Discovering the reason I came to France...

So today I discovered the reason why I chose to come to France: THE FOOD.

I got up at 10am in order to get something out of the morning instead of lounging around or watching Gavin and Stacey, and ambled along in the direction of the town centre via la Mairie (the town hall) and the Mediatheque (media library, so audio and film resources, not just books). Romorantin is a really cute little town, full of winding roads with front doors sitting right on the pavement, shuttered windows and various tabacs and cafes dotted around. La Sauldre river runs through it and there are some beautiful (if small) parks beside it.

Musée de Sologne

Then when I was about 100m from La Halle, the smell of roasting chicken accosted me. French markets, how I love thee. La Halle is essentially a large hall / warehouse / urban barn where, several times a week, it comes to life and is filled with all manner of local French produce. I bought myself some melon and bananas, and just stared at all the other delights on offer. A Chinese stall (I found the takeaway and restaurant earlier today, and there's a MacDo's! - McDonald's, not that I'll be going there); a counter selling all manner of cooked and uncooked meats; many fruit and veg stalls; an oyster stall; a patisserie; whole populations of cheese; a massive machine full of spits of roasting, melt in the mouth chickens with optional pommes frites; oh yes, and the slightly gruesome sight of entire skinned rabbits complete with staring eyes. Disturbing.

So yes, that was my morning complete. Feeling very French I wandered back to my room along the river where some people were fishing. A few cultural observations:
1. French people (on the whole, and from my experience to date) don't seem to like dogs any bigger than a border terrier. It wouldn't be fair to call them rats (although there have been a few leashed-rats about asking to be trodden on) but the single Alsatian and normal-sized mutt I've seen are a distinct minority.
2. The French don't seem to mind if you walk infront of them while they're driving. I personally haven't dared to do so, but have watched in horror as many locals simply walk out in front of them. The first time this happened I was shocked when there was no outburst of authentic French swear words - putain!! par exemple - or honking of horns, but no, the driver meekly slammed on the breaks and motioned for the pedestrian to pass. Life as a French person seems much more laid back than in Britain - having a two hour lunch break (the world literally stops turning) and buying bread twice a day would be impossible with my British lifestyle.

3. The French seem to very nice as a whole, I don't think I've had one look of disgust when I've admitted that 'je suis anglaise', and all the teachers have been extremely welcoming. Case in point below.

This lunchtime I was due to have lunch with a teacher and her family, and in fact we went to a once-a-year food festival celebrating Turkish, Morrocan and Portugese cuisine. There were loads of women in the back of the tents freshly making the food on huge hot plates, and many baskets of desserts dripping in honey. Lush. And then they drove me around the town, pointing out the cinema, where I can go swimming and ice-skating (the only ice-rink in the region is in my town), the park Beauvais or something like that where I embarrassed myself and displayed how poor my French really is by trying to explain that quaint British passtime of 'conkers'. It's really difficult to explain, not least because even if you say it correctly, they couldn't believe that the British would be so weird as to do such a thing!

So it has been a very food-themed and -filled day!! I am yet to purchase anything at a patisserie - I think I'll use my first paycheck for that...                                   

Smashing the French. Language, that is...

So I'm sitting in my room in the studenty youth hostel thingy. The room's pretty basic (Holland Hall girl coming through) but nonetheless I do have my own functioning bathroom, it is furnished, and my bed is made. Plus I have my homemade millionnaire's shortbread - WIN.

