For those of you that don't know me well, I'm currently at university studying English Literature with Creative Writing and am about to take a placement year in France. What? Where? At our uni, we get the opportunity to do a placement year, which is wedged in between second and final year and is a chance for students to get some experience of the real world as, believe it or not, the real world is where we will be flung once we have (hopefully) earned our degree. As everybody raves about the experience you gain from doing a placement year (as well as the added bonus of not having to study!) I decided to jump on the bandwagon. However, I was looking for something a little out of the ordinary...and decided to become an English Language Assistant in Avignon, France! What does an English Language Assistant do? Well, the clue is in the name...I will be working in three different primary schools and assisting the English teachers with their lessons. It's a win-win situation; the kids get to benefit from having a real live English person helping them learn one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and I get to experience teaching, living in a foreign country and gaining some invaluable life experience! It's the eve before my long-awaited departure to Marseille, where I will then be getting a train to the beautiful, quaint city of Avignon, famous for its medieval buildings and bridge, which inspired a very annoyingly catchy song (my Dad has been singing it non-stop.) Talking of my Dad, he will be accompanying me to France and will help me sort out lots of probably boring admin type stuff for the first 6 days, and then will return to England, leaving me alone... ...But I'm excited! I've been facing a lot of anxiety leading up to this point and I know there are going to be lots of ups and downs but it will definitely be an incredible experience no matter what and I'm looking forward to this new adventure! I will be posting frequently so make sure to stay tuned...