I have arrived safe and sound in Rouen! Well, not technically Rouen...Franqueville-St-Pierre and then Belbeuf. I don't know when I will have internet again so am going to try and write everything down now.
After a surprisingly non-hectic ferry and train ride, Karine picked me up at the station and we went to her house. Her empty house which she was moving everything into...needless to say I felt like a bit of a spare part. She's lovely though. I haven't had much of a chance to practice my French yet as I've been spoken to in English and any French that has been going on has been very loud and fast 'moving things into a house' vocab, if you get my gist. But basically, the room in which I'm meant to be staying is full of stuff so I can't stay there yet. So I'm currently staying with Annick, one of the other English teachers at the lycée who is also lovely. I feel very strange at the moment as I'm not sad/unhappy I'm just in a very strange state where my emotions are running quite high! I'm holding it together for now though. I realise this is a very unsubstantial entry but this blog is just as much for me as for anyone else and I want to make sure I remember everything as it happens. After an hour and a half long Skype session I am more than ready for bed. Expect far more interesting entries when I have actually explored my surroundings!
Saturday, 28 September 2013
Friday, 27 September 2013
Tomorrow
Of course, now that I have titled this blog post I have a medley from Annie running through my head. Typical.
So, here we go. I am packing up and trying to get everything ready and into one suitcase. This is pretty bizarre for me because for the past two years I have been used to not only packing two suitcases full of clothes but loads of bags and boxes full of toiletries, kitchenware, books, dvds, and just general stuff for moving into a house. And now I'm moving into someone's spare room and living out of a suitcase...well, it's all an experience I guess! Karine told me not to pack anything bulky like sheets, duvet's etc. because she will lend me anything I need, and seeing as it only takes me one four hour ferry ride to get home I'm assuming that by the time I do find my own place it will be very easy for me to go home and grab everything else I need and come back. Who knows, I may even be able to convince my parents to do it for me. Maybe.
It's got to that point now when I just want to go, because I've said about 1000 emotional goodbyes (barely even an exaggeration) and I just want to get out there and do what I have to do! It's quite funny really because a couple of months ago I was freaking out about how I wasn't going to be able to do this and was going to be miserable the whole time but now it's the day before and I actually just want to get going! Maybe I'll feel different on the ferry but I actually doubt it. It's time to move on!
The only issue I've really had today is that I've been trying very hard to quickly get a letter of referral from NatWest and it's proving very difficult. Hopefully I'll be able to find a French bank that won't need one, as we've been told we absolutely HAVE to get a bank account set up by the 10th October if we actually want to receive a salary/erasmus grant/securité social/any money ever in the universe. So here's a plea to any French bankers out there: please don't give me hassle and just let me open an account. Maybe that would have been a better plea if it was actually in french. S'il vous plait...blah blah blah. You get the jist right?
So one more night in Brighton, with family and my oldest friend, and then off to Rouen tomorrow for the adventure to begin! Who knows when I will next have internet to update this but hopefully Karine's house will be tech savvy and I'll be able to blog from there with first impressions of the beautiful city that is Rouen.
So, here we go. I am packing up and trying to get everything ready and into one suitcase. This is pretty bizarre for me because for the past two years I have been used to not only packing two suitcases full of clothes but loads of bags and boxes full of toiletries, kitchenware, books, dvds, and just general stuff for moving into a house. And now I'm moving into someone's spare room and living out of a suitcase...well, it's all an experience I guess! Karine told me not to pack anything bulky like sheets, duvet's etc. because she will lend me anything I need, and seeing as it only takes me one four hour ferry ride to get home I'm assuming that by the time I do find my own place it will be very easy for me to go home and grab everything else I need and come back. Who knows, I may even be able to convince my parents to do it for me. Maybe.
It's got to that point now when I just want to go, because I've said about 1000 emotional goodbyes (barely even an exaggeration) and I just want to get out there and do what I have to do! It's quite funny really because a couple of months ago I was freaking out about how I wasn't going to be able to do this and was going to be miserable the whole time but now it's the day before and I actually just want to get going! Maybe I'll feel different on the ferry but I actually doubt it. It's time to move on!
The only issue I've really had today is that I've been trying very hard to quickly get a letter of referral from NatWest and it's proving very difficult. Hopefully I'll be able to find a French bank that won't need one, as we've been told we absolutely HAVE to get a bank account set up by the 10th October if we actually want to receive a salary/erasmus grant/securité social/any money ever in the universe. So here's a plea to any French bankers out there: please don't give me hassle and just let me open an account. Maybe that would have been a better plea if it was actually in french. S'il vous plait...blah blah blah. You get the jist right?
So one more night in Brighton, with family and my oldest friend, and then off to Rouen tomorrow for the adventure to begin! Who knows when I will next have internet to update this but hopefully Karine's house will be tech savvy and I'll be able to blog from there with first impressions of the beautiful city that is Rouen.
