My Apartment

Before I left for France, I managed to organise two visits to apartments in Annecy. The first one is the one I chose to rent, because as you can see from the pictures, it's very pretty and is only 400€ a month (cheap for Annecy). The second one I visited was horrible! Everything was broken or breaking, and the other lady who shared the apartment lived on the sofa in the lounge turned bedroom (meaning there was no lounge). 

In the apartment I chose, I'm in Cran-Gevrier which is a sort of suburb of Annecy (about 5 minutes bus ride from the centre of Annecy). I'm sharing with a 52 year old lady called S who is currently unemployed; she's now looking for work but is home all the time. She's been very kind and showed me what sort of shops there are near the apartment.

The pictures of my room below (the first four) are pictures I have taken after I moved in. I still need to get a few bits and bobs. The other photos are ones that S sent me via email when we were still discussing the apartment, but nothing much has changed.

La Basilique de la Visitation

Visit Date: Saturday, 28th September, 2013

The Basilica, otherwise known as "The Visitation of Annecy" in English, comprises of a monastery and a church, partway up one of the many mountains surrounding Annecy. The monastery was built between 1909 and 1911, while the church itself was built between 1922 and 1930. The clock tower, which chimes the hour, is 72m tall and hides underneath a structure built in reinforced concrete. The church was designed in a neo-roman style by architect Alfred-Henri Recoura. The simple exterior contrasts with the inside décor, where there are 12 columns built in blue marble from Savoie. 

The Basilica was built as a gesture of gratitude to the Lord for Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Jane de Chantal. The effigies of both saints lie within the church, either side of the altar. There is also an effigy in the Museum, where Saint Francis is clothed with an alb and a chasuble which had been embroidered for the second centenary of his canonisation in 1865.

Saint Francis de Sales was born in the castle of Sales at Thorens, approximately 20km from Annecy, in 1567. He was a gentleman, a scholar and a lawyer. He was ordained a priest in 1593 and later became Bishop of Geneva, while still living in Annecy (before Haute-Savoie was formerly adjoined to France). He was received by King Henry IV several times. He remained a faithful "shepherd of the diocese" and travelled throughout his 600 parishes on a mule, visiting the most distant villages, constantly prepared to serve the underprivileged. He died of cerebral haemorrhage in 1622 at the age of 55.

Saint Jane de Chantal was born in Dijon in 1572, daughter of the president of the Burgundian Parliament. At the age of 20 she married the Baron de Rabutin-Chantal. She had 6 children, 2 of whom died at birth. Her husband died 8 years into their marriage, leaving Jane de Chantal a widow at age 28 with 4 children between the ages of 5 years and 3 weeks in her care. Jane de Chantal met Francis de Sales in 1604 in Dijon, where he was giving a sermon; he became her spiritual guide. She moved to Annecy on the 29th March, 1610, and between 1615 and 1641 she founded 87 monasteries. She died at Moulins in 1641. 

Opening a French Bank Account

Today (Friday, 27th September, 2013) I opened a bank account all by myself! Yesterday I went to Credit Agricole to ask about getting an account with them, but the very very helpful lady told me that they no longer offered accounts for less than a year because they were losing a lot of money, but that I should speak to BNP Paribas. So that's exactly what I did. At BNP I was told how it all works, what documents to bring and made an appointment to fill in all the paperwork.

There is a lot of paperwork to sign. And multiple copies of the same thing, one for the bank and one for you. They talk to you about what you need the account for and choose something that suits you. I've got an account that includes a visa debit card and a cheque book, plus 300 euros in overdraft (just incase... didn't ask for it but she said it was advisable considering how expensive the town here is and it's free to have that size overdraft). I have to pay 3,30 € to have a card attached to the account but that's not all that much. 

Because I'm not living in an apartment permanently yet (I move in on 30/09/13), I had to get an "attestation de logement" from the hostel to say I'm currently there. The bank will then send a letter to the hostel and I have to take that to the bank to prove that I received it at the hostel. I can then change my address after that but since it takes a week to activate the account I figured it would be better to have it organised as soon as possible.

There's not much to say by way of advice for opening an account; just make sure you get some copies of your RIB ("rélève identité bancaire" - kind of like a bank account identity statement with the account number and such on). The employee at the bank was very helpful and told me exactly what I needed to bring with me (passport, "attestation de logement" and contract for work) and guided me through the process. I just hope whenever any of you go to open an account, it's as easy as it was for me! 

