Durham

Ha, Durham... This is surely one of the most beautiful town I've visited in my life. The cathedral, the castle, the walk along the river...

The first time I went to Durham was thanks to Emma, the daughter of my landlords. She offered me to go shopping on a sunny day. She drove to the town. I remember how glad she was that she could borrow her mother's car, because she had just passed her driving licence. During the journey, she told me a lot about it: that she was in school there, the library was great, she was at a ceremony in the cathedral in which some scenes from Harry Potter have been filmed... WHAT??? Can you repeat the last bit please?!? "yeah, you didn't know? Well, I'll show you the cathedral and Missus McGonagall's classroom!"
HHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
*calm down Julie calm down*
So, Emma parked the car next to the roaming club, and we walk along the river to reach the town centre.

It was a wonderful day, really. A man was mowing the grass and it smelled very good. I may not remember all the things that happened to me during this year abroad, but I remember the props which made the magic worked. When we finally reached the town centre, we had a sandwich at Esquire Coffee, outside, with a view on the bridge and the river. The only thing which bothered us were the seagulls upon our head. They were so numerous! At first, Emma offered to go shopping, and so we did, a little. But I must admit, I was rather excited at the idea of visiting the cathedral!

And there we were! Oh My God! What a beauty she is... I had tears in my eyes, I was mesmerized.
The cathedral is incredibly huge. We visited it. The man explained us a lot of things that I didn't not really understand (shame on me, I know... but I had only been there for two weeks!) about the architecture, the History of St Cuthbert, the stained glass windows (which are amazing by the way). But what I really wanted to see was the place where Harry Potter was filmed!

And... Here I was! In the corridors! Remember when Harry and Ron run in this corridor in The Philosopher Stone because they are late?            







                   And they were late for... Missus McGonagall's lesson! Here, there is her classroom!

 

This first visit of Durham with Emma was great, but has not been the only one. Indeed, I go to Durham as often as I can - to shop, to meet someone, to wander in the streets I love so much, whatever the weather is. And every time, I take the same picture of the town, from the bridge, with a view on the river, the cathedral and the castle on the left.

       

                                                    

I also went to Durham for the Lumières Festival on the 19th of November 2011. I was with Anna, her husband, the Spanish assistant who works at King James, Raul, and his girlfriend, Daniella. The town was absolutely wonderful. There were, as the name of the festival indicates, lights everywhere. Light was projected on the cathedral, illuminating the old stones with coloured shapes, the stained glass windows and the story of Saint Cuthbert. Though we were really cold and wet, the place was crowded and we were delighted. When the show on the cathedral was over, we struggled our way to the market place. In the streets - well, rather in the sky- were golden human shapes, which stood for angels. It was, as the whole place was, magical. Down to the river bank, we discovered that a waterfall has been built for the occasion, with lights making a rainbow in it. Wonderful. Then, we arrived on the market place. To our great surprise, one of the statue was trapped in a kind of snowglobe, indicating "I love Durham" with a blue neon.

     

Seasons past and change the time, when I grew up... I still loved Durham! Christmas market, Christmas shopping, sales (yes, I'm a girl), new books for the new semester, a nice afternoon before the Easter break... I even went to the mass once, just to see how it was in England, especially in this cathedral. I was surprised that we were not numerous at all, maybe twenty persons... Well, it was in December, and I understand that on Sunday morning, when it's cold and wet, people would rather stay at home with a cup of tea! It was nice, though.

I'm talking (writing) about Durham at the past tense, but my "British experience" here is not over-not yet. I still have a whole month to enjoy walking in the streets, to discover a new place I have never seen before, to have fun there with the people I met in England and that I will never forget :)                                                                                                                                       

First weeks at Home

Home. Room. Relief. After those two days of not knowing where I was going to live, I was glad to discover a welcoming place and to meet welcoming people. Ann and Richard, the landlords, have been friendly as soon as I reached the door of their home.
We went straightly to the room to "visit it", though I knew that was the place I would spend the rest of the school year. I was so happy with it that I completely forgot about Aga, and I told her only three days later, after she sent me a text, that I would stay in Spennymoor. She did not replied, deleted me on Face Book and avoided me when we met at Durham bus station last week. This is childish, I know I took a good decision!

