Bonjour from France!
My first week has gone very quickly and I've already felt like I've done so much! After arriving Wednesday, getting settled in and seeing the family, I quickly gained a set of house keys and ventured out into my new town - Douai!
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| This is Isabelle showing me the sights! The main town square in this photo! Trop belle! |
It was really important that I found the train station - especially by myself, as this is how I'm going to travel to my job in October - and more recently, use it with Matt. Here are some photos of how beautiful the station and surrounding area is:
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| Giant plant pots!!! |
England eat your heart out! Going around Douai on my own without Isabelle/the family was a little strange at first but a great photo snapping experience, it allowed me to remember my way round and give me more confidence! And more food.....oops
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| This is our equivalent of a chippy.....not quite the same but still! |
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Major selfie opportunity taken here
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Matt arrives!
It wasn't long until a little bit of home reached me to spend my birthday in France together! This is a snap of Charlotte, Marie and I in the car on the way to Lille to pick Matt up!
My French friends are the most loveliest people I could ever wish to meet. Charlotte plays for the Lille Women's first team and gave Matt and I free tickets to the match - Lille VS Monaco - put it this way normally it's 80 euros for two tickets....wow.
Ok so Lille lost - but the game was fab!
BIRTHDAY TIME!!!!
Waking up in someone else's house for my 21st was a little...odd? Matt and I slept over at Charlotte's house in Lille, as Douai is majorly far away from the stadium. One thing I've learnt about France so far is that when you have close French friends, they are not only the most welcoming people ever (along with their families), but you do have a lot of sleepovers! This is often due to the fact that distance is further than in England...and it just makes things easier!
My 21st was lovely to spend with Matt and the girls, as we went to see Charlotte play football. On the night Matt and I went for a meal in a Brasserie - A French pub! It was suuuuch good food, but whyyyyy do the French/Whole of Europe eat so late?!?!
Unlike Lille the night before, Charlotte's team won 1-0 ALLEZZZZZZ :)
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| A Ch'ti burger - ch'ti is what they label as 'north', northern people, food etc...but what's funny is it's pronounced "sh-tea" seems a bit insulting :P |
A day in ARRAS.
It's not getting any cooler in the North! More and more days of 30 degree heat...so we decide to walk and venture in it! (oops). Taking the train to Arras was beautiful, their town hall and square was fantastic, not to mention the amount of baguettes, cakes/pastries and little monuments we saw!
A beautiful day. The large spike above is Place de Victor Hugo, anyone who knows me well enough will know how cool this is for me (literature lover). All in all a perfect way to start my exploring in France - with sunshine, my best friend and food!
See you soooooon Matt! Well the French say À bientôt!
Saying goodbye always sucks for me - as everyone at home and Nottingham will know. But this time it's not for too long and hopefully I'll be bringing home some cool photos, memories and prezzies! Luckily I've got a French family who are constantly helping me to work on my accent and vocab - enough to keep anyone busy! Isabelle is working on my accent at the moment (god help her)!
So what now? Now I'm still trying to sort out my bank account - an appointment has been booked for next week...yay French administration... and this weekend I'm having a whole day with my mentor teacher to sort out Erasmus, shopping, eating and meeting colleagues and of course her lovely family! WORK IS FAST APPROACHING :D
À TOUTE À L'HEURE
JR
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