My First Trip as a Teacher

Hello, world!!

I went to London! And I took The Chunnel to get there!

Going in!

Ah, just casually walking around as we are speeding along under the Channel. 

And then we went outside! And it was wonderful! But, of course, after a long, might I add, overnight journey on a bus, we thought to ourselves, "Selves, let's eat something!", and we went to this swanky pub that fit a ton of students and even more alcohol!  (None of which was partaken of, I promise.)

I'll take one of each, please.

 Then we traveled around, and saw a good mix of famous architecture, museums, and life in London.  I could give you every detail, but I think it's much more entertaining to just look at pictures, and then let you Wikipedia London if you're still interested.

The TARDIS!! Nerd highlight of the trip for me.

And yes, thank you for noticing, I am holding a sonic screwdriver, er, turnavis sonique, that one of my students brought with him for just this moment.

Classic.

My students think I'm insane.  The thing is, they're right.

 We spent a couple evenings in Covent Garden, which I fell in love with immediately.  It had such an incredibly artsy feel to it, and a beautiful opera house.  I know that I could be happy as a bum on those streets if the whole music teacher thing doesn't work out.

All this place needed was a killer DJ, but I guess the random soprano in jeans singing the Queen of the Night's famous aria will do.

I loved the Christmas decorations everywhere! The city really seemed magical with them. 

We saw this bridge that was made famous by Fergie.

My teaching colleagues.

And Buckingham Palace at night.  Not a bad way to end an amazing 5 days.

I couldn't have asked for a better trip with better people. There is something about having shared memories with others that automatically makes for an easier and better friendship. This trip was a chance to create a few of those with the people that I've been spending all of my time with!

Thanks for reading, et à bientôt!

Much love,

Angie

I See London, I See France

Hello, everyone!

This update is coming to you from Rochester, from my own personal room (teacher's perks!) in a perfectly-typical English home. I was lucky enough to be invited on my lycée's six-day trip to London, and I have already had so much fun, and seen so many iconic places and buildings, that I would be happy going home tomorrow.  But guess what! I don't have to!! I get to see more! Yippee!!

I have no pictures, and I'm so tired that I'm not sure I could form cohesive thoughts to update you on everything we've done, but I wanted to let you all know I'm alive and well!  More than anything, I'm loving the time to get to know my colleagues and my students.  I have been so blessed to be surrounded by so many incredible people, and I love every awkward, somewhere-in-between-French-and-English moment that I've had so far, and I can't wait to creating semi-uncomfortable moments.

It's funny how life's hardest and most wonderful moments often arrive together, isn't it? Just a thought.

So much love to all.  I wish I could take all of you on my adventures with me. You are all in my heart.

Angie 

Angie's Awesome Americans Make Christmas Trees

A new week, a new club meeting! This week we made Christmas trees out of strips of paper.  Thank you, Pinterest!

Important Vocabulary

Believe me, these were fun to cut!

Making the trees!

Here's how one turned out! 

Our only boy!

The whole activity was a huge success! The kids all really enjoyed it, and they made great Christmas trees to take home to mom and dad.

However, my favorite moment of the whole meeting was right after we talked through the parts of the tree, and I told them I wanted to show them a picture of my Christmas tree.  So I shut the blinds, turned off the lights, and then turned on the projector, which slowly and ever-so-dramatically pulled up this picture of my Christmas tree from home.  It was so stunning that some of the students gasped. I couldn't have planned the moment better if I'd tried!

I hope you're all enjoying the most wonderful time of the year!

Lovesies,

Angie

Humor Me...

Yes, early morning flights can just be a pain in the butt sometimes, but look at this view!

Life is pretty good.

Lovesies,

Angie

Thanksgiving in Dublin

I love being in France, but it was wonderful to take a quick trip over to Dublin for Thanksgiving! I was able to celebrate my favorite holiday with a wonderful group of family and friends, and eat lots of delicious food!

Look at that gorgeous table!

Happy birthday to my favorite little sister!

I am so thankful for my family!

And for these goobers.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that all of your radios are now on the Christmas station!

Lovesies,
Angie

Angie's Awesome Americans Celebrate Thanksgiving!

Bummed that you missed out on the fun of my first English Club meeting?  It's ok, friends, you can relive it here!

Pin the Football in the Goal

Every club member received a personalized football!

Angie's Awesome Americans!

and a selfie for good measure...

We started the club by singing "10 Little Indians", and I'll get that to you as soon as I can. It is way too precious!

Until next time,

Angie

A Quick Trip to the Coast

One of the benefits of where I live is my super-close proximity to the western coast of France.  On a train, I can get there in about 30 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on how classy of an establishment I want to visit.  So my roommate, Natalie, and I chose to take a drive to Le Croisic and Guerande.

Le Croisic

Hey, look! It's me!

