Back to France!

Yes that's right, this weekend I flew back to Paris from Italy. My month as a camp counselor has finally come to an end. It was such an amazing experience and I would recommend it to almost anyone! I'm training to teach English as a foreign language so it was, obviously, a very fitting choice for me but there were so many different kinds of people who would be good at this kind of position. Basically, knowing English and liking kids is all you really need to succeed here. I'm debating coming back next year because I loved it so much. So over the four weeks, we worked at two two-week camps. I had a group of 6/7-year-olds the first camp and then middle-school-aged kids for the second. I'd like to say that I can't choose a favorite camp but I can; I love my middle-schoolers. They're amazing and I wish I didn't have to leave them.

The reason I did have to leave is because I've found myself another month-long job in France. I loved living in Italy and experiencing the challenges that come from not understanding the language but I'm honestly so ready to return to France where I only make silly errors in the language and can communicate without using crazy hand gestures and google translate.

Since we're living on the east coast and Rome is on the west, we took a four-hour bus back to the airport. Unfortunately, the bus leaves at 5:35 (in the morning,) but I guess that's better than the other option of 2:10. The fact that I made the bus and flight was a miracle, really. One of the coordinators of the camp got married the saturday that everyone had to leave. Which meant that they were pretty busy and unable to drive everyone to the bus stop. We had the option to take the bus at 2:10 (yes, in the morning) or at other times throughout the morning. Since I didn't want to have zero sleep, I decided to take a bus at 5:35. This one was actually perfect because it put me at the airport with enough time to comfortably check in and get some lunch. Other than the timing, everything else was pretty unpredictable. It's so hard to get anything done when you don't understand the language. I applaud anyone who does it because it's the most stressful thing I've ever experienced. In my small town of Porto, we rarely find anyone who can speak English either so it's truly a miracle I made it to the airport. Friday night I attempted to schedule a taxi for the morning. She didn't speak any language I spoke and I didn't speak any language she did so it was all reliant on my Italian. When I got off the phone I was quite sure that I wouldn't have a taxi in the morning. I did my last check of the apartment and headed out. When I got downstairs, I realized that the automatic door wasn't functioning. I would have to use my key to open it and get outside. Which I couldn't do because I had to leave my key in the apartment. So I was trapped in the stairwell. After five seconds of fear, I had the bright idea to knock on my neighbor's door and ask to use his. He was already awake, luckily, and helped me get out of the building. After realizing that my taxi was not coming I walked to the bus station. And by walked I mean ran. I had exactly 33 minutes to make a 31 minute walk. With all my luggage. And somehow I made it! The bus was a few minutes late so that helped. My next problem came when (after an hour) my bus came to a bus stop. Apparently! we had to change to another bus in order to get to the airport even though the bus Terminus was Roma and my ticket didn't indicate anything to this effect. I have no idea how I managed to get on the right bus. It had nothing to do with me; I would have ended up on the other side of Italy for sure. But I made it. And my checked luggage met the weight requirement, which is a complete miracle as well. I'm so incredibly ready to be back in a country where I can understand people.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing. Or where I'll be going. I found an volunteering opportunity on Workaway.com, allowing me to help with a Musical Festival in the Burgundy region of France. It's a classical music festival, which attracted my attention immediately. It lasts about three weeks and there are operas, orchestras and choirs from around France, Poland, and Czech Republic. Unfortunately that's all I really know about it.

I flew into Paris this weekend and met with the coordinator and on Monday I'll take the bus to Champignelles with the kids who are arriving a week early to rehearse. I really have no idea what this month will entail but I'm excited and ready!