Jour de Congé .....

The weather is so glorious today, I'm making the most of it sitting outside with strawberries and a good old fashioned English cup of tea!


Today I have a "jour de congé" (a day off) as I did a full shift on Sunday. The shift went surprisingly well, as it was the first time I'd been left by myself for an actual full shift, but everything went well; I did my work, the guests arrived as planned and I manage to deal with everything. The only minor blip was when the taxi arrived WITHOUT the guy it was supposed to be picking up ... when I spoke to the driver, he was like, "oh I waited for 10 mins, then I left." So I had to try and track down the whereabouts of this guy, without much luck! I found out yesterday he had missed the plane and arrived on Monday instead of Sunday - crisis averted!


Two new stagiaires also arrived on Sunday, as I mentioned in the last blog. The are both really nice, both French speaking, but one of them wants to practise her English so we do a bit of both. It's nice having other people around in the villa, both nights so far we have been up til the early hours chatting and playing French Trivial Pursuit which surprisingly I won, although I was given QUITE A LOT of help!


Today I've also managed to open a bank account with the Banque Postale, which was nice and simple are all the confusion I had in banks last week; as far as I know the Banque Postale is the only place that do short-term accounts as I was turned away everywhere else. I'm pleased that's (almost) up and running, as I'm due to get paid soon. Apparently it has to be assessed at Grenoble first to get the okay, but the woman said there shouldn't be any problems.


Hmm, I don't really know what to do with myself for the rest of the day ...  the girls are at work until later tonight, I'm the only one lazing about! I'm done everything I needed to this morning. I also went to H&M and treated myself to a new pair of pants and sunglasses, which I'm wearing now and just realised I've left the price sticker on - 12.95 sticker, not very chic :)  Oh I do plan on booking my rail tickets tonight for when I go to Chateauroux to spend Easter with Andreas - I even managed to change my rota around for next month so I have 5 consecutive days in a row off woop! Can't wait!


Now time for a little laze sous le soleil ... 

Ducks like Mustard-Flavoured Crisps

Wow, it has been ages since I last did a blog! Since moving back into the villa I've had no internet access, and this last week I've just been working non-stop! So now on this gorgeously sunny Saturday afternoon, from my comfy wicker chair overlooking the lake, I can finally write the latest!

I think the first thing to write about is the wonderful time I had last week with my lovely Andreas. On the Friday, I successfully managed to bus it all the way from Annecy to Geneva (with the buses the way they are here I consider that an achievement in itself) and got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. After waiting an hour or so, being hassled by an insane Scottish lady and almost killed by a child whizzing around the terminal on a scooter, I finally met Andreas as he came out at arrivals. Typically of course he was the last one! It was so great to see him, to see a familiar face at last! We had a big cuddle and after a wander around the shops in the airport, we were back on the bus.

Our weekend together was absolutely blissful. We did lots of walking together, shopping, and eating - perfect! Annecy itself was already pretty lively; the whole weekend, there was a Venetian festival on, basically people walking around all dressed up masquerade-like, which was interesting. i'm not really sure why they chose Annecy to have a Venetian festival, there must be some link ... either way it was pretty interesting to see. On Saturday we went to the most gorgeous little bistro called Le Regann, where we had the most delicious lunch, and befriended some tourists who were visiting from Dijon. After exploring the shops and lazing in the sun, we stopped off for a Quick burger and walked back to Les Pensieres.

Wandering around Annecy ... 

Sunday was definitely my favourite day. Pretty much everything is shut on Sundays here so the day before we went to the supermarket to get some things for a picnic, so after a lovely lazy morning, we headed out to find the perfect spot to have our picnic - thanks to Andreas, who insisted we try a different direction (I'm clueless with directions even with a map, so once I've found one route somewhere, I tend to stick to it!) we found the most gorgeous little spot on a little wooden jetty, secluded from the road and the traffic, and right on the lake. It was wonderful, I took some pictures but still need to upload them! We even befriended a few ducks who took a liking to our mustard crisps, one of which even jumped up onto the pier and tried to steal them from us! We spent the pretty much the whole afternoon there, fattening up the ducks and lazing in the sun. Blissful!

