First day at school

A few days before I was supposed to start, Anna sent my an e-mail to ask me if I wanted to meet her in real life, to meet the girls who took French for A level, to meet some other members of staff and to visit the school. Appointment  for Wednesday, the 28^th of September. However, I planned to go to Bishop Auckland and see where the school was located before I started the job.

The day I arrived in Bishop Auckland, I went to the tourist info centre where a lady gave me a map of the town. I kept it. I now have a good collection of maps ( York, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Sunderland, London… even a map of the tube in London). So, it has been quite easy to find the street. And to find the school, well… I just had to follow some kids with the uniform of “King James”. Clever, isn’t it? J

My first reaction when I first saw some of the girls who didn’t wear the uniform of the school was “oh my Gosh…” Indeed, one of them was only wearing what we consider in France as tights… I noticed she had a tattoo (not that I was looking at her but… everyone could notice it). I was later informed that the students who don’t have the uniform are 6^th formers. It’s the privilege of age! But the more I lived in England, the more shocked I was because of the way girls are dressed…

The school impressed me a lot. Indeed, contrary to the "modern" buildings we have in France, this one looks old and is very classy. I felt happy when I saw the place I would spend the next eight months in.

When it was time, I entered the school. “All visitors must report to main reception”. Oh no, here we are, I don’t even know where main reception is. I managed to find it and “reported myself” to the secretary. “Hello, I’m Julie, I’m visiting missus Peti… Pefi… Pethy******” ( or “how to pronounce the TH when you’re not English… well, this way the woman could guess I was the French assistant!). I waited around ten minutes before Anna arrived, and when she was here, I know I smiled a lot (though I’m smiling most of the time^^). She seemed to be so nice (which I can say she is, now that I know her). She led me to her classroom where three girls were waiting for me: Jessica, Jillian and Kathy. I think they were as shy as me! They had prepared a few questions to ask me –in French, which I was pleased to answer. And I was glad to discover that one of them had chosen to work to study the film Jules and Jim, which I like, and I could be helpful as I studied cinema. The atmosphere was very warm and friendly. The only thing I was afraid of, actually, was to tell them my age. I was 21, so to say, only 3 or 4 years older than them. I thought because I was young, they wouldn’t take me seriously. But everything was fine J

Then, we visited the school. Straight up, then one corridor on the right, one on the left, go out, go to middle school, remember the code to the door, “here is the music room”, “here is the LSU”, back to the school, “here is the staff room”, “here is…” This school is such a maze! But now, I’m fine with it :)