Désolée....

SALUT - JE SUIS DÉSOLÉE.
Well, for the few of you that actually may pay attention to this blog (lol), sorry for the delay, I have been so wrapped up in life here I completely forgot that I should maybe update my blog.

 

I have officially been living in France for over a month now and I cannot describe how amazing it has been. When I arrived in a foreign country and foreign culture with a foreign language that I was mediocre at, I truly wondered what I had gotten myself into. However, despite the challenging apartment search, bank accounts, phone, and more, it did not take long to realize that I am truly in one of the best places I have ever seen. Angers is a small city of about 150,000 people. While it has a smaller population than I intended, it is truly a perfect size. It feels like a city but I was also able to learn the city within a week (helping me not look like a total tourist).

I have also settled into my apartment and been teaching for 2 weeks. While I am still trying to figure out the best lessons to teach english for each class, I already love it. The kids are absolutely adorable and so excited to work with someone from the United States (they treat me as if I am a celebrity/alien). Angers is also not a touristy town so many have not met english speaking people, even from England...so hearing a fluent english speaker, let alone one from the United States, is very different for them. And going off of that, because it is not a tourist town people do not speak english for the most part, however it will be very helpful in improving my French.

  

With my weekends I have been able to take day trips to Nantes and La Rochelle with other American assistants (yay for friends). These two other cities are absolutely beautiful and I am so happy i took the time to visit them. I also am now currently on a 2 week break because in France, for every 6 weeks of school/work, there is a two week break. For one week of that break I will be heading to southern France to visit Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier, and Avignon, and then work my way up to Lyon and Annecy.

To keep this post about the last 3 weeks short, I am in love with France, in love with my city, and just love it here so much. Cannot wait for the rest of the year.
 


A bientôt,
Libby


PS: while in Nantes, I found a restaurant called the Madison Cafe Dinner. It ended up actually being a restaurant themed after Madison, Wisconsin and other famous US cities too. Restaurant menu included food such as Milwaukee four cheese grilled cheese, Madison city pizza, etc. Overall,, it was a great taste of home (featuring onion rings, fries, burgers, but no cheese curds sadly).