A Kiwi girl learning to Fly

Heather. 22. Auckland, New Zealand. About to move to France to become a language assistant.

[kiwifrancophile]

I Pulled out of TAPIF

Right now I should be at Auckland airport boarding a flight to London.

But I’m not, I’m at home.

So yes I pulled out of TAPIF a week ago. It was the hardest decision that I’ve made in my life. Many things came into play.

1. I didn’t get the region I applied for. 

 I applied for Lyon or Strasbourg, yet I got put in Versailles. I probably could’ve coped with anywhere in France except Paris...but I got Paris. I know Paris is the dream but it isn’t mine. When I visited Paris in January it was great but I couldn’t see myself living there. I’m not a big city person, I’m just from the largest city of a small country. I felt at home in the Rhone Alps.

2. The French Embassy told me for 3 months that I needed a visa when I didn’t.

I wrote an entire post about this but yeah. Who knew being a NZ/UK duel passport holder would confuse the french so much and create such a headache.

3. I was placed in the most expensive part of Val d’Oise.

When I finally found out where I was placed at the end of July I found out I was placed in Montmorency, which looks great but is expensive and the closest train station 30 mins walk away with a bus once an hour. I couldn’t really commute from a cheaper area easily.

4. My school led me on a wild goose chase about housing.

First they said they had a newly renovated apartment for me, then said that it wouldn’t be ready at all while I would be there. They then put me in contact with a lady who hosted previous assistants. She wanted €450 a month. That was meant to include meals, but the previous assistant said she ended up buying her food and when I asked the host she was very sketchy about how much food was included. Also no one had ever applied for CAF when living with this lady. In the words of the previous assistant “the rent was reasonable”. Since when is €450 reasonable when you’re only earning €800 and having to buy your own food on top of that.

5. I was going to have to work a second job to live comfortably. 

This I could do legally as I’m on a EU passport but when I told my school that I would be working a second job they weren't very supportive. Why the hell should I have to work a second job so I can live without living on soup and lentils. 

With all of this my mental health started to take a dive, something that I have had stable for over a year now. It got to the point where I didn’t sleep several nights last week due to stressing about everything. I even had to call in sick due to not sleeping and having bouts of hysterical crying and anxiety. My parents were really supportive, they even said that they would try to work out a way to send me money and fly me home. But why should I have to rely on my parents when it’s only been a couple of years since they were budgeting every cent just to get by. I spent endless nights on appartager and roomlala trying to find somewhere cheaper to no avail.

I wasn’t excited about going, in fact I was dreading going. Something just wasn’t feeling right. Why did I have so many problems, yet my friends had none?

There were also other things. It would’ve been my fourth winter in a row and having a fifth winter when I would’ve come back home ,and my second Christmas in a row away from my family. I also have been loving teaching and would love to actually start my career.

So last Saturday I called it quits. I’ve lost about $2000 nzd in flights, trains and travel insurance, but I don’t care. I feel like a weight has been lifted.

So things I wish I knew before applying to TAPIF

1. You may not get the region you apply for.

I thought getting Lyon was a given because all of my other friends had got their first choice. I was wrong.

2. Your salary is only enough to live on just. 

I think if you’re outside ile de France you should be ok but if you’re anywhere near Paris good luck. You need savings. The more the better.

3. It isn’t easy if you’re from the southern hemisphere.

The embassy here struggled to get applicants this year. Now I know why. It is incredibly disruptive. Due to me being a teacher I couldn’t get a permanent job this year and I wouldn’t have been able to get one when I came back at the end of the program due to it already being term 2. Also you need way more money than the guide book states. I was planning to go over with $5000 nzd ( € 3000) but once I had taken out the cost for the flight home and the start up costs I wasn’t going to have much left. I would recommend aiming for €5000 especially if you planning on doing a bit of travel.

I hope this helps someone. I don’t want to put you off but let you know the reality.

[kiwifrancophile]

Doubts

Three weeks. 

That’s how much time I have left before I leave NZ.

At the moment I’m full of doubts. I only got my dossier with my physical arrete de nomination a couple of days. Yes, 3 weeks before I leave. I’m pretty sure the academy of Versailles is still in 1789. In chaos from the revolution. I’ve emailed my school and my teacher to no avail. I don’t know if they have somewhere for me to live or not. I’m terrified. I’m regretting putting Versailles on my list on the the application. I never wanted Paris. I didn’t want the accommodation struggles, the cost, or the big city life. 

Are any of my fellow TAPIFers feeling doubts in these final weeks before we start?

[kiwifrancophile]

Things I’m going going to miss about New Zealand

I used to think I never would get homesick. I was naive and stupid. Homesickness is real and it sucks. It’s five weeks till I leave the shores of this fine land for the northern banlieus of Paris on a one way ticket, knowing that I’m not going to return for at least two years, potentially three. After my two month trip to Europe last year I’ve realised that homesickness is going to hit me hard.

