First Visit to Rouen

Today I travelled in to Rouen to explore the city with my two new friends, Sarah and Mark. They are also working through the same program as I am, but they're from England so it was fun to experience I new culture here!

When I walk to the train station in Barentin I have to climb up the hill on a steep little path that comes out below the station.  Although it's quite a hike (that I don't look forward to in the snow) I do get this lovely view. There's a pretty view of the viaduct that the train crosses to go to Rouen. 

Below, is a picture of some pretty typical buildings in Rouen.  

This is the view inside the cathedral of Rouen.  I would post a picture of the outside, but unfortunately it was rather ugly since it was covered with scaffolding and there was some sort of a carnival going on at the time. There was actually really loud music playing outside while we were looking at the church.  It was rather incongruous to be inside whispering in a church with the ruckus outside filtering in. In any case, the church inside was beautiful. 

This was just a random etching in the stone on the side of the cathedral that we noticed while walking by. It's of Joan of Arc.  Since Rouen is the city in which she was burned at the stake, everything is named after her and there are pictures of her everywhere. 

The cathedral was designed so that there were little rooms all along the length of the church with beautiful stained glass windows.  Each little nook had also a theme for different historical events or saints with pretty paintings like the one below of Saint Bernadette. 

Just to show you some of the period architecture, this is another church that was near the cathedral. Many of the buildings, churches etc. in Rouen look very much alike since they are Gothic. Oh, and on a side note, Monet made some pretty cool paintings of the Rouen Cathedral that you might like to see! 

As long as we're on the topic of churches and such things, this is the cross that marks the spot where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.  There is a church next to it that commemorates her, but it was far to ugly and modern to bother taking a picture! You can look it up online if you're curious. 

This is a statue of Napoleon outside of the city hall. 

And this is a cool clock on one of the arches over a street in Rouen.  Not sure what it's meant to commemorate, but it's awfully pretty!

I'm not much one to take pictures in museums, but I thought that this was the coolest thing I'd ever seen!  Domenico Piola made this anamorphose after "Erection of the Cross" by Rubens.  An anamorphose is a work of art that is deformed and only able to be viewed through a special mirror. (The tube in the middle) Pretty nifty, right? 

And of course we had to stop and take a picture of the champagne that is under 2 euros!

And then since it was raining we stopped for tea. And that was my day! 

A few pictures from my neighborhood

So here is the street outside my door. 

This is a cute little stream that crosses through the neighborhood right below the high school. Sometimes there are ducks there. 

This is the corner near my place. Not much to see here, but there are a ton of corners with flowers like this all over Barentin.  I should should post a picture of the City Hall because it's covered in flowers!  Cities in France having ratings for how "flowery" they are.  Barentin has two flowers. (Kind of like two stars.) 

Speaking of flowers, these are the pretty roses that are in front of the Lycée Thomas Corneille. (Where I work and live.) There aren't many left since summer's mostly over, but they're nice to see all the same.

I'm not quite sure what this is about, but I took a picture of it anyway to show that there are statues everywhere here! It seems that almost any corner you turn there is another statue. We've got one in front of the high school and this one is across the street a little ways down.  Oh, and we've got a statue of liberty in the commercial district of Barentin! 

These two pictures are of the middle school where I'll be working as well. It's just down the street from the high school so I really don't have a commute at all! I'm such a lucky girl. :) 

Good Morning World Outside My Window!

And yes, just ignore that this was posted at noon...still trying to get over that thing called jet-lag.

First days in France!

I finally have my internet functioning properly! The man who was going to set it up was supposed to be in tomorrow, but he showed up while I was down in the teacher's lounge and he set it up immediately. Yay for connection to the outside world. :)

Yesterday morning I got here at 6am and then had to make my way from the airport to Rouen where my directing teacher picked me up.  As I was running on less than one night's sleep for two days, this could have turned into an ordeal, but I met three other language assistants who came in on my plane and we made our way to the Gare du Nord together.  We then parted ways and I continued on by myself in a cab to the Gare Saint-Lazare where I caught a train to Rouen.

Once in Rouen, my directing teacher, Mme. Nicole Laume, picked me up and drove me to Barentin where she helped me drop off my bags and run several small errands.  It was really nice of her to take me around and she would probably have helped me do more things, but I was almost at the point of falling asleep standing up, so she brought me back to my room.

Here are some pictures of my room.

It's got green and white walls, green doors and a bed with green bedding. It's a cute theme.  The windows open nicely so that I can look out on the back view while I sit at my desk using my computer. It has a nice big closet and dresser that fit my things very nicely.

This is the other half of my room where there's another little closet-type thing and a sink.  I've never seen a room with a sink in it, but it really is quite useful! If you forget to brush your teeth when you go to bed you don't have to walk all the way to the bathroom! Anyway, it's not fancy, but it's definitely comfortable and will be even better when the Spanish language assistant shows up to share it with me! 

Today I slept until noon because I was still trying to get rid of my jet-lag.  I think since I slept so much yesterday and today, I should be mostly done with it. And I don't really have any way to make coffee, so I'm doing it up all natural! 

I spent my afternoon trying to get my internet to work and then once I had finished that I walked to the Carrefour which is about 1 km away in Pavilly, the next town over. I was able to buy some groceries for dinner. 

This is my kitchen, which has a cute little window/door that leads out onto a tiny balcony that is on the roof.  For some reason there is a fence that keeps your from walking to the edge of the roof. I guess they don't want me to fall off or something...

This is the view from the balcony.  The white building with the blue roof is the primary school next door.  When I have my window open in my room I hear the children whenever the come out to play.

And this is the little balcony cat who comes in to visit me every time I'm going to eat!  I need to find a name for her, but I think I may just settle on Miso since she looks exactly like Max's cat at home. I'll just pretend that Miso snuck into my bags and enjoys spending time in my kitchen.

She's cute and very friendly! I hope she sticks around. I know you'll like to hear about Miso, Beverly!

Here's my tiny kitchen where I cooked my dinner!

First dinner in Barentin! Not bad, right? I liked it anyway and that's all that matters. :) I'll learn to eat like the French people soon! 

Anyway, I hope that I harassed you with enough pictures for today....

Cheers! 

Visa!

My visa is finally here! Thanks to my lovely and obliging friend, Sarah, I finally have all my paperwork together! All I have left to do is pack and get on the plane. :)

Barentin

Here are a few pictures of Barentin and the surrounding area in France!

Viaduc de Barentin sur la ligne Paris - Le Havre

 

 

Eglise Saint Martin de Barentin

Eglise Saint Martin de Barentin

 

 

Replica of the Statue of Liberty!

Rouen Cathedral

Keep of the Rouen Castle

Leaving for NYC to get my visa!

I'm leaving for NYC tomorrow morning so that I can apply for my French Visa on Monday morning.

I think I have everything I need in that envelope...

Wish me luck!

_______________

Just as a note to other people in the future who may be applying to be Language Assistants in France, make your visa appointment for the end of August instead of the end of July/beginning of August. It will save you a lot of trouble and worry. It worked out for me that I got my work contract just in the nick of time, but I would have had a less stressful few weeks here if I had known when to plan my visa appointment!