Corsica

Getting there

Ferries go regularly from Toulon and Nice to Ajaccio and Bastia. Book in advance with Corsica Ferries for a cheap deal. Make a picnic and take snacks with you on the journey to avoid extortionate on board prices.

Where to stay

The town Ajaccio is buzzing with activity, has excellent transport links and has some beautiful beaches. Find a cheap deal and live with a local by booking on the site AirBnb.

What to do

Beach

Profit from the sunny weather and get you tan on at any of the beautiful beaches. If you want to stay close to town Saint François is a small but sandy beach, otherwise Trottel is much bigger (although slightly more pebbly). You can also venture slightly further out to find some stunning quiet sand beaches, Neptune Beach is a local favourite.

Saint François Beach

Trottel Beach

Hiking

Go for a hike in Les Îles Sanguinaires and take in the breathtaking scenery of Corsica's coastline. The number 5 bus will take you all the way there from the centre of town. Don't forget your trainers and your camera!

Views from Les Iles Sanguinaires

Napoleon's Birthplace

A visit to Corsica wouldn't be complete without seeing Maison Bonaparte, the house where Napoléon grew up. Free entry for under 25s.

Market

The market in Place Foch is every morning from 3am to 1pm and is full of fresh Corsican produce. Expect to try a LOT of cheese and free rosé to wash it down. Meat and cheese can also be vacuum packed to take home.

Conte

Take the train to Conte, Corsica's original capital city. Visit the citadel and museum for more spectacular views and a bit of info on the history of Corsica. There are also some amazing patisseries in the town with pasties at very reasonable prices, just try not to buy everything!

Where to eat

Auberge Colomba

A charming local restaurant tucked away off Cours Napoleon. Friendly staff and fantastic value - moules frites from 11€.

Da Mama

This restaurant does an excellent 3 course set menu for 17€ per person. Fresh fish and generous portions, the hard part is deciding what to eat!

Fig Crème Brulée

La Balagne

A delightful café and creperie with friendly and attentive staff. The crêpes avec crème de marron are highly recommended and made fresh.

Nightlife

If visiting in Winter you've probably missed the boat, but if you're keen for a night out then make sure it's a Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

For a bar that's always open and has a good atmosphere every night of the week then pop by the Irish bar, Shamrock. Great cocktails and the friendliest staff and locals in town!

Week 3 - Adventures in Avignon & Nimes

So apparently 3 days work means two weeks holiday here, fine by me!

Met up with Ally, a friend from Exeter who's working out here in Nîmes, on Saturday. We wandered around Avignon and played some board games in the street as there was a free board game festival going on all over the city. There was also a science fair happening at the town hall so we randomly went to have a look and came across a wedding being followed around by a huge camera crew. Turned out they were filming what appeared to be the French equivalent of Don't Tell the Bride so we might be appearing on French TV soon!

Le Pont d'Avignon

Salads and Monacos

Filming the newlyweds

Playing shuffleboard on the street

Found an Irish bar to watch the rugby and drink Monacos - beer, grenadine and lemonade - before jumping on the last train to Nîmes where we went out for an evening of tapas, live music and more Monacos. There's not loads to do on Sundays except hang out in restaurants and enjoy the sunshine, so we did exactly that!

Nîmes

Ally in Nîmes

Back in Vaison the next day I started my first official day at school. After a beautiful weekend I woke up to torrential rain and waited for Vera, the lovely German teacher, to give me a lift to Malaucène. The kids at all the schools are super cute and the teachers are very friendly. I started out with the basics - 'What is your name?', 'How old are you?' and 'How are you?'. Afterwards in the playground lots of children could be heard running around shouting "I'm HAPPY!", although I think I'll have to thank Pharrell Williams for that one. With about 12 different classes and 3 different schools I have a LOT of names to learn. A couple of them are easy to remember though - a boy called Mario has a Mario Bros. pencil case.

Even in the South of France it rains sometimes! 

On Thursdays I also take a special needs class who are adorable and asked me loads of questions about England: 'Have you met the Queen?', 'Do you really eat eggs and bacon for breakfast?' and 'How are you finding the commute from London every day?'. After explaining that I was living in Vaison they were reassured and told me Vaison-la-Romaine is 'the best town in the world'!

After three days of hard work teaching I was clearly in need of a break, it's October half term! Since I've got the next two weeks free I've booked to go to Corsica for a week away in the sunshine with some other assistants! Hard life out here...

At the sudden realisation that I'm going to be on the beach in a bikini next week having been indulging myself with French cheese and wine I thought it would probably be a good idea to get some exercise - also a great way to see a little more of the town. After my run I met up for a crêpe with Jeremy and he's suggested some good running routes to do round here. I've also found a gym here which has an amazing student deal so I'm looking forward to starting when I'm back from holiday.

My bank card has FINALLY arrived! Dropped off my details at the department of education in
Avignon on Friday before grabbing a BlaBlaCar to Toulon where we spent the night before getting the ferry to Corsica the following morning. Had another successful journey with a nice guy called Jeremy and his 4 year old son who slept for most of the way.