I will always remember how surprised Ann, Richard and their daughter Emma were that I came from France to settle for several months in England with only one suitcase. When Emma had to leave for Uni, she had, let's say, three times more things than I had! Indeed, I took the minimum stuff from home: a pair of sheets for the bed, a towel, 2 skirts, 2 pairs of trousers, 5 tops, 2 pairs of shoes and underwear. My netbook and my hard drive. And some make up. Well, it's not that I can't survive without make up, but I didn't know what to expect from England... Now I know! England IS the place where you can buy cheap make up! And cheap clothes... This is definitely a women's paradise! Ann invited me to join them for tea, as I had just arrived  and was still a bit lost. I was glad to be with them because we learnt about each other, they told me about the area and mostly, as they had lived four years in Japan, they didn't have this pitmatic accent that I could not understand at the beginning of the year!

Back to the room, I made my bed, put my clothes in the wardrobe and found a plug for my adapter and my netbook. Richard gave me the code for the internet access, and I could finally be in touch with my friends and my family.

So, from then, I had three weeks of total freedom before I started my job at the school. I had a walk in Spennymoor every two days, almost, to buy food, to get some fresh air, to visit the place. One of the first thing I bought was a warm jumper, because we, French people, say that it's really cold and wet in England. September was actually sunny and warm. I even had a sunburn while reading in the park.

Jubilee Park,
Spennymoor

When I wasn't out, I stayed at home, it's as simple as that. I watched a lot of films I didn't have time to watch when I was in France: Water for Elephants, Dorian Gray, Pride and Prejudice, Your Highness, The Waterhorse... a lot of series also, as I started The Big Bang Theory, Drawn Together (bad), How I met Your Mother and the fifteenth season of South Park. I had the library card, so I read a lot of books, too. And because I'm still a student, I wanted to be serious so I revised all the grammar, History and literature lessons I had the year before.
Emma wondered if I wasn't bored after a while, spending my time around here... I was not! I felt so so free! Furthermore, it was the first time in my life I spent so much time on Face Book because some of my friends cared for me, so I chatted a lot via this social network.

Sometimes, however, I felt homesick. I wasn't used to being separated from my family, friends and boyfriend. Thank God the internet exists! Skype, msn, Face Book, I was always in touch with the people I like. I even asked my grandmother to open a Face Book account so that she could see my pictures!

If at first I wanted to be on my own in England,then I realised I was reassured to finally live with other people, moreover with such a nice couple. The second week I was there, Ann even offered to come with her to a country show next to Barnard's Castle, on the 17th of September. I didn't know what to expect because a "Country Show", in France, is a kind of party in a town center with Cowboys VS Indians, dance in line, everybody dressed like during the conquest of the Far-West...
It was actually completely different. Rural. I have never been to such an event before, and I really enjoyed it. I only saw cows and sheep, but they were species I haven't seen before, and tractors, ferrets and owls.

                                             aren't they cute? B-)








I had a really good time at this country show though the weather was... well, it was a British weather for a British event! At least, that day, I learnt the word "wellies"!

During those first weeks at home, I also visited another city, Durham, but I have so many things to say about it that it will be in another article ;)

Discovering a whole new Place for a whole new Job

" A whole new world, with new horizons to pursue..." That's what you may think when you read the title of this article... and you're right! Indeed, the day after I arrived, the 8th of September, I had to take the bus at Gateshead bus station. TO TAKE THE BUS!!! Do you imagine what it is to take public transportation when you don't know where to go, don't know what to do, don't know anybody? So, after I had the first English breakfast of my life (which is quite surprising when you're used to eating brioche, croissants or "pain-beurre-confiture"), I went to the bus station, once again pushing my luggage on the paved road. I found out that it's actually dead easy to take the bus in England because there are signs everywhere, and someone is always here to help. I took the pink bus number 21, "the Angel", to Bishop Auckland. The journey has been awful. Maybe that was because I didn't sleep a lot the night before, but I got really sick. Moreover, it's quite surprising to drive on the left when you're used to driving on the right... especially when you meet a roundabout. Everytime I was thinking "What is the bus driver doing??? why does he stay on the left???" and then I realised "oh, yes, I'm in England..." To sum up, I didn't enjoy the trip at all!

