Change of Plans
First and possibly most importantly, I saw a red squirrel a few days ago! It was a wild squirrel and it was just sitting there on the road to the campsite, looking at me! Then it ran away, because it wasn't tame like the ones on campus. But it was so gorgeous!
Second, the gap year's plans have had a slight change of direction - before I left, I hunted around the internet trying to find out what fruits were in season where and when in France, and found almost nothing beyond some vague date ranges. So I jumped in pretty much blind, came to Orleans because it sounded fun, it was on a major river, and it was fairly close to Paris, and found that here it's in the middle-to-end of the cherry season and no other fruits are currently ripe, so work was not to be had for love nor money. Without regular internet, a phone or a fixed address, applying for the few jobs advertised on the french job centre website was also a bust. If it wasn't for graduation I'd've gone straight to the south of the country, where I believe much more of the fruit is grown, but I quickly worked out that in the north, I wasn't going to find a job.
So, on to plan B - WWOOF. That's Willing Workers On Organic Farms, where you work as a volunteer on an organic farm in return for accomodation and food. Now I'd heard about this before and promptly dismissed it because it was volunteer work, not paid, but when I joined WWOOF France as a backup plan and could see just what they were offering, I promptly rearranged my plans for the year to fit in as much WWOOFing as I had time for/could afford. Yes, they sounded that good. Organic farming, sustainable living, learning about herbs and edible flowers and meditation and all those other hippie things that are right up my alley - yes please!!
I started emailing out to various hosts, asking if they needed someone for July - starting with the ones I liked the sound of the most, including three vegetarian places which would have been utterly divine - and found that if I wanted to WWOOF I should really have done this a few months ago, as they were all filled up for summer! Sigh. Again, there would be more choice in the south, but again, I needed to stick fairly close to Paris (now defining "fairly close" as "within a 2 hour train journey").
So plan B was also out... although when I go to New Zealand/Australia you can guarantee I'll be WWOOFing at least part of the time, since I've got plenty of time to arrange that still!
Thus we have reached plan C, which is "treat France as a 3-week holiday, stay in Britain after graduation, and try to work here for a few months". Not my most favourite plan in existence, but it'll do. Well, the holiday part is nice, I haven't been on a proper holiday for years if you don't count the few days I spent in Poland over Christmas, and I've certainly never been on a holiday where I can go where I want and do what I want! But I hate job-hunting, and so if I have to do it I'd rather not have to worry about where to live and what to eat and how to contact employers at the same time. Plus in Britain I may qualify for some sort of unemployment benefits in the meantime, I don't know.
As mentioned, I've been staying near Orleans for the last week, because I love it here. Unfortunately I'm running out of things to do here, though, so on Wednesday I'm heading off to Tours, where I currently have a place to stay booked for four days. After that I haven't quite decided yet - I was going to go to Chartres, but I don't think there's a direct train line (I'd have to go via Paris - look at a map and you'll see why this is silly), so maybe Le Mans instead. Stay there for a few days too, then I've found a nice cheap campsite about 10km from Charles de Gaulle airport (Paris) to stay at for the last weekend before flying back.
Before you all start recommending things to see, I should mention that I don't do the normal touristy things - big churches and castles and things don't really interest me, I just like wandering around going "wow, interesting different city I haven't seen before". As demonstrated by how I managed to wander around Paris for an entire day without actually seeing any of its famous landmarks! If anyone wants to recommend an interesting city somewhere between Tours and Paris that I can get to quite cheaply, however, feel free! Large towns also accepted.
So the gap year has taken a somewhat different direction to planned, but eh... I got out for a while, and I certainly needed the holiday!
Second, the gap year's plans have had a slight change of direction - before I left, I hunted around the internet trying to find out what fruits were in season where and when in France, and found almost nothing beyond some vague date ranges. So I jumped in pretty much blind, came to Orleans because it sounded fun, it was on a major river, and it was fairly close to Paris, and found that here it's in the middle-to-end of the cherry season and no other fruits are currently ripe, so work was not to be had for love nor money. Without regular internet, a phone or a fixed address, applying for the few jobs advertised on the french job centre website was also a bust. If it wasn't for graduation I'd've gone straight to the south of the country, where I believe much more of the fruit is grown, but I quickly worked out that in the north, I wasn't going to find a job.
So, on to plan B - WWOOF. That's Willing Workers On Organic Farms, where you work as a volunteer on an organic farm in return for accomodation and food. Now I'd heard about this before and promptly dismissed it because it was volunteer work, not paid, but when I joined WWOOF France as a backup plan and could see just what they were offering, I promptly rearranged my plans for the year to fit in as much WWOOFing as I had time for/could afford. Yes, they sounded that good. Organic farming, sustainable living, learning about herbs and edible flowers and meditation and all those other hippie things that are right up my alley - yes please!!
I started emailing out to various hosts, asking if they needed someone for July - starting with the ones I liked the sound of the most, including three vegetarian places which would have been utterly divine - and found that if I wanted to WWOOF I should really have done this a few months ago, as they were all filled up for summer! Sigh. Again, there would be more choice in the south, but again, I needed to stick fairly close to Paris (now defining "fairly close" as "within a 2 hour train journey").
So plan B was also out... although when I go to New Zealand/Australia you can guarantee I'll be WWOOFing at least part of the time, since I've got plenty of time to arrange that still!
Thus we have reached plan C, which is "treat France as a 3-week holiday, stay in Britain after graduation, and try to work here for a few months". Not my most favourite plan in existence, but it'll do. Well, the holiday part is nice, I haven't been on a proper holiday for years if you don't count the few days I spent in Poland over Christmas, and I've certainly never been on a holiday where I can go where I want and do what I want! But I hate job-hunting, and so if I have to do it I'd rather not have to worry about where to live and what to eat and how to contact employers at the same time. Plus in Britain I may qualify for some sort of unemployment benefits in the meantime, I don't know.
As mentioned, I've been staying near Orleans for the last week, because I love it here. Unfortunately I'm running out of things to do here, though, so on Wednesday I'm heading off to Tours, where I currently have a place to stay booked for four days. After that I haven't quite decided yet - I was going to go to Chartres, but I don't think there's a direct train line (I'd have to go via Paris - look at a map and you'll see why this is silly), so maybe Le Mans instead. Stay there for a few days too, then I've found a nice cheap campsite about 10km from Charles de Gaulle airport (Paris) to stay at for the last weekend before flying back.
Before you all start recommending things to see, I should mention that I don't do the normal touristy things - big churches and castles and things don't really interest me, I just like wandering around going "wow, interesting different city I haven't seen before". As demonstrated by how I managed to wander around Paris for an entire day without actually seeing any of its famous landmarks! If anyone wants to recommend an interesting city somewhere between Tours and Paris that I can get to quite cheaply, however, feel free! Large towns also accepted.
So the gap year has taken a somewhat different direction to planned, but eh... I got out for a while, and I certainly needed the holiday!