Week 15 - 2016 in Avignon

Back in Avignon!

After a lovely time catching up with everyone at home in London and a very exciting New Year in Paris, life has slowly returned back to normal in Avignon. With the excitement of Christmas out the way (the markets and lights are all starting to come down), it's fair to say we're all feeling a little unmotivated this month as the January blues are beginning to hit. However, we've decided to book ahead and organise lots of things to look forward to in order to boost our spirits, including a trip to DISNEYLAND!!

I had a fun night out at Red Sky on Monday night with Pauline, Perrine, Honorine, Justine and some other friends (whose names probably end in -ine) from Avignon uni. We had a great night catching up, although it definitely didn't make my 6am start any easier the following morning.

Back at school the kids are as energetic and lovely as ever. They're all still super-keen to learn and it always cracks me up when you get a student jumping out their seat to answer a question and when you ask them they have no idea what the answer is, they just wanted you to pick them!

The school photos from last term at my second school, Jules Ferry, have been developed. Here are the staff pics taken in the playground - behind the cameraman there were about a hundred children chanting at us to pull a face.

Marina (aka the machine), one of our gym instructors, has put together a new playlist for this term. The Annies and I were cracking up on our bikes listening to Scream and Shout - Black Man remix as well as classics Barbie Girl and Let It Go. Gotta love French music.

On Wednesday a group of us British girls went to Vedène, a cute town not far from Avignon, to visit Emma for the afternoon. We had a proper post-Christmas catch-up, watching Bridget Jones and organising our weekend away to Aix-en-Provence.

Chez Emma

There was a performance of Ballet Preljocaj, Angelin Peljocaj's programme of Spectral Evidence and La Stravaganza created by the New York Ballet, taking place on Thursday night at the Opéra Grand Avignon. Being the sophisticated culture vultures that we are, Annie, Megan, Emma, Amy and I went along. Although we'd opted for the cheapest seats in the house with a slightly restricted view (we are still students after all), it was still a fantastic evening as we got to see (most of) a beautiful performance and the impressive inside of the Opéra.

Now off to get ready for our weekend away to Aix!

A la semaine prochaine,

Katie x

Weeks 13 & 14 - Christmas in London, New Year in Paris

Bonne Année ! Happy New Year!

I'm back on French soil! After a very busy Christmas break in London catching up with everyone I flew out to Paris on December 31st to stay with my friend Guillaume and see in 2016. His friends came over for an amazing meal, complete with foie gras, wine (obvs) and chicken he had brought with him all the way from the southern French countryside - seriously free range! Not forgetting the 'oven potatoes' expertly made by César.

I had a fantastic night catching up with Exeter friends and meeting lots of lovely Frenchies (and a couple of Americans). One of the highlights has to be watching the countdown to midnight on the projector screen - Guillaume knows how to throw a good party.

The following day was spent nursing our hangovers and building up the energy to tidy up. Charles and Caroline were also staying over from the US so fortunately we had a lot of manpower and managed to get the place looking back to normal. Later in the afternoon Guillaume's friends joined us and we were shown round the city by true Parisian tour guides, finishing with a meal at Miss Ko just off the Champs Élysées. We rounded off our day back at the apartment with a viewing of one of my favourite French films, Les intouchables.

Onesies: essential January 1st dress code

Playing tourist outside the Louvre

On Saturday we had another walking tour of the city before I said my goodbyes and went to meet American Annie from Avignon who was also in Paris for the New Year. We went for a coffee with a couple of her friends from uni who also showed us around for our final few hours before we headed off on the metro to catch our Blablacar back to Avignon. Despite being a six and a half hour journey, it went surprisingly quickly - probably due to the incredibly chatty French man who was travelling with us and didn't stop talking once!

Life's beginning to get back to normal now and need to get lesson planning for school on Tuesday.

A bientôt,

Katie x

Week 12 - Feeling Festive

My final week of 2015 in Avignon!

Ryan, aka DJ Vessel, one of the other assistants, was playing in Avignon on Saturday night and our Avignon family were of course ready to go out en masse to support him! Kate and Chelsea generously hosted pre drinks (or pre-game as the Americans like to call it) and we had an eventful evening before we'd even left the apartment - their neighbours had heard the party from across the street and came over to join in! We finally made it to Pub Z to catch DJ Vessel's epic set before moving on to Red Zone, one of Avignon's finest evening establishments. Unsurprisingly, none of us made it to circuits the next morning.

Anushka hosted a pizza pyjama party on Sunday, exactly what we needed to nurse the hangovers and properly celebrate her birthday which was the day before. This week I also opened my first Christmas present at our Secret Santa evening - a gorgeous starlight that Chelsea had sneakily bought for me from the Christmas market.

