I Am Over Half Way Through My Stay In France

It is crazy to think that such a quick decision to leave my job pack my bags and move to France was made in a matter of days. I handed in my notice on my lunch break and saying I was moving to France, I went on easy jet booked a flight and suddenly I had arrived in France. It was an interesting decision but one that I don't regret. I have learnt a lot whilst in France and here are just a few glimpses of my experiences and things I have learnt.

1. I really cant speak French 
I think everyone in my higher French class is reading this and is remembering the times we had where we laugh at my inability to speak French. French is a hard language to understand especially when there are only a few words that I know "bonjour, cherie, salut, mange" to name a few. However by the end of this season maybe my blog posts will be written in French? However I had my first success of going into a coffee shop and ordering in French and paying whilst speaking French!! Onwards and upwards! Update: I wrote this paragraph a while ago and now I am actually able to speak full sentences (under the influence of a few gin and tonics) but I am able to understand a lot of French! So it is true, you can better as time goes on!


2. You don't go out without gloves on in a mountain range
No matter if there is a "heatwave" outside and it is actually above 0 degrees IT DOES NOT FEEL LIKE IT! No matter how sunny! The amount of times I have been deceived by one relatively warm day and unzipped my coat or taken off my scarf does not mean that I do not bring my scarf out on days where it is the same weather conditions because the weather in a mountain range deceives you and it will be bloody cold on the day you don't bring your over clothes out with you.

3. It is true! The higher the altitude the drunker you get!
I was warned about this but I never thought this concept about altitude would actually affect you that much! But nonetheless I can drink half what I do in England and feel more drunk than I ever have before! However once you establish your limits according to altitude you realise that nights out should be cheaper! (However ski resorts will never be considered cheap!)

4. Another thing about bars and clubs in France THEY ALLOW DOGS! 
Never did I ever imagine dogs running around me when I danced on tables with my coworkers on a night out but oh my gosh it makes it makes clubs so much better. Last night there was a cute labrador running round at 2am getting cuddles from everyone! Also another strange thing about bars and clubs in France is that they have smoking rooms so you can technically smoke indoors even though this is no use to me I find it so strange.

5. Working a season is probably cheaper then staying in a ski resort for a week!
I have never been to a proper ski resort before, I have been to Lapland which related to the crazy prices however living in a ski resort has made me realise just how expensive it is. As you go up the mountain prices for this like food, accommodation, ski gear, transport triple! A restaurants average meal starts around 20 euros and can go up to extremes like 40 euros! Its insane! However if you are a season worker you get accommodation and food for free! Let alone major discounts on ski gear and leisure activities. My ski gear rental went down from 850 euros to 99 euros for the season!

6. People in small villages are generally a lot nicer than those in bigger cities 
So classic me that I have lost my phone once and my bank card twice. Each time not going to lie there were small panicky moments such as "I am two kilometres up a mountain in FRANCE without a phone or a bank card." But EACH TIME someone had kindly returned my phone and my bank card to me without using it. They could have gone on a contactless payment spree or used apple pay on my phone but they just gave it back to the restaurant I am staying in. How kind!

7.  It is so expensive! 
I can understand why ski resorts for customers when speaking to my boss about all the tax she has to pay, and seeing the big machinery clear snow each morning at seven am. However the fact that an average meal out is twenty euros didn't really fit my budget. Neither did the expensive gin and tonics and tequila shots, therefore in the eleven days of February I have already spent the 250 euros I planned to spend. However, I have had the most amazing days so you have to way it up but I think the next few days will be quiet nights in watching movies or talking to my friends. However there is a drastic difference between up the mountain and down in the town below. My work schedule and the fact I have no car means I can never go down into the town however my friends  did some food shopping for me and what they bought for twelve euros would be at the top of the mountain close to thirty! So I am really hoping that my next stop of Cambodia is as cheap as people say it is!

