So as this is my last full week at home, the Year Abroad preparations have been switched up a level. It dawned on me that I still needed another suitable-sized luggage, as well as taking ownership of my parents' biggest suitcase. For months I've been planning on getting a rucksack, so I finally decided to get looking, because if I wanted it to be delivered, I had to order soon because time is running out. Before I left Leeds for the Summer, I found one I quite liked and was decently priced, so went online to find it again - only to realise that it was currently out of stock. After widening my search, I came across a slighter dearer, but slightly bigger rucksack so bought that. Plus, it's purple, so all is well.
Space. Obviously, this is the main worry when it comes to packing and if you're flying, weight restrictions are a close runner-up. As I'm getting a ferry, I can take as much as I can carry and I am determined to do so. There's fewer changes in my journey than I thought, so it won't be too much of a struggle. My friend, who has recently jetted off to Russia, bought some vacuum storage packs. I'd heard of these before but never got round to trying them, but there's not better time like the present. After searching good ol' Amazon, I came across these; and despite the packaging being written in a completely different language, I find them to be absolutely fine for what I need, and at £10 for 6, you can't complain.
Talking of money, I needed to work out how much I wanted to take to France until I get my salary. I read that it is recommended to take about £1000 to cover you until the end of October. When I figured out that, by the end of September, I will have paid my landlords 542€, I'm not sure if that'll be enough, especially when to open a bank account, I'll need a starting sum of 100€. As I didn't want to use my debit card abroad and I didn't want to take that much cash, I decided to get a CaxtonFX currency card which has been recommended a lot. The card is free, there's no transfer fees, you can use them at most ATMs and you top it up by internet, text or call. I loaded my card today, which was really simple to do, all that remains to do is to call them to receive my PIN number.
All this preparation is good, but I'm still avoiding the preparation which scares me the most. Preparing lessons. We're meant to receive a welcome pack from the British Council, by post, in August, but it seems they're quite behind on things. I have however, come across this, which is a very informative manual about being a language assistant. From what I've read so far, I now have a few pointers on where to start and in a few days, I'll contact my responsable again to ask a few questions about things such as the level of the students' English and if there are already any resources available to me. I've already been in touch with him this week asking about dress code. I had originally addressed this question to the principal, who I've not got a reply from yet. The good news is, there's no restrictions on what I am allowed to wear - which includes jeans.
I think I'm getting rather excited now. Just really not looking forward to the packing. I'll be back soon with a few ideas on how I'm going to deal with teaching.
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