The "Initial Wander"

Wednesday, 25th September 2013, a girl called Sharon arrived in the same dorm room as mine and we decided to take a tour of the town together. Above is the approximate route that we took, which allowed us to see most of the tourist sights of Annecy.

The "Palais de l'Ile"

"Lac d'Annecy"

The "Prefecture"

A pretty canal behind Eglise Notre-Dame

The "Hotel de Ville"

"Rue Ste-Claire"

"Rue Ste-Claire"

We also took a tour of the "Heart of Lake Annecy" by boat which was pretty marvelous. 

Me aboard "L'arc-en-ciel"

The Two-Day Drive

I am now sat on my bed in a hostel in Annecy, extremely tired from all the driving but feeling much better for being here. 

Friday - Monday:

The drive started Friday afternoon when I set off from home to W's house on the outskirts of London. We had a lovely weekend together, seeing the Sea Life Aquarium, going to see White House Down at the cinema, and going to a restaurant called Bodean's BBQ on Saturday evening and T.G.I. Friday's on Sunday afternoon. I left Monday morning around 7.15am and it wasn't great. The M25 wasn't too busy but there were road works and it seemed to go on forever. I eventually got off the M25 and onto the road towards Dover for the ferry! I had to go out of check-in and go back later because I got there "too early" (last check in was 10.30 and me being there at 9.15 was "too early"...). Nevertheless, I eventually got on the ferry and when I came off at Calais I managed to drive on the correct side of the road! Driving on the motorways seemed pretty easy but once I got to Reims and I was completely lost the roads seemed incredibly hard to navigate. The hostel I stayed in (CIS de Champagne) was fairly nice and I slept quite well in the end. I had a delicious pizza in a nearby restaurant but couldn't eat it all because I was literally falling asleep with the fork in my hand! So in the end I just paid and went back to the hostel and got in bed!

All in all, between Friday and Monday I drove around 374 miles.

Tuesday:

On Tuesday I drove from Reims to Annecy with a short stop at a service station outside Dijon. I have never driven anywhere so beautiful. I really wish I had one of those bonnet cameras some people have on their cars because everything past Dijon was so incredibly amazing. Seeing as I don't have one of those cameras, I managed to find the awe-inspiring spot on Google Maps Street View. Below is the moment where I quite seriously said wow and smiled for a while taking in the view. Obviously it wasn't snowing when I drove through, and because of that I could see even more. The road winds through the mountains and goes underneath some as tunnels and you go right past the border with Geneva which was also pretty cool.

I got to the hostel around 4.15pm and had to find somewhere to park before bringing in all my stuff. I'm in a 4-bed all female dorm room, but at the moment it's just me in here which is fine by me, at least for this first night because I'm knackered and don't want to put up with other people's stuff. I've made myself a little nest in the corner because I've got some shelves and whatnot. It's currently about 9pm and I think I'm going to do the same as last night and get in bed. I never imagined driving so far would be this tiring, but I guess you learn something new everyday!

On Tuesday I drove another 352 miles, making my trip a total of 726 miles!

September Update 2013

Products

I found this fairly handy product on amazon. It'll definitely make life easier for charging all my gadgets!

Checklist

It can seem quite scary moving so far from home. When you first go to University it doesn't seem all that bad because you're in the same country, but moving abroad is slightly different. For me it's a bit of an unusual situation, because when I finished my A-Levels I went off to France for my gap year, so moving to Uni was no big deal. Moving to France this time seems more exciting than scary. Nevertheless, there's a lot more this time that I have to organise for myself. Last time I went to live with a family as an au-pair, so a lot of stuff was already arranged for me. I've tried to make myself a check-list of things I need to do before I leave and I hope this may help others trying to cope with pre-departure organisation. Some of this stuff is very me-specific so might not apply to anyone else, but I hope it helps!

Accommodation:

Accommodation can be tricky to find when you're not in the place you're going to be living. For France there are quite a few sites you can use to try and find places to rent/share. I've mostly been using www.appartager.com and www.colocation.fr which both try to find house shares for your individual needs. There's also www.seloger.com which just suggests places to rent, i.e. I had a quick nosey for studio flats. I'm finding it really difficult to find somewhere to live that I can afford, and even though there is somewhere very nice that I'd love to live (I'm waiting to hear back from the owner) you should never put down a deposit on a house you haven't seen. Hostels tend to be the best idea for the first few days/weeks/months until you find somewhere. In France most hostels require you to have a Hostelling International Membership, you can get this by joining the Youth Hostelling Association for £5 for a year (www.yha.org.uk/membership). I've booked myself into a hostel in Reims (just for a night so I can stop on the drive down for a break) and for 4 nights in Annecy. If necessary you can always book yourself in for more nights when you get there. Hostels can be quite cheap if you book yourself into a dorm room, and I've heard it's a pretty good way to make friends too!

