So on the Sunday of the first half term weekend, I had a flight home. Elysia was on the same flight as me, so we went into Paris early, and took a trip to look at the Louvre, and wander down the Jardin de Tuileries in the sunshine. Eventually we made it, on a very packed train, to Charles de Gaulle Airport, where we got on the plane and landed an hour and ten minutes later in East Midlands with no problems. My dad picked me up and took me home, where I got my stuff together quickly for a jaunt to Scotland.

The next morning at 4am we (my parents, my sister and I) woke up and got in the car, making it to Inverness in a very quick 7 hours. We spent the next few days visiting grandparents, cousins, aunties and uncles, eating out, eating in, shopping, and walking the dog around the beautiful Highlands. It was lovely to see the family, as I didn’t get the chance to visit in the summer so it had been a while. We were really lucky with the weather too, and it was a brilliant three days. 

On the Thursday Shannon (sister) and I got on the megabus from Inverness to Glasgow, had a two hour stopover for some lunch, a crepe, and a spot of shopping in Glasgow before our train to Crewe and Nantwich that afternoon. Almost as soon as we’d got home, Ben came round, which was fantastic. We went out for a couple of cocktails on Friday night, giving me an excuse to dress up (something which isn’t really done in France), and on Saturday we went to a fantastic fireworks display at Dorfold Hall. I’m so glad I got the opportunity to go to see some fireworks, since I’m missing Bonfire Night (which they obviously don’t celebrate here in France!) and they were beautiful. The following day we went to Manchester, had a quick nip around the shops and went for lunch at Wagamama’s, a brilliant Japanese restaurant that I’ll definitely go back to. Ben left then for York, and I came home, went for dinner with my family and then round to Alex’s for a quick cup of tea and a chat. Monday morning was time for my flight back to France from Manchester, and my mum took me to the airport. Getting back from Charles de Gaulle to my Rouen flat was a bit of a hassle - I was so unlucky and every time I got to a train station, bus station or metro stop I’d just missed one and had to wait ages! So I didn’t get back until gone 7pm!

The week after Paris was my light week, the one where I have only 3 teaching days. Because of my Tues and Weds off, Susie and I went to stay at Elysia’s, where she cooked good old British beef stew, and introduced me to the fabulous world of Gavin and Stacey - hilarious!

On the Thursday, the second last day of term, I met Susie, Emily and Claire in town for dinner and some cocktails. I had a long overdue pizza (with no oven in my flat I can’t cook pizza!), then a delicious but quite expensive (6,50E) mojito at a bar called Highlands Cafe, before catching the last bus back to my flat. 

The next day was the last day before the Toussaint holidays, and I was invited for a meal with all the other English teachers. All 17 couldn’t come, so it ended up being 12 of us. It was all I could do to follow the conversations, let alone contribute! I felt out of my depth language wise a lot of the time but hopefully that’ll improve. We went to Chicago’s, an American restaurant just off Place de Vieux Marche, where we had a selection of chicken wings and ribs, etc, as a starter, and I followed up with chilli con carne and Ben and Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream! It was delicious, and nice to see the teachers in a non-school context. The insisted on paying for me though! As soon as the bill came and I got out my purse, they told me not to bother! It was lovely of them, and made me glad I’d ordered a cheap thing!

The next Sunday I went home…

1, 2 and 3: Paris from 207 metres in the air

4: Looking along the Seine to the Cathedrale Notre Dame

5: the foundations of Paris

6: La Refuge des Fondues, taken as we were hungrily queueing for a place!

7: Susie and I with our biberons of wine

8: Cheese and Oil fondue

9: Us on the steps of the Sacre Coeur at midnight 

Here is a small selection of my Paris photos

Okay, so I know it’s been a while since I was in Paris but I’ve been really busy and not able to post!

So, the second weekend in October, myself and 8 others decided that living so close to Paris, it was imperative that we go. I’d never been before, and I’m so glad I went because it is an absolutely beautiful city. So, there were 9 of us that went, 8 British girls and 1 American boy. We booked a Formule 1 hotel; although they’re completely basic, they’re always clean and very cheap. It cost 15euro each for the night, and we had 3 3-person rooms. Although there isn’t a bathroom in the room, you have to go down the corridor to a communal bathroom thing where there are a lot of separate shower and toilet cubicles.

So, half of us met at the train station in Rouen at about half 9, where we bought our tickets (11euro to Paris). We got on our train (which was double decker, I still think that’s really cool) and off we went; Elysia got on our train at Vernon, where she lives, halfway between here and Paris, and when we got to St Lazare train station, we met Brett, who’d come from his town and had been there an hour already. We went to a bar called ‘cour de rome’ just outside the train station, where they managed to extort 4,50euro out of us for a hot chocolate (scandalous!), and then met two other girls whose train was slightly later. We headed straight to our hotel, which was about 6 metro stops away from St Lazare, but since it was a weekend we could get an all day metro pass for 3,50, which made up for the extortionate drinks. The rooms were fine, they had a double bed and a single bed above it, like bunks, and they were clean and modern, which is more than enough for the price we were paying! 