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Andreas' new best friend, Pierre the duck.

Monday came around all too quickly, Andreas didn't want to leave and I didn't want him to go! After getting him on the bus in the morning, I had to go straight to work, which was rubbish after the wonderful weekend we'd just had! I plan to go and stay with him over the Easter holidays, as I have a few consecutive days off again and plan to make the most of it!

This week at work I feel like I've made quite a lot of progress. I've worked really hard this week, done a lot of hours and even extra overtime. There have been a lot of conferences this week, the biggest being one yesterday for GlaxoSmithKline, so I was running around like a headless chicken, showing people to their rooms, organising taxis, sorting keys and food arrangements. I feel like now they have given me a lot more responsibility and more complex tasks to do, but I am up for the challenge! I feel more like an actual staff member rather than just a student there. I enjoy the job, and although it is challenging and there's lots of stuff to do, time passes really quickly. I also feel my French has improved too, and my English skills always come in handy too - during another conference last week, I was stopped by a French guy who asked me which university I was at in Newcastle - it turned out he had done a year at Northumbria, and knew all about Geordies and life in the toon - it was nice to be reminded of home, even from someone who wasn't even English!

Today has been a lovely, less hectic and a bit more of a peaceful day compared to last week. I've again been into Annecy, where again there is some sort of festival going on, this time circus-themed, with parades and stuff. Even now, I can still hear and see it going on across the lake. I'm making the most of having a quiet day today as I'm back at work again tomorrow, but this time I'm by myself on reception, welcoming some English-speaking clients arriving for yet another conference, and also there is another stagiaire arriving tomorrow so I will be welcoming her and showing her around. I'm looking forward to it, it will be nice to meet someone who is in the same boat as me, as so far I've been the only stagiaire! 

Bisous xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

What to do on a two hour lunch break??

Another Monday has come around already! This week has flown by pretty quickly. I'm writing this on my 2 hour lunch break, as I'm not really sure what else to do with the time ... it took me about 20 mins to eat my dinner! Today I had to move my stuff back across to the villa after staying in the hotel for the weekend, as there is huge 70 people conference on all week and there will be someone using that room. STILL don't have the lock fixed, but I know they are working on it. I don't mind being in the villa so much now, especially since the nights are getting brighter and I don't have to stumble my way there in the dark after a long day's graft! The only problem is, I don't have an internet connection there, so I'm thinking of heading into town later this week to try and get one set up - since I got here, I've been using Les Pensieres' connection, but unfortunately it doesn't stretch wide enough to be picked up at the villa ...grr!

This morning has been pretty good, I've made up the weekly bouquets, (although my hands are now stained yellow from the pollen) written the menus for today's group's lunch, and throughout have been showing arriving guests to their rooms. Everything is going pretty well, and I feel quite a lot more settled in to the job. I've already learnt loads!

My weekend was good too; after a hectic full week last week, once again it was nice to have some time to myself to chill and relax and do some things in English! On Saturday I braved the buses for the first time - they are worse than Arriva, there is about one every hour or so but they are so erratic the timetable doesn't make any sense ... I waited at the bus stop for about 20 mins  before one eventually came along. I took it to the Gare Routiere, the station in Annecy, which has a huge shopping centre that somehow before I'd failed to notice, so I spent the afternoon wandering around there, it was nice to see some familiar shops! I got some groceries and a new bag, and also treated myself to a kettle for my room, so now I can drink all the herbal tea I like .... I'm easily pleased I know :) 

On Sunday I spent a day just lying around haha ... feels like I haven't done that in so long. I watched a movie, did some washing and Skyped, not very interesting haha.

I'm also counting down the days until I see my lovely Andreas, who is coming on Friday to stay with me for the weekend before moving on to Limoges for a couple of months. I can't wait! I plan to go to Geneva to meet him, that is if I can co-ordinate these buses okay, otherwise he may be left stranded for a while ....

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Just call me Nurse Jennifer ...

It's Thursday, and I've had myself a well-deserved lie in and relaxing morning after the craziness of my workday yesterday!


