Bonjour à tous!
So, nearly
two weeks in and I’ve finally got round to writing my first post while on my
Year Abroad!
I want to
start with a short disclaimer.
I’m working
as an English assistant at a small school in a fairly close-knit community, so discretion
is key. I’ve always been very careful
with what I mention on my blog and how I word it, but I think that being in
such a position as I am now, the best thing is to not talk about my workplace
at all in order to avoid causing any inconveniences. Thus, my posts are going
to revolve around the things I do in the town and during my free time: the
places I visit, interesting encounters and experiences, or culture shock I face
– rather than what I do while I’m at work. I believe you will find the posts
interesting enough to still follow my adventures, despite a considerable chunk
of my time missing from them. I spend half of my time either at work or
preparing lessons, but I will focus on my experiences outside this time frame.
I will just say that, so far, I’m really happy with the placement; everybody,
both other staff and the students, are all very kind and have so far made my
first teaching experience enjoyable, so I feel very grateful for it.
Disclaimer,
over and out.
My
adventures in the land of pastries and turtlenecks started on Tuesday the 13th
of September, a very long and exhausting day which I spent travelling the over
3000 kilometres separating my homeland from my new home, Fécamp, in Normandy,
France. I woke up really early, at 6am so Mum and I had enough time to get
ready, succeed at closing my suitcase and load the car to drive to the airport
in the south and avoid all the queues expected for the first day of the rentrée. We arrived with plenty of time
to have breakfast together before saying good-bye near the security check. I
swear, it never gets any easier and I always cry. The flight to Charles De
Gaulle Airport in Paris went just fine. It was bizarre to hear everybody
speaking French around me before having even left Spanish soil, but there we
have it. From the airport, I had to take a series of train connections to
arrive in Breauté, where I would be picked up by car. Everything went fine
until my change in Massy. I had half an hour to change stations and, honestly,
people were not very helpful I must say. I knew where I had to be but not how
to get there. You see, my tickets had a bar code and were not a Navigo card, so
I could not get past the automatic doors and down to the tracks and nobody
seemed to be able to explain to me how to get to the right place. It was really
hot and I had to drag my 23kg suitcase plus cabin bag (which, by the way, I had
to use as backpack because the trolley bit broke) up and down many stairs and
it was an incredibly stressful experience that I do not wish on anybody, but I
finally made it to where I had to be with 6 minutes to spare before my train
left. Not ideal. Aside from this incident, the rest of the trip was fine. I met
a lovely old lady in Rouen to make small talk with while I waited for the last train
to Breauté and then when I finally arrived there, they picked me up. My new
flatmate Monika was still awake even though it was pretty late at night (around
23:30) and she showed me the house, which is actually a lot bigger than I
expected and quite warm. I had a snack, a quick shower and crashed into bed. I
was knackered!
The
following day I stopped myself from sleeping in too much because I had things
to do. I unpacked and popped to the supermarket up the road to buy a few
necessities – lemme say, things are so much more expensive than in Tenerife!
Then I cleaned my room, sorted out my things, took a shower and had lunch.
Pretty uninteresting stuff that you do after you arrive in a new place. I
worked in the afternoon and, once back home, I sorted out some Erasmus
paperwork. That evening my flatmate and I were offered a car ride to the beach
to make the most of the gorgeous weather that we were having. It was great!
Cooper the dog came with us in a scruffy old 4x4 all the way to the beach,
while our host explained where most things were on our way from our house. The
beach is lovely – a pebble beach with the Alabaster cliffs (Côte d’Albâtre) on
both sides which reminds me so much of the British south coast. It is very
different from that of home, but I have the sea nearby which is something I
really miss when I’m in Bath. The water was not as cold as I expected and,
although I didn’t swim, I did take my shoes off and enjoyed the waves rolling
onto the shore. After the beach, our guide took us up the hill to see the
Chapelle de Notre-Dame du Salut and the German blockhaus that hide on top of
Cap Fagnet, from where you can enjoy some breath-taking views of Fécamp and the
sunset, tinting the cliffs orange with the lasts rays of light while the town
lit up. It was an absolutely amazing end to my first day in my new home!
On Thursday
we were asked to hand out flyers around town for a photo exhibition that is
going to open soon. It was a fantastic opportunity to have a look around, get
to grips with the location of things and, of course, practice French! So armed
with our red uniform the three of us (the assistants) went out to promote the
event. We went to the Bénédictine Palace, the MJC, various hotels near the
beach and port, the Tourist Office… We even went to the Hôtel de Ville to find
the Mayor and invite her personally. It reminded me so much of flyering for
BUSMS, only this time in French!
