Summer is over...

And the speed with which is has gone amazes me just a little bit. When I worked out that I had been back in the United Kingdom for five whole months before I went back to France for a holiday, I had to stop and work out where the time had gone.

More travelling: USA

Apologies for my recent absence from blogging. It started with having little to share with you, but ended on just being too busy!

When sometimes negative can be positive

Change comes to us all, in whatever format you might imagine. Change can be bitter, it can be worthwhile, it can be terrifying, and sometimes it can be just about the best thing you ever did.

Perhaps where you live might change, who you’re dating, what job you’re doing, or with whom you are friends. We can choose to accept it or fight desperately, although the latter seems rather futile to me.

Try not to roll your eyes; I am perfectly aware that I am only twenty-one and have plenty more to do in my life, but here is my take on things:

France

If you have been reading this blog at all over the last few months, you will know I have had a love-hate relationship with France. My stay there is now over and, as with any ending, I like to reflect.

There are things about France I surely am pleased to leave behind. Living in Bolbec without a car for escape is one of them. Nor will my heart ache for the bureaucracy - after seven months I still haven't been fully subscribed to social security, or received my Carte Vitale. I am perfectly happy to say au revoir to French people who do not want to make an effort to understand me when I am struggling my way through a unforeseen conversation about a topic I had never previously considered in English, let alone French - I'm not a native, apologies if I do not know the French for "supercollider". Actually no, no apologies. Equally, I am not going to miss the people who can't even put themselves out there to try to understand me because I made a tiny mistake in pronunciation. And I'm definitely not going to miss the expensive energy prices for my flat when I spent months huddled under blankets, not receiving the benefit for what I spent. I won't miss being away and unable to get home for friends' birthdays. Et en plus, Paris, je ne t'aime pas.

I will miss the community of assistants. A few of us in a certain area got into the habit of overcoming our transport difficulties to see each other as much as we could, and became much more resourceful and adaptable because of it. But probably more importantly, we made friends. Lauren and I quite possibly have a Bolbec bond for life even if we do literally come from opposite sides of the globe, and I feel able share almost anything with Tatiana - and what I can't I don't feel able to share with anyone. I will miss our evenings as a group spent discussing anything and everything, laughing and eating and - as far as I could tell - not being judged. I will miss the encouragement to go and see something new just because somebody else wanted to go, when I probably wouldn't have been bothered alone.


I will miss a lifestyle of wandering in and out of my own flat whenever it suited me. Sure sometimes boredom from solitude set in, but it is great to have your own place, and live how you want to live. Although I suspect there is more of this to come in my future, so it is perhaps not as terrible as all that.

I will miss certain foods. I was most disappointed to have discovered a great new cheese just days before the holidays - and now I cannot remember the name, but I could find it for you on the shelf in the supermarket. I will miss the habits of going into Carrefour and knowing where everything I wanted was, and never having to go back there again. I dislike immensely the thought of another assistant replacing me next year where I had fitted in, and I don't want them to replace the decorations and students' work I put up to brighten up one of my classrooms. I will miss the opportunity to speak French whenever I wanted, although it is great to be always understood and to understand. I guess it is the habits you get into that I will miss.

But I will miss my French friends. On my penultimate night in Bolbec, the teachers at my principal school had organised a drinks party, for which I was prepared, and a meal out, for which I was not. Fifteen teachers and members of staff signed up to come out to say goodbye and many more signed my goodbye card. I would never have believed fifteen people would want to go anywhere for me like that. They had collected money, and put time into considering what presents to buy me, and had finally bought me a new watch (because mine had been lost at gym class), a new purse (as mine was falling to pieces) and a new memory stick with a keychain (because I had been constantly losing one of three all year round). There was leftover money to give me because more people had contributed at the last minute. People wanted my email address and I have had to promise to countless people to keep in touch. I don't believe I have ever felt so appreciated.

I hate that this is our only photo
because I look terrible.

Most of all, I will miss my professeur référent. She is an absolute gem, and now, I can say, a friend, one that will not be losing me in a hurry (and make no rude comments, because she doesn't mind that!). And that, although my university probably would point to my language skills, I think is the main point of my French experience. People enrich your life, and it is essential to hold on to the ones you like and learn from.

Normandy vs WGHS

Approaching the end of my working and my stay in France, it has occurred to me that I have spent more than a couple of conversations with members of staff trying to explain why this school is so different from the school I went to.

