Better Late Than Never...

I realise that having been in France for over a month now, I probably should have started this blog a long time ago if I was going to do it properly! However, after a full month of dithering about whether or not I wanted to write a blog, procrastination prevails over lesson plans and Philosophy reading (urgh), and here I am! Another motivation is that I am subject to the school's internet firewalls, meaning Facebook is banned, so this is the only way I can show people some photos of my new life! Case in point: here is a view of Briey. Ta da!

Anyways, let's get down to business! First of all I would like to apologise for the dreadful pun which is an excuse for a title (I'm not really the most imaginative of people as it turns out), and second of all I would like to apologise in advance if this isn't a very exciting blog or if I get bored halfway through the year and forget to add any more posts to it. This, I must warn you, is a very likely outcome. And finally I would like to apologise for any future typos caused by my crappy keyboard. I do try to spell check but the buggers just keep on coming. 

So, you should all know who I am so hopefully I can skip that part. In short, I'm spending October to April working as the English language assistant at the Lycée Louis Bertrand in a tiny town near Luxembourg called Briey (hence the horrific title. I can only apologise again.). So far, everyone has been incredibly welcoming, the town is lovely (although tiny) and I'm having an absolute blast! I've settled in nicely and have yet to feel any real homesickness, which is startling but a good sign I feel. Perhaps this is the time for more photos!

My wee cell of a bedroom

The Forest (no wolves spotted as of yet)

The School

Briey

The Boarding House (AKA my home for this year)

I'm living here in the boarding house of the school, but off to the side in a separate flat I share with the German assistant (lovely girl, more about her to follow) and a mysterious man whom I've only seen once but we know he's there because we can smell it when he smokes in his room. I'm pretty sure that's not allowed but since when did the French care about the rules?! It's pretty much like being back in halls: strange, impersonal, cell-like room, hard-as-nails single bed... And there are pros and cons to that: I have my own bathroom which is a novelty (with a froggy shower curtain no less!) and my own fridge, but there's no oven which means no oven pizza/baked camembert, and the kids are woken up at 6.30am which is a bitch if you're a light sleeper! Thankfully, I'm not... The worst thing though is the blocked internet and the emptiness when the kids aren't here! At the moment I am very much home alone: Carolin (the German assistant) has gone home for a visit and it's the school holidays which means empty buildings. The best bit about this is that the heating has been turned off because "it's the holidays and no-one's here". Thanksssssssssssssssssssss. I'm so glad I'm not going to be here for the Christmas holidays...!

Well that'll do for a first post I think! I've plenty more to catch up on but I don't want to make these ridiculously long... I'm away for the weekend (my daddy's coming to stay! Yay!) so I'll get cracking on something else when I get back. There's plenty more where that came from!

Bises

Sophia xx