Castleford, UK → Le Mans, FR. Eleven hours & 547 miles.

BONJOUR A TOUS!

I've arrived in Le Mans! After months of filling in endless paperwork, half heartedly packing a suitcase and saying temporary goodbyes to friends and family, it never occurred to me that today would actually happen. But happen it did. This morning I said goodbye to my parents and pets (sob sob, I miss you, Columbus!) and felt a bit like Bilbo Baggins as he starts his adventure to the Lonely Mountain. Unfortunately, a group of dwarves and an elderly wizard didn't barge into my house with a contract to sign, and I instead received an arrêté de nomination/work contract in the post a few weeks ago, informing me that I'd be carrying out my year abroad in Le Mans, a small city in between Paris and Nantes. I'll be teaching English as a British Council English Language Assistant in three primary schools, with ages ranging from three to eleven. Yesterday, I found out how old a three year old actually is and now I'm absolutely terrified; having a slight phobia of small children could make this job VERY interesting.

Earlier this afternoon I hopped on a plane from Leeds Bradford Airport to Paris CDG, and shortly after, a TGV train to Le Mans. I decided to splash out on first class with the additional, truly bank-breaking €2 on top of the ticket price and I've well and truly fallen in love with trains all over again. No more nasty Northern Rail, these chaps are BEAUTIFUL. I heaved my suitcase - just under the 22kg weight limit, self-five! - onto the top shelf of the racks and enjoyed ninety minutes in my own armchair with a good book and marvelled at the passing French countryside. Parfait.

I was picked up at the station by one of my lovely responsables and a few short minutes into our conversation gave me the crushing realisation that despite studying it for nine years, French will always be an absolute nightmare. Cependant, I'm certainly looking forward to improving it, regardless of how many awkward situations I have to endure - I'm sure there will be many. I'd been in the hotel reception less than a minute and somehow managed to fall over a plant pot, almost resulting in a nose-carpet situation and being crushed by 22kg of rolled up clothing, European plug adapters and Yorkshire teabags. No-one said a word.

Hopefully with a little less clumsiness - unlikely - I'm planning on spending tomorrow wandering around my new city, while I wait for another assistant, Alicia, to arrive so we can move into our temporary flat. Then the fun jobs like finding long term accommodation, opening a bank account and even more paperwork can start, how exciting! 

It still doesn't feel real that my year abroad has actually started, despite writing this from my French hotel room, whilst watching a bizarre rendition of dubbed, French Criminal Minds. The next nine or so months seem like an absolute age, but it terrifies me that they'll be over in hardly any time at all. I'm determined to make the most of it, and have spent far too much of Summer planning trips to Copenhagen, the Northern Lights, the Berlin Film Festival, Barcelona and as many French cities as I can get to. As David Tennant’s 10th doctor used to say before hurling himself into some catastrophic, intergalactic, mine field, ‘ALLONNNNNNNS-Y’.

Let’s hope it’s exactly twice as exciting. X

Packed!

Manchester plane - missing my favourite, rainy city.