Tickets:

As with any kind of travel tickets, booking early will save you money! I'm driving to Dover, getting the ferry and then driving to Annecy. The ferry has only cost me £39 for me and my car because I booked over a month in advance. When I get to France I have to do a 2 days introductory course in Grenoble, so I used www.raileurope.co.uk to book my train tickets to Grenoble and back (which cost me roughly £30). As I'm working with the British Council I've been told the term dates for the schools, so I've also booked my train and plane ticket home for Christmas! I haven't decided which date I'm going back to France yet so that one can wait for a little while.

Currency:

I'd recommend looking at different currency exchange websites to shop around for the best rate. As with buying tickets, you should start looking early. As exchange rates are constantly changing, you can look to see whether the currency you need to buy is falling or rising, and hopefully buy your currency at a point where it'll cost you less! I've bought myself a Travelex PrePaid Currency Card, which is basically a MasterCard debit card loaded with euros that can be used anywhere the MasterCard logo is displayed, I've also got myself some cash in case I come across anywhere they don't accept it (I've been warned toll-roads in France can be a bit funny with Travelex cards sometimes!).

Car:

So, because I'm taking my car there's a lot of stuff to remember to get done. I've already bought breathalysers (legal requirement in France - I'd recommend looking through the AA's website for more country-specific info if you're planning on taking a car), hi-viz vests, a warning triangle, a medical kit, a fire-extinguisher, a head-lamp diverter set, a GB sticker, a sat-nav and a map of France. I still need to get a headlamp changer set, a frost cover and snow chains. I also still need to get a complete new set of tyres because mine are nearly bald... I'm also thinking about taking a few driving lessons in France just to make sure I'm aware of all the different rules and such; if you're driving to your year abroad location I'd suggest looking into it as well! It could save you from a nasty accident!

Documents:

First off, passport. Mine is valid until 2020 so I'm good for a while, but it is sometimes compulosry to have at least 6 months of validity after return to the UK. If you do need to apply for a passport, don't leave it til the last minute or it will cost you to have the process speeded up! Secondly, EHIC. It's easy to apply for one and it comes in the post. I haven't had one since they were called E111! Thirdly, travel insurance. I've gone with Endsleigh because they do a specific student-priced year abroad cover. I've gone for comprehensive cover with added winter sports cover (I'm going to be in the Alps so I hope I'll go skiing!), plus specified valuables cover which brought it to around £360. Although it is a lot, I'm trying to think about it as just £1 a day for peace of mind. As with anything like this, read the T&Cs even if they're lengthy and boring, there might be something important in there that you don't want to miss out! It's also a good idea to make a copy of all important documents and keep one copy for yourself, another for your parents, and email another set to your email account in case you need to print off new ones. This is especially important in France where it can be very difficult to get anything done without the correct paperwork.

Destination:

Do your research on your destination before you go. Find places in town you can visit; research points of interest within travelling distance from your location. If you do your research beforehand you can make the most of the arrival excitement and get to know the town.

Bank Account:

From what I am aware, in France it is impossible to open a bank account unless you do it in person. I remember when I opened mine last time I was in France we had a meeting with someone who took copies of all my documents and then I had to sign a few things before I could officially open an account. This is why I've gone for the Currency Card option because until I have an account, I will need to get cash out somehow. On the home-country side of things, find out whether your bank have any kind of limits on your account and what their fee is for use abroad. While it's best to take the local-currency with you, you never know when you might need to use your home-account in an emergency. You should also let your bank know that you're going abroad to stop them blocking it if they see some foreign transactions!

Mobile Phone:

Most people have a mobile these days, and most of the time the tariff we're on does not cover international use. This can make it expensive trying to text or call home. As soon as possible after arriving at your year abroad destination, I'd recommend visiting a phone shop and looking for a sim card for that country. If you really need to be able to text/call home on a phone (remember, there's always Skype/WhatsApp) then I'd suggest looking for a tariff that covers international calls; if not, just get one with enough Gb of data to handle an app like WhatsApp and enough texts/calling time to contact any friends you make in-country.

