Scandinavian Itinerary

Just so you know I'm going to be couch surfing with complete strangers during part of my trip. Its a great website called couchsurfing.org that lots of my friends use so I'm going to give it a try. Please don't worry.

Thursday October 29th-Poitiers, France
-Bus: Depart Montmorillon at 14:20 arrive in Poitiers at 15:20
-Stay the night in Poitiers at a couchsurfer's house

Friday October 30th - Oslo, Norway
-Train: Depart Poitiers at 6:36 arrive in Paris at 8:18
-Metro: take metro to the bus terminal in Paris
-Bus: take bus to Beauvais airport departs at 8:40 arrives at airport at 9:55
-Plane: Depart Beauvais Airport at 11:40 arrives in Oslo TORP airport at 13:40
-Bus: take bus from airport to Oslo departs at 14:15 arrives at 16:00
-Stay the night in Oslo at a couchsurfer's house (I'll provide address later)

Saturday October 31st - Oslo, Norway
-Staying the night in Oslo at a couchsurfer's house
-We're going to a Halloween party in the evening

Sunday November 1st - Oslo, Norway
-Staying the night in Oslo at a couchsurfer's house
-Meeting up with another couchsurfer for dinner somewhere in Oslo

Monday November 2nd - Stockholm, Sweden
-Bus: take bus to Oslo Rygge Airport departs at 6:00
-Plane: Depart Oslo at 8:25am arrive in Stockholm Skavsta Airport at 9:25
-Bus: take bus from airport to Stockholm departs at 9:45 arrives at 11:00
-Hostel: City BackPackers Hostel
Upplandsgatan 2a
11123 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel: +46 8 206920

Tuesday November 3rd - Stockholm, Sweden
-Hostel: City BackPackers Hostel
Upplandsgatan 2a
11123 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel: +46 8 206920

Wednesday November 4th - Stockholm, Sweden
-Hostel: City BackPackers Hostel
Upplandsgatan 2a
11123 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel: +46 8 206920

Thursday November 5th - Montmorillon, France
-Bus: take bus to Stockholm Skavsta Airport departs at 7:00 arrives at 7:40
-Plane: Departs Stockholm at 9:50 arrives in Paris at 12:05
-Bus: take bus from Beavais Airport to Paris departs 12:35 arrives at 13:35
-Metro: take metro to Montparnasse train station in Paris
-Train: Departs Paris at 15:15 arrives in Poitiers at 16:52
-Bus: Departs Poitiers at 18:18 arrives in Montmorillon at 19:18

Venice Verte

Venice Verte, Coulon

Venice Verte, Coulon

Venice Verte, Coulon

Venice Verte, Coulon

Monday October 19th I woke up early and carpooled to Chauvigny with Leidy and the computer teacher, Eric, who will be driving us to and from Chauvigny for the remainder of the year. I really enjoy Chauvigny the teachers are very friendly and helpful and the town is gorgeous and tranquil. I have a huge break between my morning and afternoon classes from 11:30-2:30 so my professors proposed that I ride the school bus with the students every week to the town pool and go swimming. How awesome is that!! I don't know if I'll go every week, because I'd like to explore the town a little too (there are castles and tons of tourists sites here) but I'm still super excited to be able to exercise during my lunch break. One of the english teachers also informed me that her family owns a house in Rouen (in the north of France) and if Leidy and me want to take a train there one weekend she'd give us the key (I think every french family owns a cabin somewhere that they only use on some weekends and holidays, usually near the coast). I was also invited to have dinner at a teachers house in Poitiers later in the year (nothing better then a little homemade french cooking as long as you like escargot, because they are usually on the menu). So needless to say they've made me feel right at home and I'm looking forward to working with them all throughout the year.

