Eric Anderson's
Journal
April 2002
Vire, Calvados, Basse Normandie, France
Dear readers and future assistants,
The seventh and last month
started off with a vacation day. Easter was on March 31, so April 1
was a holiday. The Monday following Easter Sunday is always a holiday
in France. So then it was only four days and then there was the two-week
vacation period in April. Unfortunately, I got sick with the flu on
April 1. I went to the doctor's the next day to get some medicine, because
I wanted to be healthy by the time the two-week vacation started. Going
to the doctor's was quite interesting. I went there without an appointment
like most people do and had to wait about an hour. Then the doctor saw
me and he spoke French so rapidly, but I managed to keep up. He did
the normal routine checkup and told me what I had and then gave me some
medicine for free. I had to pay him 20 euros for the checkup, but then
I sent in a form to the French government and was reimbursed. So that
was a lot different than in the U.S.
For my vacation, I decided
to buy a Eurolines bus pass. Eurolines is a bus company that is quite
well-known in Europe and serves almost any major city in Europe, and
even some minor ones. Their website is: www.eurolines.com They offer
15-, 30-, and 60-day passes, so I bought the 15-day pass for only $145.
With this pass I could go to 31 different cities in Europe during the
15-days and use the pass as much or as little as I wanted. It was quite
flexible, because there are buses from all the cities every other day.
And the schedule is on their website, so I was able to plan out my whole
itinerary ahead of time. I decided to visit seven cities, and spend
about two days in each one. I visited Copenhagen, Denmark; Gothenburg,
Sweden; Berlin, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; Budapest, Hungary;
Vienna and Salzburg Austria. It was such a fantastic vacation. I was
all alone, and I stayed in youth hostels in most of the cities. In Prague
and Budapest, everything is incredibly cheap, so there I was able to
rent a private room for the same price as a youth hostel in the other
countries. Traveling alone gave me the opportunity to meet so many people
from all over the world. Because it was April, I didn't make any room
reservations ahead of time since it was still the low season for tourists.
Of course, I could spend ages writing about each city I visited. If
you want to know more, e-mail me at: ericga@uwm.edu
When I got back to Vire,
France, I just had one week and two days left to teach. It was stunning
how fast April flew by. As soon as I got back from the two-week vacation,
I immediately started packing, even though I wasn't leaving until May
4. I highly recommend to start packing at least two weeks in advance.
Once you start, you'll realize how much there is to pack. It's quite
difficult trying to pack seven months of your life into a few suitcases.
Many assistants have had to buy additional suitcases. Luckily, I found
someone who had a suitcase they didn't want anymore. Of course, packing
is quite sad, because it means the beginning of the end.
For all of my last classes,
I had handed out candy, and for the primary schools I also gave each
student a little diploma and had each student come to the front of the
classroom one by one to receive their diploma and then everyone clapped.
They just loved that! One of the most touching moments was when two
of the classes at one of the primary schools I teach at threw me a surprise
good-bye party, including cake, candy, and fruit juice. And the teachers
bought me two huge, expensive books, one with pictures of Normandie
and the other with pictures from all over the world. Two of the students
gave short good-bye speeches to me and then all the students started
chanting for me to give a speech. I was quite speechless and emotional
at that moment, so what I had to say in French came out kind of awkwardly.
It's definitely a moment I'll never forget for the rest of my life.
Other classes gave me little good-bye gifts or brought candy or cake.
And I took a picture of each class as well, which they all really liked.
It's been so hard saying
good-bye to so many people all at one time, but I have received so many
invitations to come back to France and visit people. When I had finished
teaching on the last day, I felt quite a huge range of emotions. It
was nice to be done and to be going home soon, but also it was so sad
to be leaving the students, teachers, assistants, and all the other
good friends I had made over the past seven months. One thing, don't
forget to NOT cancel your bank account until after you've been paid
at the end of April for the last time. Also, remember to ask your school's
secretary for an attestation de service, which is something you can
use as proof that you worked in France.
The past seven months have
been the most incredible of my whole life. I will never forget them.
It's just amazing how much you can learn about another country's culture
in only seven months if you make the effort. What's also amazing is
how much one learns about one's own culture when one sees it from an
outside perspective. In my opinion, there are really no negative aspects
at all about being an assistant d'anglais. The keys to succes are going
into the assistantship with an open mind, having a positive attitude,
making sure that you are slow to judge, and not allowing little, unimportant
things to bother you. Sure, not every day will be perfect, but that's
life, and a few weeks later you'll look back and see that it wasn't
that bad after all and that everything worked itself out. And of course,
above all else, make sure you keep a written journal/diary of your seven
months in France!
Well, that's about it. I
hope you've enjoyed reading about my experiences here in France and
Europe, just as much as I've enjoyed sharing them with you.
-Eric Anderson
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