Birthday girl

Secret Santa squad

After school on Tuesday I stuck around in Vaison for a catch up drink with Jeremy and we exchanged Christmas presents - I was spoiled with an amazing bottle of wine. It was the first time I'd seen Vaison in the dark since the Christmas lights have been up and the town is looking amazing! As it was so very late in the evening (7pm) there were no buses running, however fortunately my BlaBlaCar pal Gael was driving back to Avignon that night so we had a catch up on the ride home too.

Kate and I spent the day together on Wednesday exploring Avignon's nooks and crannies, topping up Christmas presents and hanging out with Father Christmas. That afternoon I went along to a tandem conversation session with Brian at a café/bookshop where there were loads of people from all over the world - France, America, Korea - looking to improve their French or English. It was a great opportunity to meet some people and practise my French conversation so I'll definitely be going along again in the New Year.

My last day at school before the holidays went really quickly and we played lots of end of term Christmas games and made Christmas cards (although getting a class of 24 French children to write the words Merry Christmas inside a card was actually a lot more complicated than it sounds). Children in France all learn to write in cursive so they are often confused by my handwriting! I also asked what they wanted for Christmas and can conclude that Lego, Fifa 16 and remote control helicopters should be top of every parent's Christmas shopping list this year. One girl also asked for masking tape which was a bit of a random one.

My two favourite Vaison buddies, Jeremy and Alex, treated me to lunch in the town square and we had a lovely catch up. I've barely seen them since moving to Avignon so we had lots to talk about. The evening was spent attempting to pack and having a farewell drink with the gang before we all head our separate ways for Christmas. On the walk home we saw a security guard relieving himself on a Christmas market stand. And that, my friends, sums up Avignon in a nutshell.

Super early start this morning despite not having a flight until midday - turns out the trains are on strike (classic France) so I had to take a much earlier one and just chilling in the airport until my FLIGHT HOME!!

That's it for 2015,

Joyeux fêtes et à l'année prochaine,

Katie x

P.s. Brian had a haircut this week, doesn't he look dashing? (Modelling alongside the gorgeous Amy).

Week 11 - Montpellier Magic

A week of Christmas markets and cheese, lots and lots of cheese.

Over the weekend I'd originally be planning a trip to Lyon for the Fête des lumières, however unfortunately in light of the Paris attacks the event was cancelled this year. Instead, I organised a spontaneous trip to Montpellier to visit my buddy Niamh and check out the amazing Christmas market!

Niamh met me after work on Friday and took me to her super-cute French apartment. It's an adorable quirky and typically French layout, complete with a ladder to get to her bedroom and stunning views of the city. The plan for the evening was to hit up Montpellier's nightlife and make it to Panama, the only place to be on a Friday night. After a delightful vin chaud at the Christmas market, Niamh and I met up with her friends and headed to pres before a night on the town. We had a hilarious night and it was safe to say we were feeling a little worse for wear the following morning after one too many Desperados.

At the Montpellier market

Things are a little blurry in Panama

On Saturday, Megan, Kate and Annie from Avignon took the train over and we went ice skating at a huge rink at the edge of the city. The ice rink was a lot more extreme than a conventional ice rink, complete with flashing lights, club music and a disco tunnel! Being a Saturday, it was of course ridiculously busy, which was slightly terrifying as tiny French children were literally whizzing round and pushing people out the way. After a few circles round the rink we did manage to leave the sides and channel our inner ice princesses. The afternoon was spent at the Christmas market, stocking up on Christmas presents and crêpes before getting the last train back to Avignon.

In the rave tunnel

Kate, Megan and Annie

The Avignon Christmas market has also opened here so we spent the rest of the weekend seeing what our own town had to offer. Although it's not as big as in Montpellier, there are still some great stalls, especially the place that serves everything chaud, including wine, beer, cider and apple juice! The Christmas lights here are also beautiful and there's even been Christmas music playing in the streets so everyone's been getting very excited.

With only two weeks left of term, this week's lessons have been all about Christmas too. I remembered to pack my collection of Christmas hats when I visited home last weekend so I've been using them as teaching tools in the classroom - the children were very over-excited to dress up! I also introduced stickers into the classroom this week which was hilarious at first as none of them knew what to do with them. However it wasn't long before the whole class was desperately trying to answer a question to earn themselves a sticker.

