The First Step

Hello reader! This is the very first blog I have ever created...so feel free to leave any comments, at any time--I would enjoy feedback (especially any of the positive kind).

I guess some background info would be of help. I just graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, with a bachelor's degree in French and History (but not French History...and yes, I get this ALL THE TIME). So yeah, I have come to terms with the fact that I will likely be living in a cardboard box one day, but maybe that box will be in Paris. As my time at UWM drew to an end, I was forced into facing the looming question--what am I going to do with my life post-graduation. Not wanting to go to grad school immediately, nor enter the "real world" just yet, I finally decided to apply to a program that would let me become an expat (if only for a year): the Assistant d'anglais program.

What is the Assistant d'anglais program, you ask? Well, translated from French, "assistant d'anglais" means "English (language) assistant." The program is supported by the French government, which offers various teaching positions to native English speakers. An assistant(e) lives in France for a year, teaches American (or British, Australian, etc) culture for roughly 10 hours a week, and is paid around 750 Euros/month to do so. So why do this? I think that this is an amazing opportunity to improve my French fluency, and in return, try to create an understanding of American culture in my students.

I was accepted to the program and placed in the academy of Nancy-Metz (aka the Lorraine region), in the city of Lunéville. I will be teaching high-school students at Lycée Jacques-Marie Boutet de Monvel. I've been wanting to do this for a while, and now that I'm actually going, its starting to become something real and concrete. I'm not going to lie, while I'm pretty stoked about the chance to live in France for a year, I'm also completely terrified. Although I've been to France twice before, studying and visiting are completely different than actually living and working there. I will have to adjust to life in a foreign country, somewhat alone. But I know that if I don't do this, I will regret it, probably for the rest of my life.

So, here I am. I decided to start this blog shortly after I made the choice to apply to the Assistant d'anglais program, in order to sort-of chronicle my journey through the whole process. Unfortunately, I've been to busy (ok, too lazy) to actually start it until now. The address ("venez--avec--moi") means "come with me" in French, so (hopefully) this will allow everyone back home to join me in France, even if they can't physically do so. Thanks for reading, and à très bientôt!