrealistic hope that I will find out what city I will be teaching in next year while I'm there. I got a second email from TAPIF last week which gave us some information about work visas and what we will need to do for that (like make an appointment soon), and they told us that our académies (regions) are preparing our work contracts now and that we should hear about them in between June and August*. Then they gave us our American Assistant Handbook, which tells us everything we need to know about everything pretty much. So anyways, it would just be perfect if I found out where I would be teaching while I am in France this month so that I could maybe go see the city/surrounding cities and figure out where I might want to live. 

So yeah, everything is happening so fast, but I'm so excited and so happy about all of it.


*Not sure if I had explained this already, but I was assigned to the académie de Nantes. The académie is just a region in France, sort of like a state here, so when I get my work contract, they will tell me where and which schools exactly I will be teaching at. So it's pretty exciting.

Let me introduce myself

So I decided to start this blog because when I was applying to the TAPIF program I started reading pretty much any blog I could find from other people who did/are doing the program, and it was super helpful in the application process and in my decision, and probably for my time in France, so it made me want to start a blog myself. I've just been waiting to find out if I got in before starting it (I didn't want to jinx myself). Now that I have been accepted, though, this will be a way for me to channel my excitement so that my friends don't have to deal with me talking about it all the time, since it's pretty much all I want to talk about. It will also be a way for me to look back and remember everything that I did.

So I'm not really sure who is going to be reading this, probably mostly family and friends so they can see what I will be doing next year, and maybe other TAPIFers or prospective TAPIFers. I thought I'd give a little bit of my background though in case there are people reading this who don't know me.

My name is Allison and I will be graduating this May as a French major with Math and Sociology minors. I know it's a random mix of things, and I have absolutely no idea what I really want to do with them, but I'm hoping that maybe after doing this program I will find that I enjoy teaching and go on to become a French teacher here.

Last Spring I studied abroad in Dijon, France. It was most definitely the best experience of my life. I lived with a host mom who was kind of crazy, but probably wasn't really as crazy as we thought she was now that I look back on it, but it was definitely interesting living with her. Living with two other students who I became really good friends with definitely helped. I also became really good friends with two other girls (one of which will be doing this program with me!). They were all American/Canadian though, so unfortunately I didn't speak French as much as I should have, so I didn't get my French to the level I would have hoped. But the first week I was in Dijon, I also met a French guy who I am still dating today. He lives in France though (obviously), which makes it a little difficult, but he's come to visit multiple times and I will be going to see him in June! I am working on speaking French more with him since none of his family speaks English besides him, plus it will help prepare me for when I move there in the Fall. He is also from Nantes (where I will be next year), so if I run into any trouble it will be nice to know that his family would be able to help me. He, unfortunately, will be doing a year abroad in Budapest next year. But hey, at least we'll be in the same time zone.

For now though I am just trying to finish school and enjoy the rest of college.

Get Excited!

Because I'm going back to France!!!!!!!

Back in November I decided to apply for the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF) which is a program where the French government brings people from all over the world to be language assistants in their schools. The contracts are from October to April and the teaching assistants work for 12 hours a week and get paid about  €790 per month, which is around $1,039. I first heard about the program over the summer but didn't think much of it because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do after graduation, but I submitted the application on January 9th, a few days before the deadline, knowing that I still didn't have any other ideas for next year.

So after months and months of waiting to hear back, I finally got the email on April 2nd finding out that I had been accepted! I will be an English teaching assistant at middle and/or high schools in the Nantes region, which is on the west coast of France. I won't find out where exactly I will be working until June or July, so I won't know where I will live until after that since it's rare that you are placed in the actual main cities of the region.

But do ya wanna know what's even more exciting? One of my best friends that I met when studying abroad last year is doing the program too! In the same region as me! So I won't be alone on my journey there. Still hard really believe that it is actually going to happen.

I am just so happy that I finally know what I will be doing next year. So when people ask me what I'll be doing or where I'll be after I graduate, I can actually give a definite answer.