Je suis arrivée en France!

For those of you that don’t know, je suis arrivée en France ! I am still in the settling in period with no Internet where I’m staying, but here are a few things I’ve been up to…

The first priority was tackling my long admin to-do-list…
Bank account
Wages can only be paid into a French bank account so even people with a bank account in euros have to set up a new one. This turned out to be slightly easier than in Austria, mostly because I had been given lots of advice by British Council and l’Academie de Besancon.
Carte jeune
Would really recommend this youth card to anyone living in or around Besançon. It offers lots of discounts and free entry to lots of sites, including the citadel!
Tram pass
The tram in Besancon is so useful, especially as I’m currently living quite far from the centre of town. A month pass for unlimited travel on the trams and buses is €28 and half the money is reimbursed for people using public transport to get to work – so very cheap!

And, of course, my other priority was to get speaking the language…
Orientation day
The orientation day was a general introduction for all language assistants in the Academie de Besancon. It was great to meet lots of the other assistants and of course speak some French, which was the language we all had in common. I did, however, manage to find the German speakers as German was still feeling much easier at this point and a ridiculous amount of German words were creeping into my French anyway. So lots of opportunities to speak, maybe mostly the wrong language, but a foreign language nevertheless!
Tandem Partner
At the weekend I met up with my tandem partner arranged by the CLA (Language Centre). Although there don’t seem to be any Facebook groups for organising language exchanges, it’s good to have at least one tandem arranged. Lisa and I also have German in common, which proved useful as a back up option.
Meal with teachers
My contact person at the school, an English teacher called Kate, invited the American assistant and I to her house for a meal with her husband, her mother and another English teacher. It was a lovely evening with a mix of French and English, so a fairly gentle start!
Apartment
I am currently living in accommodation provided by one of my schools but it’s quite a long way from the centre of town. I have decided to move into a collocation with French people to give me more of a chance to practise my French and to meet locals. Will let you know how I get on when I move!
German class
Today I braved a German class with the classe preparatoire (for the students preparing to go the Les Grandes Ecoles). I was extremely impressed by the level of German, and it’s definitely going to be a good way to keep my German going this year.

So you may be wondering why I haven’t really mentioned classes or teaching yet. I’m currently in the process of setting up my emploi du temps (timetable) and have been observing various classes. I officially start at the beginning of November after holidays, but watch this space for more info on my work.

I have found the transition from Austria to France and German to French a little bit difficult. But my biggest difficulty was something that I hadn’t really expected. I planned my trip to Austria completely myself so I knew exactly where I would be living, what I would be doing, when I would be starting etc. Naively, I thought that having other people do the planning/organisation for me would make things a lot easier. But it doesn’t. When someone else is in charge, you expect everything to be perfect and to run smoothly, where as when you organise everything yourself it’s easier to go with the flow and learn from your mistakes. As a result I’ve decided to view these two weeks as a settling in period, so if you don’t hear much from me, that is why. Everyone has been so lovely and welcoming, but working with three different schools is always going to be complicated. I am looking forward to diving into teaching and everything else Besancon has to offer after the holidays, as well as telling you all about it of course!