So This Is It.

     After months of waiting, I FINALLY found out I've been accepted as an English teaching intern for the Académie de Poitiers. I'm going back to France. I can't believe it. My last night in Paris I remember dying, wondering when I would ever be able to come back. That was less than a year ago.
      Every year the French government hires hundreds of native English speakers from all over the world (mostly the US, but some from England, New Zealand, Australia, etc.) to come teach English in their public schools. As a French teaching major and English teaching minor, this is a PERFECT opportunity for me. My program is 9 months long, the kids' whole academic year. I'll start the beginning of October. Poitiers is in the southern part of la valée de la loire. It's been said that in the Loire you can find the purest form of French culture. I'm not so sure what that means, but I guess we'll find out....
     I just finished a class, Eng 378, teaching literature to adolescents. This doesn't seem terribly applicable to having a room full of 9-year-old French kids who don't care anything about Young Adult Literature in English, but oh, it is. It's a class a lot of English majors take right before they begin their student teaching. So we talk about lesson planning, openers, exit strategies, and some classroom management. Seriously, it was hard for me to contain my enthusiasm at times, and I just wanted to jump out of my chair and scream, "I can't freaking wait!" This is not socially acceptable behavior at BYU.
     I still haven't been assigned to a specific school/s or city. I may not be in the city of Poitiers, since I've just been assigned to that general region so far. But I think the chances are pretty high that I will be in the city of Poitiers, since other than that, the cities in the region are little-ity-bity. A friend who served his mission there told me that there is a small branch- only 15-20 people. And nobody close to my age. But Poitiers is a college town. Actually the Université de Poitiers is the second oldest university in France. So many adventures await!!!
     The crazy hunt for my passport, birth certificate, airfare, course contracts, random paperwork, lesson plans, visa, criminal records, blood type, and personal preference of cheese continues.