I feel like it's time to update once more, mostly because something incredibly exciting has happened :)

As you know, I applied for a PGCE course in Primary and Modern Foreign Languages, my first coice university being Southampton, my home town. Well, I had my interview on Monday (24th), and the next day I found out that I got in! Excitement! I'm so happy - my future is very nearly firm (just the degree to get...!) and I'm going to just the place I wanted to go. I'm still in a bit of a state of shock as I can't quite believe they actually want me, but I'm ecstatic aswell :D

Just wanted to put that out there :P

Had a lovely long weekend home with my family too. Friday night til Tuesday morning. Lovely :D

Other than that I'm fairly busy at the moment - I have a lot of work to do including two proper essays as well as ordinary work (and non-assessed coursework (huh?!)). But I'm coping. I;ve not worked this hard for a long time, but I'm sure it's good for me in some way...

Very much looking forward to Christmas and spending long amounts of time with my family. Unfortunately I'm coming back to Manc early due to scary exam-type things, but two and a half weeks isn't bad; food, warmth, sleep - all good :)

That's about all, I think.

Love to all

Nielle x

Back in Manchester

Because my Daddy is bugging me, I have decided to continue with this blog. Unfortunately because my life is unexciting and all I seem to do at the moment is work and sleep, it may not make for an interesting read.

So, a bit of a catch up. I got back from France and rather shortly afterwards embarked on a two week stint of work experience at my old Secondary school. It was great fun and I learned a lot about teaching languages, and how to act like a proper teacher (attending meetings, taking tutor groups and relaxing in the staff room!). However, it reinforced the idea that although I could teach at secondary level, I don't really want to and that Primary is definitely for me.

I celebrated my 21st with a barbecue and much love from my family. I still don't feel like a proper adult yet, and certainly don't look like one!

For the rest of the summer I worked at my usual job in a theme park. It's a good job, relatively easy, and well paying. I also actually enjoy it, and spent some time getting to know my co-workers for once.

I also was encumbered with two weeks 'Jury Service'. Of course, knowing my luck, it was a complete farce and sham and resulted in my waiting around for two days and not actually getting to sit in on any trials - sheesh!

And finally it was time to come back to Manchester. Unfortunately a week early (!), but it was good to keep Kate, my housemate company after she had had a very lonely summer. Got some good shopping done and discovered a taste for wine (ironically after I come back from France!!). my other housemates arrived (Hazel and Rose) and we had some good housebonding time.

Since then I've now had two full weeks back. Already fairly heavily worked, but I'm actually quite enjoying it so far, and the prospect of working fro a real purpose and having some pride in what I have done is quite heartening. I'm even giving up a trip home at Reading Week in order to stay and work - weird!!

Have however done a fair amount of socialising too (all work and no play etc etc) so my life isn't entirely boring :P

Am also trying to put a lot into my church and my relationship with God, which a) haven't really done much if anything about this last year, and b) just haven't ever really taken very seriously. This is I think due to certain reasons that have now been taken care of. And I'm a lot happier. But don't worry - I'm not a 'crazy Christian' person :D

So that's really it so far. I'll try and keep this updated when life is a little bit more interesting; I'd rather not keep updates on exactly how much work I've done and what each and every time!

Nielle xxxxx

Catch up: Holidays, holidays, holidays!

I know, I know, I haven’t updated in a long time. But I have a legitimate excuse this time!

So, just before I went on holiday to Florida (literally less than 24 hours before) by computer’s power cable broke so computer went ‘bye bye’. But it’s all fixed now with a shiny new power cord.

