I got the good news today--I was accepted into the French Teaching Assistant Program (sponsored by the French government) and I'm going to be going to France this fall!! Specifically north France in Rennes, which is the capital of the region Bretagne. (in the US we know it as Brittany)
And it keeps on getting better! I was also accepted into the Escadrille Louisiane, sponsored by CODOFIL and associated with the French Teaching Assistant Program, which means lots of awesome things. 1) I get to take graduate level courses at Centenary College in Shreveport for a month during the summer, which is paid for. Summer housing will also be free. 2) CODOFIL will fund my plane ticket to France and 3) they'll pay for me to take classes at a university in Rennes along with having some supplemental classes from Centenary over Skype. It's a really amazing opportunity, all in all the only things I'll have to worry about paying for is my food and housing while I'm in France and I'll be receiving a salary for my work there!
I feel incredibly lucky. Especially considering that this will be my second time living in France. The first I lived in Aix-en-Provence and studied at l'Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) there during my junior year of college. I am much more familiar with the French language then the Chinese one and since I've had the opportunity to live there before I don't anticipate that I'll have very many problems becoming accustomed once again to the lifestyle: la vie quotidienne!
After being disappointed by the news from Fulbright and the JET Program I finally feel fortunate again. I don't plan on making a career out of teaching but I feel that starting off in this position and with my various experiences abroad I will have many advantages to do something spectacular.
