A very overdue update....

Ok so I'm not going to lie; I have not updated in ages, clearly because I've been having too much fun :P I think the problem started around reading week, when I had a lot of news to talk about and I basically never got round to it. The short version I'm going to give you is that I went to St Petersburg and Moscow, it was amazing, I saw lots of lovely churches, buildings, museums etc and had a generally enjoyable time immersed in capitalism at its best and most shockingly expensive. Anyway, I finished my time in Petrozavodsk, having a lot of fun with all the amazing people I was there with, and we did many more ridiculous walks, went out on the classic thursday night and had a final night train back to St Petersburg after which we went home (finally)! 

Anyway I guess the thing everyone cares about now is France. Christmas went crazy fast and that was totally unexpected- I barely had time to think before I had to get back to packing and organising (it now transpires I probably should have taken a lot of things I haven't). I arrived yesterday, via Eurostar, which was a lovely easy experience and about 10x better than flying. I turned up in Aulnoye-Aymeries, which is around 20km from the Belgium border, and is a small town next to Berlaimont, the village where I'll be teaching. I got picked up by the teacher who is basically tasked with looking after me (helping to find somewhere to live, organising my timetable etc) and she took me to my accommodation where we met the landlady. I have a room with a kitchenette and sink and I share a bathroom with 3 french girls who are also students but were typically away at the weekend so I haven't met them yet! Anyway, the teacher then showed me the way to the school, and offered to take me to the supermarket as on Sundays (very infuriatingly) not even the supermarket is open, and shops are only open in the morning if at all. In the evening, she offered to take me for dinner, for the classic "specialité du Nord"- les frites! It was lovely, and her and her husband very kindly paid for it! I will also be lucky enough to have free lunches every day I'm at work, which is really amazing. 

I did find it a bit difficult diving straight back into speaking French, and I definitely haven't done as much of it as I should, but apart from a couple of slips of Russian (потому что and только kept trying to sneak in) it's been pretty good. I embarrassingly managed to forget my ticket when I bought it at the station, and forgot the word for sheep, but other than that I've had no choice but to speak and listen to it a lot. I have a television in my room too, which is great to have on in the background, and it's a very good way to keep up to date with stuff and get French in your head. Anyway, I'll shut up now. I'm having fun already, and settled in if anyone cared- i'm sure i'll be bored enough in this little town to keep updating more often :P 

A bientôt