My first day, and other such clichéd titles

So I've been here for about a day now, and have just finished my first day's classes (well, observation). And it's certainly been busy.

After getting unpacked last night, my classes started at 8am today. That meant a 6am start (which, of course, felt like 5am), so it was a good thing that there was still some of the oh-my-word-I'm-in-France adrenaline in my system. The classes themselves were really informative, on subjects ranging from "consumer society" to "forming your own rock band"; one of my favourites, though, was the premières*, with whom I got to jump around the room asking what they knew about England. They were actually very impressive, with many of them knowing the differences between Great Britain and the United Kingdom, and came up with some interesting ideas. (If the class of 2D1 are anything to go by, perceptions of Britain centre primarily around the Queen, baked beans, Big Ben, Wayne Rooney, and rain.)

Of course, I'm only working twelve hours a week, so I wasn't in lessons all day. Instead, I took the opportunity to get some admin done. After my mentor teacher had taken me to get my assurance habitation (a sort of very basic home contents insurance), I took the opportunity to get thoroughly lost in explore the centre of Reims. After an hour of going round in circles, I'd finally started to get my bearings, and had somehow managed to get hold of both a phone and an appointment to open a bank account. Don't ask me how.

A pizza with my parents (and a look round the massive bookshop) rounded the day off nicely. I think I might grow to like it here.

La question d'aujourd'hui se penche sur mon déjeuner, acheté dans une boulangerie-patisserie au centre-ville - a ham and cheese baguette, a moelleux au chocolat, and some water ...

* In a lycée, there are three main year groups. Les secondes (2ndes) are roughly equivalent to Year 11, les premières (1ères) to Year 12, and les terminales (T) are Year 13. Once I've got my head around it all, I'll do a post specifically about the French school system. If you're reading this and are a language assistant, would you like to help me out? Please do leave a message in the comments.