An Apt-itude for Adventure

Confessions: this was almost my blog title. It has such a nice ring to it.

Anyway, this post is all about me receiving mon affectation, or my placement in France. After accepting my post, I had to begin the waiting game again. I was told that I would learn exactly what town I would be teaching in by the end of May, another month and a half away. More anxious eating and wine drinking ensued.

My April-May motto

I was really happy to get the Aix-Marseille region as it is the region I am most comfortable with in France - I guess you could call it my French home. I studied in Aix-en-Provence during the summer of 2011 and that experience inspired me to apply for this program. I knew it was HIGHLY unlikely that I would be placed to teach in Aix, but I can't help but admit I was secretly hoping that it would happen. A girl can dream right?

Cours Mirabeau, the main street in Aix.

La Rotonde in Aix. Yeah, you can see why I wanted to go back.

In the month before hearing, I researched the whole region and noticed that there many other towns that interested me as well. I felt this was good, broadening my horizons a bit so I wasn't let down (but I mean who would really be let down, I get to live in France either way!).

Sitting at work doing planning for classes near the end of May, I received the e-mail. I opened it and was half-surprised to see it was entirely in French. Until now, all communication has been in English (besides the application) but I knew that it had to change over at some point. That being said I didn't read through the whole thing at first, merely just skimmed and saw the e-mail was from Aix-en-Provence! Could it be?? I would be going back to my French home?

Clearly, I was wrong, As I kept reading, I finally found the part that read the name of the school I
would be at: Lycee Charles de Gaulle. Next line, VILLE: APT. What? Was this an abbreviation? I mean the rest of the form was in abbreviations too. The fact that it was in all caps didn't help either. Mostly, it was the fact that I had never heard of this town before and doubted it's existence, as I had been researching my region for the past month and never came across it. Sure enough, I googled it and it came up. It was official: I was going to be teaching in a village called Apt. 

It took me awhile to get used to the idea of living in a small village (11,000 people) like Apt, but I have warmed up to the idea of it. Originally, I was planning on living in nearby Avignon (about an hour’s bus ride away) and commuting to work on the days I would need to. After speaking to last year's assistant, she has convinced me to at least start by living in Apt and if I decide I don't like it, I can always find a place to stay in Avignon. Plus, the school I work with provides a studio on the grounds for a reduced price for rent: 108€ vs. 350€ (on the low end). And all utilities are provided! However, there is not much in the town and there is only probably one other assistant in the town with me.* I already have heard from my cooperating teacher and she seems to be very sweet as well. She says she tries to have assistants work Monday afternoons-Thursday afternoons, which means longs weekends for travel! Looks like I will be visiting Avignon and even Aix (which is only 2 hours away!!!!) on the weekends a lot! Oh and I'm about 2.5 hours from the coast, Mediterranean here I come!

Now, I am going to show you the beautiful town that I am going to be living in with copious amounts of pictures from Google images and Pinterest.

Map of nearby towns and the area I'm going to live in. (Apt is the dot in the circle) Notice that there isn't a lot by me.

Aerial view of Apt. It is an old roman town which you can tell by the architecture, love it!

One of the squares in town.

Yeah, I'll be walking through this every day. No big deal.

View of shopping alley during Christmas.

Apt is known for having one of the best Saturday markets in the region. You can get anything from fresh produce to antiques to soaps and bath products.

Really, I can't be more happy with where I've been placed. I know I sounded disappointed earlier in this post, and that's because.... well I was. I am writing this blog to give you my experience in real time, with emotions as intact as they can be - it's not always going to bright and cheery. However, now I have realized how blessed I am to have the opportunity to live in a small town: my command of the language will improve immensely, I will save a huge amount of money (which means more travel!), and I will get to experience regional activities that only occur in small towns, all with bigger towns like Avignon just a short bus ride away. I have so much to look forward to, I can't wait for my Apt adventure to begin!

*The reason I say probably is that I still have not found this other person after much searching on Facebook, e-mails, etc. I don't even have a name, but the assistant last year says there is typically one other English assistant and a German or Italian one as well.