It's official!!

After weeks of anticipation, I finally received my arrêté de nomination from the ministère de l'éducation nationale of France, in the academy of Nice.

That's just a really fancy, French way of saying a big package from Nice was looking at me when I opened my mailbox one hour ago.

I was slightly nervous, because one girl told me that she was placed in a very small, rural (and uncommonly ugly) village by Lyon when she was an assistant anglaise.

But I was not placed in a small city! I will be living in:

ANTIBES!!!

From the Greek antipolis, meaning the opposite city (of Nice) on the other side of La Baie des Anges. So to the East is Nice and to the West - Cannes! Which means when the Festival des Films comes to Cannes in May, I'll be living right by all the action! Oh and Saint-Tropez is not far off either. Surprisingly enough, Antibes is home to some of the only man-made beaches in the South of France. Since the waves in the Mediterranean are very mild, no beach has sand. Instead, their beaches contain large stones and pebbles. Such is not the case on the sandy beaches of Antibes.

In numerical values, Cannes is only 9 miles from Antibes, Nice is 17 miles, Monte-Carlo in the principality of Monaco is 29 miles away, and Saint-Tropez is a little under 60 miles from my city of Antibes!

Antibes was once the home of F. Scott Fitzgerald. As an expatriot (like I'll soon be) in the South of France, he wrote many a novel from his apartment overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Coincidentally, Picasso once lived in the city, and the wall I'm standing by is right outside of the Musée de Picasso.

It's going to be a good year :) Oh yeah, Antibes's sister city? Newport Beach, California. Go figure!

More Antibes for your viewing pleasure (all taken by me):