On Tuesday Leidy and I caught an early morning bus to Poitiers for the second half of the language assistant "stage". This time instead of going over documents and making us fill out a lot of paperwork they were training us on how to teach a class and prepare lesson plans. Needless to say I was extremely bored again. I already knew all this stuff, because I'd taught last year (of course I had to change my teaching style a little because I'm working with older students this year) and I'd already spent hours researching it all on the internet. The teachers constantly had us break up into pair work and come up with lesson plans. I seem to have a natural talent for coming up with things to do. People actually told me after we finished that my students are lucky to have an assistant like me in their classes (some actually told me they wished they worked with me, because I have all the best/creative ideas), go figure I'd be really good at something I don't really care about (I have absolutely no intention of becoming a teacher, although I might stay a language assistant for a few more years so I can do some more travelling...I'm thinking Asia next...). After the "stage" a few of us went out for a few drinks and tried out some new bars before catching our buses and trains home.

Wednesday I found a message in my teacher cubby hole stating that I was to meet the bus outside the school the following morning at 8:30am. I was at a total loss. Had I volunteered to be a chaperone and if so what for?? The teachers usually talk to me in french and I always think I understand everything, but then something like this occurs and I think I've missed something very important during one of our conversations (or maybe they'd just asked me a while ago and I'd forgotten). I went to one of my classes and tried to play it cool by asking nonchalant questions to the teacher about the field trip, but apparently they weren't nonchalant enough because she quickly caught on that I had no idea what was going on (I don't know what gave me away all I did was ask a few questions like do I need to pack a lunch with me). Thankfully I hadn't forgotten about the field trip, I'd just been volunteered and no one had bothered to tell me until the day before. That's France for you. But no complaints here. I free trip to another town, full of fun/free activities and they call this a job.

So bright and early Thursday morning I eagerly waited in the front of the school with 50 students standing around me (25 french and 25 british, it was some weird exchange thing they have set up with a town in England, the brits get hosted here for a week and the french are hosted in England for a week). I think I was looking forward to it more than the students even though I still had no idea where we were going. Once aboard the bus the teachers quickly filled me in what the plan was and where we were going. We spent the day in a town north of Niort called Coulon, also known as the "Venice Verte" or "Green Venice". Basically the area was built on huge wetlands/marshes so a bunch of monks in the 1300s decided to start building canals everywhere to take control the marshes. Now there are canals throughout the countryside, which why its called the "green Venice" because its in nature and not the city. We started our day in Coulon with a little walk and then a trip to a museum that showed us a video on the history of the region and some other displays about the region. After the museum we had a picnic in a park and then walked to a place called the "embarcadero" where we climbed into some boats and went floating around on a guided tour of the canals. It was very beautiful and tranquil. After the boat ride the Embarcadero provided us with some samples of the regional foods. All in all it was a very pleasant, relaxing day even though I had to share it with 50 students.

I had one class on Friday and then my two weeks of paid vacation commenced. YIPEE!! Since the start of vacation I've basically spent my time wandering around Montmorillon exploring all the streets and planning my vacation to Norway and Sweden. Yep, you read right I'm headed to Northern Europe for a week. I'll post my itinerary online here soon. Friday night Leidy and me checked out a band that was playing in one of the bars in town and it was really good, although really quite funny to me. The band was dressed as greasers and playing 50's rock music, but the best part was that the songs were all old american songs and the lead singer was singing them with a french accent which kind of sounded as if bugs bunny was singing the song. I was trying really hard not to laugh, but I couldn't help myself (thankfully no beer sprayed out of my nose). The band was great and they seem to have a following because the bar was packed with people dressed in 50's outfits (it was like something out of the movie crybaby) including little kids (who apparently are allowed in bars in France, I even saw one of them drinking). Monday night we went a saw a french movie called "Les Regrets" which I thought was a comedy because at least that's what it said in the movie listing, but it was a romance (there was no comedy about it, but lots of drama) and it sucked and like all french movies it didn't really have an ending and just kept you hanging. Oh well.