I finally arrived in Bishop Auckland. When I got off the bus, it started to rain. Welcome to England! That was an occasion to use my birthday present for the first time: an umbrella. Thanks mum! Just next to the bus station is the shopping centre, which became my shelter against the rain and where I could spend some time. It's weird to say so but for a couple of days, I have been "homeless". But I had some money - not a lot, but enough to pay for the hotel and some food. It was around 11am, and I had to meet Aga at 6pm - though I was pretty sure I would not live with her after the mail she sent me. I had seven hours to kill. I had a look at New Look, Argos, Wilkinson and finally bought a sandwich and a Doctor Pepper at Greggs. I had some once in France, but it is quite scarce. I love this soda!

yep, it's me! See how happy I am after all I've gone through only thanks to this drink^^




Then, when it stopped raining, I decided to go out and discover the town in which I was going to work for the next nine months. The main street, Newgate Street, surprised me. It's a straight road surrounded by a lot of shops I've never heard of before: Peacocks, Boots, Superdrug Store, Poundland, Poundworld, Savers... everything to spend money on clothes, make up and perfume, and to save money on things that you did not especially want to buy... The prices surprised me, also: parfumes are twice or three times more expensive in France, and you don't have cheap make up like there... I thought England was a paradise for girls!

So, I walked along the street, wandering here and there, until I thought it was time to find a place to stay for the night. Back to the town centre, on the market place, looking for a hotel. The Queen's Head: closed. The Post Chaise: closed. The new pub with accomodations: it was so new that they didn't even have mattress in the rooms. Well, I had to go to the tourist centre to get help. The lady was really nice, she phoned at least three persons to find me something: a room in a pub. She said it was a twenty minutes walk from the market place. HAHAHAHAHA! Let's say an hour when you have to push a heavy luggage up to a hill! The pub was called The Aclet. It is on the right after the leisure centre, the lady said, you can walk it! After twenty minutes, I asked my way to a woman. "It's a ten minutes walk". After those ten minutes, I asked someone else. "It's a ten minutes walk". AGAIN??? He explained " ye can  tek de bous if ye want ta, then ya find da poub" which means "you can take the bus if you want to, then you'll find the pub". Yes, I was expecting someone speaking English... But here, in County Durham, people speak "pitmatic"! I got used of the accent after a while. Finally, I decided to walk and walk and walk until I find it. It was very sunny this day... I suffered a lot. I saw it. The pub. The Aclet. Hallelujah!

I was so relieved. I had a place to stay! I could get rid of my luggage for a while! It was around 5pm, I still had an hour to waste before I meet Aga. I had a Foster and went to the room. I changed my clothes which smelled of perspiration and went back to the town centre as time was going by so fast.

I stuggled to find Finckle Street. Actually, it's just behind the shopping centre, but the street looked so unsafe that I didn't dare going there. It seemed that Aga was waiting for me, she called me by the window. She was with another friend. We visited the flat together. Small, but nice. She had the largest room. There were pairs of shoes everywhere, clothes everywhere, stuff everywhere, in the corridor, in the kitchen, in the living room. I didn't like it. I'm not a maniac, but I like when a room is tidy. We discussed about the flat and facilities. She was nice. However, I felt she was kind of a hypocrite. She wanted to share the price of everything, but she told me -with a nice and big smile- that some of her friends often come to visit her, to spend the night. Well, I want to meet new people but I'm also here to work and to study at the same time. It's not going to work. There was no internet. No no. I wanted to give her my phone number by text, there was no signals. No no no no no! How could I "share" a flat if she invites her friends all the time, puts her stuff everywhere, in a place where I could not communicate with my family, friends, boyfriend, colleagues, professors via internet or mobile phone? I left the room with no regrets.

