TA Freetime Activities

Whether its actually teaching courses, APEs or preparing lessons, as a TA in Deauville, a lot of our time is taken up by school. When we do get some free time, there are some activities to choose from in town, like Zumba class, choir, volleyball, walking on the beach, etc. However, I think the best opportunity we have here in our free time, would be the four two-week breaks spread throughout the school year.

Over these breaks, I have tried to maximize my time here by traveling. Since most weekends I spend in Deauville, with the exception of day trips in Normandy and time in Paris, I make sure to travel a greater distance for the two-week breaks. Traveling from Deauville usually means taking a train to Paris and from there connecting to other modes of transportation to continue the journey. The following are the trips I have taken so far.

October
Our first break I spent traveling in London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Galway. Despite having only been out of the USA for a couple months, it was still strange to walk around and hear people speaking English. I used pretty much the entire two weeks to travel around the United Kingdom and Ireland, trying to take day trips into the countryside when possible. When I got back, it was difficult returning to school, since I had not taken much time to actually relax. I recommend in the future making sure you have a couple of days in Deauville to rest before starting up at school again.

Connemara Day Trip from Galway, Ireland.

Cliffs of Moher in Ireland

December
The second break of the school year was around Christmas, and instead of going home to Kentucky, I decided to travel to Munich, Vienna, Prague and Budapest. I decided that, for me, it was more important to travel as much as I could while here, than to spend the money on a flight home. This was a great time of year to travel to Germany, Austria the Czech Republic and Hungary. In each of the cities they had Christmas Markets set up, so despite not being home for Christmas, I felt like I was still getting to celebrate it. I was in Vienna for Christmas, and chose to spring for a nice hotel, instead of my usual hostel, since I would be alone for the Holidays. I definitely felt homesick, but it was actually a lovely way to spend Christmas if I couldn't be at home. I came in and out of the hotel the whole day, alternating between art museums, palaces, cathedrals and FaceTiming my family at our various Christmas events. It was hard traveling through the Holidays, but I met a lot of great people along the way, and the adventures I had were well worth missing one Kentucky Christmas.

Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany

February
The February break marked the halfway point of our time here in France. We were all fortunate to have loved ones visiting us over this break. My older sister met me in Paris, where we stayed for a couple of days before heading to Italy. We went to Rome, Florence and Venice, before coming back to stay in Deauville so I could show her around Normandy. It was a lot of fun to be able to show someone from home my little world over here, and to have her try all the French foods I love. It was hard to say goodbye, but not too bad, since we had turned the corner on our time here.

Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy

Le Mont Saint Michel

In a month, we will have our final two-week vacation. After that we have a couple of long weekends, and then it will be summer and we will head back to America. For my last hurrah traveling around Europe, I will be going to Spain, Morocco and Portugal. I have not planned the long weekends yet, but I am thinking I will explore more of France.

Even though most of my time here revolves around school, I am so grateful to have those long vacations to explore Europe. Taking the time, energy and funds to do so can be overwhelming, but I have not regretted one trip. When I leave for the summer I can go satisfied with my time here and its balance of work and adventure. My advice to future TAs is to seek those adventures when you can, because we have been given the unique opportunity that allows us to do so.