1.Coffee

‘But isn’t France known for it’s cafes?’ Yes it is but the actual coffee you buy in the cafes leaves a lot to be desired. It’s weak and they only give it to you in tiny cups. I had cappuccinos with 70% froth and some cafes I went to served nespresso coffee. If I want nespresso coffee I would buy my own machine and stay at home in my Pj’s. New Zealand is a coffee drinking nation and boy do we love our coffee, for good reason. I would say the coffee we drink here is on par with Italian coffee for strength and flavor. I’m probably going to bring over a couple of bags of Havana or Avalanche plunger coffee to indulge in when I’m missing home and need a serious shot of caffeine. 

2. Driving

I’ve only been driving for a couple of years and I’m hooked. I love driving. I love the freedom of being able to go anywhere I want, when I want. There’s no way I’m going to own a car in France. It would cost way too much and petrol is way more expensive than it is here. I would love to rent a car and go on a couple of road trips but even renting a car is ridiculously expensive because I’m under 25. I’m going to get an international driving permit before I leave just case.

3. The greenery and Fresh air 

One of the things I noticed when I was traveling around France in December and January was the lack of evergreen trees. Everything was dead and brown. Even in winter here there is plenty of green trees and I missed that a lot. The fresh air is another thing. Anytime of the year we have good quality air. France not so much. In France pollution can get so bad that they have to stop cars from driving and lower the cost of public transport.

4. Beaches 

I have always lived within 5 minutes of a beach. I love the beach and one of my stress relievers is going for a walk along many of the beaches in Auckland. 

5. The bureaucracy 

This a strange one but not when talking about France. Setting a bank account in France can take weeks. Here you just turn up to a bank and by the time you walk out you will have an account. If you have any issues you can call someone and things are usually sorted in a timely manner.

6. My cats

It’s no secret that my cats, Bobby and Kira are basically my children. I’ve always had many pets so going from having several to having none is going to be hard. Many visits to the cat cafes in Paris and Grenoble are going to happen so I can get my dose of feline cuddles.

[kiwifrancophile]

Toussaint holiday trip booked. Looking forward to visiting Marseille and Geneva for the first time, and going to Grenoble and my fave Lyon again. Hopefully this time it will be more than 3°C.

[kiwifrancophile]

After waiting for what felt like an eternity and being one of the last people in New Zealand to get their contracts I now know where I'll be working in France. I'll be working in Montmorency, about 20km north of Paris. Apparently it used to be owned by one of the most distinguished families of the French nobility.

[kiwifrancophile]

[kiwifrancophile]

Duel citizenship confusion. The French nightmare.

Oh boy it’s been a week.

I’m a duel citizen with New Zealand and the United Kingdom due to having a British parent. It’s something that still feels a bit strange for me. I remember when my British passport arrived a couple of years ago, Flicking through it and feeling no connection to it. My dad left the UK as an early teen with his family and he has never been back. Anyone would think he’s a kiwi if it wasn’t for his love of British tv and Jafa cakes.

One perk of having a UK passport (at least for now) is free movement throughout the EU. Something that should make the whole moving to France thing easier. Something that the French embassy should understand , right?

Wrong.

Back in April when I was offered the language assistant role I was sent an information sheet about the visa process etc. I emailed the person in charge of assistants saying that I was a British duel citizen and she said I could travel visa free. I then read the information sheet again and found this.

“I have dual citizenship and hold a passport from a EU member state. Do I need a visa? You normally do not need a visa to stay and work in France. However, as you will be considered as a EU citizen, you may be required to provide a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) in order to register with the French Social Security (state health insurance), which is a compulsory formality. You should therefore make sure that you have a EHIC or that you can obtain one before leaving. If not, it is advisable to use your NZ passport and apply for a visa.“

This is when I panic. I don’t have an EHIC. I can’t get one because I’m not registered to the NHS and I can’t register to the NHS till I’m a tax paying resident of the UK.

I sent an email inquiring about this and got stuck in circle of emails. They didn’t seem to understand what I was going on about. They even asked me to ask my parents (because apparently I don’t know where I’ve been living my entire life). I accepted my fate, that my British passport was useless and that I would need a visa on my NZ passport. I booked my visa appointment for the second week of the July school holidays and booked flights down to Wellington.

Fast forward to this Monday just gone. My arrêté de nomination still hasn’t arrived so I email the embassy and they tell me that I’ll need to move my appointment. I swiftly sight the same information sheet that got me into this mess, which states I can do the appointment without the arrêté as long as I have the rest of the documents. I also say that I’m a teacher and moving my appointment would inconvenience my school. They say they’ll see what they can do.

I then get an email saying “oh on your file it says you’re British. You don’t need a visa”.Here we go again...