We then decided to go to the Montparnasse Tower, a tower south of the Seine that is 207metres tall, just slightly smaller than the Eiffel Tower, since it was cheaper than Eiffel (only 8,50euro), and had the added bonus of being able to see the Eiffel tower, rather than being at the top of it! The weather that day was fantastic, and we could see for miles; a 360 degree view of Paris that was breathtaking. We stayed up there for a good hour, and took tonnes of photos. We reluctantly came down, and got back on the metro to take us to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Another stunning Paris sight, we didn’t go in as the queue was huge; however, Susie, Bryony, Emily and I went to the foundation/crypt bit, where we saw the original foundations of Paris, and what remained of the first ever port, now twelve feet underground. For only 2euros it was really interesting, with extensive displays about the history of both the cathedral and Paris itself. While we were doing that, the others had met a friend of Jenny’s, who studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, and went off to have crepes. The four of us got a crepe ourselves, and we all headed back to the hotel to get ready for our evening.

After getting changed, freshening up, etc, we headed to Montmartre, to an amazing restaurant called La Refuge Des Fondues, a fondue restaurant on Rue des Trois Freres. It was clearly popular, as the queue outside was really long, and since there were so many of us we waited nearly an hour to get in. Brett didn’t want to wait any longer, as it had been a long time since lunch and we were all starving, so he headed to a pizza place next door for dinner, while we decided to stick it out in the queue. After chatting to some Swedish girls, some other English girls and a couple of Portuguese, we finally got into the restaurant. It was a really small room, with two long tables that we were at the end of. We were crammed up against the people eating next to us, but that kinda just added to the fun! We chose whether we wanted red or white wine with our meal, which was then promptly brought to us IN BABY BOTTLES! Yes, that’s right, les biberons! It was a brilliant idea (and done, I hear, so that the restaurant don’t have to pay tax on the wine they sell). A very bizarre sensation drinking out of a bottle teat though! Half of us chose cheese fondue and half chose meat fondue, so that we could all share everything. We were then brought an ‘aperitif’, a sweet little cocktail which I think had sherry and something else in it, and a plate of nibbles (pate, spiced potatoes, ham, cheese, olives, pickles etc) to eat while we were waiting for our fondue. Before long we were brought over two hot plates, with little gas flames to keep the heat constant, one with a big pan of melted cheese, and one full of boiling hot bubbling oil. Along with these were a big bowl of diced raw beef, baskets of baguette, and some potatoes. Everyone was given a knife and fork (unnecessary!) and a skewer, with which you skewer the meat/bread/potato and dip it in the oil/cheese respectively. It was a fantastic meal, the atmosphere in the restaurant was amazing and we had such a brilliant evening. After another biberon of wine or two, we eventually finished all our food and since there was still a queue at 11pm, we headed off. After wandering tipsily through Montmartre for a bit, taking pictures of the buildings and wishing we lived there, we headed up to the Sacre Coeur, on top of the hill. There was a spectacular night-time view across Paris, and you could see the lights twinkling right up to the horizon. It was clearly a popular place for the local young people to hang out, as there were loads of them hanging around, chatting (and drinking and smoking). We took a couple of pictures, but since it was night time and I haven’t quite figured out all the modes on my camera yet, they aren’t very clear (it wasn’t down to the wine, honest). On our way back to the metro stop, we walked past the Moulin Rouge, which was all lit up and sparkly (needless to say, we didn’t go in it!). There were a lot of ‘adult’ shops and clubs along the road, though, which was a bit scary, so once we’d photographed the Moulin Rouge, we got on the metro back to our hotel. After some chocolate and giggles we eventually got to sleep, waking the next morning feeling slightly delicate but on the whole, not too bad.

After we eventually got out (well, with 9 people it wasn’t exactly speedy), we headed to the Jardins de Luxembourg, a beautiful park south of the Seine, and got some lunch. I’m ashamed to say that I was running very low on money by this point, and only had 6euros left to last me the rest of the day! Of course, in the beautiful but expensive lakeside cafe in the park, this would barely buy me a coffee, so I am ashamed to say that I and the other girls went to Mcdonalds. I feel sacrilegious even writing that here, but it was seriously the only remotely cheap option anywhere near (it was a posh part of town, and a Sunday when barely anything in France is open). We sat in the sun and ate, then took some photos and had a wander around the gardens. We then had to go back to the train station, as we wanted to get a train before 3pm, when it became more expensive. Once we’d bought our return tickets, some of us (not me) had a croissant or a pastry while we waited. We parted, got the train with no problems, and were back in Rouen an hour and a half later, exhausted but happy.

It was an absolutely fabulous weekend, and I can’t wait to go back to Paris! 

anyone fancy following me on twitter? @yasmynnrose
sorry for lack of postings again, been at home for 8 days without my laptop. Classes from 8pm till 5pm tomorrow so I’ll try to write afterwards!