Surprising yourself

I admit, I am absolutely brilliant when it comes to finding reasons not to do what I don't want to do. I am equally good at forcing myself into things I know I should do, but also don't want to do. Imagine, therefore, the constant battle which occurs in my head.

How is this still happening?

After four days of travelling on my own in Switzerland and the southern half of France, I returned to Paris on Thursday night, safely back in the north that I recognise, with plans to visit a castle - my first French château - in nearby Pierrefonds, in Picardy.

It was onboard the train to take me to Compiègne, from where I was to take the bus to the castle used in that popular BBC show Merlin as Camelot, that the subject of this post really came through. I had been mulling over thoughts until it all came together.

Looking Back

Many people are prone to doing this. Many others, equally, dismiss it as a waste of time - why would you look back on your past, when there is so much ahead of you with which to occupy your time?

From Russia With Love

Unpleasant happenings always seem worse during the festive period.

Having followed other friends' year abroad blogs, I have begun to have some understanding of how the world works in other countries, and one of those is Russia. In Russia, I learnt, they do not celebrate Christmas, and perhaps it is for this reason that their concept of timing seems off to us, but to them would not be a problem.

What on earth am I talking about?

It's all fun and laughter until your heating and hot water vanish. Again.

With my missing iPod, regular lack of heat and hot water, and nigh-on two-week flu-type illness my mother is convinced I find everything simply awful here. Whilst I admit sleeping in hoodies and dressing gowns is not joyful, my mother's beliefs are not true. I just call her when I'm grumpy. So without further ado or further complaint, I move on to the marvellous aspects of my time here France...

What has happened to me?

This is a good question in multiple ways.

The first is because it has been so long since I updated this. Upon opening my blog control settings, or Blogger Dashboard, I saw that the last date was the 22nd of November and audibly said (yes, sitting in the flat alone) "Wow, has it been that long already?". I knew it had been a while...

Now I'm feeling a little calmer...

In my previous post I mentioned I would talk politics soon, but as that topic is still festering away in my mind I plan on saving that for a different time.

Instead, let me present to you some of the major challenges I have found myself encountering thus far. On the whole, the year abroad is great, absolutely. But, "C'est une expérience," I hear myself repeating to people here as I recount my woes. Are you sitting comfortably..? You won't be shortly.

Appreciation and anticipation

Either because you enjoy these posts, or because you haven't seen my constant plugging on various social media sites, you may have noted my absence of late. Two and a half weeks, in fact. I do apologise.

Picking up almost directly where I left off.

I did walk those three kilometres to school. I wish I'd taken the bus, or at least stuck to the route I'd got used to taking.

I'm still alive.

It's felt touch and go at times. No, I jest.

Where to begin...

Well it's been a busy few days, that I cannot deny. Yesterday was the first day I haven't gone outside, and instead I filled it with paperwork that is so typical of France, I just can't explain it. If any other assistants here are reading this, I'm sure you feel my pain.

La vie en Haute-Normandie

Yesterday could so easily have gone terribly from the moment I got up.

Ed Balls talks a lot of...

Aha, I know what you were expecting.

In which I go a bit peculiar, perhaps.

Everybody needs somebody, I believe I am sure of this.

I don't necessarily mean in a romantic sense, although perhaps it might be for some, but oftentimes for talking, unloading burdens, debating and discussing ideas, company, friendship... I could go on.

The greats rarely go it, or end up, alone. Holmes and Watson, Bonnie and Clyde, Shiver and Shake, the Doctor and Sarah-Jane, Rose, Romana, Amy, Donna... What is it that makes us such social creatures - even when we need some alone time, the majority of us will turn back to somebody in the end. For some of us it takes rather a while, I admit.

As with anything on this blog, I come from my own perspective. It's been a peculiar time as you may know. Earlier posts have pointed out some nostalgia which ebbs and flows; I have just realised more than ever that there is so much going on in a brain at any one time that no one can appreciate unless you take the time to look. That lack of understanding can be crucial. And that's what our social connections so often do. It's hard work but there's nothing better than finding a reliable and trustworthy outlet for things in your head, and there's no greater honour than being the one trusted, for thoughts, feelings and emotions are the most valuable, powerful things you can possess. It's even something more in my opinion to be one who offers to listen to someone else, to take that interest.

I should have studied Psychology.

In which I am rather patriotic about the Olympics.

We're a somewhat self-deprecating nation and London 2012 is over.

Now there's a statement.