Anyway, so I went to Florida. I flew all the way there all by myself! Flew out with Air France from Charles de Gaulle airport. We left on time and had a long but uneventful flight to Atlanta, Georgia. Unfortunately my parents were delayed at Heathrow…by snow. In April. The one and only time England ever gets snow and it happens to be the day my parents are flying. So they were delayed by two hours and missed their connecting flight. Which meant we all had to stay in a hotel overnight; me in Florida (having made my connection and gotten through US immigration with no problems and even a friendly immigration officer!) and my parents in Chicago. I stayed in the hotel in Orlando airport…unfortunately a Hyatt and costing $200 for one night!!! But it was very nice and my parents paid me back…after having to spend a whole $65 on their hotel, breakfast included *seethe*.

Luckily, I had food in my luggage so didn’t have to pay extortionate breakfast prices, but I did have to while away two hours in Orlando airport. My parents landed at 3 and we finally met up and started our holiday!

As usual, our Floridian holiday involved heat, sunshine and Disney! We did Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios and on the Universal side we did Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Seaworld. Plus plenty of shopping and eating lots of American food. Me and mummy did all the ‘scary’ rides for the first time (i.e. Kraken, Hulk, FearFall etc etc) for the first time. Great fun and a fitting end to what is probably our last family holiday in the States.

When I got back to France, I had a little over a week and a half ‘til I went away again! This time I was off to Austria with Dana. We took a plane from Orly Sud on Thursday night (1^st May) and landed at Vienna at 10. Took a coach to the station and then a train from Vienna to Hallstatt, our final destination. Unfortunately, our train had a change at 2 in the morning so we found an open train that was likely to be ours in the morning and slept for 3 hours…Then the train moved, we panicked and jumped off and then got back on 10 mins later when other people started getting on! On the train to Hallstatt, I was out like a light until we got to the station (well, a platform on a single track...) Now, Hallstatt is a teeny tiny village on the edge of a lake, nestled in the mountains and the only way to get there is by boat, which goes to meet each arriving train. And here is a pretty pool up in the mountains:

And here's Dana with the biggest swan I have ever seen!

Arriving in Hallstatt, we looked around a bit until we could dump our bags in the Hotel and then headed to the Tourism Office. After finding out about what to do, we headed for what we had already planned: the Salt Mine tour. It’s just about the only thing to do in Hallstatt, but it is pretty fun. Mostly because it has two super fun slides within the mine! I have a wonderful photo of me on it…

After our tour we stumbled back down the mountain and took the funicular back down the incredibly steep incline…

Starving, we found lunch in a cute café in the main square and I had the best soup I’ve ever had and Apfel Strudel for dessert! Yum! We then toured the town, visiting both the Catholic and Protestant churches and found the happiest cat in the world:

Within the grounds of the Catholic Church is the town cemetery, which has the most beautiful graves I’ve ever seen, both in terms of upkeep and their gorgeous headstones.

Unfortunately, because the cemetery is so small, every so often they run out of space…so they dig up the bones, clean them up, paint the skulls and put them in the ‘bone chapel’. Still undecided whether this is gruesome and creepy, or a novel and beautiful way of honouring the dead…

And by this point we were exhausted, having had very little sleep so we checked in and slept for 4 hours with the dulcet tones of CNN in the background, this being the only channel in English!

Dinner was takeout pizza while watching awful American reality TV such as ‘A shot at love with Tila Tequila’…yeah… And then sleep again J

Breakfast was the usual German fare, i.e. muesli, fruit, and bread with various meats…in other words, weird.

After breakfast we commenced our hike. Up and down, through the mountains…for three hours! Exhausting, but we saw several waterfalls, some beautiful pools, and awesome views of the forests and mountains.

Finally we hired a small motorboat around the lake before we had to take the boat back for the train. We got back to Vienna after an hour long delay on the train. Luckily we were on our own in a compartment and could stretch out and chill. Apparently in Austria no one cares about feet on the seats! Dinner was MacDonald’s in Vienna and we got to the airport at about 11.30. Our flight was not until 6.40…! So we settled down for a long night on the cold hard floor. I actually managed to get some sleep! And then slept for the entire plane journey too. And for most of Sunday when we got back! Even after having had ice cream for breakfast at quick!

