Settling in, slowly but surely!

Best: -I was able to meet all of the other Strasbourg assistants during my training on Monday and Tuesday, so good to finally meet in person! -Coffee ALL THE TIME -My roommates made me dinner two nights in a row. Some of my favorite items were choucroute, honey-glazed carrots, risotto, and génoises (a cracker-y cookie with chocolate and raspberry)

Funniest: -Reassuring one of my teachers while running errands together that I’m not going to need her to take me to the hospital because I bought men’s razors P.S. a pack of 20 razor heads and one handle was 4,99…who wants me to ship to them???

Worst: -Waking up at 5:30 am two days in a row to get to Strasbourg on time for said orientation -Still no wifi…I shall persevere

Truly French: -Separating the toilet and the “bathroom” -Showering in a tub with a handheld shower head, do I sit? Do I stand? Why is there no curtain??

What I miss from home: -My multitude of fluffy blankets and pillows + my acupressure mat (it’s cold at night! And my neck/back have felt out of wack since arriving in France)

This last week I haven’t done anything terribly exciting, just continuing to try to find my footing in my new home and gearing up to start teaching soon. I have been here for two weeks but it feels like I’ve been here so much longer. You know how scientists say that we feel like time continually speeds up as we get older because as children we have new experiences all the time, whereas as adults we have routines and aren’t constantly making new synapses and memories—because who wants fifteen years’ worth of memories of the same commute, the same meals, the same sights, the same conversations, on and on and on??? So I feel like these last two weeks have felt so much longer because every moment has been a new experience and my brain is constantly trying to keep on top of what people are saying, where I’m going, and what’s next on my to-do list.

This last Sunday, I was invited over for dinner to a friend of Sophie’s, one of my English teachers, and was treated to savory crepes with ham, eggs, and cheese, and a sweet crepe with apricot jam, Reese’s peanut butter, local honey, and brown sugar. YUM! She also insisted I stay over for a while longer to use her wifi to call home, she said she was once an assistant in South Carolina and knows how difficult it can be to be away from home and separated from family and friends.

On Monday and Tuesday, I had training in Strasbourg. If the training was more than one day, the académie was supposed to provide accomodations for the assistants, but alas…I had to wake up at 5:30 both days so Sophie could pick me up and take me to the nearest train station in Bollwiller. Overall, the training felt fairly pointless. All of the information from the presentations had already been included in the assistant handbook or shared in emails from Natalie Cox, literally nothing was new! But as they were also training assistants for all languages, perhaps not everyone had been so well-prepared as the English assistants. If nothing else, it was a nice formality to be welcomed to the académie and to meet all of the other assistants (and get a free (amazingly delicious) lunch at a nearby high school).

I was lucky enough to get a ride back to Issenheim with a teacher who was at our training on Monday, and on Tuesday, I took the train and bus back with the other Guebwiller assistant. Hopefully we will be friends! One thing about France, or maybe just the community where I live, is that everyone is always giving me their phone numbers or sharing my number with their friends to help make connections for rides or hosting me in other cities or having me over for dinner. It helps a lot with feeling welcome and also like I have people who care about me, even though I’m still basically a stranger and foreigner.

Wednesday was notable because I succeeded in opening a French bank account! The process took a full hour, and I immediately went home and collapsed for a nap. Since I’ve been in France, I get tired soooo easily. I chalk it up to that constant brain workout of trying to understand and keep track of everything. So, an hour of trying to conduct business on a matter of utmost importance (cuz $$$$/€€€€) in my second language was completely exhausting. I should have my bank card by next Wednesday or Thursday *fingers crossed*

The last two days have been observation at both lycées, which means more of me standing at the front of the classroom while students work up the courage to speak in their second or third language and ask me questions about myself. Next week is hopefully going to be a bit more of a normal schedule but not quite, because several teachers from my main school, Lycée Deck, are going on a school trip to Ireland. I'm still not sure what my actual weekly schedule is going to be like, but I think I will have plenty to keep me busy. I've been given more responsibility than I really anticipated, but I'm excited to get to be the fun young teacher who's "cool" because she's from America. So far, the students have all been respectful and curious, so hopefully it stays that way! I wasn't sure what to expect from high school students. Their levels of English vary quite a bit depending on their level in school, too.

The homesickness and culture shock have gotten a lot better since I’ve been getting acquainted to my new surroundings. It’s tough to not be able to call home or even really text since I’m still waiting to get wifi here, but it helps to be kept busy with my classes. I really don’t think that I would be starting to feel as comfortable as I do had I not been treated so well, though! I just won’t ever get over how above and beyond the school staffs have gone to show me how excited they are to have me and to get to know me. I know that not every single assistant gets this kind of welcoming experience, so I feel truly fortunate to be in this particular place! I laugh when I think of how different my reality is from what I envisioned when I applied for this program. I imagined myself living in a medium-sized city, taking the train to my tiny town every day, hanging out with friends all the time and being touristy until I got sick of it. But instead I’m living in the country, soaking up the peace and quiet, actually enjoying the fact that everyone knows everyone, and getting some mental and physical rest after chugging through undergrad and working so hard the last eight months since graduation so I could be here. I’ll never have a time like this in my life again—living in a country I’ve dreamed of visiting for almost all of my life, working part-time, eight weeks of paid vacation, delicious food at every turn, and space from all of the hustle and bustle of life—so I want to make sure I soak up every moment and appreciate the fact that I AM HERE and this is happening, I’m living my dream right now.

I might do posts later on specifically about how the grades or levels in French schools are organized compared to the US and about the order of operations upon arrival in France, so stay tuned for that if you’re a hopeful TAPIF-er.

Also, I have some photos that I wanted to include with this post, but I'm using the wifi at a McDonald's and the connection is soooooo slow. I'll try to add them to the next post!