La Cantine

Because I live at the school, I also eat in the cafeteria. It's like being in college all over again, but I must say that BC could certainly rival the quality of the food served here. I would love to avoid stereotypes, but that of the French loving baguettes and cheese is just too true. Baguettes are served with every meal and cheese is a part of every lunch and dinner. The baguettes, however, do not live up to the standards of the famed French bread and thus I will have to wait for the weekends, when meals are not provided, in order to taste the real deal.

I don't know if I've mentioned this already, but I'm working at a high school where students also have the option of living there. I guess the public school system in France works differently in that you don't have to go to your neighborhood school. There are kids from out-of-town who come here to study and live. Some stay only during the week and go home on the weekends; others stay all the time and only go home for the holidays. There is a group of students from Morocco, for example. I've met a few Moroccan girls and honestly they've been the nicest students I've met so far.

At the same time, many of the students at this high school are technically done with high school and are now pursuing further studies...but it's not the same thing as college. Too complicated to try to address it in this one post, but anyway, I've met four classes so far, all boys except for one girl, because they are all BTS students and thus technology-mechanics focused. They're sweet but as teenage boys are want to be, they talk a lot, are flirts, and make it very clear in their body language when they're bored out of their minds. God help me.

You know, another thing I've noticed is that teachers are much better paid here than in the US. At least that's my impression, based on the teachers' homes I have visited. Perhaps this is a less expensive area (the real estate signs I've seen indicate homes ranging from 150,000-300,000 euros) but I am amazed by their standard of living. Perhaps this is a too-quickly drawn conclusion, so I will write back if I find out more.

Off to lunch! à la cantine! In order to push through swarms of students...teachers have the right to cut the line and weirdly enough, that means me too!