On my way to the pub, I stopped at the Morrison to buy a sandwich and a drink. I was too tired to do anything else. In the room, I texted my boyfriend to say everything was alright and watched some episodes of Kaamelott before I slept. I knew the day after I would have to go to Spennymoor and meet Ann. At least, I would not spend another day wandering here and there, I felt less stressed than the day before.

Friday morning. Second day in England. I started the day with another English Breakfast. How can English people eat that much every day? But once again, I enjoyed it, though I didn't eat all the bacon ( I'm not really a meat-eater^^)

 

I talked with the pub owners. They were nice to me, but I could't understand their accent. The man offered me to drive me to Spennymoor. I accepted, for I could not imagine going down the road to the bus station with my luggage ( remember, I broke one of the wheel the first night I arrived at Gateshead)! We arrived. I gave him some money, he didn't have to be so nice to me. Then, I waited. I waited for a long time until I phoned Ann. I went to the shop next to the bus stop where Ann told me to stay and bought cakes. When it was time to call her, I realised I had her name but not her phone number! I forgot to register it before I left France! I called my boyfriend. I felt lost, on the verge of crying. I gave him my email address and my password so that he could find the mail with the phone number. He texted me the phone number two minutes later. Ha, I love him so much! So, I called Ann, the landlady, who came and showed me the house.

There I knew it was the house I was going to spend nine months in...

The Beginning of the Adventure

I had always lived with my parents. Though I'm quite independent, I was a bit afraid to go abroad, in a country I've never gone before. Nevertheless, I had to find a place to live. I didn't know what to begin with. Due to my wages, I wanted something less than 350£ per month, but with an internet access. I also wanted to live alone, so that I could invite my boyfriend, some friends, or my family to come to visit me. Everything I found was unfurnished, and I had to come in England to visit the flats before I moved in. I couldn't, of course. I couldn't afford the plane tickets and the hotel just to visit some flats I wasn't even sure to rent. Moreover, I was still working in France. Gumtree, Find a property, Rightmove... I became a member of all those websites... They didn't find anything for me.

It was August. I needed to find something before the middle of September. I had time, you would say, but I was anxious I had nowhere to live. That's when I really appreciated the fact that Anna was there for me. She advised me where to live, in Durham for instance. I didn't want to spend more than an hour in a bus everyday (I spent more than 3hours in public transportation the year before, I was fed up with that), so I looked for a room to rent in all the towns between Bishop Auckland and Durham. Anna also looked for a flat for me, and put me in touch with a girl called Agnieska. She was 21, from Poland, had a job in Barnard's Castle. We chatted on Face Book, and we got on well. She had a flat in Bishop Auckland, next to the bus station, a fifteen minutes walk to the school I work in.  She told me to come on the 8th of September to visit the flat. I thought everything was going to be alright.

I'm so so so lucky... Two days before I took the plane, the 5th of September, I received a mail by Agnieska, telling me that it was no longer possible for me to live with her. When I asked why, she didn't answer. I felt some kind of hypocrisy behind all this... But we kept the appointment. I cried. I cried and cried again. I was relieved to have a room to rent, but I had to find another one in one day and a half. Immediately, I emailed Anna. She managed to find another add for a room in a house in which I would live with the landlords and another roommate. The rent was more expensive than what I was looking for at the beginning, but it seems that I didn't really have the choice. I phoned the landlady and explained my problem, asked if I could move in without visiting much places before. She agreed, and I was finally ready to leave France.

Ready? Not really. Just like every human being, I had feelings I could not control. The 6th of September, the day before my departure, was our third year anniversary with my boyfriend. He had to go back to Lyon in the afternoon. We went to our favorite Japanese restaurant. It was hard to think I would not see him before a long, long time. At night, I prepared my luggage: a few clothes, computer, adapters. That's the problem when you move by plane, you have to select what you really need!