I explain again how the information sheet says I need an EHIC and I can’t get one. I then get forwarded to someone else who seems just as confused as I am. She sends me a link to a random website and tells me to contact the EHIC people myself. At this point I start banging my head against a wall.

Then then person in charge of assistants emails me with a link from the CIEP website with information about what we need to enrol in the French health system. No where does it say I need an EHIC!!!!!!!. 

I can move to France visa free. No OFFI!!!

Now I’m now going to Wellington for a bit of holiday to make the most of the flights I paid for.

[kiwifrancophile]

How I planned two months of solo travel in Europe

Last year I decided to final follow through with my dream to go to Europe. So the day after I officially finished university I jet setted off with London in my sights.

How did you decide on your itinerary?

At the time when I bought my return flight from Auckland to London I was still planning on starting a teaching job the following year. So I decided that with that in mind that I would probably need to be back before the end of January for the start of the school year. From there I created a list of places I wanted to go to and how long in a logical order.

How did you book accommodation/flights/trains?

For accommodation I used Hostelworld and Airbnb. How I started was when ever I had some free time I would flick through some hostels in the cities I was going to. I would look at the reviews, the ratings, location ,photos, and of course price. If I liked the look of it I would add it to a wishlist. Then when it came to booking I would just narrow down the hostels I had listed. This made the process of booking everything far less stressful as I wasn’t doing everything at once.

In the places where hostels were expensive or not possible I stayed at an Airbnb. I followed the same process as I did with the hostels. Creating a shortlist then narrowing it down, I loved my Airbnb experiences. I stayed with a lovely lady in Bristol, who was also housing a couple of university students. In Padua I stayed with another lovely lady who was a photographer. It’s a great way to experience the local culture and get tips and tricks from a local.

For flights I used google flights to track flight prices till I felt the price was right. Skyscanner is also good for tracking flights. For trains I used trainline.eu (there is a UK site as well). This made finding the cheapest or fastest trains easier in countries that have more the one rail travel provider.

How did you keep track of all your bookings?

Well I let my inner travel agent shine and made a comprehensive travel itinerary. I would include the contact details for my accommodation, booking number, how much I needed to pay or if I had paid etc. This meant that I could keep track of how much I needed to pay and I had all the booking details on hand if I needed them. I also gave a copy of this to my family so they knew where I was.

How did you stay in touch with your family?

I bought a local sim as soon as I landed in the UK. There was a sim vending machine next to the luggage conveyor belt in Heathrow. I did some research beforehand and decided that a 3 sim would do the trick. With that I got 12 gb of data a month. It felt like I was living the dream compared to paying roughly the same price of 1 gb in NZ. Best of all I could use the data in Europe with no extra charges. I also made sure to give this number to my family in case they needed to contact me urgently. Luckily I have a phone with dual sim capability, so I could still receive texts and calls from my NZ sim.

One thing with using a local sim for a long period is that  you need to make sure you have enough credit on it to last you however long you're intending to use it, or can top it up. I made this mistake. My 3 sim renewed its plan while in Spain and you can’t top it up using a non UK credit card. Luckily I befriended a Brit at my hostel, told him my naive kiwi sob story and he let me use his card to top up my phone and I paid him back with the equivalent cost in Euro cash. Otherwise I would’ve had to find another sim, and prepaid sim plans in Spain don’t seem to be very good.

How did you plan what attractions you were going to see?

Last year I was introduced to google itinerary as a teaching resource, but it made planning my travels so much easier. I researched what attractions I wanted to see and just dropped a pin on the map. The map is saved to your google drive and you can access it the my maps app on your phone. This meant I had a visual representation of where everything I wanted to see was located so I could plan my days accordingly.

I also used the google trips app. It picks up your destinations from your gmail. Then for each place you can see popular attractions, hours, ratings and reviews. It even has pre formulated day trips. For bigger cities it also  has a section about emergency numbers etc. You can also find attractions nearby to you using your location.

So any other tips?

Invest in your luggage. Do your research about what is going to be easiest for you. For me it was a 70L backpack from Kathmandu that had two wheels on the bottom. This would’ve retailed new for around $500 NZD but I managed to find one on trademe for $150. It’s previous owner had just completed a six month round the world trip with it and it’s still going strong. It also came with a handy matching daypack that could clip to the front. If you’re going to use a suitcase, get one with four wheels. It will make life so much easier when moving across cities.

A down puffer jacket is your best friend. I had never owned one before this trip. I purchased one from Macpac on clearance before I left but somehow lost it in Bristol. I then went to Cotswold and bought a Jack Wolfskin jacket. It was a bit pricey but worth every cent. It’s light, can pack down small, and keeps you nice and cosy in sub zero temperatures. It’s like wearing a sleeping bag. I learned very quickly that a Kathmandu or Macpac puffer jacket is the uniform for kiwis and aussies traveling abroad. Which made for some great conversations.