Sunday was
our first day off and it coincided with the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine,
meaning that there were tons of free cultural things to do in town. After
having binge-watched Stranger Things (it’s good, but a tad overrated I must
say), I slept in and did some house chores. Monika, Liam and I met after lunch
and headed out to explore and make the most of the day. We thought of going to
the Palais Bénédictine but it was closed when we arrived so we headed to the
port instead and had a snack – if I keep eating pastries like I have been, I’m
seriously going to gain a couple of pounds… When we went back, it turned out
that it wasn’t free entry so we changed plans and headed to the Hôtel de Ville
where the bibliothèque patrimoniale
was open to the public. It is an amazing collection of books and documents and
objects that were donated to the Mairie by a mysterious man in 1846. It wasn’t
until three years later that his identity was revealed, M. François-Dominique
Selle, a lawyer living near Fécamp. I must say the collection was impressive
and there were two globes particularly interesting to look at!
After that we
walked up to Cap Fagnet following the Sente aux Matelots or Mariners’ Path up
to the Cape. It was quite a hike and the weather was really nice so we were
exhausted and sweaty when we got to the top! The views from there are amazing –
you can see all of the town and even Yport in the distance. Since we were early
for the guided tour around the Blockhaus or German bunkers, we went into the
Chapelle de Notre-Dame du Salut, the sailors’ chapel. It is a very old chapel
that has been ruined and renovated over the decades. The inside was very moving
because there are lots of signs in remembrance of the sailors lost at sea
surrounding the statue of the Virgin. There was definitely something unique
about the place.
After that we found a bench and sunbathed until our guides
arrived. There were quite a few people so we got split into two large groups,
us being the only foreigners to be fair. I really enjoyed the tour; it was 2hrs
and a half long but definitely worth it. Cap Fagnet has great examples of the
defensive buildings created by the Germans during the Second World War in what
was called the Mur de l’Atlantique or defence line in case of a British troop
disembarkation. We got to go into the Observation points, the base of the
Mammut radar and the guard pits as well as visit a German military hospital
carved into the stone in the middle of a forest. The guide knew her stuff and
took extra care to make sure we were following what she was explaining; it was
so nice of her! I really enjoyed the afternoon. After walking all day, though,
we were absolutely knackered so an early night was certainly due.
On Tuesday
all was going great. I had some free time and the weather was lovely so I went
out into town to run some errands, visited the Abbatiale de Sainte-Trinité and
even managed to get a ticket at the theatre to what Les Joyeaux Urbains that
same evening. But, me being myself, I had the worst of luck and strained my neck
during one of the children’s lessons a couple of hours later. Result? I couldn’t
move my neck at all; I was in horrible pain and there was definitely no theatre
for me. That night I felt absolutely horrible and could do nothing, same the
following day until the evening when Monika came with me to the doctor’s
appointment. He prescribed me a cervical support, painkillers and muscle
relaxant, but it was way too late for the pharmacies to be open. Since I
desperately needed some medicine to recover asap, we went to the nearest
pharmacy to check the list of pharmacies de garde and asked two women talking
by a car to direct us to the Pharmacie de Ramponneau. I swear, people in this
place are way too nice. One of the women told us it was too far away to walk
and she offered to take us there and bring us back with her car, as long as we
waited for her daughter to come out of dance practice. Like, what?! She was an
absolute angel and even phoned the pharmacy because the door was closed and so
we had to call for them to let us in. I will be forever grateful to this woman!
So, these
past few days I’ve spent recovering from the accident and working. The
medication left me super drowsy the first few days which wasn’t great, but I’m
pretty much recovered now so I’m quite happy. I will have another check on
Tuesday to make sure all is good.
On Saturday
it was really sunny and we were invited over for tea by a student and his
family to a beach hut. It was a great opportunity to practice French. It will
never cease to amaze me how nice people here are! It was a lovely afternoon
filled with sun and French small talk. We were also double lucky since they
offered to drive us the following day to Étretat. We had mentioned that we
wanted to go but Sundays are our only free days. However, buses don’t run on
Sundays so we rely on having someone give us a lift if we want to visit the
surroundings. We were so fortunate to have this family offer to take us!
So on
Sunday afternoon, despite the rain forecast, we headed to Étretat where the
famous Falaises painted by Monet and other impressionists are. It was a lovely
afternoon, sans rain but quite windy;
again, great opportunity to practice French and we did quite a lot of
sight-seeing. Étretat is a small coastal village so we walked around the centre
and along the coast and cliffs. The landscape is absolutely gorgeous! It is so
different from back home. I can understand why impressionist painters were so drawn
to the Alabaster coast!
The houses are all brick and very traditional Norman
houses, with grey tiled roofs and small windows. The small villages near the
coast remind me a lot of the Cotswolds around Bath. On our way back to Fécamp
we stopped in Yport, which is a village by the sea reachable on foot from
Fécamp. There is a small beach and, again, many traditional houses and the
white cliffs. You can see Fécamp from the beach and there were a couple surfers
trying to catch some waves. It was charming! We had tea with the family and
then headed back home after a long but amazing day. Merci
beaucoup!
These
(almost) first two weeks have been absolutely amazing and I’ve quickly fallen
in love with Normandy and its people. I can’t wait to see what else the Pays de Caux have in store for me over
the next few months!