It's Friday 28th, and I left Wednesday morning. It's been quite a couple of days!
WEDS: Took the Eurostar successfully to Paris (despite getting pulled over at security at Ashford due to my washbag containing a penknife and nail scissors), then crossed Paris to Montparnasse using le Metro. Let's just say that by the time I got to the platform for my train to Tours, I was rather sweaty, red in the face, and had my feathers generally ruffled by lugging a HUGE suitcase (plus heavy rucksack and Waitrose bag full of stuff that wouldn't fit anywhere else PLUS wearing my winter coat coz it wouldn't fit either!) up and down countless flights of stairs - where on earth were the escalators??? They're a perfectly good invention. What I particularly like is when one has the choice between stairs or escalators, and if one is without luggage they can spring up the stairs like a gazelle and feel very smug when they beat the escalator's passengers to the top. The awkward bit is then waiting for your companions on the escalator to arrive....
Anyway, I arrived in Tours on a bright, sunny afternoon and set off in search of my hotel. After getting a bit lost and already a bit tired, I decided not to try and map read any more and instead I accosted a young mother and her child (thinking they fitted the profile of someone least likely to A. bundle me into the back of a white van and drive off, wheels screeching or B. just ignore me as I bleated 'excusez-moi') who helpfully showed me the way and tried to bolster my spirits by telling me I was not far off.

I had a nice conversation with the hotel owner, had a shower, and once feeling refreshed, set off into Tours armed with a better map which actually showed some places of interest on it (see below).  

Cathedral Saint-Gatien

Hotel de Ville

A beautiful large town / city which I thoroughly enjoyed wandering around, and where I first began to Smash the French language. I first of all bought a French PAYG SIM card (which runs out after a certain amount of time here - the more money you pay, the longer it lasts). But Suzie Smasher of the French did not stop there, oh no, she went on to conquer the SNCF 12-25 rail card too.

THURS: After staying at a teacher's house for the night, she drove me to the Lycee where she worked, situated in the town where I shall be an assistante d'etrangere francaise (please 'scuse the lack of squiggles) for the next seven months: Romorantin. I was introduced at the Lycee, and at break wandered down to the College where I met my future colleagues and was given a whirlwind by a bubbly and extremelyfasttalking secretary.
And then I got a lift here, to my unhomely 'home' (well, for at least the next month) where I further dominated the language to the extent that I was complemented, and I managed to buy some lovely much-needed internet.

FRI (today): I had lunch at the college which was nice - only €3.20 for a hot meal, a salad, a yoghurt and a piece of fruit (plus unlimited water). I know where I intend on eating my main meal - ridiculously yummy patisserie pastries can fill in any gaps!!
Lunch with Valerie and her family tomorrow, then off to Orleans on Sunday for my Journee d'Accueil!!
A bientot.

Suzie vs. Suitcase

So it's Friday. I'm alone in the house. I leave for France on Wednesday morning.
I've said goodbye to Dave, I've amassed the clothes I wish to wear (and bought a few more...), I've made copious lists, photocopied essential documents and saved them to an external memory disk thingy, and now the Everest of the "packing for year abroad" experience looms over me: fitting it all in a suitcase that can be successfully manoeuvred through the French underground metro system. Ohgosh.

I'm also taking a rucksack with me for a couple of English books and a select few DVDs (congratulations 'Gavin & Stacey' and 'Best Exotic Marigold Hotel', you have made the cut*), my beloved FiloFax without which I cannot cope, my Year Abroad folder containing every relevant document, email and piece of paper to which I will ever conceivably need to refer, should all computers in Romorantin self-combust / come to harm. Add to that any clothes that don't fit in the suitcase, a batch of Millionaire's Shortbread (essential), teaching materials - yet to be decided upon let alone gathered - and a photo album.
(*The reason BEMH made it is that there's a character in it who doesn't embrace the craziness of India and the experience that she has been thrown into. Whenever I feel frustrated or appalled by anything in France, I hope to take a step back, remember not to be her, and to enjoy and appreciate les Français.)

So yes, once I stop digressing I shall go and do that. Or make more lists. Or perhaps I shall read some Harry Potter en français. After having since the end of May and my last exam to maintain my linguistic abilities (limited as they are), I have neglected to touch any source of frenchiness til this morning when I watched '27 Dresses' in French with English subtitles. It actually went rather well. Probably because 1. I've seen the film so many times as a form of 'French revision' come exam season, that I know the plot back to front and 2. it's a RomCom - how complex does that sort of plot ever get?!

