france – Alyssa in France

From Beijing, to Orléans, with Love

Yeah. I moved out of Beijing, China in mid-July. I’m heading to Orléans (or as i have been calling it, old Orleans) in September. And I have so many feelings about it. Let’s use our questions words to talk about it:

Why am I moving? I was accepted into TAPIF, which is a program run by the French gov for placing English assistants in France. I’ve applied to this many times, been accepted and rejected before. This time both my boyfriend and I were accepted to the program and placed in a city together. I am definitely sad to leave China, I really loved all my time there. I spent 18 months teaching kindergarten to insanely cute children. Who wouldn’t miss that? Sometimes it just time to move on. I’m 25 and I really can’t keep eating all those noodles (or can I? Let me know…).

How am I going to France? I’m in the TAPIF program. You are placed as an English assistant in a classroom. The application opens in October, you write a french essay, have a language teacher write a rec, another teacher, submit transcripts, etc. I believe you have to have at least 3 years of higher education, a b2 level of french (sure..), some experience teaching, and I don’t think there is an age limit. The youngest I’ve seen applying is 21 years and the oldest I’ve seen is 30. I’ll probably do a TAPIF series because I have enjoyed reading about others experiences and found them helpful. If you want more info right now, just good TAPIF.

When am I moving? The end of September! I start working in October, but I arrive a week early so I can get my phone and bank and stuff set up.

What am I doing there? Teaching English! Mainly assisting middle schoolers in English. It’ll definitely be different for me because I’m used to being fully in charge of one classroom. Now I’ll be assisting in many classroom. Also, my students will be older, around 11-15 years old I believe. I will also be traveling, drinking wine, biking, re-learning French. Orléans is in the Loire valley so there are lots of vineyards but also lots of bike trails.

Paris, right after they won the World Cup in 2018 !

Who am I going with? My boyfriend, Johnny. He is better at french than me so he pretty much had to go, but he also wanted to go. TAPIF will place you and a sigfig together if you BOTH get accepted.

I’m going to miss China, and all the insane friends I made there. I feel very thankful for my time there and what I learned. Mainly, that I love iced americanos. Here’s some silly pictures because now I’m SAD!

Migas!
Qiqi, my girl!
Mia, Amy, Johnny and I out to duck.
crying as 30 children surround me for the last time.
the desert, Rob and Elise.

What I planned to do in Paris but didn’t

So last October, my boyfriend and I celebrated our four year anniversary. To celebrate we were going to go to Paris in January for a five day vacation. We had been before so this was a chance to go and see not just the typical touristy things. I found airbnbs, I had friends in the city, I looked up things to do! He even found flights ROUND TRIP FROM CINCINNATI TO PARIS FOR LIKE THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS.

But we didn’t go. Instead we (obviously) moved to China. Which is great and fun in it’s own right, but I have so much stuff just written down on my laptop for Paris! So here we go, my list of places in Paris I looked up, but didn’t get to see.

And this is great because now you guys can sound off in the comments on what you love to do in Paris and I can come back to this list when I finally go!

Paris foods

soul kitchen: English speaking cafe for when you need wifi and to feel confident with your words.

Address: 33 Rue Lamarck, 75018 Paris, France

hardware societe: Amazing brunch restaurant. Like many wonderful places, it has a nice Australian spin on it.

Address: 10 Rue Lamarck, 75018 Paris, France

Le treize: Great for beer, or so I have heard. I walked by this once when it was closed and saw a lot of plants.

Address: 13 Rue Dussoubs, 75002 Paris, France

boneshaker: This place has doughnuts!

Address: 77 Rue d’Aboukir, 75002 Paris, France

cerwood terrasse: I’ve been told its a good place for a snack or a coffee. When it’s time to rest your feet, head here for people watching. OR just sit at any cafe, get a noisette and pull out a note book.

Address: 8 Rue Jean-Baptiste Dumay, 75020 Paris, France

the hood paris: A place to chill, feel like you can spend a long time here. I also heard they may have open mic nights?

Address: 80 Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, 75011 Paris, France

le 2 au coin: Is this a florist or a cafe? If a place makes me ask that question, I want to stay there foreverrrr. Also vegetarian friendly.

Address: 7 rue Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle, 75002 Paris, France

lockwood cafe:

Address: 73 Rue d’Aboukir, 75002 Paris, France

The thing about making ‘guides’ for Paris.. it’s like everywhere is going to be good or interesting. For those who are not adventurous enough to try random restaurants, I hope this list will help you find things you like!

Marseille & Aix-en-Provence: the fast version

So you might know that I spent November of 2015 in Marseille, France. Since then I’ve done nothing but sing praises for the south of France. Everything there is a little bit brighter–mainly because, unlike in Paris, the sun actually shines there. Instead of my normal post where I ramble forever about how gorgeous everything was, I’m going to hit my hard and fast favs of this little region. Continue reading Marseille & Aix-en-Provence: the fast version

Chamonix, France

The gondolas for the ice caves

The fog rolling into the trees in on the mountains.

The city of Chamonix after it finally snowed!

Exterior shot of the train station

One of the passengers on the train to the ice caves.

The sunny days in pre-snow Chamonix

Gondolas going down to ice caves.

A photo of the beautiful hotels in Chamonix.

The snow covered

The ice caves in Chamonix lit up with lights.

Taking the Lala Lacelets on trips with me.

The ice caves in Chamonix

The snowy trees in Chamonix.

Chamonix is a beautiful place-probably one of the best places you could go skiing in. Not only for the amazing views of Mont Blanc, but also the apres-ski activities. One of my favorite bars from my time there was Moo. A simple and comfortable bar for the