Byron Bay

The next stop on my travels up the East Coast was to the beautiful Byron Bay. After the long bus journey I checked in to Nomads and met some lovely Scottish girls who I spent the day with at the beach after stocking up on porridge oats at Aldi (glamorous backpacker lifestyle). Later in the afternoon I met up with Kat who I'd met in Sydney and a group of friends from her hostel. We hung out on the beach watching the sunset. Made some more friends later at the hostel and we headed out to Beach Hotel, the only place in Byron open on a Sunday night. 

The following morning I had a surf lesson with Mojo Surf which was really good fun, although can't exactly call myself a gnarly surfer just yet. I did manage to stand up a couple of times but you're going to have to take my word for it as I was a little too stingy to fork out $25 for the photographs.

That afternoon I met up with my Exeter buddy Charlie for a Byron beer and I heard all about his Aussie life in Gold Coast. He drove back to his that evening and I went for another night out with friends from the hostel - a group of people from my blue mountains tour had just checked in so we went out for a reggae night at The Brewery.

The following morning Charlie swung by to pick me up and we visited the Byron lighthouse together - the most Eastern point in Australia. We later crossed the state border to Queensland and made our way up to Gold Coast.

Sydney

My next adventure has already begun! While I was working in France my Facebook newsfeed flooded with pictures of my friends travelling (and very occasionally studying) Down Under and it's fair to say I got a little jealous. So, with my placement over and a bit of time and money on my hands I went ahead and booked myself flights to Australia! Big shoutout to my buddy Charlie from Peterpans for organising my trip for me. First stop: Sydney.

2 planes, 7 movies and 20 hours of travelling later, I arrived at Wake Up Hostel on Tuesday night where I was greeted by very friendly staff and was upgraded to a 6-bed girls dorm. Somehow I miraculously managed to beat the jet-lag, probably by refusing to let myself sleep during the flight from Hong Kong to Sydney and going straight to bed after a chat with the lovely girls I was sharing my dorm  with.

Wake Up was a fantastic place to stay - great facilities (they even provided hairdryers), amazing location (across the road from Central Station), and organised activities both during the day and in the evening. The following morning I headed on the coastal walk tour from Coogee to Bondi Beach after a quick trip to the market in Chinatown to pick up some exotic Australian fruit. The walk was beautiful, taking you all along Sydney's stunning beaches and finishing with a lie on the sand at Bondi. Later I caught up with my uni friend Katie J for a long catch up over a glass of wine (or three).

Thursday was my tour to the Blue Mountains organised by Barefoot Downunder. Our tour guide Ben (basically a Chris Hemsworth lookalike) picked the group up bright and early and drove us to the incredible Blue Mountains National Park, stopping off to see a couple of kangaroos on the way! We went for a hike to Wentworth Falls, scrambling down ladders into the depths of the valley before realising we had to climb all the way back up. Afterwards we took a trip to some of the best view points in the area - Elysian Rock, Echo Park and the Three Sisters. In the evening I headed off to Sydney Harbour with a couple of girls from the hostel to see the Opera House by night.

On Friday we headed along to brunch at Haven, an incredibly hipster café as featured on Buzzfeed Australia, followed by the hostel-run city tour, which took us around Hyde Park, The Royal Botanical Gardens and Sydney Opera House. A few of us then took the ferry across to Manly - $15 return with an Opal card - for froyo on the beach before taking the ferry back at around 16:45 which coincided with the most amazing sunset.

Following drinks that evening and dinner at the Chinatown night market, the hostel bar was looking a little dead so our room ended up having an early night. Unfortunately, however, we were up again at 2:45 thanks to a very kind person deciding to set off the fire alarm and causing all seven floors to congregate on the street outside in their pjs for an hour. At least we got free coffee in the morning to make up for it.

For my last day in Sydney, Jen came up from Wollogong for the day and we went for lunch down by the harbour then crossed the bridge over to the Luna Park. A long walk around the city - around 35,000 steps according to my iPhone - and we finished off with dinner at Darling Harbour before she headed back to get the train home. I had time to return to the harbour for the Saturday night 20:30 fireworks display which were actually quite impressive.

Just boarded my Greyhound bus now ready for the 12 hour journey to Byron Bay.

Week 31 - The End

An emotional week of goodbyes, cards and cuddles.

That's it. 31 eventful weeks of travels, teaching and French-speaking (most of the time)...

This week has been all about making the most of the last few days and, despite the snow in the UK this week, the weather out here has been extra lovely and sunny (making it all the more harder to leave). It would have been rude to leave France without going wine tasting, so Kate and I went along to do a little degustation in the town centre on Monday afternoon. Oh, c'est beau la vie !

Mistral in full force at the weekend

My last days at school were all a little overwhelming as the kids and teachers went above and beyond to give me an emotional send-off. In the first lesson of the day on Tuesday it was one of the boy's birthdays so after a morning of English games we had a party with ridiculous amounts of cake, cookies and muffins. Meanwhile, it felt like it was my birthday too as I was showered with cards and home-made presents - one boy even wrote a poem entitled Tank You English Teacher, which he read out to the class. My next class were down the road at the circus practising their trapeze and balancing skills in preparation for a performance at the end of the week so I popped down to say goodbye. Gotta say it was pretty impressive seeing 7 and 8 year olds hanging gracefully from the top of a circus tent!