Vaccinations/Medication:

While most of Europe doesn't require you to have any particular vaccinations that are different from Great Britain, it's always best to check with a GP. Also, if you have any prescription medications it's best to have a copy of that prescription with you (in case you lose it, or if they require proof at customs).

Culture Shock:

Familiarise yourself with the culture of your year abroad destination. There is such a thing as culture shock, but you can lessen the impact if you educate yourself a bit before you go. The French can be especially strange about some things (like shops not opening on a Monday and closing for lunch breaks!).

Other:

Make sure you have some socket adaptors for the country your going to. UK plugs don't fit in French plugs but you can quite easily buy adaptors so you can still use all your gadgets!

If, like me, you're driving or will be stopping overnight somewhere and have to leave some of your stuff in a place other than your hotel room, then I suggest packing all the valuables into one suitcase. Take that suitcase with you and do not leave it alone. Anything that you can afford to be stolen (such as pots and pans, bedding) can be left (in my case) in the car with a black blanket covering everything., etc.

Plus the obvious things like clothes and toiletries, plus if you have them/have room for them, pots and pans, bedding and books.

Summer 2013

This summer I've been working for a foreign currency exchange company in their call centre for North America, so I deal mostly with Canadian (including French Canadian) and American customers, but also the odd person from France. I worked there last summer but before I was only doing FX calls (currency exchange calls) for banks and consumers, but this year I've been trained up to do Account Services (cancelling/modifying orders, dealing with problems etc.) and I also help to manage the French inbox which is a lot of work but so worth it! Although there isn't really any chance of "career development" being a Customer Service Representative (CSR) I really do enjoy the work and could see myself working there in the future. I enjoy talking to people (weird to think I hated talking on the phone a few years ago!) and helping to resolve their problems and occasionally getting good feedback from customers that really brightens your day! I've also made some good friends there again this year and hope some of them stick around if I get offered a job again next summer.

 

I also had my 21st birthday at the end of June, which was lovely but wasn't the big wild night out most people seem to have for their 21st. My dad bought me a car as a birthday present, and I've knicknamed her "fabulous", bit of a silly play on words with my name and the car being awesome. It's a Citroen C4 2.0 TDi and she goes like a beauty, just a pity diesel is so expensive.

I've also tried to spend as much time as possible with my boyfriend before I set off for France because once I head off in September I won't see him again until December.

 

I'm now doing a lot of organisation to get myself ready for setting off to France. My official leaving date is September 23rd, but I won't actually arrive in Annecy until September 24th because I'll be stopping the night in Reims to give myself a little rest. I'll do a check-list sort of post during the first week or two of September because there's so much to remember that I didn't even realise I needed to do!

August Update 2013

Expectations

In one of our Modern Foreign Languages seminar we looked at expectations: things we expect to happen during our year abroad. This got me thinking that it would probably make a nice blog post because I can talk about all the things I expect to happen in France and all the things I want to do while I’m there.

• I expect to be fluent by the time I come back to England after my year abroad. This isn’t going to just happen naturally, it will take a lot of effort on my part. I will need to be brave and talk to people and find ways in which I can practise my French a lot. I need to try not to make any friends who speak English.
• I expect to make friends in France. Again, this will require some effort on my part. I hope I’m going to be living in student halls, just to make things a bit easier on the making friends side of things, but…
• I would like to join certain clubs/groups, for example maybe a fitness class or find a bookclub or anything along those lines. Something where I can go out and regularly chat to people.
• I would like to find a small part-time job, maybe in a bar or a restaurant or something similar. I think this would help me make more friends and will help me practise my French. And it means I’ll be earning a little bit more money.
• I would like to take classes in French, Spanish and German. While I’m there I hope that whichever city I’m in has Red Cross French classes for free like Laval did when I lived there. I want to have the opportunity to go and consciously learn about the language to help me improve my accuracy rather than just building up fluency without that all important accuracy. I’d also like to take a course in German so that I can really boost myself back up to where I left off; when I do my PGCE I’m supposed to have 2 A-Levels in languages, and while I do have that I wouldn’t be confident teaching German after this long not using it. So for me, this would be a great way to prove to Cambridge that I’ve tried to push myself. I would also like to continue with Spanish because otherwise the last 2 years will have been a bit of a waste learning it.
• I expect to go travelling, not just in France, but all over Europe. I’d love to visit the Czech Republic, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and who knows where else. During the Easter holidays I think it’s unlikely that I’ll come back to England. My current train of thought it that it might be nice to find an intensive 2 week language learning course in Germany and enrol myself on that. Also, I’m still planning on doing the Southern and Northern Tours of France at the end, but I’ll have plenty of weekends where I hope I can visit the other aforementioned countries.

