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.
