I wrote this on my first night here - more updates to come soon :)
After planes, trains, buses, (and a few paces by foot) I’m here! In Rocheforte! Truth be told, I’m a little overwhelmed – now that I’m finally here, I’m realizing that I’m here for some time. But to me, that’s the beauty of adventure. In my experience, it seems that each time I’m presented with an opportunity that makes me question and doubt my motives (‘maybe you lost your mind/blacked out when you signed up for this?’), it turns out to be incredibly rewarding. With things as little as camping trips when I was a little girl, to going to New Mexico in College, I think the important thing isn’t that I had doubts but that I strove to overcome that little voice in my head that was saying “uhhhhh, whaaaat???”
The good news is that my cooperating English teachers, Isabelle and Marie Claude are wonderful and kind. They’ve agreed to speak to me only in French, which I’m sure will lead to frustrating, if not hilarious moments in the future. They also laughed when I said I had watched “Les Demoiselles…” before I got here. Isabelle can’t get through that movie, no matter how hard she tries, and Marie Claude is old enough to remember when they filmed it – according to her, there’s a sort of special meaning to the movie for her generation.
I live in apartments owned by the school. When I asked Isabelle if this was normal, she said that it was, not only for boarding schools (like my lycee) but for regular schools, providing a place for the principal and other adminstrators to live. Its small but cozy, I’ll have a new neighbor on Tuesday when the final english assistant comes into town from India (!!!) and last but not least, I have loved sitting in my room, listening to the city pass by. Granted, I’ve only been in Rochefort (at the time of writing) for 6 hours, so maybe I’m catching everyone on a good night, but I’ll stay optimistic and say that this town has a wonderful rhythm.
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