Two days after we got back from Austria we (Dana and I) headed off to Nice! We took a night train on Tuesday night and got to Nice at 8 in the morning. Again, I slept reasonably well, but clearly not enough as you will see later. Took the tram to the hostel, well, to a tram stop where we were picked up by the owners as the hostel is on the top of a ridiculously steep hill that is not fun without bags, so thank goodness for a shuttle van. Obviously too early to check in, but they gave us breakfast and we dumped our bags before heading off to explore Nice.

First we went to the market in the old town and bought some absolutely delicious strawberries which we promptly ate on the beach. We walked along the Promenade des Anglais and then up Castle Hill (of course the lift was broken…!) where we chilled, and I fell asleep in the sun!

Did some more exploration and some shopping and found ‘Dana’s’ Indian restaurant (where she and her friends ate when she was there two years ago) but it was closed, so we went to see the Russian Cathedral.

Apparently Nice once had a large Russian population who clearly wanted their own place of worship, and constructed a beautiful cathedral.

Headed back to the restaurant at 6 thinking it would be open, but it wasn’t until 7 and we were too tired and hungry to wait so we decided to eat at the hostel. Checked in there and settled into our room and showered. Ordered pizza for dinner and then endured 3 hours of our roommates getting ready to go out while we just wanted to sleep! Unfortunately Villa Saint Exupery is very much a ‘party’ hostel. Very nice, and friendly etc but also noisy.

Second day we visited Antibes and sat on the beach! And we ate in the Indian restaurant with one of our less noisy roommates who we happened to bump into on the tram. It was possibly one of the best Indians I have ever had and came with free alcohol. Not complaining.

Third day was a day trip to Menton, on the border of Italy. We drove through, and got stuck in, Monaco who was about to hold their historic Grand Prix. Menton is very pretty but not a lot going on. We did have a nice lunch in ‘La Coupole’ of Spaghetti Bolognaise and Sangria with some complimentary limoncello to finish. Yum!

Fourth day we went to Eze and climbed up to the jardin exotique. We bought both lunch and dinner and made our own to save money.

Day five was another beach day. We went to Cap d’Ail (the Garlic Cape(!)) and walked down to plage Mala which was very small and not crowded. Later on we had an amazing crepe back in Nice and then dinner at the hostel. Later we went back to the station to get our night train back to Paris, and so our holiday was over.

I’m now into my final two weeks, and just starting to do all the things I should have done months ago! Like observe classes at school which is fun and informative. Go to some of Joanne’s adult classes and meet adults etc etc I feel excited as I want to go home and also get out of my apartment which is now ant infested, but has one less spider. But I also feel sad since I don’t want to stop teaching and leave the kids. They seem pretty sad I’m leaving too, so I feel like I mean something to them, so that’s quite nice.

Basically, I have had a super year, but I do feel like I could have done more to meet people and speak French and generally practice my language skills. But I’ve definitely improved, and I’m happier and more confident, so it’s been totally worthwhile J Just wish I could stay another year. But then again, hopefully in two years time I will have my own class and can be doing all this for real! And I’ve achieved my goal of wanting to speak French, at least semi fluently. It’s definitely in the forefront of my brain which helps my speech and my comprehension. I just have to retain it. Lots of practice next year!

This will probably be the last update, although I may check in again later. For now I hope this has been a fun, if short blog to read and much love to everyone who is reading this,

Nielle xxx

February and March

Very sorry folks – I really haven’t been very good about updating recently, so I guess this one’s going to be pretty long!

So I left off about to go home for my Winter Break. The holiday as good; heating showers, family and Paul. Also got to see my friends up in Manchester. It was really lovely seeing the girls again – especially as I’ll be living with two of them next year! Had the opportunity to see the house I’ll be living in, too.