Here's a quick clip of the band that played Friday night. They call themselves Las Vargas. They are singing an oldie the goes "...but Memphis I won't do what my big sister does...". Check out the hair style of the lead singer and the huge cello they use. I actually really enjoyed the music (it made me want to sock hop ;P)

School, School and more School

Monday October 12th we met with a french professor at 10:30am and he drove us to Chavigny to meet the professors at our other school. This year I'm working in two schools (last year I worked in two schools too, but they were in the same town, these two are in seperate towns) the Lycee Jean Moulin in Montmorillon and the College de Gerald Phillippe in Chauvigny. Chauvigny is famous for the five castles that are located in and around the town. The day was spent, being introduced to the professors that I'll be working with and being given a tour of the school. A "college" is actually a jr high school in France (a Lycee is a high school), so the kids are all pretty young around 11 to 14 years old. The teachers were all very friendly and I look forward to working with them. In the evening after we'd hitched a ride back to Montmorillon (we carpool with other professors) we went to the cinema and watched "Inglorious Bastards" in french. It was pretty good, but I definitely didn't understand everything that was said.

Tuesday I went to a doctor's office to get my flu shot. Going to the doctors is always an interesting experience. I'm not impressed with the French's national health care which is probably why I'm not a big supporter of the Obama national healthcare plan. But I won't bother you with to much information. Lets just say that if I walked in and claimed I needed a prescription for anything, all I'd need to do is ask and I would recieve without having to have an exam or anything. Getting a flu shot in France varies greatly from in the states. First off you have to go to the doctors (no running to the safeway or costco pharmacy here), then the doctor has to give you a prescription (but first you have to wait in a line for your turn to see the doctor, there ain't no appointments here, so it usually takes at least a hour to get in), then you leave and take the prescription to a pharmacy and they give you the bottle containing the vaccination, then you have to return to the doctors (wait in line for your turn again) and have the doctor give you a shot. Needless to say it was a lot of work and time for something as simple as a flu shot vaccination.

The rest of the week was pretty basic. Going to classes, going to the store to buy groceries, going for a cafe, reading, etc. I finally spent a weekend in Montmorillon. I did absolutely nothing, but lay around, clean and read. I thought it was a great weekend, because it was the first time since I'd arrived in France that I was actually home and didn't have work to do. Plus its always nice to lounge around after three straight weekends of travelling.

A weekend in Angouleme

Having a few beers by the Charente river

Entrance to the Jardin Vert in Angouleme

Having a drink in Cinq Sens with a few friends

Friday October 9th Leidy and I caught a train to Angouleme. I wanted to see all my friends and pick up the stuff I'd left from last year. We stayed at the boys' house (which is the house I would have been living in if I'd moved back to Angouleme, instead of to Montmorillon) and they threw a big welcome back party (it wasn't just for me, they had just returned Monday from spending the summer in Brasil). The partys there are always huge and last until the wee hours of the morning, so I think I didn't make it to bed until around 5 am.

We slept in late Saturday, but then I took Leidy on a tour of the town around the ramparts and all my favorite gardens and stores. We ate lunch on the steps of the St. Martial church in the center of town (which was one of my favorite things to do last year, because its great for people watching). In the evening we met up with Nalleli, Michaele, Emily, and Emily's friend who was visiting from the states (weird story...I told Emily's friend that I was from Townsend, Montana and he said he actually knew some people from there {even though he is from North Carolina} because he'd dated a girl from east helena. I asked him who it was that he knew and he told me he knew Chris Ludwig who is a good friend of mine. but it was a little awkward because the reason he knew my friend was because he'd stolen his girlfriend...its such a weird small world that I'd be living half way around the world and meet someone who'd stolen my friend's girlfriend and happened to be friends with one of my friends in France...what a coincidence). Anyways, we had supper at a little italian restaurant and were there eating for a good three hours, before we headed to L'Havana to do some dancing. We got bored of l'havana a while later, so we grabbed some beers and walked down to the Charente river where we drank and chatted until the wee hours of the morning.

I woke up Sunday and began packing my suitcase full of all the things I'd left behind last year. Sundays are usually very boring and relaxing in France because everything is closed, but once I finished packing Leidy and I decided to walk into town real quick to see if anywhere was open to get something for lunch. As we rounded the corner to the center of town the streets were packed with people and venders. It was the weekend of the yearly bizarre. I was super excited that the one weekend I'd randomly decided to visit Angouleme happened to be the same weekend of the once yearly bizarre. Leidy and me looked around at all the venders and grabbed something to eat before wandering back to the house to grab our stuff and head to the train station. Kena met us at the house and helped me carry my stuff to the train station. She hung out with us and saw us onto the train before taking off. I was glad she stayed and visited with because she was one of my roommates last year and she hadn't seen her all weekend. All in all, I passed a great weekend in Angouleme and was able to see all my friends from last year and make some new friends too. I plan on visiting Angouleme at least once a month (hopefully twice) while I'm in France. My town is small and there's nothing to do on the weekends anyways, so it'll be great to be able to go to Angouleme, visit with my friends and always have a free place to crash ;P

