obscure corner of the internet (notably a flurry of Russians and Moldovans apparently, привет and alo to you) while I was tackling the mountain of work and responsibility that was my final year of university, and leave it open to the possibility that I might do another year away at some point that would allow me to carry on rambling on here for another year or two.
As it happens, I have found myself doing another year abroad! Due do a convenient link between Bath and Aix-en-Provence, the two universities run an exchange of sorts where a graduate from each university goes to teach for a year at the other. I applied after my personal tutor said she thought I would enjoy it and find the students more receptive than those I taught at the secondary schools in Alsace, and because I realised that I don't particularly fancy finding a graduate scheme job in the UK just yet (or ever?). The options were Aix, Paris and Strasbourg. Knowing that living in capital cities isn't my cup of tea, and despite having a soft spot for Alsace knowing that I didn't want to repeat my time in that region and instead wanted to experience a completely different part of the country, I was over the moon when they offered me the job in Aix :) As a lectrice my job is to conduct English language lessons for groups of university students for 12 hours a week, plus lesson planning and marking and exam invigilating and the like. So it's not that different to what I ended up doing in Alsace last year, except the students are a few years older and wiser, my job is actually to teach this time, rather than to be a teacher under the disguise of a classroom assistant, and I'm situated in the Provence region, right down in the south surrounded by the Mediterranean on one side and the Alps on the other. The city is also incidentally twinned with Bath so as you can imagine I'm well happy to have ended up here :) I'm living with a host family of sorts for the year, renting a room from a family who near the centre-ville and university. I decided that this was the best option after looking at living with students and soon realising that in many cases that would mean paying a deposit and finding a French guarantor, as well as there being a high possibility that I would end up teaching one of my housemates, which would be beyond awkward...
Anyway, I thought that a good focus for my first blog post of the year would be to list some things that I'd like to see and do during the year before my departure, or as I like to call it, my Aixet from the region (sorry...). Obviously the main reason I am going is to hopefully make some French teenagers want to learn more about the British culture and the English language, but aside from that there are lots of cultural things I would love to explore and I feel it would be a real shame not to.
Anyway, I thought that a good focus for my first blog post of the year would be to list some things that I'd like to see and do during the year before my departure, or as I like to call it, my Aixet from the region (sorry...). Obviously the main reason I am going is to hopefully make some French teenagers want to learn more about the British culture and the English language, but aside from that there are lots of cultural things I would love to explore and I feel it would be a real shame not to.
- Les Calanques and Cassis. Being a bit of a beach bum, I do like a good sandy cove to spend an afternoon reading in and these Calanques look like just my cup of tea. They are rock formations to the east of Marseille and look absolutely beautiful. Cassis is a little port town nearby which from what I can work out serves as the base for exploring the Calanques.
- Visit Monaco and the Cote D'Azur. Monaco to cross another country off my list of European countries to visit (is there any other reason to go to Monaco if you're not a multi-millionaire?), and the Cote D'Azur to simultaneously satisfy my beach bum and culture vulture sides.
- Kayaking at Lac de Sainte-Croix. Kayaking on this lake on a sunny day looks like it could be my happy place. Google it.
- Climb the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. I suppose I should factor in some exercise somewhere, and it looks like the views from the top of this mountain that sits behind Aix will be rewarding enough to motivate me to get out of a patisserie and actually do something active.
- Learn how to cook something local. I am a food enthusiast who is not blessed with the gift of cooking edible things so if I can master just one local dish I will be happy.
So in terms of how similar the blog will be to last year, I will try to continue my routine of posting every week, and failing that every fortnight. From what I can tell from the highly confusing calendar of term dates I have been sent, the university holidays surprisingly don't appear to be quite as generous as the school holidays which I very much enjoyed and took advantage of last year. But I'm sure I will take advantage of them nonetheless and I'm planning to make lots of cheeky trips over into Italy during the year, and possibly even further afield next summer, so I imagine I will continue with my trademark blogging style of posting selfies of my face obscuring various famous landmarks, moaning about French teenagers and making countless Sound of Music references...
Also, I will add that if anyone finds themselves in the South of France at any point, come visit me! I know from experience that it is always so nice to have visitors from home when you're far away, and Aix is a lovely place for a holiday, so venez nombreux!!
A bientot!
Also, I will add that if anyone finds themselves in the South of France at any point, come visit me! I know from experience that it is always so nice to have visitors from home when you're far away, and Aix is a lovely place for a holiday, so venez nombreux!!
A bientot!
