Visiting my future workplace

And so, dear reader, you might well be wondering where I went in this, the last of my school holidays before I finish my post as English Language Assistant and am rendered once again unemployed. (N.B. it's not my last paid holiday, since I am paid until the end of April, half of which is conveniently taken up by holiday! Gotta love the French.) I hope that this blog post serves to take away your puzzlement and sufficiently informs you.

My favourite Exeter people.

I briefly graced home and Exeter with my presence, having an awesome time in each of them. Highlights of home consisted of a Miranda-thon and baking scones (I know, I have excellent taste and will make a wonderful house-wife one day). Highlights of Exeter include finding an awesome new burger joint and catching up with all my friends (I am so glad I have put off finals and the idea of becoming unemployed for another year...).

American Biffle and lovely painted houses. 

On Monday, I took the Eurostar to Paris, and then a train to Strasbourg whereupon I met my American biffle Erin (yes, I am aware that the acronym is spelt 'BFFL' - best friends for life). Strasbourg is quite a small city, and the main, old part of it is encircled by rivers. This makes it incredibly easy to find your way around, or at least to not get hideously lost: if you've crossed a river, you've left the main old part.

Favourite aspects of Strazza:
1. Paint.
Well done to the French living in Alsace, for this lot seem to have discovered how to paint buildings. I am beyond sick of the typical beige-grey exterior of the vast majority of French buildings (the finish of which I am reliably informed is called crépi), giving then a battered, unloved and dirty appearance. 

RED (!!) Cathedral

2. Cathedral.
Regarding its exterior, this cathedral was very different from those that I have seen so far. It was constructed using red stone, its architecture is pointed, and it only has one tower because they seem to have run out of money before they could finish it. Its interior was not over-whelming, I have seen far better stained glass elsewhere (did you not know that I am a well-known cathedral connoisseur?) but it did have a very interesting clock in one corner of the building. 

3. Tram system.
The Strasbourg tram system is very effective and clean (like the rest of the city). However I dislike the fact that we bought a ticket and it was never checked. That 3€ could have been spent on patisseries. 

And, as you may have noticed from the title of this blog post, I was able to visit my future workplace AKA the European Parliament. Sadly Erin and I were not allowed to go in, as guided tours are only permitted if you are in a pre-decided group of at least 15. Oh well, I'll get to swan about in there once I'm an EU civil servant. 

Future working quarters. I can already taste the power.

Strasbourg also has a fascinating city history. Among many other interesting nuggets of information, the city was a military outpost at the time of the Romans (coinciding with a huge rise in illegitimate births, for some unknown reason...); it became an independent city-state in the late 1200s and remained thus until the French Revolution in 1789; the first ever newspaper was printed there in 1605 with the city's printing presses; and it was in Strasbourg that 'La Marseillaise' was composed. I highly encourage you, dear reader, to inform yourself on the history of Strasbourg, by Wikipedia or by other means.

We stayed in Strasbourg until Wednesday afternoon, whereupon we took a TGV (train de grande vitesse = a train of great speed: it's not exaggerating, we were going at over 300km per hour) to Paris. We were joined in our carriage by a large family who presented themselves like some sort of gypsy Mafia (I'm not exaggerating), and who were so stand-offish towards the train conductor checking tickets that he eventually retreated when it became apparent that they didn't have the appropriate rail card. We then took the metro, then the train to Blois. The rest of the evening consisted of Dominoes pizza, watching 'Tangled' in French, and Erin's landlord telling me I spoke French 'super bien'! Oh, and catching cockroaches in Erin's apartment...

Some BEAUTIFUL petits fours.
Slight downside is that they cost 26€...

Romorantin welcomed me with open arms and plenty of bisous on Thursday early afternoon. Internet at the house still doesn't work, so I am now living in the MAJO like a little internet-hermit for most of the day, sending emails to teachers to try and sort out an extra hour for my timetable, asking what topics I am doing with the pupils over the next six weeks etc etc. And I also had the lovely surprise, when going to pay my rent, that my housing benefit has arrived and so I am rent free until I leave Romorantin, and will receive a cheque with the remaining credit!!
I also had a mooch around the shops with Carine, and in the evening, I went with three friends to the cinema to see 'Sublimes Creatures' which was OK, but not outstanding. I went to bed shattered, with all my stuff still not unpacked (except my Sainsbury's basics chocolate digestive biscuits), but glad to be back in Romorantin for the final six weeks.

Some classy lady in Strasbourg.
Not entirely sure who she was though...