Montmorillon

Montmorillon, Medieval City "Cite de l'Ecrit"

The new town that I'm living in this year is called Montmorillon. Its in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region of France (here's a breakdown of what each of those is basically equivalent to in the USA: town=city, department=county, region=state). Its about a hour north of where I lived last year. Montmorillon is very small with a population around 7,000 people. The only way to access the town is by car or bus (there is a train, but its under construction until January). The bus ride takes a hour to get to Poitiers and there is only about 5 buses that leave town a day, so I'm basically stranded here. Montmorillon is known for its "Cite de l'Ecrit" (the city of books or the written city), which is located in the old medieval part of town. The Cite de l'Ecrit is basically just a whole lot of bookstores that sell really, really old books, documents, scrolls, etc. I think that there is probably some illegal black market trade going on in the 'caves' (wine cellars) and backdoor rooms. Probably selling holy grail maps/documents and old dead sea scrolls :P Which I guess is kind of cool. Otherwise the town is pretty dead most of the time. Its mainly filled with old retired people and brits (there are a lot of British people who live here. I have some of there kids in my classes).

Teaching Commences

After returning from Troyes to Montmorillon, I spent the remainder of the weekend relaxing and unpacking. My roommate Leidy had also left for the weekend so I had the place to myself when I returned. I tend to read a lot when I'm living in France so if you read any good books, send them on to me ;)

Monday October 5th all the assistants of the Poitou-Charentes region gathered in Poitiers for a "Stage". A "stage" is basically an informational meeting. They had us fill out documents all day for social security cards, health care stuff, housing assistance and things like that. It was extremely dull for me, because I'd already done all the stuff last year and already 'knew the ropes'. The one good thing about the 'stage' was that all the assistants who returned from last year were there, so I got to hangout all day with all my friends and roommates from last year who all returned to Angouleme this year (I'm the only one who decided to try a new town). We also got a free lunch so that was a plus. I met all the new assistants of the different towns and made sure to get emails and phone numbers so I'd be able to visit them and have a free place to stay (booyeah, La Rochelle here I come). After the meeting they held a little 'mixer' for all the assistants to mix and mingle (bless the french for always providing lots of free wine) and then me and some of my new friends headed to the bars for a drink before we all had to catch our trains home.

The rest of the week was basically spent going to classes and introducing myself to my new students. Basically I'd stand at the front of the class and they'd have to ask me questions about myself in english. I got 'asked out' by a few of the little 12 year old boys which made me laugh so hard it was a good thing I didn't have in liquid in my mouth because everyone would have had a shower. My students range from the ages of 11 to 19 years old. I think I like teaching the younger kids better because they are still a little afraid of authority, but mainly because they are at least willing to try to speak. Lots of the older kids don't really care or try and always say 'I don't know how to speak english' when you ask them something. Which is really stupid because they've been studying english for 6 to 8 years so they know how to speak, they just won't. They also tend not to pay attention or participate. But I guess I can't really complain that much because I know I was just the same (and probably even worse) when I was in High School.

