Feel free to groan at the title, but for me I don't think it will ever get old...
Anyway, hello everyone, and welcome, finally, to my blog. It has taken me nearly a month to get around to writing this post. It's my birthday today, and I decided it was high time to get it all going. I hope that from now on I'll manage to keep you all informed of my activities here in Bitche, which if you don't know, is in the Lorraine region of France. It's very close to Germany – we are a mere 15km from the border. Belgium and Luxembourg are also relatively close. I have yet to make a proper excursion into Deutschland – I don't think visiting a supermarket and a designer factory outlet park really counts, although I did eat some Currywurst…
I've been settling in well, and despite Bitche being very quiet, the time seems to be passing very quickly! Next week I don't need to go to work, as we have the Toussaint (all saints) holidays, for a week and a half. And I feel like I've barely started!
Yes, Bitche is very quiet, although it is bigger than I expected. It is a small town with a population of roughly 6,000, and is rather isolated, especially if, like me, you don't have a car. It is dominated by the citadelle which sits on a mound in the centre (go look at the little picture, top right). The nearest big cities are Strasbourg, which is the capital of the neighbouring Alsace region, and Metz which is the capital of Lorraine. I have been to beautiful Strasbourg many times now, despite it taking 1½-2 hours on the train. There are many students there, as there are three universities, and I have successfully sought out some francophone friends of my own age. I shall make a special post on Strasbourg to tell you all about the place at a later date. I'm meeting up with some of my new Strasbourgeois friends tomorrow night, which I suppose shall serve as my de-facto birthday celebration for now.
Right, I think that's enough for now. I think I'm going to go and revise some new vocabulary I've accumulated over the past few days…
Bonne soirée à tous!
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