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...