Don’t be ashamed of your selfie stick or tripod. You might think it’s a bit cringe to be using a selfie stick or a tripod to take photos of yourself. But the reality is that there might not be always people around you to take a photo of you or know how to use your camera. It seems fairly commonplace to use selfie sticks in Europe anyway.

Learn some basic phrases of the language. Locals love it when you put effort into speaking their language. It also means you don’t come across as an arrogant English speaker. Things like hello, please, thank you, goodbye, how to order a coffee are super helpful. You can do this by practicing on Duolingo, having another type of phrasebook app on your phone or a physical phrasebook. People tend to be nicer to you if you show that you’re willing to learn their language.

Embrace your freedom. This is an amazing opportunity. Do whatever the hell you want, when you want. The only person you have to answer to is yourself. If you feel tired and want a sleep in, go for it. If you want to plan a day trip trying to find filming locations from your favorite film, do it. You’re free to be you and live your dream.

[kiwifrancophile]

Bonjour

Well hello there... It’s been a while.

For all those that are new around here I’m Heather, a 22 year old from Auckland, New Zealand. Yes, New Zealand. The land of sheep, hobbits, Lorde, and the long white cloud.

I’ve decided to restart my tumblr to document my adventures while I move to France in September 2017 to be an English language assistant in the Academie de Versailles.

So why did I decide to apply to be a language assistant? Well, for those who know me already know that I’m actually a qualified Secondary school French teacher. During my training last year I came to the realization that I was stupidly young, had no life experience, and hadn’t even been to France at that point. My original plan was to get a proper teaching job, work towards my full registration, then bugger off overseas. But towards the end of my GradDip I still didn’t feel like I was ready to be a full time French teacher. Between my best friend, who is currently living in Grenoble, and one of my supervisors, they convinced me that being an adult can wait, and the time was right for me to dive into the deep end and do the assistantship.

Now to continue the wait for my contract...

[kiwifrancophile]

Pre-GradDipTchg Thoughts

Now I’m not exactly new to the whole university thing but yet, less than 2 weeks till I start my new programme I’m starting to feel those pre-first day nerves. I’m still at the same university but I know this year is going to be completely different.

I feel like I’m starting over again, new campus, new courses in new subjects, new social networks. Gone are the days where I see my frenchy friends everyday and commiserate about assignments together. The cushy world I had as an Arts student is gone, now to start from the bottom as an Education student. 

So many questions are going through my head, will I make any friends? will I even like teaching? (I didn’t do the highly recommended school visit as part of my application) ,Will I get to and from the campus without crashing? Am I choosing the right path? The rational part of me says ‘yes, you will make friends, not that many people do teaching so it will be the same as French. Yes you will love teaching, you've been thinking about this since you were 16. No you won’t crash trying to get on at Gilles ave and crossing 3 lanes of traffic to get to the Shore, you did it when you first started driving, in the pouring rain’. The irrational part of me still keeps saying what if? 

The feeling that I’m stepping into the unknown and starting the rest of my life is over whelming but at the same time I’m excited to start this journey, go to all of the cute cafes in Mt Eden/Epsom, and see where this new chapter takes me

[kiwifrancophile]

Resurection

So I’ve decided to bring my tumblr back to life. I kinda forgot about it while I was travelling 14 months ago but now I'm (Hopefully) back. I'm also considering starting to blog about my journey into teaching and my future plans etc.... (yes it includes travelling) so watch this space, because the language loving, travel obsessed girl is back!!!!

[kiwifrancophile]

Grey skies make me miss the bright blue skies of paradise #newcaledonia #throwback #studyabroad #unc

[kiwifrancophile]

How I'm gonna feel after this weekend eating copious amonts of chocolate and hot cross buns. #easter #kira #cat #wearehavinghotxbunsfordinner

[kiwifrancophile]

I swear this country gets more patriotic over winning/losing sports finals than our actual national day #auckland #newzealand #blackcaps (à Queen Street, Auckland)

[kiwifrancophile]

what your foreign language study says about you

spanish: you are trying to fulfill a requirement

french: you run a hipster blog and are far too defensive of the french language

latin: you value academia very highly but you value dick jokes more

ancient greek: like latin except you also hate yourself

old english: you care way too much about lord of the rings

russian: you are russian

italian: you are a naïve, romantic writer and you want to be a wine connoisseur (when you turn 21)

german: you are an intellectual overachiever who carries a heavy burden of existential angst

finnish: you just really like grammar for some reason

[kiwifrancophile]

2 weeks ago a girl who was in the same year as me at school had a baby and today another girl got engaged.

Seriously people, go live first. 

I can't imagine getting married right now, I've only been 20 for a week. I have to go to Europe and travel first before any hint of marriage and babies can happen.

[simpleflaw]

Daily uploads here! :)