Me? -I am very fine thanks - enjoying yogurt with fresh passion fruit here as we speak. Typically my first days were a bit strange and I needed some time to get settled and get in the mood but after all the hassle I pretty quickly started realising how awesome a place this really is. The first days I was extremely tired because of speaking French all the time - not the language I am used to speaking this much. A lot of sleep, adjusting to the humidity, sun and everything in general pretty much took my first days but that's alright. I'm all super now.
The place? -I live at the university campus area which means there are a lot of students around and always someone to help you even if you don't know anyone. This area is called Sainte Clotilde which is not in the centre (St Denis) but it is packed here and there is a lot of local life to be seen. When I go for a walk I see lots of elderly men and ladies sitting in their back/front yards and a lot of little kids on their bikes. People watching seems to be these people's favourite pastime. In my room I have a little bathroom, a bed, a desk, a mini fridge and I can see palm trees and the sea from my balcony. Not bad.
My job? -It's my second week now and today I had a day off. I follow the journalist lady pretty much everywhere outside the office and as she is responsible for the education section of the newspaper, lots of our days consist of going to local schools for interviews. Last week we also stayed in a class room for a whole hour, interviewed the kids, the teacher and took some photos.
Every morning at the office starts at 9 o' clock with a meeting where everyone explains what they're working on or are going to start with. At the office I have been doing "research" on the Finnish school system and I've spent lots of time on different kinds of discussion forums and I have learned a lot myself too that I didn't know about education in Finland. The lady writes lots of her articles concentrating on France but a big part is also comparative texts where she often brings up Finland and other countries whose educational system is statistically seen very good. After I've written and translated the texts to her she sometimes also prints them and corrects my French explaining my mistakes - which I like very much. I had never expected they would actually concentrate on me this much as it is mostly very busy at the office. All the people are very nice there and the atmosphere feels very relaxed.
Other things that have happened? -I've spent a lot of time walking around taking pictures. I have been to St Denis which is a lovely town by the way and even though part of it is very old and looks like a typical tropical city, most of the shops are French so at some point you might feel like you're in a normal little town in the middle of France and after a few minutes of walking you'll realise you're nowhere near France. Also Carrefour (typical French big supermarket) is very big here and a few days ago I bought lots of fresh fruits there and oh god you might have guessed it -they were delicious!! Mangoes, pomelos, passion fruits... Yummy
The place? -I live at the university campus area which means there are a lot of students around and always someone to help you even if you don't know anyone. This area is called Sainte Clotilde which is not in the centre (St Denis) but it is packed here and there is a lot of local life to be seen. When I go for a walk I see lots of elderly men and ladies sitting in their back/front yards and a lot of little kids on their bikes. People watching seems to be these people's favourite pastime. In my room I have a little bathroom, a bed, a desk, a mini fridge and I can see palm trees and the sea from my balcony. Not bad.
My job? -It's my second week now and today I had a day off. I follow the journalist lady pretty much everywhere outside the office and as she is responsible for the education section of the newspaper, lots of our days consist of going to local schools for interviews. Last week we also stayed in a class room for a whole hour, interviewed the kids, the teacher and took some photos.
Every morning at the office starts at 9 o' clock with a meeting where everyone explains what they're working on or are going to start with. At the office I have been doing "research" on the Finnish school system and I've spent lots of time on different kinds of discussion forums and I have learned a lot myself too that I didn't know about education in Finland. The lady writes lots of her articles concentrating on France but a big part is also comparative texts where she often brings up Finland and other countries whose educational system is statistically seen very good. After I've written and translated the texts to her she sometimes also prints them and corrects my French explaining my mistakes - which I like very much. I had never expected they would actually concentrate on me this much as it is mostly very busy at the office. All the people are very nice there and the atmosphere feels very relaxed.
Other things that have happened? -I've spent a lot of time walking around taking pictures. I have been to St Denis which is a lovely town by the way and even though part of it is very old and looks like a typical tropical city, most of the shops are French so at some point you might feel like you're in a normal little town in the middle of France and after a few minutes of walking you'll realise you're nowhere near France. Also Carrefour (typical French big supermarket) is very big here and a few days ago I bought lots of fresh fruits there and oh god you might have guessed it -they were delicious!! Mangoes, pomelos, passion fruits... Yummy
This Belgian guy I got to know on my first day here knows how to get around pretty well so I suggested we'd do something today and he took me to these wonderful waterfalls (Bassin Boeuf) today and we had a great time even though it started raining at some point.
Oh one thing, this morning on our way to the waterfalls when we were waiting for our bus we noticed lots of things falling off a tree and we soon realised it was mangoes. There we were sitting in the sun, picking mangoes while waiting for our bus. <3
xxx E
Ihanaa tekstiä, kirjotat mukavasti, juuri sillä tavalla että pystyy vähän kuvittelemaan minkälaista siellä on! (Ei siis sellaista tylsää mitä suurin osa vaihto-oppilaista kirjottaa, että "tänään käytiin pizzalla ja sitten keskustassa ja sitten mentiin yhtiin allasbileisiin ja oli tosi kuuma")
ReplyDeleteToivottavasti jaksat jatkaa! I love it!
Uuu kiva kuulla ettei oo liian tylsaa tekstia... Nyt ei netti taas toimi kotona niin saa nahda millon kirjotan taas... Ellen sit ehdi tanaan taalla toissa.
ReplyDeletexxx