Angouleme, France

Hello everyone! Once again I have decided to keep a blog because its easier to keep in touch with everyone that way. Just to catch everyone up...

Bristol, England

After leaving the states in September I didn't head straight to France, but made a stop in England in order to visit my friend Melanie and her daughter Jasmine. I spent ten days there exploring all around the area including making a special trip to Stonehenge. From England I took a train to Paris and meet up with a friend there to spend the weekend before heading to my new home.

Angouleme, France

I'm currently living in Angouleme, France. I've been living here since the end of September. It's located two and a half hours southwest of Paris and one hour north of Bordeaux. Cognac is just forty minutes west of here so any Hennesy fans should come and visit. The population of Angouleme is around 60,000. I live in an eleven story tower with 12 other language assistants. Each floor has three rooms and a communal bathroom. The third floor is our common room and kitchen where we all hang out.

My Job

I'm an english language assistant for the French Ministry of Education. I teach elementary school students english vocabulary and phrases. I only work three hours a week so I tend to have a lot of spare time. In October I began taking rowing lessons and joined a gym in order to fill up some of my spare time.

The french are known for their laid-back attitudes which they call "laissez-faire" which basically means that the average work week is only 35 hours a week and everyone gets at least 6 weeks of paid vacation a year. And if they decide that is still to much work or they want a random day off they go on strike. Striking is like their national past-time here. At least once a week I see a group of people marching through the streets on 'strike' for one thing or another (I think they just like having an extra day off).

Italy

At the end of October we had our first two and a half week vacation (I'd only taught two days since I'd started my contract on October 1st and we already had a vacation). I decided to go to Italy. My first stop was Rome where I visited the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Cistine Chapel and even saw the Pope in Vatican City. From there I left to visit Florence and see the famous statue of David by Michelangelo. I took many little day trips to the Tuscany countryside while I stayed in Florence. I visited the Leaning Tower in Pisa, Il Campo Piazza in Siena, the towers of San Gimignano and the medieval city of Lucca. From Florence I headed to visit Venice and see St. Mark's Square and take a Gondola ride (I ended up taking a ferry ride instead because the Gondolas were ridiculously over-priced). I even went on a day-trip to Verona the legendary city of Romeo and Juliette. My favorite thing about Italy had to be their Gelato and Pizza.

Scotland

My second school vacation was over Christmas and New Years. I spent Christmas with two of my roommates (Pamela and Nalleli) in Auchterarder Scotland (at Pamela's parents's house). We visited many of towns in Scotland including Perth, Glascow, Edinburgh and Iverness. We visited Edinburgh Castle, enjoyed shopping on "boxing day" in Glascow and made a special trip to the Lochness to try and spot 'Nessie'.

Travelling

As everyone knows I love to travel. Even when not I'm not having long holidays I've been making sure to visit lots of the areas around this region. I've spent some time in Poitiers and Limoges, visited Carly a couple of times in Toulouse, spent the weekend with some friends in Cognac and have made several trips to Paris. Needless to say my savings account is quickly dwindling but I have one more giant trip planned before its all gone. Next break is at the end of February and I am going to be visiting Athens, Greece and various sites in Egypt. I'll make sure to send postcards like usual and now you'll be able to read along with my adventures there on this blog.

Visiting

A few people have expressed interest in coming and visiting me here in France and I say the more the merrier. You'll have a free place to stay and your own personal guide and translator. Since I only work twice a week I'm available basically all the time and can take weekend trips to other areas. I'm expecting Dad and Anna in March and maybe Chris. Tina plans on coming at the end of April. I've already had quite a few of you come to visit already, but I hope more of you will make the journey here.

TTYL. LoveYa. Katie