On Wednesday evening we had an assistants meal out for cheese fondue at La maison des fondues and I'm pretty sure we all went into a cheese coma that evening. As if I hadn't had enough melted cheese for one week, at school on Thursday it was the staff Christmas meal: raclette! The teachers put on an impressive spread of cheese, meats, potatoes, homemade brioche and brownies and even wine (they decided they'd have a relaxed couple of lessons that afternoon).

Cheese fondue

Staff raclette

I'm staying in Avignon this weekend for my last week here as I'm off home on Friday for the Christmas holidays!

Bisous,

Katie x

Things I've learnt about living in France

1. Everyone has a dog
The cliché is true: walk around any French town or city and expect to walk past a woman carrying at least one fluffy little dog before you've made it to the end of the street. These adorable little pooches come at a price though, as the French don't seem to clean up after their animals - keep your eyes on the pavement.

2. Baguette from the supermarket is a serious no-no
The same goes for pastries. Why buy poor-quality, mass-produced, flavourless 'bread' when there's a charming local bakery just across the road. Pick up a baguette in the supermarché and expect looks of disgust/pity.

3. Cat-calling is far too common
Apparently men in France seem to think if a young girl or group of young girls walk past them in the street they have every right to holler, wolf-whistle, click their fingers and request sexual favours regardless of your age, time of day or what you're wearing. This NEEDS to change.

4. Wine
It's socially acceptable to have a glass at 11am. On a weekday. In public.

5. Nights out start much later
While back at home we might start preing as early as 7pm (Wednesday sports socials anyone?), clubs out here open as late as 2am and can stay open until around 7 in the morning! Thursday is the big night for students before they go home for the weekend.

6. Dog Boutiques are everywhere
Go to any French town and expect to find the following: bakery, restaurant, newsagent, small supermarket, pharmacy, beauty salon, dog parlour - clearly all the daily essentials covered. Perhaps this is explained by #1.

7. There is nothing to do on a Sunday
Somehow everyone and everything shuts down and disappears for the day. Make sure you've stocked up on groceries the day before otherwise you're going to go very hungry.

8. Remember to bring your own shopping bags
The English are only just cottoning on to this trend. Go to the supermarket, do a massive shop and realise you've forgotten your trusty Bag for Life. Either buy another one to add to your collection or have an interesting time carrying it all home.

9. Admin
No matter how many forms you sign, how many photocopies of your passport, bank statement, proof of address, birth certificate... you have sent off, there will always seem to be more that magically appear. It's fine though, somehow it will all sort itself out and after signing one or two forms it's important to reward yourself with a 2 hour lunch break and a glass of wine.

10. Customer Service
Order your food in a restaurant, it might come in minutes, days, weeks... who knows? Attract a waiter's attention and they'll wave you off and tell you they're coming - maybe in half an hour's time if you're lucky. Never go for a meal when you're rushed for time, a 'quick bite to eat' does not exist in France.

11. Everyone smokes

Cigarettes are cheaper and chicer across the channel. I'm yet to meet a young French person who doesn't smoke at all. Even the gym instructors!

12. They love coffee

Whatever time of day, a cup of coffee is appropriate. Just not in a big mug, espresso shots are the only way to go.

Week 10 - Family Reunion

This week has absolutely flown by!

Had a wonderful weekend back on home soil with my family. I went up to Sheffield on Saturday to visit my sister Alex at uni. Soph was also up visiting a friend so we had a sister reunion day of shopping the Black Friday weekend sales followed by a night out at Pop Tarts (the Sheffield SU and a little more exciting than the Lemmy I'm afraid to admit). Pre Pop-Tarts Alex and I went on a Pub Golf bar crawl on an ANTS (volunteering) social. Fair to say it was a very different night out from the one's I'm used to in France.

Sheffield Christmas Market

Pub Golf

Braving Meadowhall shopping centre

Sisters reunited

Sunday was the big family reunion for my Grannie's 80th celebrations and she seemed pretty chuffed and surprised to see me (phew, the plan worked)! After a lovely country lunch which included a longed for roast, we headed off back to London before I caught my flight back early the following morning.

Family reunion

Back at school on Tuesday my arrival provided much entertainment when one of my CP pupils (6 year olds) exclaimed Maman (Mummy) as opposed to Katie by mistake. Somehow the kids seem to be getting cuter every week and my collection of drawings is rapidly growing. My new shoes I bought over the weekend have seriously made an impression in the playground - it seems shoes are something people half your size pay a lot of attention to!

Last night I had some friends round at mine for the evening to try British snacks I'd brought from home. Mini Cheddars, Percy Pigs and Cadbury's chocolate were all new to assistants from across the pond.

Off to Montpellier this weekend to check out the Christmas markets and visit Niamh!

A la semaine prochaine,

Katie x