Wednesday, 7th September, morning. I felt very sick. I made sure I had everything. I was scared too. First time I left the house for more than one month, first time I left my family and friends, first time I would be on my own, first time I went to England, first time I took the plane... I was incredibly nervous, always on the verge of crying. My mother came in my room to tell me my grandmother, who had been sick for a month, died in the night. I now had a reason to cry. The funeral took place the Friday after. I could not be there. I had to be stronger. My mother drove me to the airport Charles de Gaulle, in Paris. My brother came with us. He is a teenager, you know, the kind of boy who always says "yeah, yeah, go, I don't care" but who comes with you to have a kiss before you go.

It was time to get on the plane. I held my mother in my arms. It was sad, but I was sure I wanted to go. I sat next to a couple of elderly people who spent their holidays in France,  and behind a younger couple. The plane took off. I cried, again. Was it because I was living France, because I missed the people I loved already, because I was sad for the loss of my grandmother... It's strange to say that I enjoyed the flight at the same time. We arrived, and the two couples noticed I was upset. The elderly couple wanted to help me, they talked to me, asked where I would spend the night... But the youger couple has been more useful. We took the metro together, and I stopped at Gateshead, where I had booked a room in a hotel. Liza gave me her phone number, to make sure I could find the hotel and spend a safe night.

I struggled from the metro to the hotel to push my suitcase. At least, the hotel was at the end of the main street, it was not that difficult to find. The pavement was paved, I broke one of the wheels of the suitcase. I arrived, took the keys, asked for the time of the breakfast the morning after, went out to find something to eat.  I was so tired I forgot the keys in the keyhole! There was a fish and chips just next to the hotel, I brought one in the room, the first time I had one. There was no internet access in there, so I made a video with my camera, to post it on Face Book later, to reassure my family and friends and show them where I spent the first night.

I felt tired and alone, but then, I was quite happy to be, finally, in England :-)

How to become a French Language assistant in the UK

THIS is a great question. I did well when I decided to study in Nanterre. Indeed, though I don't especially like some of the professors or worse, some members of the administration, there is a good partnership between the university and the British Council. The first step was, as I told in the previous article, to RAISE MY HAND UP!!! So that then, I was given the time and the room for the meeting between the professor responsible for the assistants, an assistant who worked in Northern Ireland the year before, and the students who wanted to escape to go abroad for a year as a language assistant. The meeting took place in November. When the teacher talked about living abroad and mentioned Edinburgh, I had tears in my eyes. She was kind of describing a dream!

Then, in December, we had to write a letter of introduction to describe ourselves to the British Council and our future employer. In this case, if YOU, reader, wants to go abroad to work, I advise you to be honest. I wrote that I did drama when I was younger, then I studied cinema, and I could speak French and German. We don't have German at the school I work in, but the name of the school is "King James community Art and College", in which the word "Art" is quite important as the kids study drama, music, art, design, media... The three years I spent studying cinema have been useful for me as the student in sixth form had to work on Truffaut and la Nouvelle Vague. So, DON'T LIE on your CV or you could end up giving a hand during a Japanese lesson!

After the Christmas break, we had an interview with the professor in touch with the British Council, just to make sure that we were both motivated and good at English, because we were about to live on our own in a country we did not know. Then, we had to ask a professor to write a letter of recommendation including what she or he thinks about us, our level of English (again) and our motivation (again). When everything was OK, just PRINT EVERYTHING - obviously, my printer died the day before I had to give my folder to the professor. That's just because I'm lucky...

In the middle of January, I finally managed to give everything to the office staff. I was glad. But as I'm lucky ( hahaha), I went to the office the day before the deadline. Once again, I did well. The fact is that they had lost my folder. It was an emergency to meet the professor who works with the British Council to explain her my problem, then to find the professor who wrote the letter of recommendation to write another one, to print everything again... And January was also the month of the exams I had to revise (a lot) for, and I worked as a cashier at the same time, and the sales are in January in France and I did additional hours... I told you, I'm lucky.

Three days after all the papers were sent to the British Council, I've been informed that my folder had been found... not to go to Great Britain, but to another continent. Well, it would have been great to visit Canada or Australia, but that's not really what I asked for... long live the noobs!

