Bonne Année !

Week 16: 12/30-01/05

Welcome to /miel/, a written account of my life and what my days hold here in France. Thank you for coming to read today.

I am happy to start off by telling you it was a less eventful week than Week 15’s post! I didn’t miss any trains, I was not stranded in any towns, and I got everywhere where I needed to go, on time!

So, New Year’s Eve! It was amazing. I was in Amiens (about an hour and a half north of Paris) with 9 other assistants. Maru and I went up a little earlier to look at the town a bit, and I really wanted to see their cathedral (of course), and it did not disappoint. This cathedral is larger than the Notre Dame in Paris. It blew me away. It’s one of my favorites so far, just because it completely bewilders me how people built something to this scale and grandeur so long ago. The stained glass, the intricate carvings, the columns on columns on columns – magnifique !

Maru and I walked through the Christmas Market, though many vendors were shutting down since it was the 31st, and the markets are only open through the month of December. It was a nice town, and there were many people wandering about, and many, many tourists (including us!)

For NYE, we decided to prepare dinner in our hostel together and it was great! We chose to have spaghetti, baguettes, salad, cheese stuffed mushrooms, and a lot of wine. It was fun to cook all together, and it came out to about 3 euros/person to split the costs, so we were very happy to have kept the cost low. We even had an Italian woman, Laura, come and join us for dinner as well. She explained she’s from the Canary Islands and was hoping there were some other travelers she could dine with since she was travelling alone. We welcomed her with open arms, because there is always room for one more.

After dinner, we got ready to go out and first celebrated, via Facetime, the New Year in Russia, because Mashu (a Russian assistant) was on a video call with her family. It was perfect, we had a celebratory glass of champagne and then we were on our way to our own New Year’s!

We were finding our way around Amiens and found a few bars before ending up at a patio bar with about an hour before midnight. It was warm, the beer was cold, and the music was great. I danced so hard! I was so happy to finally be dancing – something I’ve been trying to do since I’ve been here. We celebrated the countdown and some small confetti cannons with everyone, and kept on dancing.

We made some friends at this patio bar, from France, Belgium, Morocco, and decided to leave with them to find the next bar. As we wandered through the streets, we ended up at another bar where we could get a drink and the boys could smoke sheesha (like flavored tobacco). The dancing was not quite as good, but I kept on dancing anyway! I wanted to search for better dancing, so I convinced those of us who were left (it was ~3 am by this time) to leave and see another bar. However, many bars were closing and the one that was open until 6 am rejected us… So we walked the streets talking and we finally made it safely back to our hostel at 5:30 am.

After 3 wonderful hours of sleep, we woke up to check out and catch our trains. Nicole and I came safely back to Noyon and went right back to sleep.

Monday, there was no school, as it was still considered vacation (I couldn’t tell you why). I used it as another recovery day from the NYE, and I did nothing but eat and sleep.

Tuesday, I worked at one of my schools in the morning. It felt good to be back! I am working with some 9th graders on interviews and it is interesting to see them present themselves. They are so nervous! Probably because it’s an interview in English with me – I would be nervous if it was vice versa for me in French with a French native. Anyway, I like being able to help them along with grammar but also how do you greet someone in an interview and how do you politely leave as well.

In the afternoon I went to my other school to work with a 7th grade class on national parks in the U.S. I am so excited that I have this opportunity because I love the national parks and I get to present on the ones I’ve been to, show pictures, tell experiences, and also inform the students on how to be a respectful park go-er.

Yesterday and today were extremely uneventful. Per the usual of my schools, my time table has changed with the new trimester, and no one thought to make up a new one for the week that school restarts. So, I’ve had two days off! I’ll take the free time I suppose, but when will the frustration and lack of communication end?! (Pulls hair out from head)

In the meantime, I’ve been working away on my French course that I’ve been doing online, to help improve my French grammar mostly, as well as my TEFL certification course. I’ve been looking a lot into what I’ll be doing next year, as I still want to be living in France for next year, though not with the TAPIF program. There are a couple opportunities to be a kind of graduate TA at universities, or possibly being a TEFL teacher either in France or somewhere else in Europe. So, it’s TBD for now, but I’m starting to explore as I’ll have to start making applications this March-ish.

This weekend I am headed to Brussels, Belgium to see some MSU friends! I am so excited to see them. I told them my only things I wanted to do in Brussels was to drink Belgian beer and eat a pretzel. I’d say my needs are pretty easily met.

TL:DR

High: Spending a wonderful NYE in Amiens with friends.

High #2: Finding some time to plan for next year.

Low: I am learning to not be surprised by the slow pace of French bureaucracy.

Low #2: I’m getting over a cold I caught this last weekend.

New French Word:

“c’est chaud” – familiar phrase, to signify “it’s tense, it’s getting hot”

Lesson(s) Learned:

1. I speak better French when I have a beer or two.

2. Hostels can be so nice! Make sure to look at pictures beforehand if you can.

3. NYE in France is FUN!

4. Be patient – everyone is annoyed with the French system, even the French.

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Until next week, I wish you all well. I miss you all incredibly much. Please send me a message, an email, some snail mail, whatever suits you best.

All the love,

Abigail

Below: most of us from NYE at the patio bar "Le Living". Here, assistants from Ireland, Scotland, Russia, Argentina, and the USA