Views from the BlaBlaCar

Stayed at an Airbnb with fellow assistants Amy and Cece and met up with the other girls for drinks in the evening in Toulon. It was an early start to catch the ferry the following morning but we've made it, let the holiday commence!

Amy and Cece in Toulon

Santé ! 

Katie x

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

Week 1 - Settling In

I've survived my first week and what a week it's been!

After moving into my apartment last Saturday I received a message from the lovely Jamie, an American expat living out here with her husband and three adorable boys. She invited me to Sunday lunch at hers and I got the lowdown on life in Vaison over some delicious wine, cheese and homemade brownies.

The view from my breakfast table

I'm going to be working at 3 local primary schools so went to visit the first one, Emile Zola, on Monday. The teachers were very welcoming and the kids seemed so cute and were excited to see the nouvelle assistante de langue anglaise!

Then it was off to the bank to open my very own French bank account, only to find I needed to book an appointment for 2 weeks time...not ideal. It seems getting an appointment at the bank in France is harder than booking to see your GP in the UK.

That evening I met up with a couple I'd originally planned to stay with through Air Bnb - Jeremy and Alexandre. They have been the most welcoming, lovely people and am so lucky to have found them! By a complete stroke of luck, Alexandre had an appointment at the bank the next day he needed to cancel so I was able to have it instead. We went along together the following morning et voila - all booked in for that afternoon!

To open a bank account in France you need to take the following with you:

• Proof of identity - check
• Proof of work - check
• Proof of address - not so good...

In order to get my contract signed I need French insurance. In order to buy French insurance I need a bank account. In order to open a bank account I need a signed contract. Slight problem!

In the end I went along to the Mairie (Town Hall) who are providing my accommodation and got a letter saying where I was living signed by the Mayor of Vaison himself. Taking this with me, along with a lot of begging to the woman at La Poste she finally agreed to open an account for me!

To celebrate Alexandre and I went for drinks at a cute little restaurant and explored Vaison's famous market that takes place every Tuesday morning. We stocked up on local cheese and vegetables that I will definitely be buying more of!

Café culture

10 avocados for 2€ at the market!

I also went for a trip to the château de Vaison-la-Romaine. It's a little climb to the top and made me nostalgic for Exeter's Forum Hill. The views are absolutely stunning - definitely a place to take visitors on a sunny day.

View from the top

Thursday was the orientation day in Avignon for all assistants from the Vaucluse area. Avignon is only 45 minutes by car but a 2 hour bus journey. Since the public transport links are a little temperamental, BlaBlaCar (car sharing) is huge out here! I had a look online and arranged for a lift with Florian at 7am. He was really chatty and the journey went very quickly so I arrived in Avignon with plenty of time to kill and got to check out the café culture and catch up on the local news in La Provence.

Exploring Avignon

The orientation itself was just an admin (yes, more admin) morning to fill in a couple more confirmation, insurance and bank forms. There I met loads of other assistants from all over - USA, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the UK! Everyone was so friendly and it turns out there a quite a few of us small-towners living on our own so I'm sure we'll all meet up and go visit each other. Went for obligatory Nutella and banana crêpes in the afternoon before taking the bus back home (fortunately I had Bake Off downloaded to keep me entertained).

Crêpes with Annie, Cece and Alex

Friday was probably my most exciting day yet. I went to visit my second school, Jules Ferry, in the morning. I'm actually living in one of the school buildings here so was just a trip downstairs! 

Later, Jeremy and Alexandre invited me to dinner at their friend Hervé's house. That evening they picked me up and we drove to Orange for a French dinner party! We had a great evening - camembert on toast, aioli cuttlefish, fraisier and of course good wine and fresh baguette. It being Friday night, Jeremy and Elodie (his best friend) were up for a night out (everyone else was too tired/work on Saturdays) so they suggested we go along to La Java, Vaison's only night club.

Turns out French nightlife is very different from what I'm used to, little did I know what I was getting in to when I agreed to go along! While in Exeter nights out end at 2am this is the time things start to get going in France. We went back to Jeremy's for a drink before heading à la boite around 1.30am. As it's a small town these two were like local celebrities arriving, introducing me to all their friends including the bouncers, cloakroom attendant and bar staff - I had to 'faire la bise' a LOT.

Drinking culture is very different from back home - people tend to drink less and more slowly. They actually like to enjoy their drinks out here rather than downing them. It's also very common to buy a bottle (100€) for the table otherwise it was 8€ a drink, although they don't really measure here and singles don't exist.

The night was definitely focussed on the dancing and we spend most of the evening on the d-floor or socialising in the smoking area - don't think I've met a French person who doesn't smoke! A Spaniard and I were the only ones out there for the "fresh air" and good conversation. Although it was 'busy' for a Friday night there was still loads of space to move around, nothing quite like Arena on a Tuesday.

I've found my French Arena

Lights came on at 5am and after saying all our goodbyes we had a short drive (yes, drive - the club turned out to be in the middle of nowhere just outside Vaison) home. We've had thunderstorms here all day today so have had the perfect excuse for a duvet day!

A très bientôt

Katie x