While I know not everything I expect or want to happen is definitely going to come true, I think with a little bit of will and determination I could make it happen. I want to really live life to the full during my year abroad and experience everything I possibly can.

Location: City

The exact location of the school I've been posted to is a little village called Pringy, which lies on the outskirts of Annecy at approximately 5km / 3miles from the town centre.

I would like to find somewhere to live in Annecy because it's close to the lake and close to the school, and by the looks of pictures I have seen online there's a lot more to do and see by living in Annecy. Having said that, I have been told that it's the second most expensive place to live in France (after Paris!) and by judging from my house search I'd definitely say that's true. It's been recommended that I live on the outskirts, but I would like to avoid that if I can.

The mountains that surround the town of Annecy are Le Mont Veyrier, Le Semnoz, La Tournette et Le Parmelan. The main sights include: le Palais de l'Isle, le Chateau d'Annecy, la Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, la Rue Sainte-Claire, la Rue Royale, la Musée de l'Histoire  d'Annecy, l'Eglise Saint-Maurice, les Jardins de l'Europe d'Annecy, le Pont des Amours, le Palais Impérial and la Basilique de la Visitation.

I'll hopefully have a little look around these places when I have time, and I'll make sure to blog about them.

Location: Département

Annecy is in the French département of Haute-Savoie. 

 

Haute-Savoie is the shaded area near Switzerland, and it's capital is Annecy. The area is quite mountainous but the town I'll be living in is just at the foot of the mountains. There are two lakes in Haute-Savoie: the first is Lake Annecy, the second is Lake Geneva (where Evian water comes from). Haute-Savoie used to be part of the Kingdon of Sardinia, but it was formerly joined to France in 1860. Between 35-40% of the country is covered in forest, while approximately 30% is used for agriculture. Both Standard French and Arpitan (French-Provencal) are spoken in the département. Geneva, Switzerland is approximately 40 minutes drive away; Grenoble, France is a little over 1 hour away; Lyon, France is about 1 hour 30 minutes away; Paris, France is just ovevr 5 hours drive away.

Location: Région

Annecy is located in Haute-Savoie, in the région of the Rhône-Alpes. 

The large shaded in red is the Rhône-Alpes. It is called the Rhône-Alpes because it includes the Rhône river and the Alps mountain range. The capital of the region is Lyon, which has the second highest population total after Paris. The area was first populated by the Gauls, who were the original settlers in France, and the are has hosted the Winter Olympics 3 times, once in 1924 at Chamonix, 1968 at Grenoble and 1992 and Albertville.

There are 8 départements in the Rhône-Alpes: Ain (01), Ardèche (07), Drôme (26), Isère (26), Loire (42), Rhône (69), Savoie (73) and Haute-Savoie (74). 

• The capital of Ain (01) is Bourg-en-Bresse.
• The capital of Ardèche (07) is Privas.
• The capital of Drôme (26) is Valence.
• The capital of Isère (38) is Grenoble.
• The capital of Loire (42) is Saint-Etienne.
• The capital of Rhône (69) is Lyon.
• The capital of Savoie (74) is Chambéry.
• The capital of Haute-Savoie (75) is Annecy.

The region borders both Italy and Switzerland. As you can see from the image above, the area has quite a wide range of relief, with the valleys formed by the rivers and the mountain ranges which include Mont Blanc. There are also many different types of landscapes in the region, including mountains, vineyards, lavender fields and olive groves, plus the deepest gorge in Europe, the Gorges de l'Ardèche.

Location

During my year abroad I will be working as a Teaching Assistant in Annecy. When applying for the British Council I had to chose 3 different académies to be placed in. I chose Besançon (middle marker), Grenoble (bottom marker) and Reims (top marker).

I chose these places because I've never been to eastern France before, except for a skiing holiday or two when I was younger, but I don't remember all that much about it. I think the culture will be different to the north-west, where I lived during my gap year, but also different to the south, where life is more Mediterranean. I assume things will be much more influenced by the nearby countries, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

A few months after submitting my application, I received an email telling me that I'd been accepted by the French authorities and that I'd been allocated to the académie of Grenoble. This means I could be in one of 5 département (kind of like counties in England). The departments are Ardèche, Drome, Isère, Savoie and Haute-Savoie. Annecy is in the region of Haute-Savoie, quite close to the border with Switzerland, in the French Alps.