Poor little guy!

 We stopped for a fabulous lunch at this petite creperie because it was just too cute!  We were about 10 feet from the woman making everyone's lunch. She probably thought we were hilarious/really creepy because we stared at her for pretty much the entire time we were there.  I tried to look away, but she was just such a master of galettes and crepes!

So much Christmas!

Creeping on my new favorite chef

And then we walked around and did silly things... 

I couldn't have asked for a better roommate!

After we had our fill of crepes and the Bay of Biscay, we made our way to Guerande: the fortified city, and home of delicious salt!

Fortification.

Really we just spent our time in Guerande looking through cute little shops, and buying souvenirs. And then we found the wall of pigs:

It took so much self control to not buy all of them!

Great day, great food, great cities!

Lovesies,
Angie

Angie's Awesome Americans

That's right, kids.  The rumors are true.  There's a new club in town: Angie's Awesome Americans.  Keep reading to find out more!

Wish me luck; our first club meeting is Tuesday!

Angie

My Thanksgiving Quiz

It's a big week in Savenay: Thanksgiving Week!! Ok, sure, this means little to anyone but me at this point, but my students are going to learn to love it soon! Especially having great quizzes like this one to take:

I'm really just hoping someone answers "dolphin" for #3.  It's the little things that get you through the day.

Happy Turkey Week!

Angie

UPDATE: Someone answered dolphin.

What's for Dinner: Goat Cheese and Lardon Salad

One of my favorite parts of being in France is the food.  I love when others make it, when I make it, or when I walk past it on the street.  So, I'd like to share some of my favorite meals with you, especially when they're cheap ones!

For tonight's dinner, I made a salad (€1 for the whole head of lettuce) topped with a sliced tomato (€0,20), lardons (€0,75 for a whole pack. I probably used a fourth of it for this meal.), and baguette slices (€0,27 for the whole baguette!) on which I put a slice of goat cheese (€1,20 for the log) and threw under the broiler for a few minutes. (Just the cheese logs went under the broiler!). Throw a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top et voilà! A wonderful and cheap (about €1 total) meal!!!

Got to love the economic life!

Until next time,

Angie

This French House Is Too Cute For Its Own Good

A Little Look at My New Reality

So is life really that different in France?  In so many ways, no.  People are people, teenagers are teenagers, and teaching strategies work everywhere.  However, there are some key differences that I'd like to bring up.  Some of them are because I'm living in France, some are because I'm living in a school, and some are just because I'm finally living on my own.  

Here's the first picture I'd like to offer to you to explain some of these similarities and differences:

Sure, it might not look like much, but it says a great deal about my life at the moment.  For instance....

- Look at that little electric stovetop deal we've got going on there.  There is, in fact, a real stovetop hidden between the electric one and the oven, but it's gas and has been turned off because we live in the school building.

- Those oven nobs.  Hieroglyphics would be more helpful.

- Check out that lid, or shall we say 'top hat' because it's just so classy.

- If you direct your gaze to the right of the oven, you'll notice the bread tower.  Here you can find out baguettes, brioche (sweet bread that, when combined with the power of Nutella, is arguably the best thing on this earth), and a new addition: donuts. (Note: we only have donuts because they were Natalie's comeback for my brioche purchase.)

- And to finish, my personal favorite: the "turned off??" sign.  This is only up because I, twice in the same day, left our little electric burners on, and nearly burned down our apartment.  What's life without moments to keep you humble, right?

Until the next installment,

Angie

Shout Out to My Roommate!

Just two little assistants in one big lycee!

Although I've thrown love at many a person on this blog, one person in particular has been overlooked for far too long: Natalie, my roommate.

I've now gone potluck on roommates twice in my life: freshman year of college, and freshman year of real life.  So far, both have been out-of-the-ballpark wins.  Eileen, my first collegiate roommate, remains a great friend, even after learning of my ranch obsession, and strange music-major sleeping hours.  And now I have Natalie, my German space sharer, who I knew would be perfect from the moment she saw me wearing my TMNT boxers as pajamas and said "those are great!"  I feel so incredibly lucky to be sharing this year with someone who cares if I'm home or not, who listens to every time that I screw up, and that is struggling through this language right along with me.  So cheers, wait, crap, prost to you, my new buddy. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us.

Love from France,
Angie

A Quick Trip to the Coast

My wonderful friends Allison and Melina came to Savenay for the weekend to celebrate Allison's birthday, try our hand at the Nantes nightlife, and go to the beach in St. Nazaire!

See! It has sand; it's a beach!

I'm collecting cute Germans!

Note: Allison really was a cheerleader.  Learning from the best.

MirandaSings meets the French beach. Haters back off.

 Love to all!  I hope you're getting excited for my favorite holiday: Thanksgiving!

Angie.