last post from chauny and what's next for me

I'm currently sitting at La Rotonde writing my last blog post from Chauny. How crazy is that? I cannot believe it. I've been saying goodbye to my friends and students. A lot of people are under the impression that this is just goodbye for the year and that they'll see me again come la rentree (beginning of the new school year), and I have to correct them.

The rest of my last weekend in Chauny went well. Saturday, Emily and I went to St. Quentin for the afternoon. We wandered around the town, perused the shops, and grabbed a Coke. A nice afternoon if you ask me. Afterwards, we returned to Chauny for drinks, dinner, and crumble! Yum!

Sunday, I packed up my entire room. Okay, so I pretty much packed a bit and then sat around forever feeling defeated. How do I accumulate so much crap?? I swear, this year, I did not buy that much clothes. In the end, Claude is my savior because he is keeping so much of my stuff at his place. I'm so lucky to have him!

Today, I said goodbye to the TGM, my favorite students. I adore them so much. I'm sure with their lack of motivation, I may very well be seeing some of them next year if I pop in for a visit. Some of them even said that they'd just see me again next year when I returned so this wasn't really goodbye. I had to inform them that I won't be an assistant there next year. No one understands that. My favorite student ran up to me to give me the bise. LOL. So cute. And then I reminded him that he'd still be seeing me at dinner.

I also received a beautiful flower and letter from a very sweet TS student (I didn't have him this year, but I had him the two years before). I don't know how well this is going to travel, but I'll try.

Tonight, I'm saying goodbye to the students who live there and some more of the surveillants including dear sweet A.

Tomorrow, Claude is driving me to the train station where I will say goodbye to him and to Chauny.

So what's next? Well, this summer, I will be spending 3 weeks with Vero in Aix-en-Provence before heading over to Poitiers where I will be studying for 6 weeks.

What does this mean for the blog? Is this the end of the Chaunoise? Well, it occurred to me recently that I never posted about my plans for next year. At first, I didn't want to jinx them, and then I forgot I never shared. I will be a lectrice d'anglais (English lecturer... basically same thing as now but with more responsibility and university students) at the Universite de Valenciennes. So this Chaunoise is moving further dans le Nord (North)! Either to Valenciennes or Lille.

So you have not heard the end of me, not for a long shot.