Me back in Nice again! And it's been renovated since two years ago.As much fun as it's been in Nice, I'm glad to be back in Antibes.
For the past two days I've been waking up before 6 a.m. and hopping one of the first TER trains into Nice. Like I said last time, the exciting part is being able to see the sun rise over the deep blue ocean. Absolutely gorgeous.
And while the orientations have been extremely helpful, they're also painstakingly long. We had three-hour morning séances, a one-hour lunch break, and then three more hours of the grind. At the end of the day, if this makes any sense, we were all too tired to go home knowing that we'd eat and promptly fall asleep at 7 p.m. Plus, it's quite hard to be in Nice and not exploit the heck out of the cafés and shopping districts.
Since the trains leave earlier than the first busses of the day, I've been walking to the stations, walking from the station in Nice to the IUFM building in the hills of Cimiez where we had our meetings, walking back down the hills to Vieux Nice, walking back to the train station, and then from the station in Antibes, walking back up more hills to my apartment. I've made some necessary purchases (i.e., a sponge for the shower and nail clippers!) in addition to some really exciting ones -- lychee and green apple sorbet in Old Nice. Pretty much what I lived off the entire 2005 summer that I spent in Nice.
Oh yeah, I've yet to figure this out, but each morning as I headed towards the train station at around 7 a.m., the local pub is JAM-PACKED with people! At first I figured maybe in the morning it doubles as a café, but this morning they were definitely tapping a keg. What the F?? I think I might go one morning just to say I have.
But back to the meetings in Nice -- we've been learning all kinds of websites, games, and strategies to use in the classrooms and I'm quite excited because I've semi-prepared a bunch of lessons already. The only problem is that during four three-hour sessions, most of what our presenters had to say was a ridiculous amount of overlap. C'est la vie, I suppose. But this was the first time I understood 100 percent of what was being said in French! And it was 16-hours' worth!! If only I can replicate that in my own speaking skills...
It's a little strange though because I am finally understanding just how good I have it at every stage of my life. In high school, the 8 to 3 daily schedule was absolutely tiring and after-school sports practices and homework drained all of my remaining energy. Then in college I learned the beauty of scheduling classes (only two or three hours a day!) around my sleeping/eating/working preferences. However, finals week was always hell. And now that I've experienced two different aspects of the working world, journalism and education, it's so insanely nice to go home at the end of the day and not have anything to worry about like homework and studying. Yes, some preparation is necessary, but it's totally convenient and very low-stress.
Sitting in classes all day really drained all my energy. Thank God those days are behind me :-)
However, I am very heavily entertaining the idea of going back for a Master's or even a Ph.D. when I return state-side. So far, I'm really enjoying education and I might want to do it at the research/university level.
Surprise Mom and Dad!
For the past two days I've been waking up before 6 a.m. and hopping one of the first TER trains into Nice. Like I said last time, the exciting part is being able to see the sun rise over the deep blue ocean. Absolutely gorgeous.
And while the orientations have been extremely helpful, they're also painstakingly long. We had three-hour morning séances, a one-hour lunch break, and then three more hours of the grind. At the end of the day, if this makes any sense, we were all too tired to go home knowing that we'd eat and promptly fall asleep at 7 p.m. Plus, it's quite hard to be in Nice and not exploit the heck out of the cafés and shopping districts.
Since the trains leave earlier than the first busses of the day, I've been walking to the stations, walking from the station in Nice to the IUFM building in the hills of Cimiez where we had our meetings, walking back down the hills to Vieux Nice, walking back to the train station, and then from the station in Antibes, walking back up more hills to my apartment. I've made some necessary purchases (i.e., a sponge for the shower and nail clippers!) in addition to some really exciting ones -- lychee and green apple sorbet in Old Nice. Pretty much what I lived off the entire 2005 summer that I spent in Nice.
Oh yeah, I've yet to figure this out, but each morning as I headed towards the train station at around 7 a.m., the local pub is JAM-PACKED with people! At first I figured maybe in the morning it doubles as a café, but this morning they were definitely tapping a keg. What the F?? I think I might go one morning just to say I have.
But back to the meetings in Nice -- we've been learning all kinds of websites, games, and strategies to use in the classrooms and I'm quite excited because I've semi-prepared a bunch of lessons already. The only problem is that during four three-hour sessions, most of what our presenters had to say was a ridiculous amount of overlap. C'est la vie, I suppose. But this was the first time I understood 100 percent of what was being said in French! And it was 16-hours' worth!! If only I can replicate that in my own speaking skills...
It's a little strange though because I am finally understanding just how good I have it at every stage of my life. In high school, the 8 to 3 daily schedule was absolutely tiring and after-school sports practices and homework drained all of my remaining energy. Then in college I learned the beauty of scheduling classes (only two or three hours a day!) around my sleeping/eating/working preferences. However, finals week was always hell. And now that I've experienced two different aspects of the working world, journalism and education, it's so insanely nice to go home at the end of the day and not have anything to worry about like homework and studying. Yes, some preparation is necessary, but it's totally convenient and very low-stress.
Sitting in classes all day really drained all my energy. Thank God those days are behind me :-)
However, I am very heavily entertaining the idea of going back for a Master's or even a Ph.D. when I return state-side. So far, I'm really enjoying education and I might want to do it at the research/university level.
Surprise Mom and Dad!
1 comment:
Dahling, I know you're not in Paris... I've been reading your blog for goodness sake! Just letting you know how jealous I am that you are ANYWHERE but Stockton, CA!!!!
Miss you girl :)
Post a Comment