8. If I could do it again I think I would 
My time in France has been amazing and the fact that in 43 days I will be heading on a flight home makes me very sad. I love it here in France, I have the most amazing host family and friends who I have made quite a few memories e.g the drunk ones which I do not talk about but also one such as taking the little one into a hot water spa pool with my boss was amazing. Even though I do not have time due to the many years I will be at university for and the nature of what being a nurse will be like I won't have time I have promised I will be back and watch as little clementine grows up! I recommend a ski season to everyone!

I apologise for the long wait for a blog post, there are many reasons why that is but I will talk about them in a few blog posts that are being written at the moment.

MY FIRST TIME SNOW SHOEING

I had the majority of the day off like some of my co workers and we decided we should do something. However when it was decided and translated to be that we were rented snow shoes and going snow shoeing I had no idea what to expect (at all.) But anyway I got on the bus to the local supermarket where I met my friends and from there we all went to hire snow shoes for the afternoon (it was surprisingly cheap only 4 euros!.)



I got to the rental place and they brought out these sort of tennis rackets that you put on your feet and then they instructed us to go to the tourist office and they would give us a route. So we went along to the tourist office and we were told there is an "easy hour circuit route for families." We thought why not and lets go! We put on our snow shoes and started heading out to the forest. It was literally like walking with tennis rackets on your feet and apparently it was to stop you from sinking in the one and a half metre deep snow! (But it only saved us a few times and many times we simply just fell!

We were walking the family route with our limited time frame as we all had work this evening and the fact that we had no real experience with snow shoeing therefore we didn't think it would be that physically demanding. However boi were we wrong when we were suddenly faced with very steep hills with no real pathway covered in snow. Many times I would just sink or my feet would get stuck underneath me which proved very hilarious for my friends. But we continued going up and up and up and up! We didn't know how far we were from completing the circuit we just kept following the signs which were often covered in snow and also impossible to find.

As the route was a family route part of it was to find certain animal tracks along the way such as rabbit tracks or pheasant footprints in the snow! However it dawned on me that I was in the wild and away from civilisation when it asked me to look for wolf tracks and I am very happy to report that I didn't find any. We did meet other people who were snow shoeing on the way however it was often a competition about following the leader as the person who went first was doing the most physical work by making the pathway for the others to follow on.

After longer than an hour and many times I thought "what if I break my leg and cant get down again" we got to the top of the mountain! And we looked at the amazing view ahead of us and were very relieved that it was only down from now on. However down wasn't as easy as expected and it was incredibly steep which meant that you could fall so easily. But as the route was taking longer and longer it was getting darker and darker and we managed to see sunset but it also meant that our evening shifts were approaching fast! So we powered on and managed to get down the mountain (even though one time I was severely stuck in the snow and couldn't stand up and felt that I had given into the mountain and was defeated!) But we did it! And we have agreed that we will do it again and see different views and challenge our fitness levels! (But on days where the weather in nice and next time I am wearing more thermals!)

But overall my experience snow shoeing was highly enjoyable and I would recommend it! However now I just need to figure out what the real word for snow shoeing is rather than just using the direct translation of it!! Tomorrow I am skiing! Another post will tell you all about the adventures of that! (Hopefully I don't end up in A&E and I might actually have courage to go on the ski lift! Who knows)

I have arrived in France!

Salut!

After an extremely long day travelling I have finally arrived in La Rosiére France. (To be honest I have seen so many Italian flags I don't know which side of the border my house is actually on.) But anyway my journey to France was rather eventful and long but I am very proud of myself for navigating 7 hours on French public transport by myself.

I arrived in Les Eucherts the village I am staying in which is a few minutes walk from la Rosiére and got settled in it was very late at that point so I just went to sleep. I woke up the next morning to tons of snow! Well over a metre of snow probably almost 2 metres in the untouched areas! Like my window is completely blocked with snow which was very surreal when I haven't seen this most snow ever! (Even in Lapland!) But anyway I arrived in France and it is insanely beautiful and there is literally a place that sells crepes every 30 metres! The day after I arrived I had the day mostly off and I walked to the local supermarkets to get ingredients for me to cook (especially as I am vegan but I will do a whole other blog post on being vegan in France when I have been here long enough). So I went to carrefour which is literally really good for relatively cheap food but to be honest when you are a sainsburys girl nothing truly compares. But I walked up to carrefour in the snow as me and buses don't jel well and I bought a lot of very simply ingredients to make quick and easy food. But then I realised walking with heavy bags in heavy snow wasn't ideal and I almost caved to try figuring out the bus malarky but I made it back to my accommodation and called that the achievement of the day!!

