So as I said I've been wrapping up my lessons with classes and saying all my goodbyes. I got to do a really fun cultural lesson about IU and included some personal photos of myself from graduation, and the students really loved it. By the end of the lesson I had them singing the school song and making the I-U hand/arm motion. Most students have a sad reaction when they hear my time has come to an end and I'm due back to the states soon. I have yet to inform my absolute favorite 6ieme class (11-12 year olds), and I don't think they will take it very well since they are so young and I've met with them every week. They've become rather attached to the idea that I'm staying in France permanently. That good bye will happen tomorrow, so fingers crossed all goes well. I don't mean to give off the illusion that my final week teaching in France went off without a hitch, cause it certainly did not, but why would I expect any less. Am I right?! Another teacher quit her position at one of my schools (making that 4 teachers quitting in 1 year). Since it's my last few days with both of my schools all the teachers are in a frenzy demanding my time with each of their classes so everyone can get a chance to work with me one last time; even classes I've never worked with all year. Makes me wonder how great this year could have been if they'd only had this enthusiasm from day 1. I did have a student say, "F*ck you" has he left my classroom. I then wrote up a report on his behavior and what he said and turned it into the principal and head disciplinary secretary. Just to name a few off color moments to wrap up my assistantship.
On a lighter note, I did take a trip with two of my housemates (Janine and Deliece) to Mont St. Michel, Honfleur and Etretat. We had booked tickets with a travel company open to the public but mostly used by international college students. We departed from Lille at 6:45am (so you can imagine what ungodly hour of the morning we had to wake up). By motor coach we drive for approximately 5-6 hours to Mont St. Michel. We were so ready to get off that bus! Mont St. Michel was on the top of my list of things to see before I returned home as well as on the top of my bucket list. It was really breathtaking to stand along the walk way leading up to the site and seeing the abbey perched on top of the mount. The ocean tide was down so some people were out walking along the unsettled sands of the ocean (with a guide of course). We started out with lunch because we were starving!! I had a really tasty galatte with all kinds of vegetables- Deleice and I joked that the cook put the entire garden in my dish cause it was so packed with spinach and mushrooms. I was so hungry that I didn't even think to take a picture of my lunch until after I had eaten it, sorry. We carried on up the steep incline of the little city settled at the bottom of the mount. There were mostly restaurants and tourist shops, which really takes away from the authenticity of the place.
We were able to use our student cards and work visas to show proof that we're young adults living in France under legal documentation to get into the abbey for free! There really wasn't much in the abbey, but the century old architecture and large size was pretty impressive. It didn't take us too long to get through the abbey, so we finished up the day with a little souvenir shopping and bought some local specialty desserts: salted caramel crepe and kouign amann.
We then got back on the motor coach and drove another hour and a half to our hotel for the night. The hotel the travel company selected was a really nice chain hotel, but the distribution of room keys to over a100 people was a mess! After a long day we were just very happy to be in a nice, clean bed and take hot showers.
The next morning was unfortunately daylight savings time in France, which meant on our already growing sleep deprivation we lost another hour of sleep. We got back on the motor coach and drove to a very small town off the northern coast of France called Honfleur. It was a very quaint town with a port, a carrousel (standard for France) and a very beautiful church. There was an easter sunday service going on so we tried to not to obvious tourist snapping photos of the inside of the church. We walked along the winding streets of the city, but it didn't take us long to cover the entire area before deciding to buy some lunch to eat on the bus as we made our way to Etretat.
Our last stop for the day was Etretat. Another coastal town but this one had giant cliffs overlooking the ocean with a breathtaking view. The city inland from the cliffs wan't anything magnificent like Honfleur was but still nice to see another city in France. We walked along the stone beach for a little while and then decided to try climbing one of the cliffs. Luckily there was a cut out walk way with stone steps leading to the top, but it was still quite the climb. We made it up both major cliffs successfully, but after too much wind whipping us in the face we decided to head back down. We made the 4-5 hour drive home on the motor coach and then crashed in our beds after a long and exhausting weekend.
Next week I'll be on a 4 day 3 night field trip to Brighton, England with one of my schools. Stay tuned for more adventures!
No comments:
Post a Comment