TAPIF
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Do I Stay or Do I Go?
When I first returned, it was so nice to be surrounded by my amazing friends and family. I wanted to enjoy their company as much as possible during the summer, knowing that I would be leaving again. However, after a few weeks I started getting what I can only describe as a gut feeling that I did not want to leave. I surprised myself in even considering staying! Then the more I reflected on the options, the more it made sense to me. When I first returned, it was so nice to be surrounded by my amazing friends and family. I wanted to enjoy their company as much as possible during…
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TAPIF Takeaways
As I finished my last week of work, I felt it was an appropriate time to reflect on the past seven months working here. Despite the difficulty getting settled in the beginning (thank you, French administration), I have had a pretty amazing year! I feel so lucky to have met so many amazing people! Although I am very happy to see my family soon, I’m really sad to be leaving this community. Lille has certainly become my home away from home. I feel like I hit the jackpot with my school assignment. I really can’t envision a better group of colleagues to have welcomed me. When I saw I was…
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TAPIF – Pros and Cons
When I accepted a position with TAPIF, I knew that there would be some drawbacks. I read some blogs from past assistants to get a better idea of what it would be like. So far, this has been an amazing experience and I am so glad to be here. That being said, there’s a lot I wish I had known or better understood beforehand. Here’s my personal Pro/Con list of the program from my experience thus far. TAPIF Benefits Opportunity to Live in France It is really difficult for Americans to acquire a Visa in France. This job provides the opportunity to live in France for 7 months and get paid!…
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Life as a TAPIF Language Assistant
Let me describe a typical day in the life of a Language Assistant in the TAPIF program. This is part of an excerpt from my journal: Today is Wednesday. As of Sunday at 8:30pm, I had ZERO classes scheduled for the week! I had to reach out to my prof référent to be like “uhhh… what should I do?” He emailed everyone reminding them to fill in my schedule, but made sure I knew not to worry about coming in Monday because it was already late. Anywho, I’m scheduled for an 8am Tuesday. My coworker drives me to work that day as she lives near me. We barely arrive on…
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Life in France – November Update
Well hello there! I took an unintentional 3 week break from my blog. Aside from all the political mess, I also accidentally broke my laptop and have had limited access to computers! In my apartment, the WiFi is stronger closer to the window. Two weekends ago I set up my computer on the floor by the window to lesson plan, because sometimes if I am sitting on my bed the internet will cut out randomly. I was cooking a late lunch, so I figured I could work while boiling the water. Another instance of me failing at adulthood… I forgot that I had water in the pot already and…
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Beginning Work at my School in Wattrelos
I am currently about three weeks into working at my school in Wattrelos, France. I can almost say Wattrelos with confidence now (seriously so difficult haha)! After moving into my apartment and getting settled, I scheduled a visit to the school with my Prof référent. This way, I got to meet my contact in person finally, see the school grounds, meet the other professors I’d be working with, and see what the commute would be like. Getting to my school from Lille was completely new to me. All I knew was that there was a bus somewhere in Roubaix… When I got off the metro to find the bus, I asked the…
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Finding a Residence in Lille
I wrote in my last post how my friend very graciously allowed me to stay with him in his Paris apartment for ten (yes ten!) whole days before I moved to a residence in Lille. Honestly, I’m shocked he is still speaking to me! I’m not sure if I could even live with myself after sharing a bedroom like that! Anyways, I gave myself a 24-hour period upon arrival to not stress out about the fact that I still didn’t know where I was going to live. Immediately following that 24-hour period, I entered near-meltdown-mode! Shakka patiently helped me draft a 2-3 sentence message that I could send to potential leasors.…
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Paris is always a good idea.
“That Paris exists and anyone could choose to live anywhere else in the world will always be a mystery to me.” I may not have given myself very much spare time off of work in the US, to prepare for my big move (spoiler alert: I packed the day before my flight) BUT I made sure that I flew into France early enough to give myself some time in my favorite city before moving to Lille. I still had no idea where I was going to live in Lille when I arrived in France. However, arriving early really played to my benefit! During my time studying abroad in Paris between 2012-2013,…
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Long-Stay Visa
I’m in the process of getting my second Long-Stay Visa for France… this time for work rather than study. 😛 I feel so official!! I wanted to write a little bit about how much of a mess I am. For some reason, since the moment I received the email that I was accepted into the TAPIF program, I have had a hard time fully comprehending that this is REALLY happening. First, I received a long informative email from the coordinator of the program. I saw the email, got excited about it, and then proceeded to forget to actually read it. After nearly a month, I realized that in big bold letters…
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I’m headed to Wattrelos!
This week I received my school assignment!! I will be an Assistante de Langue for Cité scolaire Emile Zola in Wattrelos, France! The school is located much closer to the city of Lille than I was expecting, as the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region is relatively large. I’m so stoked! An English teacher from my school emailed me providing some basic information. It sounds like the English team is very enthusiastic, which will be great to be a part of! Cité scolaire Émile Zola is both a junior school and a high school, which also has a vocational teaching section. I suppose this means I only have to commute to one location! Yay me! This is…