The sweets I brought in went down a little too well - note to self: never try and hand out confectionary in a primary school playground. I've finally discovered the art of bribery, never has the classroom been so quiet than when I said they'd only get sweets if they behaved themselves.

Went for drinks with a couple of friends at what I've decided is definitely my favourite place in Avignon, 83 Vernet - an über chic (but not too pricey) bar/restaurant which makes hands down the best Mojitos I've ever had. The following day we went along to Ile de la Barthelasse to start working on our tans and take some final snaps of the famous Pont d'Avignon, and I later headed to tandem to say goodbye to the lovely group of Avignon locals I meet with every Wednesday.

Thursday was yet another super-cute day at my third school, who treated me like a princess with surprise parting gifts, cake and posters. So sad to be leaving all my students, especially my CM2s (10/11 year-olds) who gave me a big group hug and are always a good laugh.

There were more surprises in the evening, as Pauline had organised a leaving party for me with apéro at the flat before we headed onto Red Sky for one more soirée (we're such regulars now, the barman knows my order).

On Friday I went for tartines with the girls at Ginette & Marcel then met up with Ghislaine for  Monacos - beer, lemonade and grenadine, we really need these in the UK - in Place Pie. Finally, it was time to say a final farewell to all the assistants over games of Picolo at Drew's house.

This morning I managed to squeeze in one more hike with the woman I teach in St Remy and afterwards she showed me a bit around her beautiful provencal village, Noves.

For my final meal in France, Pauline and I decided to be very French and had sushi together before she walked me to the station in the rain - note the sun had disappeared this afternoon, pathetic fallacy for you.

So here I am, typing away on the Eurostar probably somewhere near Paris right now and reminiscing year abroad memories with the lovely Sarah, another assistant who is on the same train.

It's been a memorable year; clubbing in a rural French nightclub, hitch-hiking in Corsica, spending New Year in Paris, skiing in the southern Alps, struggling with French administration, taking car shares everywhere from Aix-en-Provence to Toulouse, learning French slang, and teaching the cutest kids in the world the most useful vocabulary they'll need if they ever come to the UK: the weather.

Au revoir France, I'll be back before you know it.

Bisous,

Katie x

Week 30 - The Penultimate

It's been a rather eventful penultimate week back in Avignon, comprising of everything from 20th birthday celebrations, lunch with Roman gladiators and an emergency trip to the dentist.

I landed back in Marseille last week to a beautiful sunny day - classic that as I reach the end of my contact the weather starts to get really good. It was a fairly quiet weekend in Avignon as everyone was gradually beginning to filter back from their holidays. Pauline and I had a few chilled evenings at Red Sky and caught up with the girls while assessing Diane's waitressing skills at Ginette & Marcel.

Kate, Annie and I were also invited to tea by one of the ladies at our gym who put on a serious display of cakes and chatted away to us about life in Avignon with the Amélie soundtrack playing in the background.

Monday saw Pauline reach the tender age of 20, which obviously meant a night out at Red Sky with the crew (including one of their university tutors). Despite my 6am start the next morning, everyone was invited chez nous for afters - we did have birthday bunting, a slightly questionable (French flour is just not the same) birthday cake and vodka jelly prepared, after all. Unfortunately the neighbours weren't quite as keen to celebrate Pauline's birthday in the early hours of Tuesday morning and it wasn't long before we had the police knocking on our door so we were forced to relocate the party elsewhere.

After a slight toothache on Tuesday, I woke up the following morning to a stabbing pain in my wisdom tooth and a gum the size of a golf ball. This didn't seem promising. Putting on my best French accent despite the lack of ability to move my mouth, I called all 9 dentists I could find in Avignon and desperately pleaded for an emergency appointment. Just as I was about to give up hope and overdose on painkillers, I got a call back from the first dentist I called (typical) who had a sudden gap they could squeeze me in. Within 5 minutes I was in the dentist's chair and she very sweetly prescribed me some anti-inflammatorys.

That afternoon I met up with Annie for milkshakes (couldn't physically consume anything else just yet) and we had a little panic session over all the French admin we needed to sort out before we go. Phone contract has now been cancelled and packing is about to commence. Later, Ghislaine and I went for a walk to the Palais Gardens to enjoy the sunshine before heading to tandem.

Two of my classes were cancelled on Thursday because the Romans of Vaison-la-Romaine were visiting school! This just meant I got to spend more time with my favourite CM2 class where we basically spent the lesson playing the celebrity guessing game. The three 'Roman soldiers' ate lunch with us in the staffroom which was quite entertaining - they were fully dressed in gladiator sandals and body armour.

Fair to say it's been quite emotional going into work this week and preparing to say goodbye. I've armed myself with several giant bags of sweets ready for next weeks classes. Going to miss my kiddies.

Friday night was DJ Vessel's final Pub Z with all the assistants so was a great chance to see everyone again and start saying our goodbyes *sob*. Ghislaine and I headed to Brian's for his famous soup (butter is the secret ingredient) after tandem, followed by pres before we headed to Pub Z and obviously ended up in Red Zone at the end of the night.

Another 3 hours sleep - this seems to be becoming a habit out here - then an early start this morning to go for a hike/take an English lesson in Les Alpilles with the sweetest local woman. After the hike we popped into the Saint-Paul Asylum in Saint-Rémy for a look around at where Van Gogh was a self-admitted patient back in the late 1800s.

Now time to finally get down to doing some uni work that's due next week - we do have some assessments to do on a Year Abroad, promise!

Bisous, Katie x