Hello! I'm in France, I'm safe and I'm having a great time... I thought I would just get that out of the way first so that my family can relax. I will make a new video when I am more settled in and have more to talk about, but for now I've got lots of photos and a post about what I've been up to since I've arrived.
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| NB. Technically I am living
and working in Bellignat, not Oyonnax but Bellignat is even smaller than
Oyonnax and they are right next to each other so it's easier to say
that I live in (or just outside of) Oyonnax. |
The Journey
So my journey started early on Thursday morning at Bristol Airport and I was pleasantly surprised that my flight was very uneventful, and I arrived in Geneva with plenty of time to spare before my three part journey to Bellignat. However, my first obstacle was that although I had booked and payed for my train tickets online, there was no collection point at Geneva Airport and so I had to buy a separate ticket to Geneva central station. When I asked in the information office at Geneva central station I was told that indeed there was a collection point but it wasn't in the station, it was down the road in the centre of Geneva. And so I walked out of the station (after losing my way many times amid the insane amount of scaffolding and building work) and found said office only to discover a queue of about 20 other hot and sweaty travellers trying to collect tickets. I had 15 minutes before my train and I was at the back of the queue. Somehow I managed to make it to the front and drop my bag at the same time, and when I finally spoke to the woman at the desk she kindly informed me of the 15 Euro fee for collecting French tickets in Switzerland. Brilliant.
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| the classic airport snap |
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| essential supplies for my train journey |
I did eventually get on the train in time, and it was a pretty swanky double decker train going to Paris. There
was no room in the luggage racks for my enourmous suitcase so I had to
sneak upstairs to First Class and ignore the disapproving looks from some
very French men in some very nice suits. I got off at Bourg-en-Bresse
and had another rush to get on the bus that would take me to Bellignat. Bourg
is the closest big(ish) city and on the hour long drive through some
pretty barren landscape I could just feel myself being taken further and
further away from civilisation and into the French 'middle of no-where'.
Bellignat/Oyonnax
I was lucky enough to be met at the station by Jean, one of
the English teachers at the Lycée (High School) I am going to be working at. He
had already collected a little ‘Oyonnax Tourisme’ pack for me and he gave me a
quick tour in the car. We arrived at La Résidence, I got given my key and one of the men who works here showed me around. My first impressions were good, my room is big and clean and I have a nice bed, an en suite and lots of desk space. I also have a little kitchen which is great but also confusing becuase I don't know if I am expected to cook and eat on my own at my little table every day or if there is somewhere else too cook/eat. It was also very quiet, and I was told that all the INSA students (90% of the students who live here study at INSA, a well known engineering school) work very hard and most of them go home on the weekend - not a great thing to hear when I only have 12 hours of work a week and I am here every weekend! But despite this I was optimistic and very pleased with my room and especially the beautiful surroundings.
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| the view from la résidence |
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| the entrance to la résidence |
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| the view over oyonnax |
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| a panorama of my room |
That evening Jean took me out to dinner as I had no food in my room. We went to a small bar/restaurant near his house and I was given a local drink of Beer with an orange spirit (Jean tried to compare it to Pimms) and lots of red wine. I felt bad ordering a pizza when there were traditional dishes on the menu, but I made up for that by having an amazing crème brûlée which was set alight on the table by the waiter! As far as my language is concerned, Jean was being very kind and spoke mostly in English but he said that wouldn't last for long which is a very daunting prospect but I'm sure it will all become a lot easier. I also had some great news - there is a new English teacher at the Lycée this year and she is from Russia so I have no need to worry about forgetting how to speak Russian now! I also found out about the Oyonnax rugby team (the title of this post is the rugby chant) who have recently made it into the top 14 teams in France. The talk of the town at the moment is the arrival of Jonny Wilkinson who plays for French team Toulon and will be here in a couple of weeks!
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| when i take photos of my food jean says that i am 'fooding' |
On my first full day Jean took me to the Intermarché so I could get supplies for my room and he also took me to the bank to set up a French bank account. I had heard horror stories about all of the paperwork so I was very prepared and it was definitely a lot easier with Jean by my side as a translator! He also made me lunch at his house and showed me some amazing food books which gave the local specialities for every region in France. Here in Oyonnax we have the Poulet de Bresse (a premium breed of chicken from the Bresse area - apparently Heston Blumenthal's favourite!), Blue de Bresse ( a blue cheese which I bravely sampled - it was like mouldy Philadelphia in my expert opinion) and Quenelles (creamed fish/chicken, poached and served in a crayfish sauce).
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| chicken pâté en croûte |
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| an amazing cake from the local chocolaterie |
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| my first shop |
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| almighty cous cous |
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| highlights of the cupboard include 'tetley' and 'grapefruit syrup' |
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| i have a thing for french yoghurts |
So this weekend I have been left to my own devices and I have had time to explore the city on my own. Annoyingly it seems that everything is either closed or open for a very limited time on the weekend and so I missed out on setting up a French phone contract and going for a swim (the swim is more annoying because I walked there in the boiling heat and when I arrived all I wanted to do was swim but they wouldn't let me in because it was too late - but I had a look at the olympic sized outside pool and the massive flume and I can't wait to go!). Like I said before it seems that all of the students leave La Résidence on the weekend so it was very quiet but luckily I bumped into some INSA students outside my room and I was later invited along to a game of pétanque! No one spoke English and so as we played the game (luckily I had played before and so I didn't embarrass myself and actually won a few times) and went back to someone's flat afterwards for drinks and some sausage (it sounds odd... it kind of was) I was completely immersed in French. It was really hard but I know that it will be rewarding in the long run and no one seemed to mind my stilted and apologetic French.
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| this odd building is the 'centre culturel aragon' - there is a small theatre/concert hall and two cinema screens |
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| the streets of oyonnax |
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| the church in the town centre |
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| some retro advertising |
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| one of the many blocks of flats in the centre of oyonnax - i have been told there is a large rich/poor divide |
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| war memorial in bellignat town centre |
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| bellignat cemetery |
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| the entrance to one of the schools I will be working at - lycée arbez carme |
So
overall my first few days have been great. I’m not going to lie, I still wish I
was in a big city and it’s hard to read about friends in places like Granada,
Madrid or Paris having wild nights out with lots of other students, but I know
that I will make the most of Oyonnax and I can see myself having a brilliant
seven months here. I still have a while until I start work, and so the week ahead
is some more time for me to meet some other students, prepare some lessons for
school, maybe visit some nearby places and, most importantly, eat some more
amazing French food!
à bientôt!
