After a very long absence from writing life in England is significantly less interesting than life in France , it dawned on me the other day that I have less than two weeks until I return to Warwick for my final year of university.
I know this is not going to be the most popular of opinions, of course. Student life is great! Everyone knows that. My parents arrived on the Thursday, driving the five ish hours from London with an empty car ready to fill with all the stuff I accumulated over the course of seven months. And champagne of course. This time I could show them round my lovely little city, take them to all the great restaurants, bars and shops, and just relax with them in general. I felt very lucky to be able to say that I know Reims as well as I know my home town of Wimbledon.
My parents agreed that Reims is a lovely city and I was so happy they were able to enjoy it with me. A long weekend with my parents was filled with shopping, eating, coffee and many, many bottles of champagne. Obligatory visits to the caves of course too, managing to go to Pommery and Taittinger over the course of the weekend. Having then visited three different caves during my year abroad we went to De Castellane in Epernay on Armistice Day it was fascinating to see how varied the caves are and to discover how much work goes into each bottle, but also how they create their distinctive flavours.
I felt very spoilt. Now just to find an occasion to drink them! France, what have you done to me?! After a long drive back to London on Bank Holiday Monday, it was back to the home comforts of London. It was great to relax in the land of English speakers again, and have an opportunity to see my grandparents and a few friends from school who were in London too. I feel so at home in London, and it reaffirmed the fact that although in the future I would love a job in which I could fully use my French, my heart will always be in the UK.
Today was my last day of school. I have officially made it through my year abroad in France! I was based at Libergier for eight hours a week and at Charpak for four hours on a Friday morning. My one day off a week was Wednesday. And actually it was really great. My students were, for the most part, really lovely and intelligent kids.
