As of 3 days ago, I have moved to France to live for a year in order to work as an English language assistant. As you may or may not know, I have wanted to live in France for more than just a holiday period for a very long time - since working in a château last summer, specifically! Since being here, I've had beautiful fresh croissants every day - hence the thoughtful name for my blog. Not très imaginative, I know, but better than nothing at all...
My housemate and I have finished unpacking our belongings into our beautifully quaint old French mansion-turned-apartments, with ours being the same level as a beautiful garden 'à l'anglais' and slightly above the courtyard with its resident guard dogs (Babouch, the owners' family dog, barks at pretty much anybody walking past but has now started to roll over for a tickle whenever we arrive or leave the grounds).
Today, I opened a French bank account and felt very grown-up and official. Since arriving a few days ago, I've felt slightly homesick and - more often than not - nervous to meet my new colleagues and the students I'll be teaching. Tomorrow, I have my first meeting at one of my two schools to receive my timetable and meet some people - which is daunting in itself, but my friends and family have been encouraging me constantly so I'm trying not to worry too much!
The trains from where I am living are fab - beautiful rainbow-coloured seats and air conditioning, too. Quel luxe!
Here are a few objectives for myself over the next week or two that I'd like to accomplish...
- Speak more French. I like to think I can speak French fairly well, but I want to have conversations in French as much as possible, even if they are only a few seconds long.
- Make new friends!
Hopefully this will be easier once I've had my induction days, and my starting days at both of my schools, but even talking to people if we go for un café or un boisson in the evening - thinking about meeting new people is pretty scary in a completely new place. - Become an expert at the trains.
I've figured out most of the routes I'll need to take for work, but I'd like to become more adept at train times and directions - I've never been good at this even back home, so this is a challenge! - Visit new places.
This could be from a new café to an entirely new part of the region I live in, or Paris, but I'd like to explore as much as I can - budget allowing!
For now, I'm off to plan an outfit to wear for a meeting at one of my schools tomorrow...and set the table for dinner with my housemate. I hope to keep this blog updated as much as I can with any sorts of information I can think of...thoughts, feelings, recommendations, recipes, news - who knows!
For now, à bientôt!
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