Photos from the last week

Les derniers jours

I can't actually believe that the time has come to write what will probably be my last blog post from France.
I have now FINISHED working as an English language assistant and will be leaving France in 3 days time. I know I've said it so often, but time really has flown, and all I can say to anyone doing a year abroad next year is make the most of every minute of your time here, as before you know it, it will be over.

I had my last afternoon at my favourite school yesterday, and it was really sad to leave there knowing I would never be going back. The children were really sweet, giving me pictures with their names on so that I will remember one, and one boy, when told that I wasn't coming back after the holidays said: 'ohhh c'est nul!!', meaning that's rubbish. It's nice to know I'll be missed. Jeanine, the teacher I have worked with at this school gave me a picture and information book about Pau, which was so nice of her, it's good to know some of the History of the town where I've spent 7 months living, as I was pretty oblivious to most things before. She also gave me a very pretty bracelet which she informed me her 2 daughters had picked out for me! And of course, a bottle of very tasty looking local wine :)

So, I had a lovely goodbye at this school, promising to keep in touch. The same unfortunately can't be said for my other school, where I spent 2 mornings per week. My last morning was meant to be yesterday, but I recieved an e-mail on Wednesday telling me they wouldn't be there, so bonne continuation and au revoir. I was slightly annoyed as I'm sure they knew about their school outing before Wednesday, and could have told me before so that I could say my goodbyes. Nevermind, you take the good with the bad right?

In other news, we assistants have been making the most of the warm weather and our free time buy visiting the beach! San Sebastian last weekend was great, and I managed to swim in the sea even though it was pretty cold! We took a trip to the pays Basque on wednesday to Saint Jean de Luz, and spent most of the day on the beach and in the sea. Well, in the sea until me and Anna got swept under by a GIANT wave, which left us a little shaked but laughing at the same time.

This weekend will be sad, saying goodbyes to the many friends I've made here, and as much as I'd love to write more, I need to get ready for the first meal of the weekend.

I'll most likely write another post but by then I'll be back in England,

So au revoir from France!

Bises xx

C'est dommage que je pars

Where has the time gone?
I'll be leaving France in not much over 10 days, how scary! I had my last class at one of my schools last Friday and it was sad! They made me a little booklet with pictures in that they'd all drawn, so cute! One of them had a picture of me and said 'c'est dommage que tu pars'. It's a shame you're leaving! How sweet!

We've been making the most of the beautiful weather this week by going to the beach. I inevitably got sunburnt, although I do blame abbi for missing parts of my back with the suncream!!
It's crazy how the weather changes here, yesterday it was 32 degrees, today it was around 15 and raining!! Hopefully we'll have a bit more sun before I leave though, especially since I'm going to Spain for the weekend tomorrow! J'ai de la chance living here, I've got so much nearby: beaches, mountains, Spain, and big cities! I couldn't think of a better place to have spent the last 7 months.

I've realised that as much as I'm excited to go home, I will miss so much about my life here. My friends, for one, who have been amazing, the way of life here, which is so relaxed. I'll also ,is hearing French being spoken. I'm getting to the point where I understand the majority of what's being said, and going back to never hearing it will be rubbish. I'll also miss our weekly Zumba class, where we always have a lot of fun, and just chilling in town with a sandwich from m
La mie caline.

My friend Hannah is here visiting at the moment, which is fun. We're going to San Sebastián in Spain for 2 nights with some of the other girls tomorrow, can't wait.

Next week I think will be filled with emotional goodbyes, at my schools, one of which I can't wait to leave, the other which I will be so sad to leave, and with friends. At least there's an excuse to go out for lots of meals! I'm not looking forward to packing up and cleaning my room- nightmare job if you ask me!

Ciao for now,

Bises

Paques à Pau

Phrase of the week: les giboulées de mars = march showers (the equivalent to April showers in England)

My phrase of the week is very appropriate, as for the past couple of weeks, the weather has been ridiculous! One minute the sky is blue and it's nice and warm, the next there are horrendous rain showers. My teacher informed me that they call it les giboulées de mars, so now I know!

Last week was a good week. We helped our responsable with a training even on Tuesday, which was actually quite boring, but meant that I got to have the rest of the week of work, as Tuesday is my day odd normally. This worked out well as Adam was visiting on Thursday for a long weekend, so I had much more time to spend with him.

We had a lovely weekend together, mostly chilling, visiting the Lindt factory in oloron and having some nice meals out. We had a fake birthday for Adam on Sunday, a week early, since I won't be there for his real birthday. I even got him a cake!

It was sad to see him leave this morning, but in 4 weeks time I will be home, so it really isn't that bad.

I'm going out for another meal tonight with some friends, which I'm looking forward to.

This week, I really don't have a lot on. Today is a bank holiday, so no work, and my afternoon lessons on Thursday have been cancelled, so only 3 hours to work this week!

It's hard to believe my year abroad is coming to an end! As much as I can't wait to be back in England, it's going to be hard to say bye to everyone, and indeed to the French way of life! I won't cry just yet though, as there's 4 weeks of fun left to be had :)

xx