Whilst I still love teaching and living in France, I can’t
deny that my small town life in Oyonnax is sometimes hard, and so when I've been given the opportunity to travel and explore other cities, I've definitely made
the most of it. I have profitéd, as one would say in franglais.
During the
first two weeks of March it was the school holidays here in the Académie de
Lyon, and so in this this post I’m going to briefly run through what I got up
to.
Family weekend in Lyon
Although giving my parents the hour long walking tour of the
beautiful concrete tower blocks of Oyonnax was tempting, we all decided that a
weekend in Lyon would be slightly more interesting, and although I don’t live
there I know it pretty well by now and so it was great to show the family around.
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| posing naturally on the vélo'v |
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| family snap at the roman ampitheatre |
Berlin
With Paula and I wanting to lose our German virginity
(purely in the ‘first time visiting the country’ sense), Berlin seemed like a
great choice for a city break – especially seeing as Erin speaks German and has
been before, and my friend Lucy from university was living there for her year
abroad. Apart from the 16 bed hostel room that smelt of feet, the trip was a
success and we had a brilliant few days taking in all the history as well as
the cheap cocktails and amazing chicken from Hühnerhaus.
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| berlin zoo is amazing |
The Netherlands
With Paula and Erin flying back to France to then go back to Scotland,
I flew straight from Berlin to Amsterdam to stay with Bridie for the weekend
and then I went to Utrecht for the week to stay with Henry. Both of them are
studying in the Netherlands for a year, and since my visit the thought of going
back there to study after Nottingham has definitely crossed my mind. I had
already had a brilliant short trip to Amsterdam after exams last year, and so
to continue exploring the city and it's amazing collection of vintage shops (this time with a bike and some local know-how from
Bridie) was great, especially since my stay coincided with what seemed like the
hottest week of the year so far. Before Henry told me that he was studying
there, I had never heard of Utrecht, but it’s the 4th largest city
in the Netherlands and it’s only a 30 minute train ride from Amsterdam. Again I
was lucky enough to have someone lend me their bike, and so whilst Henry and
his friends had lectures and exams I went out to explore and shop. I did
actually go along to a French lecture with some of Henry’s friends which was
really interesting and also made me realise how much I had missed speaking in
French!
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| bridie in vondelpark |
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| henry in the monastery garden in utrecht |
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| at the top of the tallest church tower in the netherlands |
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| cycling around utrecht with henry and rachel |
I'm now back in Oyonnax, trying to get myself back into the habit of teaching by day and planning lessons by night. Thank you again to Lucy, Bridie and Henry for their hospitality and for giving me an amazing taste of their own years abroad. They have also helped my 'countries been to on my year abroad' total hit 6 (France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands) and it's not long to go now until that will be made up to 7 by Russia...
à bientôt
