It has officially been just over one month since my move to Béziers in the south of France. I can honestly say that it has been wonderful although extremely disorientating at first. I’ve finally organised everything now though so I can finally write this post about my experience so far.
Until May, I will be working as an English language assistant in a collège (the equivalent of a British secondary school) and a lycée (the equivalent of a sixth form college). I teach classes with groups of around 10-13 students in which we primarily aim to speak English as much as possible. In the collège, I work with students belonging to a scheme called the section européenne. These are selected students gifted in languages who are provided with supplementary English lessons. They also study some other subjects in English such as physics/maths. As a result, they are all very highly motivated and have already attained a good level of English. It is something that I wish the British education system would adopt. The only issue being that it widens the gap even further between the section euro students and the remainder of pupils learning English. Not exactly democratic for a country that professes to believe in liberté, fraternité et égalité.
At the lycée, I work with a greater number of students who are strikingly different from those at the collège. They are studying for a post-baccalauréat qualification called a BTS which is a much more vocational type of learning. Although all of these students have been generally motivated, I find that there is often a wide range in levels between each student. There are some who struggle much more from lack of confidence whereas some have worked as interns in the UK and speak with assertion and a good degree of fluency. Fortunately I get on very well with all of my students in both the collège and lycée as I think that they have found someone with whom they can empathise much more than the other teachers. They are the same age as me as well which means that I go out with them and they are all lovely.
For the section euro at least, there are also some highly ambitious students who were very excited upon discovering which university I attend. Although I do detest the boastful aura around Oxford, I hope at least that it may be inspiring to them. A bizarre recurrent question I receive in the lycée reveals however the more likely inspiration for many of my students: ‘do you know 2Pac?’. I don’t understand why but there is an obsession with Tupac Shakur in the lycée. They’re all gettin their California lovin and a little ghetto gospel. No one’s mentioned Biggie though. Maybe it is indeed true that the French do not like fat people after all (http://mireilleguiliano.com/section/sub/14) That being said, it is correct that there are hardly any overweight people here despite the fact they genuinely live off bread and cheese here. I have never been offered cheese so much. Brie brie everywhere. So it’s all good…
There are some aspects of France that I do however hate or which annoy me. The amount of bureaucracy in this country. The quantity of paperwork I have filled in seemed to be endless. One day, I had to complete four copies of the exact same document. As the receptionist at the lycée said, ça, c’est la France. I swear I also wanted to kill any employee of La Banque Postale after having to wait three weeks for a debit card and a cheque book. The French system of processing information is notoriously slow and it’s even slower for me as I live in the South where the attitude is even more laissez-faire. French keyboards, you also ruin every day of my life here. Why do the letters q and a have to be swapped? Why do I have to press ‘shift’ for numbers and full stops? QWERTY is now one of my favourite things – I am in love with the English keyboard layout. But oh my god, the dubbing of films is just the worst. Dubbing comedies especially does not work. For example, as I write, I am currently watching The Big Lebowski … in French. THIS. IS. PAINFUL. They’ve even changed his name to ‘The Duke’.
‘The Dude’ is not ‘The Duke’ from Moulin Rouge. I don’t even understand why it had to be changed. I’ve also had to endure Robert DeNiro in French at the cinema. Thank God, the cinema showed Gravity and Blue Jasmine in English with French subtitles.
Despite all of these annoying trivialities, I am so happy to be here. The region Languedoc-Roussillon is spectacularly beautiful. I was on holiday for the last two weeks of October which allowed me to explore a little bit and I genuinely believe that this is what heaven looks like. Vineyards are everywhere so everywhere smells like wine. Anyone that knows me well also will be aware of how obsessed I am with testing skincare products. French women (and an increasing number of men) are on the same level as obsession. There are pharmacies everywhere and they are amazing. I’m going to write a separate post about French products and their attitudes towards skincare and cosmetics as it is actually very interesting. Also the food is generally better here, including the quality of fruit and vegetables. This is definitely the country of gastronomy. I am finally accustomed to la vie française and it is heavenly.
My apartment is also wonderful. After living with a family (who were wonderful and so welcoming for a few weeks) before choosing this apartment, it’s all a bit strange living on my own but it is wonderful and has two bedrooms, a proper kitchen with a dining room and living room. Living alone means I’m either a strong independent woman or I’m one step further to becoming Bridget Jones. I am however enjoying the independence and I believe that I am genuinely becoming a French domestic goddess. I’ve got this French cookery book and it is magnifique. Wine is too cheap here as well so I’ll probably be an alcoholic before the end of the year. The apartment is brilliant for inviting my fellow language assistants to dinner though. My apartment belongs to a building called ‘Residence Bel Air’. I am however neither fresh nor a prince. I do dance like this in the kitchen though when I’m being Nigella:
I’m going to finish there before I bore you any longer and so that is the end of my slightly epic first post about my new life in France.
L. x
Mon Fabuleux Destin 