Adventure Time in Europe: Week Recap, Visit to St. Chamond and St. Etienne

It’s already October and I thought that I would be teaching already but I haven’t started yet. I guess I am still on vacation haha. Here’s a recap of my week so far!

On Monday, Kate and I went to Netto (which is the closest grocery store to us) to get a few things. We arrived there at about 2:25ish to find out it was closed from 12:15-2:30pm. So luckily we didn’t go too early or we would have had to wait a while! It’s so different in the US because businesses do not shut down in the middle of the day for lunch. I am still getting used to this in France. Then I went into town with the other assistants and we had some coffee and tea at a nice little cafe. On the way back to the apartment, we stopped by a little vegetable/fruit shop and I bought some fresh veggies!

On Tuesday, I slept in until about 11:15am. I think the majority of the assistants started teaching today, but I haven’t yet. I went to the grocery store for a few other things in the afternoon, and I made sure to go after 2: 30pm haha.

On Wednesday, I tried to get more info about when the rugby players will be arriving, but the school secretary has no idea so I guess I will just stay here until they show up... Then, I went into town with Kate and I bought my first baguette :). We also stopped by the fruit/vegetable shop and I bought some red currants!! They are so good! I haven’t eaten them since I was in Poland! I really wish they would sell them in the US.

Hangin out in Roanne

Yay first legit baguette

Yummy currants

Kate and I ran some errands in town and we finally found the carrefour in the town. It is quite a bit of a walk from the apartment, but it was fun to go shopping in a big grocery store. We finally found some ground beef(which has been really hard to find in the little grocery stores) and we even found peanut butter! Later we also stopped by the train station and we bought train tickets for our orientation at St. Chamond on Thursday. Melissa (the America assistant that lives in a town nearby) came to hang out and spend the night because we had to wake up super early for the orientation in the morning. It was fun to have a guest over and all of us assistants enjoyed hanging out and talking together.

Thursday was super busy! Kate, Melissa, and I had to catch a train from Roanne to St. Etienne at 7 20am. Then we had another train from St. Etienne to St. Chamond because that is where our orientation was being held. So we thought that we had plenty of time to get to the orientation after we arrived in St. Chamond but we didn’t quite time the trains correctly lol. The orientation started at 9am and we arrived in St. Chamond at 8: 58... whoops haha. We thought that the orientation would be held somewhere near the train station in the city, but it wasn’t. We got lost pretty quickly but we just asked people to help point us in the right direction. We somehow made it to the City Hall and there we got a map of the town. Kate led the way and after maybe 35-45 minute (mostly uphill walk) we made it to the orientation! We were only like an hour late... We didn’t end up missing too much though because the other assistants said it started late (like 9 30) so really we only missed about half an hour.

Here's the City Hall where we got our map

View while power walking to the orientation at St. Chamond

Another nice view while on our long walk

At the orientation, I finally got to meet the lady behind all the emails. She seemed pretty nice and she told me not to worry about housing because she thinks she has found me an apartment. Well I think the Rugby Players are coming tomorrow (maybe?) so I hope that tomorrow I get a definitive answer from her about this apartment. Tomorrow I am supposed to have a meeting with someone who is finally going to show me the schools in which I will be teaching! I know I will be teaching in three different schools. Two of them are in Roanne, and the other is in a nearby town. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to create a schedule with the teachers. Next week I will be observing in the schools and the week after hopefully I will be able to start teaching!

After the orientation, we were lucky to be able to get a ride to St. Etienne from the lady in charge so we didn’t have to walk that long way again. Kate, Melissa, and I spent some time walking around St. Etienne and it is a lovely city! It is way bigger than Roanne that’s for sure!

St. Etienne

Me in St. Etienne

Then we ended up meeting some other current/past assistants who live in St. Etienne for lunch. It was really nice to talk to everyone and it was cool to meet some new people :). I really enjoyed everyone’s company and I hope to hang with them in St. Etienne soon!