What has Rebecca gotten herself into?
My paperwork has arrived from France. I have taken a cue from Jeremy Bentham, the philosopher who divided life into units of pleasure and pain, and broken things up into pieces of good and bad news.
Amiens. The first piece of bad news is that I'm going to be teaching in Amiens, not in Lille as I had hoped. The good news is that Amiens is further south, which means it won't be quite so cold. (I'm really looking forward to seeing snow, but I've lived in Louisiana all my life, so I know a French winter will be a big adjustment for me). The bad news is that since it's further south, Amiens is further from my cousin Laura and the JM Barrie sites in London. More bad news is that it's closer to big, noisy, smelly Paris. Taking the train from Charles de Gaulle airport will probably be cheaper, but frankly, Paris scares me.
Villers-Cotterets. The good news is that the town in Amiens where I'll be teaching is pretty small; the population is only ten thousand, according to its page on Wikipedia. The good news is that this should mean that rent rates in the town will be lower. The bad news is that they aren't; I browsed around at the very helpful website seloger.com and wasn't able to find any apartments cheaper than 360 Euros a month. The good news is that since the town is so small, I'll probably be able to walk everywhere. Thanks to Google maps, I've already located a bank and some apartment complexes within a mile of my school.
Le Lycee Europeen. The good news is that the school where I'm going to be teaching, Lycee Europeen, looks pretty swanky. Apparently it's a boarding school that accepts students from across Europe and trains them for the Baccalaureate. Parents all over Europe are paying the school to teach their kids, but the school is paying me to teach there - that's a pretty uplifting thought. The bad news is that I've been tardy in contacting my school, and they probably already think I'm one of those obese, obnoxious Americans who voted for Bush.
On an unrelated note, the best news is that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is coming out ... TOMORROW!
Amiens. The first piece of bad news is that I'm going to be teaching in Amiens, not in Lille as I had hoped. The good news is that Amiens is further south, which means it won't be quite so cold. (I'm really looking forward to seeing snow, but I've lived in Louisiana all my life, so I know a French winter will be a big adjustment for me). The bad news is that since it's further south, Amiens is further from my cousin Laura and the JM Barrie sites in London. More bad news is that it's closer to big, noisy, smelly Paris. Taking the train from Charles de Gaulle airport will probably be cheaper, but frankly, Paris scares me.
Villers-Cotterets. The good news is that the town in Amiens where I'll be teaching is pretty small; the population is only ten thousand, according to its page on Wikipedia. The good news is that this should mean that rent rates in the town will be lower. The bad news is that they aren't; I browsed around at the very helpful website seloger.com and wasn't able to find any apartments cheaper than 360 Euros a month. The good news is that since the town is so small, I'll probably be able to walk everywhere. Thanks to Google maps, I've already located a bank and some apartment complexes within a mile of my school.
Le Lycee Europeen. The good news is that the school where I'm going to be teaching, Lycee Europeen, looks pretty swanky. Apparently it's a boarding school that accepts students from across Europe and trains them for the Baccalaureate. Parents all over Europe are paying the school to teach their kids, but the school is paying me to teach there - that's a pretty uplifting thought. The bad news is that I've been tardy in contacting my school, and they probably already think I'm one of those obese, obnoxious Americans who voted for Bush.
On an unrelated note, the best news is that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is coming out ... TOMORROW!