Meeting New People

Being here on my own for the first week was quite hard, but since doing the induction last week things have got much easier and much better!

At the induction I met a few people who were in my town, and I caught the train back to Annecy with them. There aren't just British people here; there's people who speak German, Chinese, Spanish (from Spain and elsewhere) and Italian. When I got back I decided to email everybody to find out if they wanted to meet up next Saturday for the "Retour des Alpages" (when the animals come down from the mountains for winter).

Friday evening (4th October, 2013) I got a message from H, another British girl, who said that some of the assistants were meeting at the Quick (a fast food restaurant). I decided to go, mostly to try and get out of this little bubble I seemed to be in, and I got to meet even more assistants! There are even people who doing their year abroad, but who are working in other sectors than assistants. We went to a pub called Finn Kelley's (an Irish pub) and then to Le Munich (which I don't know if it was an Irish pub but played a lot of Irish music...). 

We all ended up going out again Saturday night (5th October, 2013); it started an G's house, a British girl doing some translation work, then we were supposed to go to a nightclub called Pop Plage that's near the lake, but after finding out it was going to cost 15€ I decided that it wasn't worth it. Instead some of us went to the bars in town and I eventually got the last bus home at 1am. 

Yesterday (Sunday, 6th October, 2013), I got a message from M, one of the German girls, to say that a few of them were going into town to have a look round. It was a really nice afternoon and I got to meet another assistant that I hadn't met before! We walked round the town and by the lake, and then had a crepe in Creperie Bretonne, which was so incredibly tasty. 

Today (Monday, 7th October, 2013), I went to school expecting to have my first day of assisting, but it was yet more paperwork. I have however signed up for the teachers bowling night, where I hope to meet some more of the teachers, and I also met the headteacher at the school today (although only briefly). 

I have also been added to the group for Assistants in Haute-Savoie on Facebook which has made it easier to organise things.

As a bit of advice for people wanting to know how to meet new people: talk to them! I know it's very difficult when you're not used to it, but just ask people questions, listen to what they have to say. And if you find someone who is in the same town as you make sure you get their name and number, that way you can contact them and find out if they want to go do something with you, and if they know other people in the area they can introduce you to them!