In the second week, Paul, Alex, Alex’s friend Ash and I went on a day trip to Thorpe Park. That was fun :) A bit cold and not everything was open, but still a very enjoyable day. We’re planning on Alton Towers in June.

Also had my work induction. Boring, but necessary and I managed to get all new uniform this year! So I’ll be keeping that one for next year too :P

Got back to France at the end of February, with the prospect of 6 weeks without a break. March is a long month! So that was a bit scary, but I definitely kept myself occupied. I’ve been seeing two French girls on a weekly basis to talk in French, so my spoken fluency has definitely gotten better. I’ve been swimming twice a week which is fun and I’m trying to be healthier and fitter, so that’s a good start.

Had a compulsory meeting/seminar thing on teaching living languages. It was incredibly boring but I managed to get a twinning website and the fact that I attended it as a bonus for my PGCE application.

Talking of which, I wrote to my old Secondary School about getting some work experience and they’ve gotten back to me saying they can not only get me experience with them but also some time teaching French in primary schools and some all day stuff in primary schools. So yay and woo for amazingness :)

Not sure if I ever mentioned it, but Dana and I booked a long weekend in Hallstatt, Austria, which is a gorgeous tiny village on the edge of a lake. We’re doing that right at the beginning of May :) And the week after that we have Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and the following Monday off so we’re spending 5 days in Nice! Sun, sea and sand!

Paul came to stay with me for the Easter weekend. It was really lovely. I just wish I could spend more time with him :(

Teaching is still good. There are two classes I really don’t like, but I love the rest of them. Getting better at discipline, but still being nice and friendly obviously. Because I am nice :) But they are starting to need a little more discipline so I try to manage that. I think I’m doing ok so I have reasonable hope for being able to discipline my own class someday.

I think that’s about all of my February and March. I’m off to Florida with my family on Sunday. Flying on my own which I’m actually quite excited about although I’m a little nervous about immigration my myself…but it can’t be that hard…can it?

Much love to all, I’ll be back in England in June!

Nielle xxx

Home Again!

It's been a fairly busy week again :) And yes, I'm coming home again on Friday and I am very muchly excited - I really need to go home again! Plus, I get to see Paul (obviously! :p) and I'm going to visit Manchester to see my friends there.

Ok, so this last week or so. Got paid on Tuesday - so that was good. Friday we (Dana and I) decided to go swimming. It was chucking it down but we needed to go buy swimsuits out at the back end of nowhere. So we got wet. And then went swimming - still wet! Swimming was very good if quite tiring since my level of fitness is appalling. I think I got a good 13-15 lengths in though, so not too bad...:s

Saturday we went to another back end of nowhere on the other side of Chartres. A place called Barjouville because Dana needed something and I needed a cheap dishrack (obviously). It was basically kind of a like an outlet 'mall' crossed with Nursling Industrial Estate or West Quay Retail park - lots of big shops; houseware, clothes, kitchen/bathroom construction, and, randomly a Buffalo Grill. We wandered around a bit because for some unknown reason (oh, no, wait, we're in France...-_-) the shop we wanted was closed for lunch. France has not heard of shift working, apparently. Or staggered lunch breaks. Decided it would be 'fun' to walk across muddy grass, jump over a ditch and run through motorway traffic to spot the Cathedral across some meadows. I ruined my shoes :(. And muddied my trousers. Dana ruined her knee. So, yes, Fun.

Headed for shoe shop to replace said ruined shoes. Got a nice pair :)

Sunday was the first Sunday of the month and sunny, thus we (again, me and Dana :)) climbed the Cathedral Tower. It was steep, narrow and dizzisome. And it hurt my knee. But great views.

And onto School. I haven't spoken about school for a while, and since that's technically what I'm here to do, I probably should.