APRIL was the month we - the assistants-to-be- were all waiting for. I don't know how many times I pressed "F5" to read the mail by the British Council. We knew we would receive the mail at the end of April. I will always remember this day: 28th of April. Grey sky. I was watching the last episode of Desperate Housewives on megaupload ( R.I.P.)  in an empty room at the university when it was finally time for a break. I went out to join the girls, when Emily told me "I received the email, I've been accepted by the Council!". I like my friends but I had to leave to check my own emails. I didn't have the mail. F5. Nothing. F5. Still nothing. F5 F5 F5 F5 F5. Nothing again. F5: THE mail!!! I was so so so relieved! I called my mother, my boyfriend, texted most of my friends, posted it on Face Book... There is always someone to ruin your happiness. One of my "friend" ( this social network makes me laugh sometimes...) felt the need to say that "Scotland is not sexy" (WTF dude? I live in England!). Now, I don't care. Screw you guys, I'm happy! :-)

JUNE was the month I received an email by the head of the Modern Foreign Language department, Anna. How could I describe Anna... She is great! She sent me a mail to introduce herself, the school, and what my job will be about. I only read what she wrote, but at this moment, she seems to be very friendly. I compared my situation with the other assistants: most of them received a formal letter by the post, telling them the address of the school, the term of the contract they had to sign, and that's all. Anna told me how the school worked, what the dress code was ( "something smart, but casual ;-)"  ) and she helped me to find a room to rent in September... I liked her already :-)

So now you know you have to be very patient -from November to June- if you want to be a foreign language assistant! I can tell you it's a year I will never forget!

a word of introduction

My name is Julie, and as the title suggests, I'm about to tell you a story, my story.

I'm French, I was born in Mantes-la-Jolie, about forty miles away from Paris, nearly 22 years ago. As a lot of girls, I wanted to be a hairdresser, a policeman, a lawyer, a writer, a singer, a beauty maker and so on. I finally ended up studying cinema when I was in high school. The teacher, who was also a director, made me want to be a screeplay writer.

After I graduated, I planned to go to preparatory school, a kind of university with less than 25 people per class (in my case) which has the reputation of being very hard. I was expecting to spend two years in this school and then to go to the university to study cinema, again. I don't know if they wanted to keep me, to ruin my life or if they misunderstood me, but the fact is that the professors told me at the beginning of the first year that it was possible for me to study cinema after preparatory school. The truth is that I could not. I chose to study English during the second year, so I had to study English at the university as well. I must confess I didn't appreciate the fact that they lied to me, but it seems to be usual with that kind of people... no comment.

After those two awful years of hard work during which I had to speak fluently English, German and Latin ( I'm still good at Latin... though I don't use it everyday), I went to the university. I decided to go to Nanterre and to study English and American Literature and Civilization. I didn't feel at ease in this new place, new atmosphere, with new methods of work. I felt incredibly weak ( also because I had lost my grandmother the day before the university started), and I will always remember the very first professor I had: a history teacher, who asked me a question about what the others did last year. Obviously, I was not able to answer, so she said in front of the whole class: 'Julie comes from preparatory school, so, obviously, she does not know anything'! (you bitch, this is not sarcasm, this is... nastyness!).

November came with some good news. I was a bit ( understand = a lot!) disappointed by the university, so I decided to stay alone, not to make friend with anybody because I did not wanted to be in touch with someone from there or to fake a friendship. But then, a really nice young woman called Pauline invited me to a party and to sleep at her place, I said 'yes' (by the way, you may think it's silly, but the movie Yes Man changed my life!), and that's the moment when I started talking to the other girls of the prom, to be given phone numbers, added on Face Book... That's the moment when I started enjoying the university, not for the lessons and the staff, but for the friends I had... Something else happened, something that changed my life. One day, the literature professor I had told us that we could go abroad after this year to become a French language assistant in a British school. 'Those who want to leave uni next year, put your hand up!' Hahaha, I did! And that is when the story began...