Sur le Pont d'Avignon...

Avignon

While working in Fox Run's tasting room this summer, I had an unexpected number of people break out into this French classic.  They were trying to connect with me when I told them that my future plans were not to pour wine for strangers, and that for the moment I was headed to Avignon for seven months.  On the rare occasion they would even do a twirl when it got to the "on y danse" line of the song.  Silly tourists. 

My bedroom! (Well, some of it...)

That little intro to announce that I am in Avignon and I have been here for almost two weeks.  I arrived at the end of September on a rainy night after 28 hours of travel.  As one could expect, for irony's sake, the last leg of my trip had a hiccup.  The train I was on got delayed en route to Avignon because of something that had fallen across the tracks.  Thirty minutes away from my end destination and I got stuck on the train. Damn.  When I finally did arrive I had to get to my couchsurfing host's apartment by taxi.  There were, of course, no taxis at the station.  I got drizzled on for about twenty pathetic minutes while I awaited a taxi to swing by and scoop me up. Fortunately, I had been hanging out in the wine production facility at Fox Run long enough to not mind a bit of dampness.  I mean, it is never ideal, but I was okay with it.  My host, Charlotte, was kind enough to boil some water and offer me some chamomile tea.  It was a good end to a long trip and miserable weather.

The next morning I took my time getting up and dragged myself out of their house to start what I was dreading: house hunting.  Ugh! It just sounds terrifying, doesn't it? When landing in a new country the last thing that you want to deal with is finding a place to live.  I buckled down for a frustrating and potentially fruitless day.  Perhaps to prove me wrong and perk me up, my day took an unexpected turn for the best! I was waiting at the bus stop and realized that I had no idea how to arrive in the center of Avignon.  There was one other person waiting for the bus, a young man, and I asked for help.  The conversation about where I was going soon turned to why I was headed there.  I informed the young man, Thomas, that I was looking for a room to rent.  As it turns out, Thomas is a student at the local university and there was one free room in the house where he had just begun renting.  He asked if I would like him to call the landlord, Raynald, and see if the room was still available.  I said that I would appreciate it (but I was a bit sketched out) and he called.  Well, the room was available and I am typing this post from it! Everyone turned out to be great, and I live with three students and another American teaching assistant.  Within 100 feet of Charlotte's house I found a room to rent for seven months, who would have guessed it!

From that point on everything has been great.  Ignoring the mountain of paperwork necessary for the French government, my life is Avignon is going well.   I have two families that I "tutor" for (it is more babysitting in English than actually tutoring), I started going to my schools this week, and next week I am off to Brussels for the International Wine Expo. 

A great picture from Fox Run! Thanks for sending it, Peter :)

Things that I will not do this year:
-Take in stray kittens
-Eat a lot of rice
-Drink café Touba every morning
-Grade A LOT of 4th grade math assignments
-Get tan

There are aspects of Senegal that I miss, but I may be much better at keeping this blog since I will always have power/Internet when I fancy writing about my experiences in France.

As always, I love mail, so send me letters, postcards, anything!

Julia Hoyle
36 Rue du Rempart Saint-Lazare
Avignon, 84000
FRANCE

Until next time I get the urge to blog, à plus!