Champagne-Burgundy Pictures

Normal Architecture in Troyes

Medicinal monks garden in Troyes

Out on the town in Reims



Garden of Innocence in Troyes

Sightseeing in Reims

Stain Glass in the St. Madeline Church in Troyes

St. Madeline Church in Troyes

Cat's Alley in Troyes

Old outdoor spiral staircase in Troyes

Stain Glass in the St. Madeline Church in Troyes

Cathedral Notre Dame in Reims

Cathedral Notre Dame in Reims

Hotel De Ville in Reims

Cathedral Notre Dame in Reims

Cathedral Notre Dame in Reims

Champagne-Burgundy Trip

Thursday (October 1st) morning I awoke super early and walked the 40 minutes to the bus station to catch a bus to Poitiers and then a train from Poitiers to Reims, France (I hadn't even been in France for a week before I was off on a new adventure). Reims is located southeast of Paris and is in the Champagne Region of France (where they are famous for making guess what...CHAMPAGNE). My friend Tina from New York was visiting France in order to write an article for Wine Spectacular magazine. The company had flown her to France to go around visiting different wineries and trying wines and champagnes and staying in 4 and 5 star hotels and eating at 4 and 5 star restaurants. And she'd invited me to join her! Of course I couldn't refuse. I hadn't seen her in years and she was offering a free place to stay in 5 star hotels. It was an offer I couldn't resist.

I arrived in Reims around 10am. Tina and I weren't meeting up until around 5pm when she got back from a winery tour in the country. I'd never been to Reims (or in Northeast France) so I spent the morning wandering around exploring the city. There wasn't really that much to it. It was a large city, but had a small city center. It definitely wasn't one of the most impressive cities I'd visited in France. By mid-afternoon, I'd visited and seen everything so I jumped into a movie theater and watched "District 9" in french. I was shocked when I left the theater, because even though the movie wasn't that great I'd understood everything. Which was rare. Usually when I watch a new movie in french I only understand about 80-85% of what is said (I, of course, can always follow the plot and understand what's going on, but usually not word-for-word). Tina and I met up at her hotel shortly after my movie got out and we went for a beer and some fresh gossip before she had to rejoin her tour group for dinner.

When Tina returned from dinner, me, her and Andy (another journalist from the tour group) went out to have a few drinks. We began our night at a place Andy had passed earlier in the day and seemed to be a happenin' place. Unfortunately for us it was near closing time for that bar, so we had a drink and then continued to the next bar called "L'havana", where we were chatted up by some french guys. We soon discovered that the guys chatting us up are musicians in a rock band and they invited us to join them at another bar. We went along and found ourselves in a bar that had sand covering the entire floor, which I thought was pretty cool and there was a dance floor. By the time we left that bar all the bars were closing down for the night (it was around 3am), but fortunately for us we were partying with a band, so they got us into a bar that was closing called the "Blackface". The lead singer of the band bought us a bottle of expensive champagne and we sat in the closed bar drinking until it was all gone. Then we called it a night and stumbled back to our hotel (which was thankfully right around the corner).

We'd gone to bed around 4am and unfortunately for us it was necessary to be ready to go on a walking tour of Reims at 8:50am. We'd only had 4.5 hours of sleep and we were tired and hungover (champagne always gives the worst hangovers). In french they use the expression "j'ai gueulle de bios" which means 'I have a mouth of wood'. Well my mouth tasted like wood all morning as I listened to some lady drone along in french about the history of the Cathedral in Reims (which was stupid for the group to have paid for because the same information she was giving them, was the same thing that I'd read the day before on all the signs hung around the church). The Cathedral in Reims is actually has an amazing history. It's where all the kings of France were crowned and it was bombed like crazy during WWII, only because of the symbol it stood for. After the tour finished I took Tina on a shopping trip and helped her pick out a 'french fashion' outfit (at one of my favorite french boutiques 'Promod'), before jumping on a 12:30 train to Troyes.

I arrived in Troyes around 4pm and had to rush to the Cathedral from the train station in order to meet up with Tina and the group for a 2 hour walking tour of Troyes. Troyes is an absolutely beautiful city (I'll post some pics, because it'd be hard to describe) and has a rich history mainly surrounding Joan of Arc. Its definitely a city I could have spent a lot more time in and will probably visit again later on to explore it more thoroughly. But I wasn't there to explore, I was there to spend time with Tina who I hadn't seen in years, so after the tour we wandered back to the hotel. We stayed up chatting until 1am (even though we hadn't slept much the night before). Tina's tour group departed bright and early the next morning so I headed to the train station and headed back to Montmorillon. I'd debated staying longer and visiting the town more, but I didn't have my trusted lonely planet guide book with me so I figured it'd be a waste of time. I had a great time, staying in nice hotels and hanging out with Tina. I'd have liked to visit longer, but unfortunately I don't have the funds for it this year. Oh well, c'est la vie.

