Travelling + friends + goodbyes + planning for the future = busy! These past few weeks have been a bit crazy, but I’ve been having a great time seeing my friends all over France. My life is going through another transitional period, as I prepare to move to Paris for an internship in a few weeks. This has been my last week teaching, so I’ve been busy saying goodbye to my lovely friends, colleagues, and students. However, I’m going to Sicily on the Première school trip tomorrow which is very exciting!
A few weeks ago I drove to Besançon for the weekend to visit Emily. Ellie and Marie came from Lyon to meet us there, and it was great to see everyone. Unfortunately, although it had been sunny that entire week, Saturday was cold and very wet. We didn’t think it was worth going to the Citadel as we had planned, and instead spent our time in and out of the shops lining the picture-perfect cobbled streets. The highlight of my day had to be the cat café, where I got to have a cuddle with the sweetest cat ever. On Saturday evening, the assistants of Besançon came over, and we went out together after a fun pre-drinks. 
The following weekend I went to Lyon to see Ellie. We spent Saturday eating burritos (not nearly as good as you can get in Birmingham), watching films, and eating a lot of crisps! Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day, and we headed to the Parc de la tête d’or to soak up the sun. The park is a huge, free, green space, perfect for a chilled day out. Like the true book-nerds that we are, we read in the sunshine for a few hours, eating our lunch, before heading inside to explore the greenhouses full of exotic plants.
The next week I was working at the collège, which meant 6 hours working on Monday, 6 hours on Friday, and three days off in the middle of the week (being an assistant is great!) I used my days off to take a short trip to Paris, which was fun but intense! In three days I visited the place I will be working, climbed up the Arc de Triomphe, did a lot of reading in the sunshine, and had a picnic with an old friend by the Sacre Coeur.
A six-hour bus journey later and I was back in Lyon Thursday evening, worn out but in love with Paris and excited for the future!
This week has been wonderful but also tinged with sadness. My final lessons with my students were fun (we played games) but they were genuinely sad to see me leave, which was really touching. I had delicious goodbye meals with both my Collège and my Lycée colleagues. I also said goodbye to my group of Roanne assistant friends, which was very emotional, but we will definitely see each other again soon I hope.
Now I’m off to pack- the coach for Sicily leaves my school at 6:30 tomorrow morning!
Arrivederci!
Ramblings by Sarah 