À bientôt!
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
4 days to go
So the time is fast approaching where I will have to step onto that ferry and say goodbye to Angleterre for a while and I still feel thoroughly unprepared. Today I have been trying to go through all my paperwork but I'm still not 100% sure of everything. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be that one idiot that leaves their passport at home. Luckily the ferry is only about half an hour away from where I live but even so, would be a bit of a nightmare.
My ferry arrives in France at 3pm but annoyingly I'm going to have to wait an hour and a bit to get a train to Rouen. However, on the bright side I've realised I can book my train ticket online here at www.raileurope.com which saves me the hassle of having to use my pathetic French on the people that work at the train station. "S'il vous plait, je veux un billet et mon francais n'est pas bien, aidez-moi!!!" I don't think that would go down well.
I'm really really hoping that Karine, my responsable/prof référent will definitely be there to pick me up at Rouen station. I'm sure she will, it's just the obvious paranoia at the back of my mind!
All of my closest friends from my course are in France by now. Izzy's in Toulouse, Harriet's in Nantes and Siobhan's in Nancy, while Gwen's rocking it over on the other side of the Atlantic in Quebec. I'm trying to use in the back of mind the motto 'if they can do it, I can do it'. Apart from Gwen of course as she has the obvious advantage of actually being fluent in French. But if the other girls can do it then surely I can too right? Unless Warwick gave me a place at University for a big fat joke.
Another thing that has been revealed to me is a channel for streaming live British TV whilst I'm over there: www.filmon.com . Thank goodness there is a way I can continue to follow the Great British Bake Off.
One thing I am thankful for is the British Council Language Assistants Facebook group because it means that I have already made friends with quite a few other assistants so I won't be completely and utterly alone when I get there. The few I've spoken to are completely lovely girls so that makes me feel a lot better and a little less lonely. One thing I'm a bit annoyed about is that there is no information about the assistant that used to be at my school last year, so either there wasn't one, or they were American so didn't go through the British Council, or whoever it was was too lazy to fill in the Assistantship form/survey thing so the British Council themselves don't know who was at my school. VERY annoying as by now I could know how efficient the school are/how intense or lax the timetable is etc etc.
I also need to look into railcards etc and see what else I need to get doing. But guess what I'm doing instead? Watching Jersey Shore. Come on Olivia, get it together.
The next blog post may be a very scared and nervous one on Friday evening along the lines of "HELP ME I'M MOVING COUNTRY TOMORROW"
Ciao for now x
My ferry arrives in France at 3pm but annoyingly I'm going to have to wait an hour and a bit to get a train to Rouen. However, on the bright side I've realised I can book my train ticket online here at www.raileurope.com which saves me the hassle of having to use my pathetic French on the people that work at the train station. "S'il vous plait, je veux un billet et mon francais n'est pas bien, aidez-moi!!!" I don't think that would go down well.
I'm really really hoping that Karine, my responsable/prof référent will definitely be there to pick me up at Rouen station. I'm sure she will, it's just the obvious paranoia at the back of my mind!
All of my closest friends from my course are in France by now. Izzy's in Toulouse, Harriet's in Nantes and Siobhan's in Nancy, while Gwen's rocking it over on the other side of the Atlantic in Quebec. I'm trying to use in the back of mind the motto 'if they can do it, I can do it'. Apart from Gwen of course as she has the obvious advantage of actually being fluent in French. But if the other girls can do it then surely I can too right? Unless Warwick gave me a place at University for a big fat joke.
Another thing that has been revealed to me is a channel for streaming live British TV whilst I'm over there: www.filmon.com . Thank goodness there is a way I can continue to follow the Great British Bake Off.
One thing I am thankful for is the British Council Language Assistants Facebook group because it means that I have already made friends with quite a few other assistants so I won't be completely and utterly alone when I get there. The few I've spoken to are completely lovely girls so that makes me feel a lot better and a little less lonely. One thing I'm a bit annoyed about is that there is no information about the assistant that used to be at my school last year, so either there wasn't one, or they were American so didn't go through the British Council, or whoever it was was too lazy to fill in the Assistantship form/survey thing so the British Council themselves don't know who was at my school. VERY annoying as by now I could know how efficient the school are/how intense or lax the timetable is etc etc.
I also need to look into railcards etc and see what else I need to get doing. But guess what I'm doing instead? Watching Jersey Shore. Come on Olivia, get it together.
The next blog post may be a very scared and nervous one on Friday evening along the lines of "HELP ME I'M MOVING COUNTRY TOMORROW"
Ciao for now x
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
11 days to go
So this is the inevitable Year Abroad blog that I imagine at least 70% of those travelling this year will also set up! But why not actually create a timeline of what goes on in this scary year? The days of me chronicling my life into various LiveJournal accounts are dead and gone (thank goodness. No one wants to read back those posts) but hopefully this will be a more interesting read.
