Post Annecy - in Nancy

Bonjour tout le monde!

So now I am in the city of Nancy visiting my friend Chloe from UWA who is in France doing her exchange at Sciences Po and havin' a u-beaut time :D There was something so liberating when I was organising my itinerary for France to be able to go "yup I'm going to Annecy for two weeks and then Nancy for three nights and then I'll go Lille" :)

I guess I should start with finishing up some thoughts on Annecy. I was incredibly lucky I went to Annecy at the time that I did because I managed to catch the tail end of summer in the beautiful Haute-Savoie region of the south-eastern Rhône-Alpes of France. For a week and a half I was enjoying hot hot weather - 30 degrees everyday! Wewp :D Then, In the middle of the 2nd week - I got caught in a freak hailstorm at 6 in the evening walking home from school... it was scary stuff! A bit exciting too. A few huge trees got struck by lightning and felled too... It was insane how the weather had changed so much in an instant! After that short but violent storm passed - the weather gods decided to introduce Autumn - around the time I was preparing to leave.

In an earlier post - I blogged about how good my classes were. I guess I need to make a slight revision to that statement. Overall it was good - but I felt that in the new group I was placed in I didn't get to do enough grammar - and one of the teachers I had was somewhat harebrained - which made following her lesson difficult. Poo. I think overall the classes did help me - but perhaps my advice is if you want to do classes at IFALPES - speak to the school about your goals from the classes. E.g., if you want to do more conversation - the upper level groups are better but if you're more interested in revising grammar points - perhaps ask to remain in a lower level class - even if they think you're better than it.

My other point about IFALPES is that the quality of the building isn't too great... simply because the walls were very, very thin and if the class next door was being noisy - it could seriously cut into your concentration. Also it would've been nice if the premises had air-con...

But overall - Annecy was amazing - my host family were SO genuinely kind. My decision to come to France is just... wow. Such a good decision.

Now I'm chillin' out in Chloe's apartment in Nancy. Nancy is a slightly bigger, commercial city than Annecy but the atmosphere is very... understated. In a nice way. It's quieter, more laid-back than Annecy - purely because Annecy in summer is very toursity and bustling - with people packing the streets near the canals having lunch etc. Nancy seems a bit slower in comparison - which isn't a bad thing. Oh and of course - it has gorgeous architecture :)

I can't wait to get to Lille though. Not because I'm not enjoying my lil trips in Annecy and Nancy - but because I can't wait to have my own space so I can just EMPTY MY SUITCASE AND NOT HAVE TO LUG THE STUPID THING AROUND AGAIN FOR ANOTHER 6 MONTHS!!! I seriously... I was so lucky lots of people helped me with my suitcase on the train and out about on stairs... I literally couldn't lift 27kg worth of luggage on my own.

A bientôt :)

Jessica