Laura Evans, 03 July 2009
As I sit here trying to formulate a vaguely interesting article whilst watching Roger Federer take another opponent to the slaughter, it dawns on me that two years of my university life have not so much as flown by, but more stomped and marched by. I take this as both a blessing and a curse. Firstly, I am in no way prepared to venture into the world of work, which is what many of my friends will be doing next year. For the latter, I have to spend a period of residence in France next year for which I feel totally unprepared.
When I chose my course of English Language and French all that time ago at Sixth Form, it seemed relatively simple that I would be travelling abroad in my third year. “Two years”, I thought, “I will definitely be fluent by the time I go to France. No problem.” This is currently the assumption of many of my friends and it is soul-crushing when their GCSE standard French challenges my degree level of the language. Or, (I keep telling myself this) it is simply a lack of self-confidence.
Throughout my second year there have been Residence Abroad meetings in abundance: study abroad, fulfil a work placement or work as an English Language Assistant (ELA). I chose the latter as another year at university did not appeal to me, especially in French, and the work placement seemed a ridiculous challenge. I am a person who has an unfortunate tendency to stress (and stress to the highest degree) about everything and anything so choosing the easiest option was pure common sense.
The application procedure was completed before Christmas 2008 and I heard last month that I have been situated in my first choice académie of Dijon. So far so good. The panic then ensues for me as I will (like many other ELA’s at this present time) be notified of the school, where I will be based, at any point from now until late September. To be honest, late September isn’t exactly what I had in mind; I start work at the beginning of October.
On a positive and organised note, my Erasmus contract has been completed, Student Finance dealt with and health and travel insurance purchased. It is now a case of studying the local area, write lists of key vocabulary, formulate lesson plans and materials and, once I know where my school is, book travel, open a bank account and discover my digs.
It is all very well reading previous assistants’ blogs and helpful hints but how am I going to do it? Oh look, it’s my lack of confidence surfacing again. The stress levels will soon be on the way up again.
Despite writing and thinking like this, I already know what the outcome of next year is going to be: I loved it. Best year of my life. So what was all the fuss about?