My second weekend here, after two weeks of beautiful warm sunshine, I decided to go to Dieppe with some friends (other English assistants).
I met Jenny, Emily, Susie, Claire and Christie at the train station, where we got our tickets (11E return) and got on a train. The trains here are all double decker which was very exciting, haha, so we sat on the top, and munched on Dairy Milk and shortbread that I’d brought from England! We got there, and it was very cold and windy so we felt a bit disillusioned. After walking along the seafront for a while, we walked through the town, and saw a pretty market, then went to Cafe Tribanaux, a small cafe on a square. There we met Emily, Katie and Annalee for lunch - I ordered a pizza but it was possibly the most disgusting pizza I’ve ever had; I couldn’t finish it, so I ended up eating some of Christie’s massive ham and camembert sandwich! After that we took a walk down to the very windy beach, and walked along it for a while. We dropped in at Emily C’s (who lives in Dieppe) apartment so she could get a jumper, then took a wander up to Dieppe Castle Museum. The view across the bay and the town was wonderful, although the museum was mostly full of samey looking paintings and creepy ivory sculptures!

Dieppe

Open a bank account - I chose to go with Credit Agricole, solely because when I went into town with the intention of opening an account, they were the first bank I saw! I’m pleased I picked them, as there seems to be a lot of branches, and the staff that helped me were really lovely. I got my PIN in the post about 8 days after my appointment at the bank, and after waiting another 4 days I still didnt have my card. Fortunately, on closer inspection of the PIN letter I read that I have to go into the bank and pick it up, which is all done now!

Canteen card and keys - All staff and students have a card for the school canteen, which we have to scan on our way in to pay for our food - it’s 2,85E a day, and you top up the card as and when you need it. The food isn’t bad - it’s bread, a main dish consisting of meat (beef, chicken, turkey or pork) in various sauces, chips/rice/pasta and vegetables, then a side dish of cold meats/salad/couscous etc, along with bread, cheese and a dessert, usually a small cake or yoghurt, and fruit. So not bad for 2,85E! I got some keys yesterday, which allow me to open any classroom in school! When I have a group of students to myself I can take them to a free room and do some speaking practice.

Phone - After using my Blackberry as normal for nearly 3 weeks, I got a text off Orange saying that my usage was unusually high and could I please call them. I did so and discovered my bill was over £500! I cried, then, as I know I couldn’t afford to pay that. Anyway, I downloaded a data monitoring app and I definitely didn’t go over my allocated data allowance, and I kept tabs on all my calls and texts and didn’t expect my bill to be more than £200. So when I said all this to the nice Geordie woman on the phone, she agreed to take the data charges off! So I ended up paying only £212, which is what I expected! Result! That evening, since I’d picked up my card that day, I went into the phone shop (I chose to go with Bouygues Telecom as a friend had the same deal and was happy with it), where I got a French Sim card for my Blackberry, with 2hours of calls, unlimited texts to French mobiles and 500MB monthly internet for 26E a month. It’s a 12 month contract, but when I leave, if I can get a letter from Glasgow and maybe from the Rectorat, then I can cancel it early if I have proof that I no longer live in their service area.

Bus pass - Since I’m under 26, I can get a carte d’astuce for the bus and the metro, which is basically a prepaid card that, for 24E a month, allows unlimited travel all over the buses and metros in Rouen, which is brilliant. Instead of being 1,50E a journey, I have this unlimited card which I just top up each month.

Railcard - I can also get a carte 12-25, a young persons railcard that halves the price of train travel. For example, my weekend return ticket to Paris was 22E with the card and would have been over 40E without. This was 49E to get but I really think I’m going to make the most of it.

My flatmates are really nice, there’s a Spanish and a German assistant, both from the same school as me. Even though they’re both older (26 and 24 respectively) than me, they’re lovely and we get on well. Patricia has lived in Rouen before, so it’s thanks to her that our internet has been set up, since she just transferred the address from where she used to live. It’s only costing 30E a month too (so 10E each), for internet and phone that can make international calls!

I’ve also made really good friends with a bunch of the other English assistants, some who I met on Facebook before we started, but most who I met on the training days. We’ve been out for dinner three times, drinks twice, the cinema twice, a day trip to Dieppe and a weekend in Paris, so in 3 weeks we have been busy!

My teachers are also extremely helpful - they’ve been really good by helping me with disciplining students, planning lessons to fit the curriculum, lending me logins and passwords for computers and photocopiers, and talking to me when I’m on my own in the staffroom! The ones I’ll be working with the most are Stephanie, Sandra, Jeanne, Janine, Isabelle and another Stephanie.

I’ve also been approached by Sophie, one of the Spanish teachers, as her little daughter is 11 and in 6eme (year 7), and her English teacher at school isn’t very good. Sophie has said she’ll pay me if I go to hers every Thursday night and help her daughter Clara with homework, pronunciation, about British culture, vocab and grammar etc. I’ll be starting with her the first day back after the holidays which I’m both apprehensive and excited about.