Had better go and pack that damned suitcase / try and filter out some junk....
Til next time, which will probably be written from France!!! Exciting stuff.

Win some, lose some...

So today I had a rather uppity time concerning my upcoming froggish adventure.
Positive: I had a reply from Olivier who is my contact at my (sort of) organised accommodation.
Negative: he didn't actually answer the most important question i.e. WHERE is my accommodation.
Olivier has kindly provided me with an address to which well-wishers may send me letters and sorely-needed British food hampers, but NOT, apparently, the address where I will be LIVING.
Positive: After trawling the internet I have discovered that there are many sports clubs in Romorantin, including badminton (win) and rugby (perhaps a potential new skill I may learn), and a walking club on Friday evenings for an hour. This way I can enjoy the beauties of the Loire and not have to worry about map reading!!
Negative: I probably won't be able to do any sport when I get there since I have spent the last three weeks stuffing my face and surfing the internet looking at random bits of information about France, instead of actually enjoying my time here at home before I leave... oops...

Today I very much enjoyed reading my friend Georgie's blog - she has gone to Russia, and it did sort of make me feel more at ease that she is surviving fine on the other side of the earth, so I'm sure I can cope with  France.

I need to finish this pre-Year Abroad portfolio work. Actually quite enjoying planning 'goals' for my Year Abroad (shameful, I know). Currently my personal goals stand thus:
1. Join a library and read all the French classics
2. Read an entire newspaper or magazine a week, note down all new vocabulary, learn
3. Join a sports society
4. Get a second job
5. Go to Nantes and eat moules et frites
6. Visit as many of the Loire's chateaux as possible
7. Sit in on a church service (and not make a fool of myself) and hopefully find some nice church family who will take me in and feed me in return for some rent and me babysitting occasionally. This one is more of a whim than a goal of sorts. Something to make my life easier, although I am sure it would definitely enhance my cultural experience and language skills.

Exactly three weeks today and I will be wandering around Tours, having breezed through the French rail and metro system, dumped my stuff at my hotel, and be savouring the sumptuous sights that France has to offer, while chomping on something full of carbs. Here's hoping.

Three weeks of Britishness to go...

So I guess I should probably do some sort of blog entry before I go off to France. I've never read a blog before (because I don't really care about other people's opinions that much) but I've read articles like Giles Coren's which are pretty amusing. Reading seems pretty easy stuff, but writing is harder than I thought it would be. More so because other people might be reading it, and I don't mind just writing crap when only I have access to said crap. Since you are reading this I should probably make some sort of effort.

Today is 4th September. I leave my beloved Britain on 26th. If I had a penny for every time someone had asked me if I was looking forward to my year abroad, I reckon I'd have enough money to buy a bar of galaxy or something. Was thinking today whether or not I should take some galaxy with me for stressful moments concerning French bureaucracy. 
But anyway, yes I think I am looking forward to the year. A few reasons come to mind:
1. not having to do (much) academic work for a year
2. having easy access to French food markets and patisseries
3. getting paid and getting an Erasmus grant, enabling me to travel to various places of interest post-30th April 2013 when I am again a free agent. 

But then again there are certain challenges involved:
1. speaking French
2. understanding French
3. putting up with the French

Nonetheless, I feel my OTC days have prepared me well for such an adventurous undertaking - I have survived capsized canoes in Canada, black ski runs in La Thuile and Alpendorf, and many field ex's in England, Wales and Germany. I can take seven (interrupted) months with the frogs!!
I'll just crack out my orders and estimate fabloned cards and adapt and overcome the problems presented. Currently these involve:
1. being told I have accommodation, but not where it is or what is included
2. teachers who don't reply to emails concerning meeting them / arriving at the schools for the very first time
3. rural French public transport

I expect the year to increase my patience threshold, encourage me not to plan the minutest detail of every aspect of life (I currently have a meticulous five year plan) and help me realise that there are other functioning countries in the world other than my beloved Britain.