IKEA, Un Château, Fromage

Today started with a trip to IKEA! Yes, this is exciting - especially since this is only the second time that I have ever been in one. Got quite excited and bought quite a few useless things. They very much brighten up the apartment, and it really is beginning to feel like home.

I am lucky enough to have not only my parents here to visit, but also friends living in Caen...and my responsable (the person who is in charge of me for the year) has been so helpful and nice. Met her face to face for the first time today, and thankfully she is as lovely in person as she was via email. Have now seen the place that I will be working for the year, and it is great. The school itself has just been renovated recently, so there are a lot more resources than what I had been led to believe. Although very modern, the school itself is completely different to English schools - anyone could just walk in, with no visitors pass and no gates to stop people coming in. Or for that matter, children going out. The thing that I found the strangest was the fact that none of the children wear uniforms, and the dress code for teachers is a lot less formal than that of English schools.

Did manage to mix up telling the time while attempting to talk to the vice-principal of the school though.

After briefly seeing the old quarter yesterday, my parents and I decided that we would all like to see more of it. Caen has a lot of cathedrals and churches dotted around. Went to another museum - this one was La Musée de Normandie, pretty much a tour of everything from the Mesolithic period onwards. We then went on to another exhibition centre...who knew that Chantilly Lace was primarily made in Normandy? All rather interesting if you have geekish tendencies.

This was followed by a meal at Maître Corbeau, a restaurant dedicated entirely to cooking with cheese. Cue cheese fondue! Will definitely be returning.