Well, long time no speak! I did plan on putting together a few weeks ago which looked a little bit like this...
and now I shall bring you up to date...
As you'll know if you've read my previous posts, as of September I will become a Language Assistant in France through the British Council. I applied around October time, and finally heard back 11th April that I had been accepted. From this email I was told that I'd have to wait until mid-May to find out if I had been accepted by the French authorities, and if so, which académie I have been placed in.
However, this long, drawn out process only took a few weeks, and about an hour ago I received an email stating that I HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED and I will be in RENNES!!! Woohooo, got my first choice....
So after dancing about around the house, I took to the laptop to search for everything and anything Rennes-related! I have found flights, trains, ferries and any other possible mode of transport to get me there. Then of course, google images.
Doesn't that just look beautiful? But here's the snag, my academie is Rennes, which does not mean I am going to the actual city. I could be placed anywhere in this region...
There are lots of places that could potentially be my home next year. On the plus side, I have had two of my first choices so far, the academie, and the age group that I'm teaching (secondary), so maybe I'll end up in a large town too. But as one of my emails from the British Council said, 90% opted for large town or city.
This is where my doubt comes in. All I ever wanted was to be placed somewhere pretty, where I'll have optimum opportunity to improve my French. Unfortunately there was no option for this on the application form. And just as I had taken to Facebook with my celebratory/excited status about where I will be living come September, so have all my friends. Now it seems that they are all going to beautiful places, Reims, Nantes, Avignon, Nice, etc. and all I can think is, 'What if I would like it there more? What if I don't end up in a nice place in my academie?" Obviously this is silly and wherever I go I will grow to love, that's if I don't fall in love with it instantly!
This is my year abroad story so far! For the next few months I'll be trying to find out all I can and I'm going to start getting all of the documents that I need into some sort of order. I'll keep you posted.
Bye for now
xx
