Foyer Grand Voile

I am finally settled into Le FOYER Des Jeunes Travailleurs, Grand Voile, where I will be living for the school year. (email me if you want to be my penpal I LOVE letters). We don’t really have Foyers in the States, but it’s essentially government subsidized housing for young working people ages 16-30. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I have my own bathroom and kitchen area in my room- basically a studio. There is also some shared community space and they run programs every week. When I studied abroad I had a sink, a bed, and a desk to myself and everything else was communal. So I’m quite happy with my housing situation. This is where I live now…

The walls in my hallway are RED and so is my door- 224 Housies you know how gemmy and wonderful that makes me feel.  

This is my room! Excuse the ugly brown blanket, but it was free. My initial trip to the grocery store I bought all the essentials- toilet paper, a 3 euro bottle of Bordeaux, cheese, baguette, and some sunflowers. It’s not my home until I have flowers.  I also got a small pumpkin. Happy Fall!

 My big complaint is that there is no wifi in the rooms… DUMB. There is supposedly wifi in the lobby downstairs but my computer has yet to find the network. There is a computer room but it is locked up on weekends… and Skyping on a computer with someone else right next to you is awkward anyways. This will seriously hinder my communication… I am going to figure out a better internet situation in November when my to-do list includes more things like “drink wine” instead of “register with immigration”.

I’ve been busy busy since being here. I have been to my high school and there are seven English teachers there! One of the teachers is Polish and is very interested in how Americans with Polish roots celebrate their heritage. He thought it was quite funny that my family eats Kielbasa on special occasions like weddings, parties, holidays. I have yet to tell him that my brother flies the Polish flag on his boat… I’m sure he will get a kick out of that. He also really likes English phrases like "Whats Up" and "See You Later".

I still don’t have my schedule worked out yet, but I heard that I will mostly be observing classes until the All Saints vacation at the end of October. So I’ll observe for 2 weeks and then have a 2 week vacation. Yes please! My high school operates from 8am-6pm Mon-Tues-Thurs-Fri but closes at 12 on Wednesdays. (I will not be working all those hours, and teachers don’t work all those hours, they each have a unique schedule). Some French high schools have classes on Saturdays… I am lucky that mine does not!

I have a French bank account! I don’t know why this is so exciting to me, but I feel legit now.  I will hate this French bank account when I leave for home- I hear it’s a nightmare to close them. 

I’ve figured out transportation and have been into the city a couple of times! I also finally went to the transportation office and bought my monthly pass and applied for an identity card.  I did a hop-on hop-off tour with some other language assistants who are living in my building. It’s going to be a fun year, in a fun city. My favorite- Nantes is famous for this giant mechanical elephant that you can RIDE! I can’t wait for visitors so I have someone to go with me!

I also had dinner and a little tour with one of my French friends from the camp I worked at last summer.  We had crepes and cider and looked at the CASTLE (yes, there is a castle in my city. With a moat.) Magic.  A lot of assistants met up at the castle with bottles of wine this weekend too. There is no open container law in France so I always keep a corkscrew in my bag for situations like that, and in case I ever need to defend myself I feel safer with it. 

 There is still so much to do- apply for health insurance, sign up for French social security, finish registering  with  immigration, and get a French phone…  bah. The French are notorious for all the paperwork required to just… well do anything here. They love passport sized photos and photocopies of everything.  I am still feeling overwhelmed and have never more enjoyed crossing things off a list!

I leave you with this. Look at these cookies. You probably know that I cannot wink. It is an unfortunate genetic disability that I unsuccessfully tried to defeat with two years worth of New Year’s Resolutions.

                                                Bises Bises,

                                                                    Steph