Writing to you from 6 in the morning thanks to some beautiful jet lag. I am officially back in France! It feels so surreal being back. As soon as I arrived in the U.S. after being sent home Spring 2020 as the Covid shut down began, I looked up the steps I would need to take to apply to the program TAPIF (Teaching Assistant Program In France). TAPIF is a program where the French government will provide you a monthly stipend to work in one of their academies as a language teaching assistant and in my case an English teaching assistant from the beginning of October to end of April. They also offer opportunities in their overseas “outre-mer” departments like Guadeloupe and Martinique. I knew since my first year of college that I wanted to do this program but being sent home early from my study abroad motivated me even more to apply. I attempted to apply for the Fulbright scholarship to go with it, but I sadly did not get it. Although I was denied, all of that time and work I put into those essays didn’t go to waste. I was able to transfer most of my ideas into my TAPIF application essay. The TAPIF essay must be written in French, so if you go through the same process, I recommend not directly translating your Fulbright essays. The TAPIF essay is only around 500 words long when the Fulbright essays are two separate essays single spaced full pages.

I was notified on April 21^st, 2021, that I was accepted into the Académie de Rennes. TAPIF allows you to put down the top three regions you would like to be placed in. Rennes was my first because I decided I would really like to go back to the same region I did my study abroad in even if it meant I didn’t get placed into the city center (but I got lucky, and I was placed in Rennes proper!) My second choice was Grenoble and my third was Rouen. I think I remember hearing that those who are more qualified will be placed into their first choices more often. I just recently graduated May of 2021 and my major was French – Education K-12 with an ESL certification minor, so that probably helped me get placed where I wanted to and into the city center, since I put down that I wanted to be in a larger city. I officially start October 1^st, but I decided to come here earlier since my lease started the 1^st of September. I will write about my housing situation in another blog.

The Journey Here:           

I went up to New York City August 9^th to apply for my long-stay visa. I was not able to set up an appointment until I got my work contract (arête de nomination), which is normally sent to you when you get your official placement within the Académie. My passport/visa came back to me pretty quickly, but I planned to buy my ticket about a month after my appointment so it would come in on time. My flight was at 6:50 p.m. on Wednesday the 8^th and arrived in Paris the morning of the 9^th.  There was a small delay about an hour long. The only thing I hated this time traveling was sweating like crazy since it’s still pretty hot out and I had to lug around all of my stuff, while wearing one of my jackets. I got a lil lost when I got to Gare de Lyon. I took the metro and had to climb up some stairs with my bags. A really nice guy helped me with one of staircases. Somehow, I ended up exiting at the completely wrong end not really close to the Gare and had to walk all the way back up to it. I ended up staying at an alumni from my college’s place my first night in France, but I was a dummy and thought he was meeting me at the Gare. I should’ve just walked to his apartment right away because I ended up waiting longer than I probably should have. I was too tired to use my brain in that moment, but hey I still made it.

That evening we went out to dinner with one of his friends. I tried escargots for the first time, and I thought they were delicious! I’ll probably try them again to see if they are made differently at other places. I do not have my passe sanitaire yet, but I haven’t had a problem yet with showing my CDC vaccination card. I got the Johnson and Johnson vaccine back in March. The passe sanitaire is a QR code you need to have to show that you are vaccinated and can go into restaurants and museums. The next morning, I went to Gare Montparnasse to take a OuiGo (TGV) train to Rennes. I wish I had more time in Paris, but I wanted to get moved in and there was an open house at the rowing club I did the last time I was here that coming Saturday and I wanted to go get information. I’m so excited to start rowing again! I was happy to catch glimpses of Sacré Coeur and Notre Dame on my way to Gare Montparnasse and even happier to see the tip of the Eiffel Tower on the TGV on my way to Rennes.

I met my référent (the teacher I will be assisting this academic year) at the front of a food stand at the Gare in Rennes. She was very nice and greeted me with a warm welcome. We took the metro to the area my apartment is in, and we met my landlord at the apartment. The last stretch of pushing my dreaded suitcases I thought. My referent was very straight forward with my landlord and was asking about the apartment and the furnishing and acted honestly like a new mom which was awesome. She also gave me a quilt to use later on in the day because I needed to get sheets. My landlord was able to provide me with some and I found it ironic that they had gingko leaves on them since that was a big symbol at my university in the U.S. 😊

I am really happy to be here, and I can’t wait to share more of my adventures with you. In my next blog I will talk about meeting my roommates, how I found housing, and what I did my first week here.

À bientôt,

Nicole