As soon as I began work at 7.30am, the chaos began. Not a second after I'd put my foot through the door, my boss hurriedly explained to me that a guest staying at the hotel had just fallen down the stairs, and could I get some ice and towels. I ran into the kitchen to get the things then went to the room where the woman was resting. I've literally never done a bit of first-aid training ever, so was unsure of what to do, as her ankle was really swollen and she was in a lot of pain. After making her a bit more comfortable and applying the ice pack, we called for an ambulance, I brought her breakfast and informed her colleagues of what had happened. All this and it hadn't even hit 8am! After the paramedics arrived and she was taken to hospital, my boss said that I dealt with it very well and I was "super sympa avec elle." I felt really proud that I managed to handle it, despite my severe lack of any first-aid training and language barriers!


The rest of the morning was equally as hectic. As well as the accident, there were also 3 separate conferences going on at the same time, so I spent a lot of time replenishing the supplies in the room, welcoming people and creating menus for the lunches. After a couple of hours, the woman who fell came back after being checked out at the hospital, and I moved her things to a more accessible room, as she could not climb any stairs. 


When I finished at 2pm, I was utterly exhausted. I changed clothes, and decided to have a walk into Annecy to get a few things and chill out. After another shopping trip at Casino, I spent the afternoon sitting by the lake with a magazine and a little picnic, before heading back for a Desperate Housewives marathon and an early night! 


Now I'm well-rested, showered and ready to go again today, doing a 2pm-9pm shift - let's see what today throws at me!


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Back to work ...

So I'm back to work after a lovely weekend of exploring and relaxing. Although I am quite a social person, I'm really enjoying having more time to myself, going for walks and really taking in the atmosphere here, as silly as that sounds! 

Yesterday, I had planned to walk to the nearby park to chill in the sun with my magazine and iPod, but ended walking even further than I did on Saturday - I went into Annecy town centre properly. It's everything you'd stereotypically imagine an old French town to be like; lots of little windy streets, churches, old architecture, lots of little cafes and boutiques .... and I couldn't believe how busy it was, everyone was out enjoying the sun, it was gorgeous. Every cafe and ice cream shop for miles was open, with queues at each one. I managed to resist temptation and not buy a gigantic ice cream! (Although I made up the calories in pain au chocolat when I got back). Between walking there and back, and wandering around the town, I must have covered about 4 miles - my feet were killing when I got back! 

Today has been quite hectic. Unlike last week, when sometimes I was just sitting not knowing what to do, everyone had a job for me today. Time flew by pretty quickly! This morning I worked with one of the housekeepers to move around the beds in two different rooms; me + carrying a heavy mattress + stairs + high heels = a very precarious combination! Luckily we managed it without any accidents. Every Monday, the centre gets a delivery of fresh flowers, so after the mattress carry-on I made up some bouquets. It was just one thing after another today, but I prefer that, the day goes by a lot quicker when you're busy and you learn more. Tomorrow there is another conference happening, so I was doing lots of stuff to prepare for that; preparing the rooms, making rooms key etc. I feel that gradually they are trusting me to do more stuff, which is good. 

So now, I'm exhausted! I think a well deserved pain au chocolat is in order (definitely have to get more of those!) xxxxxxxx

Croissants for Breakfast

Woop the weekend is here! After three days of work, getting to know the ropes and constantly speaking French, I am free to relax! 

Today has been a really really good day. I was up bright and early, ready to take my first trip into Annecy town centre, as Les Pensieres is more on the outskirts, and there's not really THAT much to do around other than enjoy the beautiful scenery. I had asked Dorothee, my boss, yesterday if there were any buses that ran into the centre, as Paul, the guy who picked me up from Geneva on my first day, had told me that it was about an hour's walk away. It turned it out there were buses, and she gave me the timetable. So today I find the bus stop, check the times (though none of it made much sense, worse than the English ones) and wait ... and wait .... and wait ... for what seemed like ages (probably actually more like 20 mins.) Not even one bus had passed, so after a while I just thought sod it, I'll walk! It's been a beautiful day today, and it's an absolutely beautiful walk; Annecy and its suburbs are pretty much built around the perimeter of the humongous Lake Annecy, so I figured if I just keep to the lake I'll end up somewhere! 

