I'm writing this from the comfort of my home in Tewkesbury. I have made a mainly logistical trip home, the sort of trip that screams i'm-coming-home-now-because-i-won't-be-able-to-fit-all-my-crap-into-minimal-suitcase-space-in-may.
I got back last Tuesday, went to see the boyfriend for a few days in Bath, and am spending a bit of relaxing time at home before heading back to LR demain. When i get back, my friend Fran from university is coming to visit for a few days, then it's back to school for only two weeks! Once again, I say 2 weeks, I actually mean 5 days of work. Tuesday in LR, Thursday in Courcon, a day off on Friday as most of my pupils are going on a Latin trip, Tuesday LR, Thursday Courcon and Friday Surgeres. Done. Year Abroad will then be over!
After my trip to Bath, school went ok; it all becomes much-of-a-muchness... I tell people thatt i'll be leaving soon, they squeal 'oh god, we need you to record things for next year and write stuff down blah blah' but never actually ask me to do said important stuff! I still ADORE Courcon, the teachers and pupils are all just so talkative and enthusiastic, I feel like celebrity when the kids come up to me in the dinig hall to ask me how I am and what I've been doing! I really will be sad to say goodbye to this school. Surgeres is alright, I'm still receiving minimal support from the teachers and my mentor teacher (who hasn't spoke to me since my first day - considering she has to write a report on me at the end of my placement, you'd think she'd be a little more interested in me and my life!), and my La Rochelle school is still only employing me for an hour a week. I just don't understand why they even asked for an assistant, as I haven't done anything meaningful there in my entire 7 months here. the exciting lunch that I explained in my previous post was the most interesting anything has even been in that school. My mentor in that school has been an angel though and has apologised that my placement in this school may have put me off teaching for life, and that she feels guilty that the teachers can't 'use' me more, which I suppose is a bit of a consolation.
The last day of term i was meant be going to Surgeres, but a train strike in the evening meant I had no way fo getting home (it's only myself and one other teacher who teach from 4.30pm until 5.30pm in a school of 700 pupils, ridiculous). So I decided that I didnt need to try too hard to find a means of transport to get home - I've NEVER called in sick to ANY of my schools, I've always done what's expected of me, and the only times I haven't gone to school is when the teachers themselves have told me not to bother due to strikes or trips. So I took the plunge and said I wouldn't be coming in.
That night, I took the train to Nantes and spent the night in a hotel, eagerly awaiting the arrival of my two uni best friends, Amy and Carys! They arrived the next day and we stayed in Hotel Amiral, a definite recommendation for all potential voyageurs to Nantes! We went out with Amy's old French exchange partner who lives in St Nazaire, and consequently spent Easter Sunday nursing hangovers from hell. I hadn't seen Amy, who's working in Aix-en-Provence, in nearly 10 months! I travelled back to La Rochelle on the Monday, then flew back to Bristol on the Tuesday.
So as of tomorrow, it will be EXACTLY 3 weeks until I fly home for good. I often compare myself to those people who adore being abroad, relish in working in a different country and fully immerse without any issues - but I don't think I'm one of those people. I do love where I've been on my YA, of course I do, but I adore home too, and have been abroad for nearly a whole year and need to be back into a confortable, homely routine...
I've only got these 21 days in which to soak up as much beautiful weather in the prettiest corner of France, so I'm going to make the most of it :)
I got back last Tuesday, went to see the boyfriend for a few days in Bath, and am spending a bit of relaxing time at home before heading back to LR demain. When i get back, my friend Fran from university is coming to visit for a few days, then it's back to school for only two weeks! Once again, I say 2 weeks, I actually mean 5 days of work. Tuesday in LR, Thursday in Courcon, a day off on Friday as most of my pupils are going on a Latin trip, Tuesday LR, Thursday Courcon and Friday Surgeres. Done. Year Abroad will then be over!
After my trip to Bath, school went ok; it all becomes much-of-a-muchness... I tell people thatt i'll be leaving soon, they squeal 'oh god, we need you to record things for next year and write stuff down blah blah' but never actually ask me to do said important stuff! I still ADORE Courcon, the teachers and pupils are all just so talkative and enthusiastic, I feel like celebrity when the kids come up to me in the dinig hall to ask me how I am and what I've been doing! I really will be sad to say goodbye to this school. Surgeres is alright, I'm still receiving minimal support from the teachers and my mentor teacher (who hasn't spoke to me since my first day - considering she has to write a report on me at the end of my placement, you'd think she'd be a little more interested in me and my life!), and my La Rochelle school is still only employing me for an hour a week. I just don't understand why they even asked for an assistant, as I haven't done anything meaningful there in my entire 7 months here. the exciting lunch that I explained in my previous post was the most interesting anything has even been in that school. My mentor in that school has been an angel though and has apologised that my placement in this school may have put me off teaching for life, and that she feels guilty that the teachers can't 'use' me more, which I suppose is a bit of a consolation.
The last day of term i was meant be going to Surgeres, but a train strike in the evening meant I had no way fo getting home (it's only myself and one other teacher who teach from 4.30pm until 5.30pm in a school of 700 pupils, ridiculous). So I decided that I didnt need to try too hard to find a means of transport to get home - I've NEVER called in sick to ANY of my schools, I've always done what's expected of me, and the only times I haven't gone to school is when the teachers themselves have told me not to bother due to strikes or trips. So I took the plunge and said I wouldn't be coming in.
That night, I took the train to Nantes and spent the night in a hotel, eagerly awaiting the arrival of my two uni best friends, Amy and Carys! They arrived the next day and we stayed in Hotel Amiral, a definite recommendation for all potential voyageurs to Nantes! We went out with Amy's old French exchange partner who lives in St Nazaire, and consequently spent Easter Sunday nursing hangovers from hell. I hadn't seen Amy, who's working in Aix-en-Provence, in nearly 10 months! I travelled back to La Rochelle on the Monday, then flew back to Bristol on the Tuesday.
So as of tomorrow, it will be EXACTLY 3 weeks until I fly home for good. I often compare myself to those people who adore being abroad, relish in working in a different country and fully immerse without any issues - but I don't think I'm one of those people. I do love where I've been on my YA, of course I do, but I adore home too, and have been abroad for nearly a whole year and need to be back into a confortable, homely routine...
I've only got these 21 days in which to soak up as much beautiful weather in the prettiest corner of France, so I'm going to make the most of it :)
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