Week 2 - Orientation

A week of flooding washing machines, American accents and free food!

Met up with Georgie, another assistant who is from Newcastle, on Saturday night to watch a certain rugby match (let's not dwell on the result). Her dad's been out here with her to help her settle in and has hired a car so meeting up has been really easy! We wandered around Vaison - not quite Newcastle on a Saturday night - and stumbled across a quirky little bar that was showing the rugby. The place is run by a very chilled out French guy and full of really random bits and bobs, including a sandpit seating area and a pen in the bathroom to leave messages on the walls. Shoreditch, eat your heart out - this place is living on the edge.

Georgie in the sandpit

Georgie's dad very sweetly offered to drive me to Marseille for orientation part 2 the following day. In the morning I thought I'd be super organised and put a wash on so everything would be clean and dry after my Marseille mini-break. Things didn't quite go to plan, however, since straight after pressing go the water decided to pour out of a hole in the bottom of the machine and flood my kitchen floor. After manically pressing buttons it finally stopped and I spent the rest of the morning mopping up the flood. No clean clothes for me then!

En route to Marseille we decided to take a detour up the Mont Ventoux as it was such a sunny day. This mountain is famous for extreme cyclists - the Tour de France goes up it - however having seen how long and steep it is I don't think I'll be planning any bike rides up there anytime soon! I did get very excited about the ski lifts at the top though, fingers crossed for lots of snow this winter.

We checked into our hotel - courtesy of the Académie Aix-Marseille (thanks!) - and headed out for dinner. We were also able to claim for our meal that night which obviously called for steaks and cocktails by the port. Later we met a few other assistants for drinks and unlimited potato pops at Exit Café.

By the Vieux-Port

Exit Café

The following morning was a very early start to go to Aix-Marseille university where we hung around eating free croissants and pain au chocolat until everyone had been given a piece of paper with their employee number on. Finally, we had a presentation about even more admin we needed to do, then it was announced that we could head off for complementary lunch at the university cantine. It seems French orientations revolve a lot around free food, no complaints there! We were also surprised to see bottles of wine in the cantine alongside the water dispensers, only in France!

Orientation

Spent the afternoon soaking up some rays at the beach with a fun group of American gals (and Drew) and explored the city. My English accent ended up with a bit of an American twang by the end of the day, so much for speaking French! We completely lost track of time that evening and ended up grabbing an uber and rushing for the last train back to Avignon where I stayed the night at Rose and Cece's luxury pad.

Lily, Kate, Heather, Rose, Cece and Drew

Orientation part 3 was in Avignon the following day, which involved training on how to teach primary school students - basically play games and sing repetitive songs and you'll be fine. Start my first day on Monday so will have to see how it goes. I also went to look round an apartment that afternoon which would be shared with a French girl. It looked great so hopefully I'll be making my move to the big city soon!

Back in Vaison the next morning I got woken up bright an early to a knock on the door. I opened it bleary eyed and still in my pjs to a surprised French man with a thick accent. I soon established he was the town plumber and was there to fix my washing machine which he managed to do that same morning after quickly dashing out for extra parts - thanks Bruno!

On Friday I met up with Brogan and Georgie, my fellow small-town assistants who are based in Valréas and Orange. After a long negotiation with the bus timetables the night before I finally found a way we could all meet up (French public transport for you) so we all met for lunch in Sainte Cécile les Vignes, another cute local town with pretty churches and fountains. We carried on our adventures of the southern French countryside by heading to Orange and Brogan and I played tourists while Georgie sorted her bank account.

Lunch with Georgie and Brogan

Sainte Cécile Les Vignes 

Théâtre antique d'Orange

Not quite the same Forum as Exeter!

Brogan had to get back but Georgie and I had a very civilised meal followed by wine at a bar we will definitely be returning to! Crashed at hers in Orange for the night before a weekend in Avignon and Nîmes with Ally from Exeter, bring on the weekend!

Santé !

A la prochaine fois,

Katie x