The Countdown Begins

This summer has gone by very quickly and suddenly I am leaving for France in only 25 days! Now that I have my visa and can legally work in France, all that's really left for me to do is pack. Since I am leaving in less than a month, I thought I'd make a list of some of the things I'm not looking forward to and things that I am looking forward to. I'm really excited about going but at the same time I can't help but be nervous!


Things I am NOT looking forward to:

- Being away from my family/boyfriend/friends for 7.5 months

- The time change (it will be difficult finding times to talk to people at home that work for both me and them) 

- Strikes (the French love going on strikes - last time I was in France, the SNCF went on strike and my train to Paris was cancelled so I had to rent a car to get there and almost missed my flight to Munich)

- Not being able to understand everyone (my French is good, but I still struggle with slang and people who speak too quickly)

- People not understanding me sometimes

- Dog poop (French people don't like to clean it up)

- How expensive everything is since I am used to Milwaukee's decent prices

- Living out of 1 suitcase for 7.5 months 



Things I AM looking forward to:

- Being in FRANCE!!!

- Traveling all over Europe

- Speaking French (and hopefully improving a lot!) 

- French food (especially galettes and crepes)

- Yummy Boulangeries 

- Pain au chocolat

- Nantes' Christmas market and vin chaud (hot spiced wine) in the winter

-  Living in a place with so much history and culture to explore

- Meeting people from many different countries

- Visiting chateaux 

- Being an English teaching assistant and getting insight into the French education system (also getting to teach about America, Chicago, and Milwaukee)

- Making French friends


To me, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives concerning living in France. Even though I'm nervous about it now, I had an amazing time studying abroad there and I know being a teaching assistant will be just as wonderful. Leaving my family/boyfriend/friends behind is going to be extremely difficult, but I will be home for 2 weeks over Christmas break so I know that will help. 7.5 months seems like a long time now, but I know it will go by like a flash (especially if I am having the time of my life!) 

I'm Back!

Since I will soon be going to France again, I thought I'd start getting in the habit of blogging so that my friends can see what I'm up to in the land of crepes, chateaux, and strikes. No, I am not going until October... but you can't blame me for being excited and starting a few [read: 6] months ahead.

Some of my more loyal followers may realize this isn't the same blog I had last time. Though I would have liked to continue where I left off after I studied abroad, I somehow got locked out of my account so c'est impossible.

I just got accepted to be a teaching assistant in France, which means that I will spend 12 hours a week, for 7 months, teaching English lessons to French high school students. Admittedly, 12 hours a week does not seem like much, but it will give me plenty of time to explore the town and travel a lot. I will be teaching in the Académie de Nantes, which is where I studied abroad. French académies are very large, however, so I will not necessarily be teaching in the city of Nantes. French school districts cover large regions and there are many positions in smaller cities and towns in the region. I will not find out exactly what town I'll be in until this summer, so I could really be anywhere in the district. I've heard horror stories of assistants getting placed in tiny rural towns in the middle of nowhere with no form of transportation and no other assistants. I'd prefer being in a city, but I do think being placed in a smaller town would make the experience more authentic. I wouldn't mind it as long as there is at least one more assistant and decent transportation. No matter what, I will still be in France! 

I also discovered that this 7 month period includes many different breaks. There is a 2 week break at the end of October, 2 weeks for Christmas, 2 weeks around February, and 2 weeks in April! Plan your visits accordingly.