I. LOVE. IT.

Yep :) The kids can be noisy and uncooperative, but the nice ones make up for it and I still have a deep longing to be teaching my own class. I've done a few lessons on my own now, and I do find it quite hard. But I think this is due to two reasons: 1. It's usually decided on the spur of the moment that I'll be doing the lesson so I don't have time to plan it through properly - and you know me - I like every detail planned :) and two, the big one: 2. I'm teaching in a language I'm not completely fluent in - do you have any idea how hard it is to explain stuff to kids who don't quite understand that you can't speak their language and can't accommodate for you, plus, coupled with lack of organisation (so I haven't had time to plan what I need to say), it's very difficult. However, it's still fun, and I love helping them out, and by the 3rd explanation of a task, they usually have understood me and my French has improved enormously at each repetition! I pretty much only take the CE2s on my own (8-9) as they are less intimidating (yes, 11 year olds are intimidating!) and that's the age range I want to teach anyway.

I think that's about tout so much love and I'll see a lot of you very soon :)

Nielle xxx

The last few weeks

Mostly just thought I should update.

Have been having a rather busy social life so far this year, and possibly drunk more in the last three weeks than I have ever one at university (without getting drunk, of course :p). Have been out for meals, drinks, gatherings (including both meal and drinks) at other assistants houses, gotten to know the other assistants better. All in all, a good three weeks.

Yesterday was of particular note. Decided with Dana on the spur of the moment to head into town to do various errand-y type things. Ended up planning to go swimming 2-3 times a week at the local pool and discovering a local park in which they had various Asian birds and a small 'farm'-type thing:
View of the river Eure and the park. Nice day for January.
Cool coloured bird.
Cool goat. He was just chillin' with his little goat-y friends.
Baby goat! Everybody say 'D'awww' now :pPeacock.
Random yellow bird.Dana on the Eure river, plus mini waterfall.

Ok, so after our little jaunt around Chartres, we went to a political meeting. Why you ask? Well, there is an election going on in Chartres at the moment (well, the elections are happening next Sunday, so this is the pre-election 'VOTE FOR ME' time.) and obviously one of the candidates is from the Socialist party. Now, which famous someone recently ran for presidential election for that very same party? That's right, Segolene Royal. So she came to Chartres to support her fellow party member, Françoise Vallet. Being all cultural like we are (well, that and wanting to see the woman who could have been president of France!) we went to the meeting. Couldn't get a great photo, but here's one anyway:


Françoise is the one speaking (on the left) and Segolene is on the right.

We then had takeaway pizza and watched Pride and Prejudice (the proper one) at Deborah's :).

So life is good at the moment. The French can still be a complete pain in the arse at times, but that's the French for you.

A bientot!

Nielle xxx

Back again

Back indeed.

I had a lovely time over Christmas, and certainly did not want to come back to France! I had family, Paul, heating, laundry done for me, hot, powerful showers that I could spend more than ten minutes in, decent clothes shopping. And here I have French people, spiders, slugs and loneliness. Luckily it hasn't actually been too bad. I've seen a fair amount of the other assistants - went out for dinner with pretty much everyone on Tuesday, had dinner with Dana and Deborah on Wednesday, and of course, school is nice, and the kids still lovely and cute. Unfortunately Joanne has been ill with Bronchitis (!) and so I have had two days off already this week! Also unfortunately I have picked up a cough from somewhere, and it's annoying me :(.

On a plus note, after not having received anything from the Social Security people except a letter asking for a birth certificate (which I had already given them!), I went to their office with Dana and sorted it out. They found our birth certificates and gave us a letter with our numbers on, and hopefully we'll get the 'Carte Vitale' soon. By French standards :P

Also, another plus, the CAF people got back to me in record timing (under 2 weeks after application!) and are paying about 2/3 of my rent for me. SO the system does work. Also, the water people wrote too me and actually apologised (!) about their cock-up with my water bill. So France is actually working at the moment :P.

Think that's about it. Will probably hit the massive soldes (January Sales) soon and buy clothes...as long as they're nice.

Love to you all

Nielle xxx