Early Adventures

Thursday, 4 October

So, I have the whole weekend to share and every day was full of something, so this will be rather long. There should less excitement once I start classes next week.

So the end of my last post was excitement about going to Lyon. It wasn't fun. Since we didn't have internet, we couldn't plan and we got there too late in the afternoon to really explore the historical sections that are further from the train station. So we just decided to walk around the station. Aparrently, everything in Lyon, including the majority of the cafes, are closed on Saturday. So the only thing to do was go to the mall, where the rest of Lyon was spending the afternoon. So there wasn't much to do besides walk aimlessly, and it was kind of cold. The only bright spot was that we finally found a place to have a cup of coffee, so I have my first café et crème français. It was quite tasty!

Sunday, we walked around Le Péage de Roussillon. It really isn't a super nice town. There are some bakeries and pastry shops that I want to try. We slowly wandered into the historical section of Roussillon, which is up and over a hill from the school. There is a really old church there, with some beautiful views of the Massif Central. I'm not sure about the details of the church. I haven't the time or access to internet to really research it.

Our orientation for the program was Monday and Tuesday. We left at 7:30 Monday morning to get to Grenoble, the central city of the region, by noon (lots of waiting at places). Thankfully, a round trip train ticket is only 25 euros. The first day was mostly boring, administrative things. But Grenoble is nestled in a valley of the Alps and is beautiful!!! Monday evening we went to Autrans, a small skiing village up in the Alps. The second day was much more helpful. There were activities about lesson planning and guidelines for running the classroom. We left Autrans at 4:30 and walked around Grenoble for 45 minutes before our train. I took some great pictures and really want to go back and fully explore the city. It isn't a huge city, so not too intimating, but very beautiful and lots of history!

And then it was all down hill from there. Our train from Grenoble to Lyon was late, so we missed our connection to Le Péage de Roussillon, which isn't not a huge deal, because one runs every hour. So we waited the 45 minutes for the next train and with 10 minutes to go, they decide to have a fire drill. I understood the emergency announcement, so that was good. So we were fearing missing our train, which would have been terrible because it was the last one for the night, and instead we ended being 45 minutes delayed because of the drill and the havoc it created on the train schedule. And after all that, we still had the 15 minutes walk to the school, which doesn't sound like a lot, but tonight it was. So instead of arriving at the apartment shortly after 9, we got there at 11, after leaving Autrans at 4:30. It was a long day.

Wednesday was not much better, since it consisted only of trying to figure out the bureaucratic nightmare that is France. We are still trying to get internet in the apartment, so I can skype and use the internet after school hours. For right now, I just have access to school computers. But, we opened bank accounts Thursday, and will hopefully get signed up for internet tomorrow. Although it might still take a few weeks to get it installed.

Besides that mess, things are well. My French is slowly getting better. I can now understand how awful I sound and how many mistakes I make, so I think that means I am getting better. I am enjoying the French food. I have now had café coffee and multiple croissants and baguettes. The food selection for shopping is a little different (there is an entire 4 aisles dedicated to milk products, like butter, cheese and cream, and oddly, the carts are different. On American carts, the front wheels do the turning and on the French, the backs wheels turn), and our kitchen is very tiny. We do have a stove and an oven. But I don't know how to use the oven yet, and I don't think you can fit a 9x13 in it. And we have very limited pots and pans, so meals have to be simple and easy.

I start my classes tomorrow (Friday), mostly just to introduce myself to students. My real schedule starts Monday. I think some of roommates want to go to Grenoble this weekend, but I would like to just rest.

With love from Roussillon