My first weekend in France has been a weekend of 2
major discoveries! Firstly, there exists another English person in Melle, and
secondly, I am incredibly unfit.
Prior to Saturday I’d come to the depressing conclusion
that I was the only foreigner in this oh so French town. Add to this the fact
that my French ‘housemates’ are the most boring and unsociable people that I’ve
come across, and I was feeling pretty lonely on Saturday. A sudden brain wave
reminded me of list I’d been sent a couple of months ago of all the assistants
in France ,
and their whereabouts. A quick look down the list told me that there is indeed
another assistant placed in Melle. One email later, and I now know another
Englishman in Melle. Phew.
My second discovery came about through a 9.15 Sunday morning
cycle ride. My supervisor had texted me the night before asking me if I wanted
to go with her, so I thought why not, should be a nice fun way to see some of
the Mellois countryside. What I didn’t
realise was her husband was coming along as well, and the two of them go
cycling every Sunday morning through hilly terrain, meaning their bodies were slightly more in form than mine. 3 hours
later and I couldn’t feel anything waist-down. Ironically, the majority of the
route we took was along the Chemin de la Découverte (for any non-French speakers, that literally means ‘Road of discovery’)! Needless to say I won’t be taking up her invitation for a
repeat next Sunday if I should get one…
The one and only plus side to the morning was that I got to
see another nearby town called Celles-sur-Belle. And in the morning sunshine
with its ‘Royal abbey’, it was rather glorious! I also got to watch a bit of
honey extracting by a local bee-keeper, which was nice and culturally
enriching.
 |
| L'abbaye Royale in Celles-sur-Belle |
Followed by an afternoon and evening of skyping family and
friends and the boyfriend back home because my poor overworked legs wouldn’t take me very far, it
ended up all in all not a bad first weekend in my new country of residence!
No comments:
Post a Comment