Having figured out where my local food store was I thought I would find out more about the area! I found out they had a moomoos something I never thought I would see in France but I guess moos wants to travel as much as me and when I go I will compare England moos to the France one and see which one is better. Also the place is filled with so many ski shops!! So many!! So of course I searched around looking for skis and today I got my ski boots and skis and poles for 99 euros in total which is an amazing discount (it is all about connections in the end.) And I am now ready to try talk myself into a cheaper ski pass and also have got a discount for lessons already which has gone down to 32 pounds for an hour but tbh I will hopefully meet someone who will teach me for free. But to be honest that ski lift looks so scary and I guarantee I will fall off or loose a ski and wow I am really working ski season! Nobody saw that coming! But anyway I have my skis now and I feel obliged to learn how to ski! Also I walked up the mountain today to see if there was anywhere I could go up high enough to not use the ski lift as I didn't want to pay to use it - gap year budgets!

I am desperately trying to learn French (currently 33% on duolingo) however I constantly find myself speaking "Frenglish" or "Spench." But time will only be of aid to me finally be fluent in French (the dream!)  I feel the resort I am in is where the French come to ski and therefore everyone I meet speaks somewhat limited English but I am sure I will pick it up very fast! (Hopefully anyway!)

The views from the restaurant I am staying in are insane and yesterday there was a clear sky and honestly it was beautiful! And either I have the most amazing thermals or -6 seems warmer than it sounds? But when it is -18 tonight I guarantee I will be using my second duvet to stay warm! The restaurant is one of the most beautiful restaurants I have ever seen! It is so warm and cosy and stereotypically a restaurant that you would find on the side of the mountain with its wooden cabin feel!

Coming to France at the end of December my big question was what the hell I am going to do on New Years Eve. I was working until around 11 on New years but then I went down to the restaurant where they were all celebrating and honestly had the nicest champagne I have ever tried! It was insane! I spoke with some of the customers and staff to find out I was literally speaking to a professional ice hockey player who was serving me free champagne! Then I got speaking to a French family and they invited me along to the fireworks! Never have I been more petrified for my life when I went to this firework display! THERE WAS NO SAFETY NET AND WE WERE ALL METRES AWAY FROM WHERE THEY WERE SET OFF! In France you can buy fireworks in supermarkets very easily and drunk teenagers and to be honest drunk adults were throwing fireworks around and they were going in every direction possible! It was definitely an experience! Also with the high avalanche risk I definitely did not see how we were allowed to set of fireworks but they were literally being set off from roofs, terraces and on top of snowmen! And from family experience I have learnt I will never set off a firework myself! Only let professionals do it so this was a new experience for me!
I went back to the restaurant after where loud music was playing and many drunk people talking and dancing and people buying very expensive champagne for everyone in the house so I throughly enjoyed the cheapest new year I have ever had! Didn't spend a penny! Thank you to the man I know not the name of who set my champagne experience to a whole new level.

Today I did not realise but I would have the whole day off until 7 this evening so I went on another exploration of the area! I found myself walking through a forrest finding out all the shortcuts to connect all the towns together! I also thought today I would try french fries which to be honest were overpriced (I have got used to the weather spoons in sevenoaks prices) and not as good as the ones I hoped for! I went to this little place to get the chips where people were still drinking and dancing as drunk as ever at 1pm on New years day! I was very impressed! Now I am getting ready for my shift tonight which is only a few hours tops and then I think I am going to have an early night but the French family from last night have told me they will be coming to eat again so I will probably speak to them a bit tonight.

My adventures in France have so far been brilliant! It is early days and I bet there is so much more to discover and I truly hope next time I write a blog post I will have gone down the mountain on those skis! I will tell you all about that when that happens!

See you soon! À plus tard!