At 10am on the 28th September I will be boarding a ferry in Newhaven that will take me to Dieppe, and from there it's a train to Rouen for me. From there my prof référent is meant to be picking me up at the station and taking me to her house to settle in, and I start work I assume on the 2nd October at Lycée Galilée in Franqueville-St-Pierre.
MY 5 MAIN CONCERNS
1. My prof référent has told me recently on the phone that she is getting married this weekend coming and is actually moving into her new house with husband and three children on the 28th September. Yes, the day I move to France. So what if she doesn't turn up the midst of all the chaos of moving to a new house? What if I am stranded alone at Rouen train station? Hopefully I can find a nice French old lady to bake me bread and take me in.
2. What if I find nowhere decent to live and have to take advantage of my prof référent's hospitality for the whole seven months? At least I can give her free babysitting in return I guess. I don't even know how to say that in French. I know in Spanish it's 'hacer el canguro' but I have no idea what it is in French, which leads me on to my next point:
3. How on earth am I going to survive in a country known for hating the English language with what I swear is the most basic level of French anyone doing a degree in it has ever had? I mean honestly, I freeze up at the most basic conversational French. I know this year is obviously meant to change and improve all that, but surely I've got to be able to actually talk to people first? Can I do that?
4. I am a vegetarian and have been for the last 10 years this September. Apparently this does not compute in France. I don't really know how on earth I'm going to survive really...although I have found a good looking cookbook that might help: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-French-Market-Cookbook-Vegetarian/dp/0307984826/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=3G9MRFNKMADO0&coliid=I2JKALP4NX9643
Which leads me on to my next and final point:
5. How on earth am I going to live without all of my beautiful COOKBOOKS? And my NOVELS? This is a big deal for me. I am going to have a limited amount of space, especially for the first few weeks. How am I going to choose between all of my precious cookbooks and regular books and choose a special few to take with me in my limited suitcase space?
Yeah so that one sounds stupid but if you knew me you'd understand how much of a massive book geek I really am. So with eleven days to go, these are just a few of the things on my mind. I'm currently rewarding myself with watching one episode of Breaking Bad for every time I do something scary that needs to be done. I just booked my ferry so that definitely deserves another episode right?
I'm hoping to keep this blog as honest as possible to help out anyone else thinking of doing their year abroad in Rouen next year. That means being honest about any horrible issues as well as all the good parts I'm hoping will come from it! So let's just wait and see.
At 10am on the 28th September I will be boarding a ferry in Newhaven that will take me to Dieppe, and from there it's a train to Rouen for me. From there my prof référent is meant to be picking me up at the station and taking me to her house to settle in, and I start work I assume on the 2nd October at Lycée Galilée in Franqueville-St-Pierre.
MY 5 MAIN CONCERNS
1. My prof référent has told me recently on the phone that she is getting married this weekend coming and is actually moving into her new house with husband and three children on the 28th September. Yes, the day I move to France. So what if she doesn't turn up the midst of all the chaos of moving to a new house? What if I am stranded alone at Rouen train station? Hopefully I can find a nice French old lady to bake me bread and take me in.
2. What if I find nowhere decent to live and have to take advantage of my prof référent's hospitality for the whole seven months? At least I can give her free babysitting in return I guess. I don't even know how to say that in French. I know in Spanish it's 'hacer el canguro' but I have no idea what it is in French, which leads me on to my next point:
3. How on earth am I going to survive in a country known for hating the English language with what I swear is the most basic level of French anyone doing a degree in it has ever had? I mean honestly, I freeze up at the most basic conversational French. I know this year is obviously meant to change and improve all that, but surely I've got to be able to actually talk to people first? Can I do that?
4. I am a vegetarian and have been for the last 10 years this September. Apparently this does not compute in France. I don't really know how on earth I'm going to survive really...although I have found a good looking cookbook that might help: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-French-Market-Cookbook-Vegetarian/dp/0307984826/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=3G9MRFNKMADO0&coliid=I2JKALP4NX9643
Which leads me on to my next and final point:
5. How on earth am I going to live without all of my beautiful COOKBOOKS? And my NOVELS? This is a big deal for me. I am going to have a limited amount of space, especially for the first few weeks. How am I going to choose between all of my precious cookbooks and regular books and choose a special few to take with me in my limited suitcase space?
Yeah so that one sounds stupid but if you knew me you'd understand how much of a massive book geek I really am. So with eleven days to go, these are just a few of the things on my mind. I'm currently rewarding myself with watching one episode of Breaking Bad for every time I do something scary that needs to be done. I just booked my ferry so that definitely deserves another episode right?
I'm hoping to keep this blog as honest as possible to help out anyone else thinking of doing their year abroad in Rouen next year. That means being honest about any horrible issues as well as all the good parts I'm hoping will come from it! So let's just wait and see.
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