First Week Back in France

So Thursday September 24th I jumped on a plane to return to France. I took off from the Seattle/Tacoma airport before the birds even started to sing and arrived in Toronto, Canada later in the afternoon. I was only suppose to have a six hour layover, but unfortunately there was some sort of mechanical probably with our plane so the six hour layover turned into 9 hours and a departure time of midnight (I guess I shouldn't complain though because at least we weren't flying over the ocean when they realized there was a mechanical problem). I arrived in Paris at the Charles De Gaulle international airport Friday September 25th around noon, which didn't leave me much time to get to the train I had to catch at 1:15pm so I was rushing to get my luggage, pass through customs, get to the train terminal and buy a ticket. I made it to the platform with ticket in hand with only 10 minutes to spare (that was no easy task with two 50 pound checked-bags and a 25 pound carry-on). I took the train to Poitiers and then a bus to Montmorillon (the small town where I'll be living for the next 7 months of my life).

Veronique, one of the english teachers from the school, was waiting at the bus station for me to arrive. She had sent me an email a few weeks before offering to let me stay with her during the weekend when I first arrived (of course there's no polite way of saying 'no actually I really just want to move into my new apartment' so I agreed), so we headed to her place, had dinner and then I crashed out (lots of travelling always exhausts me). Saturday we visited the Saturday market in Chauvigny. Chauvigny is a small town north of Montmorillon, famous for the five castles that surround the town and is also another town where I'll be teaching at once a week every Mondays. We bought some fruits and veggies, stopped for a 'cafe' and then went at visited one of the castles before returning to Montmorillon and dropping off my luggage at my new apartment.

Saturday night I stayed at a different english teacher's house. Her name is Valerie. She made me dinner and then I crashed out again (ever hear of jet lag...yeah it sucks). Before going to bed we discussed what we'd do tomorrow (any one who kept up with my blog last year knows that nothing is open on Sundays in France) so I mentioned that I liked hiking. So Sunday morning Valerie took me to a hiking trail by the "Gartempe" river. It was absolutely beautiful with the rapids and cliffs and I couldn't have asked for better weather. After our hike we visited for a while at her house before she dropped me off at my new apartment.

My apartment has 4 bedrooms. I have the largest room and its also the most secluded (first come, first serve). When you first enter the apartment you walk down the hall way and pass three doors on your right, they are all bedrooms. The two doors you pass on the left are the shower and toilette (because in France the toilette is always in a seperate room from the bath). At the end of the hall is a large living room furnished with couches, tv, a bar and a kitchen nook. To the right of the Living room is the kitchen and right of the kitchen is my bedroom. I have two other roommates (although one I've only seen once in the apartment, because he only stays here very rarely) one is a french boy (who I never see) and the other a columbian girl named Leidy. She doesn't speak much english, so only french is spoken in the house which has made my french improve phenomenally.

Monday morning I was giving a tour of the school that I'll be working in for the year. It's called Lycee Jean Moulin. The students range in age from 11-19 years old and I teach all of them. During the tour I was introduced to my new columbian roommate, who had just arrived. I also was introduced to one of the classes I'd be working with throughout the year.

Tuesday I took my new roommate around town on a tour and showed her the ropes as far what paperwork you have to fill out and where, opening a bank account, etc. I also was introduced to more classes that I'll be working with. When I get 'introduced' to a class it is basically a question and answer. They practice their english by asking me questions about myself and I answer. Like "Wat izzz your name?"

Wednesday morning Leidy and I took a bus into Poitiers for the day to get cell phones and see the city (I've already visited there a couple of times, so I was playing tour guide once again). Basically the first half of my week was spent exploring the new city that I live in, meeting my future students and filling out paperwork (because the french love paperwork. They actually have an expression for it that goes 'why do it the easy way when you can do it the long way').

New Address

Here's my new address in France:

Katie Cole
64 rue de Victor Hugo
86500 Montmorillon
France

My phone number is the same as last year, but here it is incase you don't have it:
+33.06.66.32.83.89