After about 25 mins, I was in the town - maybe Paul is just a slow walker (to be fair, he is pretty old) but it wasn't as far away as I thought it was. I stopped for breakfast at a cafe, then continued towards the centre. I love the calmness of the lakeside; people jogging and lounging in the sun, children feeding the ducks, then the bustling town centre, with a Saturday market that I had a good nose around, and more shops. One of the reasons I had gone into Annecy was to find a supermarket to buy a few snacks to keep in my room, and, after much wandering and asking people for directions, I found one called "Casino" that turned out to be really expensive, but as I didn't really have much choice, picked up a few things from there - a bag of grapes was 4 euros 30! Worse than Waitrose! :P I managed to spend just under 20 euros on basically some crisps and brioche - definitely must find somewhere cheaper. 

After having a pizza for lunch I headed back to Les Pensieres, where I had to work for an hour to make sure some clients staying at the hotel checked out okay. I arrived back, changed into some smarter clothes, and waited for the guests to come down and check out, and make sure they got their taxi okay. It felt really good to handle it by myself, and everything went without a hitch. I locked up the reception, checked everything was off, and retired to my room in the hotel, where I'm staying for 2 nights, until they get the lock thing sorted on the other room. I've showered, and here I am now! Ready for a well deserved rest with a overpriced brioche :)

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Les Premieres Jours ...

Alors ... welcome to my blog (that hopefully I will keep up ) about my stay at Les Pensieres in Annecy. I'm a few days late in starting the blog, as this is already my third night here. Everything is going well so far, with a few minor blips I will explain later.


I was picked up at 7.30am by a edgy-looking Scottish taxi driver who talked to us the entire way to the aeroport about government conspiracies and revolution - not the ideal way to begin a day, my stomach was already doing enough flips about coming to Annecy, never mind thinking we were going to be kidnapped or worse by a bizarre taxi driver. After saying all my goodbyes to my lovely Andreas, I managed to get through security without getting beeped, woop! In the lounge, I totally did consider getting absolutely smashed at the "Bar de Voyageurs" but after much deliberation, decided against it. I successfully managed to board the flight, and leave the country, all by myself! Off to Annecy I go...


I was picked up at Geneva airport by a lovely elderly French man named Paul, who was holding a sign saying "Fondation Merieux," the company that I work for. When I saw it I got a quick flicker of disappoint that it didn't say, "Jennifer Davison" - I've always wanted someone to hold my name on a sign at the airport! Odd, but yeah.


Although Geneva city centre was heaving, soon we were on the much quieter autoroute, zooming past some of the most wonderful scenery I've ever seen; mountains sticking through clouds dusted with snow, blue sky, clear waters .. it was amazing. After about 30 minutes, we arrived at Les Pensieres, where I met all the staff and was shown to my room, well what I thought was my room ... but instead was actually an entire villa. Laurence, the woman who showed me to the place, explained that it they use the place to accommodate "les stagiaires" - like me, but at the moment, I am the only student here so I have the whole place to myself. At the time, I thought this was fine, but after a bit the reality began to sink in. I miss my family. I miss my Andreas. I miss my friends. I miss my life back in Newcastle already. Omg, I'm here for 5 whole months!!!


Things took a bit of a turn for the worse when I discovered my door doesn't have a lock on it. In fact, none of the doors in the entire building lock properly. I discovered this last night (Tues I pretty much crashed straight out) when the key Laurence had given me to lock the front door didn't work. I spent most of last night awake, paranoid that anyone could get in - after phoning my mam and Andreas, I took their advice and pushed a huge chest of drawers (under which I found the biggest dead spider in the world, urgh) in front of the door. 


So today, I am utterly shattered. I've just finished my second day at work, which is going very well; the staff are very friendly and accommodating, it's taken me a while to get accustomed to it all, as I've never worked in a hotel before. At the moment, I've not really done much, just getting to know the system and being shown the ropes, so hopefully soon I will really be able to get in the swing of things and do some proper work. I also mentioned to my mentor today about the room situation, so for tonight I am spending the night in one of the guest rooms in the hotel. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get my living situation sorted out properly. 


Thanks for reading this rabble :) xxx