Arrival in France

How to describe my first few days in France...? So many challenges, emotions, new experiences all packed into just a few days.

I flew from London to Marseilles on Sunday afternoon after a lovely breakfast at the Bluebird in Chelsea. The flight was uneventful and I passed through customs and sought out the bus and bought a ticket with no problems.

The plane was about an hour late so I arrived in Aix at about 7pm. Of course it is still full sunlight at 7pm over here, and pretty warm. I caught a taxi to my cottage (40 E - gulp!) and was met by my lovely hostess. The cottage is just as picturesque as I had hoped and I have spent each evening so far sitting out on my little terrace looking at the view over the polo field (including my neighbour Netty the horse) and doing my homework - yes I really am back at school!
It is a ten to fifteen minute walk down le petite “Avenue Brigit” (yes, I named it myself) through the woods and past some fields (champs) to the main road where I catch the bus into Aix. The bus takes about 25 minutes and drops me in the south of the Centre Ville. It is then just a ten minute walk (promenade) to l’ecole (school).

At school the students and teachers all speak French (some better than others!) [A l’ecole, tout les etudients et les professeurs parlons en Francais]. (my spelling is not that flash...) It is actually amazing how well we get on chatting away in broken french. We all help each other and I am having a lot of fun in class, at lunch and during our excursions. Yes, I have even made some new friends. (I’m playing nicely with the other kids) ;)

I’m even starting to think in French, as I sit here and consider what to write, half of it comes to mind in French... tres bizarre!