(no subject)
It's hot here. In the past few weeks, we've had the most sustained period of consistently hot and sunny weather that I can remember for years. Apart from the two hellish hours per day I spend travelling to and from work on the cattle-truck-esque tube, I am really enjoying all the sunshine and warmth. It makes everything feel optimistic and hopeful, for me at least. I also love that it's so light in the evenings...at 10pm this evening, it still wasn't totally dark. So nice.
Preparations for my move to Paris (only three weeks, oh my god) continue. I've sold tons of stuff on ebay to raise some extra funds and minimise the square footage of my posessions for storage purposes. I've pretty much reached my limit of trying to improve my French - I think my reading/writing has got pretty good, it's my comprehension of spoken French and my ability to speak it myself, which needs work. And I'm banking on that improving when I actually get there and am forced to listen and speak the language all the time.
I've got some leads for jobs to follow up when I get there, which is good. Hopefully one of them will come through. A friend of a friend who works at a language school in Paris was kind enough to speak to me for ages on the phone giving me some useful tips and there's the possibility of a job at the school she works in, which is hopeful. We're also going to meet up for coffee once I'm in Paris - which is in some ways even better than the prospect of a job, because establishing some sort of social life once I'm there is going to be really important to me.
It's exciting but scary. I can't believe there are only three weeks to go. I'll be making the journey on the Eurostar on the 27th, then I'll have a week to get settled before my course begins, then I'll have four weeks of CELTA (full-on, 9-5 training to teach English as a foreign language). Then I'll be looking for a job. If I find a job I'll then be looking for a flat. But it all becomes quite vague from that point. Maybe I'll hate teaching English and decide I can't stand the thought of doing it for a whole year. Maybe I'll love it but be rubbish at it. Maybe I won't be able to find any work. Maybe I'll hate living in Paris...if any of that happens, my plans are vague to say the least. I certainly wouldn't let myself return back to the UK with my tail between my legs. I have a notion that maybe I'd do some travelling and volunteer work in Thailand or something, but basically I'm hoping that the Paris thing works out. That's plan A. I'd like to fit in some travelling too, but to base myself in Paris for the year.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm mad, leaving my perfectly nice life here for no particular reason to go and live in a foreign country, where they speak a foreign language, where I more or less know no-one, to try to find work I may not be able to get, doing a job I've never done before. I hatched this plan back in October, out of a vague sense of boredom and job dissatisfaction, a sudden burning desire to become a fluent French speaker, and a touch of the winter blues. Now, eight months later, it's actually about to happen. On the one hand I feel like I'm about to do something ludicrous and stupid, on the other...I go through life rarely taking chances of any kind, and I think it's time for me to break that pattern. Even if it doesn't work out, I think I'll be glad that I tried.
Preparations for my move to Paris (only three weeks, oh my god) continue. I've sold tons of stuff on ebay to raise some extra funds and minimise the square footage of my posessions for storage purposes. I've pretty much reached my limit of trying to improve my French - I think my reading/writing has got pretty good, it's my comprehension of spoken French and my ability to speak it myself, which needs work. And I'm banking on that improving when I actually get there and am forced to listen and speak the language all the time.
I've got some leads for jobs to follow up when I get there, which is good. Hopefully one of them will come through. A friend of a friend who works at a language school in Paris was kind enough to speak to me for ages on the phone giving me some useful tips and there's the possibility of a job at the school she works in, which is hopeful. We're also going to meet up for coffee once I'm in Paris - which is in some ways even better than the prospect of a job, because establishing some sort of social life once I'm there is going to be really important to me.
It's exciting but scary. I can't believe there are only three weeks to go. I'll be making the journey on the Eurostar on the 27th, then I'll have a week to get settled before my course begins, then I'll have four weeks of CELTA (full-on, 9-5 training to teach English as a foreign language). Then I'll be looking for a job. If I find a job I'll then be looking for a flat. But it all becomes quite vague from that point. Maybe I'll hate teaching English and decide I can't stand the thought of doing it for a whole year. Maybe I'll love it but be rubbish at it. Maybe I won't be able to find any work. Maybe I'll hate living in Paris...if any of that happens, my plans are vague to say the least. I certainly wouldn't let myself return back to the UK with my tail between my legs. I have a notion that maybe I'd do some travelling and volunteer work in Thailand or something, but basically I'm hoping that the Paris thing works out. That's plan A. I'd like to fit in some travelling too, but to base myself in Paris for the year.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm mad, leaving my perfectly nice life here for no particular reason to go and live in a foreign country, where they speak a foreign language, where I more or less know no-one, to try to find work I may not be able to get, doing a job I've never done before. I hatched this plan back in October, out of a vague sense of boredom and job dissatisfaction, a sudden burning desire to become a fluent French speaker, and a touch of the winter blues. Now, eight months later, it's actually about to happen. On the one hand I feel like I'm about to do something ludicrous and stupid, on the other...I go through life rarely taking chances of any kind, and I think it's time for me to break that pattern. Even if it doesn't work out, I think I'll be glad that I tried.