Going here and there

The smells of Lille
Sometimes I’m walking in the street and I smell a familiar perfume, that of a friend or my Mum (yes, you Mum :) ) which is nice because it reminds me of certain people, but not so nice because it’s a stranger wearing the perfume and not the person I associate with the smell.
Sometimes I walk in the streets and I smell a really horrible sewer-y smell, but not like the sewer-y smells of England!!
Other times I’m greeted by the smell of freshly baked bread and pastries – yum! And highly tempting.
When I walk in to my flat I can often smell food, as if I have just cooked some dinner or other (the smell varies) even though I haven’t. This smell is all the stronger in my bathroom. This is very odd, and I have concluded that culinary scents from below must somehow drift into my flat, my guess being through a vent in the bathroom. I stand to be corrected on this if you know better?!

French lessons
I have enrolled in some French lessons until Christmas at one of the University campuses here and I hope they are going to be really useful. I had my first one last Wednesday and it went well.

Assistants' training
We had some training last Thursday, specifically geared at those of us working in secondary schools and it was surprisingly fun, as we took on the role of pupils, being taught songs and doing ‘exercises with froggie’! We also had to prepare activities in groups to present to the others and take part in the ones that others presented, thinking about the good and bad things and which methods are really useful for the children.

GBU weekend away
It took a bit of persuasion from my sister, but I plucked up the courage to go on a weekend away with the GBU (Christian Union) this weekend. It was a weekend for all the Christian Unions in the North of France, and I was one of three people who went from Lille’s GBU. We (me and two guys – Nathan and Thomas) travelled by car to Compiegne, an hour and a half away. There were about 25 of us at most points in the weekend (some who lived locally popped in and out). I had a great time there. I’ll say more in my next blog as I don’t have much time right now!

Besancon
I’ve not been here that long but it’s the school holidays already :) And I’m lucky because the October half term here is one and a half weeks! I’m off to see my great friend Emilie and her family in Besancon (East France) for 4-5 days and I can’t wait!

Fiona x