Italy

As mentioned in the post about places to see, Italy is one you should definitely not miss. I spent my Toussaint break there seeing quite a lot. Here are some notes about the places i traveled:

• Milan - There is not much to see in Milan, with one huge exception: The Duomo. I feel a trip to Milan would be worth it, if only to see the Duomo.
• Lake Como - This is a beautiful lake north of Milan that's actually in the Alps. We took a boat ferry up the lake to the beautiful little town of Bellagio. Lake Como is definitely worth a visit, if you have the time.
• Florence - This was my favorite city in Italy. The Duomo is incredible, the Leather Market is really fun to look through, the museums are great... it's just a great city! Pay the 11€ and see the David, you won't regret it. It's huge. While in Florence, we took a winery tour that also had olive oil and wine tasting which was great. We also took a cooking class out in the Tuscan countryside which was a lot of fun. There are a lot of opportunities like this available in Florence, just take a look online. If you want a good hostel, stay at Danyhouse. It's a bit north of the city center, but it is a great time. It's a very small intimate hostel.
  
• Rome - Can't see Italy without going to Rome! Rome can be overwhelming though, it is a huge city. It is also rather expensive. My recommendation would be to stay in Rome for only a couple days (2 or 3) and see the main sights, then get out. That way you don't spend too much money. In my opinion the must see sights are the Vatican Museum (includes the Sistine Chapel - I recommend getting a guided tour), the Colosseum, the Pantheon (free!), and the Borghese Gallery.
• Naples - The city of Naples itself doesn't have much to see, and is not the best place for women traveling alone to visit. However, it did make a great base point for 2 amazing visits - Pompeii, and Capri. Take a tour of Pompeii, it is incredible. It is much bigger than I had originally imagined, and so much is still intact! Capri (pronounced CA-pri, I got corrected a lot for saying it like the short pants) is probably the most beautiful place I've been to in my entire life. The water is very... blue, and clear. You MUST see the Blue Grotto. It costs about 21€ and you only get about 5 minutes inside it, but it is extremely worth the price. It's basically a huge cavern, and the majority of the entrance to the cavern is underwater, so the water is lit, but not the air, giving it the blue effect that gave it its name. We also took a hike around the back side of the island and had some of the most beautiful views of cliffs, rock formations, and the ocean I've ever seen! We didn't make it down to the Amalfi coast, but we have also been told that it is a worthwhile trip as well. Even though Naples did not have much to see itself, the pizza and pastries were cheap and delicious!
  

My favorite parts of the trip were Capri, Pompeii, and Florence. I didn't make it to Venice, but my parents have been there before and loved it.


Here is some practical information about Italy:

Trains
There are a couple different train options available in Italy. The first is the Eurostar (not linked to the one that connects Paris and London) trains. These are the fast, nice, comfortable, and expensive trains in Italy. Fares between Naples and Florence, Florence and Rome, Rome and Naples all run around 40€ a piece. The second is the Intercity or Intercity Plus trains which also run between the main cities in Italy, but are less comfortable, less nice, and also less expensive. Instead of 40€ each way, it's only 20€. They have a few more stops between each city, whereas the Eurostar trains go non-stop between major cities. The train rides aren't very long, around 2 hours between each of the main cities on the Intercity and only about 1h30m on the Eurostar. Reservations are necessary, but you can book your reservations shortly before the train leaves and have a seat no problem.

Public Transportation
There are metros in Rome, Milan, and Naples, but they aren't very extensive. There are a lot of bus services in the cities, but they can be very confusing. Usually ask someone working at the hostel which buses to take, they tend to know the bus routes pretty well.

Restaurants
Like in France, the tip is usually included in restaurants. You can't get free water, you have to pay for bottled water. There are strange rules about when you get bread and when you don't. We think you may need to get a pasta dish, but we never quite figured it out. Overall the service is very good in restaurants.

Around Normandy

There are some sights around Normandy that you will definitely want to try to see before you leave. Here are some of the highlights:

• Caen - You will definitely be spending time in Caen. Other assistants that you meet live there. Probably the coolest part about Caen is the Abbaye aux Hommes. Take a tour of it, it's very cool. There are great restaurants and overall it's a nice city to walk around.
• D-Day Beaches - This is a day trip that you can not miss while you're here. The 3 main sights are Omaha Beach, the American Cemetery, and Pointe du Hoc. They are all absolutely breathtaking. Pointe du Hoc is a point between Omaha and Utah beaches where you can see both of them on a clear day. All of the holes caused by mortar shells are still in place, as are some of the German bunkers. There isn't very good public transit access here. I would recommend either renting a car, or taking a tour leaving from Caen or Bayeux.
• Mont Saint Michel - This is an absolute must. Some professors will offer to take you. The public transportation options are easy from Pontorson, but not from Vire. Again it's easiest to get to with a car. Take a tour of the Abbey at the top - the English tour guide is great. One of the French ones however... not so great (and not because it was in French), so look for the English one if possible.
• Saint Malo - You can take a train to Saint Malo. This is a walled city about a half hour west of Mont Saint Michel, actually in Brittany. It's very picturesque, and it sits right next to the ocean. It's definitely worth the day trip. There are tons of really cool souvenir shops as well.
• Honfleur - I have never been there and likely will not make it, but you can take the Busverts buses there, it is supposed to be beautiful. I have heard positive reviews from many other assistants. It's on the ocean northeast of Caen.

And make sure you drink plenty of Cidre! It is quite delicious and local to the area. If you are brave, you can try the apple brandy Calvados, for which our département is named.

Flying in Europe

Flying out of Paris
Air Travel is the best option for going some place where taking a train is just not convenient, such as Spain, Italy, etc. And we're lucky that Europe has many discount airlines available. There are 2 main airports in Paris -

• Charles de Gaulle is a monstrosity (it covers 6 towns). It is difficult to get to, and also difficult to get around. If you are flying out of Charles de Gaulle , give yourself PLENTY of time to get there and get to your terminal/gate. The easiest way to get there if you have a lot of luggage is by taking an Air France bus directly from Montparnasse. It costs around 16€ one way, or 25€ round-trip. The RER is a pain in the ass if you have a lot of luggage because it tends to be crowded and there are hardly any escalators in the metros. However, if you are traveling light, the RER is the easiest and fastest option. RER costs just under 9€ one-way.
  
• Orly, on the other hand, is much simpler. It is divided into 2 large terminals, though these terminals are quite a bit easier to get around than in those at CDG. Orly is also easier to get to - my recommendation is the OrlyBus, which goes from the Denfert-Rochereau Metro/RER stop (only 3 metro stops from Montparnasse) to Orly in about 30 minutes, and it's cheaper than the RER. The Orlybus costs around 7€. Also, there are Air France buses that go directly from Montparnasse to Orly that cost around 10€ one-way, or 16€ round trip.
  

Easyjet
The best discount airline by far is Easyjet (www.easyjet.com). They fly to most major destinations out of Paris (Mostly from Orly, but some also go from Charles de Gaulle). I flew round trip to Barcelona for 65€. It's important to remember that they charge around 10€ per bag (for each flight) to check in, and are strict about only having one carry-on bag. Also note that the baggage weight limit is 20kg, and they charge somewhere around 10€ per kilo in addition. However, you can purchase extra weight when you book your flight for much less than you'd be charged in the airport proper. Seats are not assigned in the plane, and you get no free food or drinks, but the flights are never too long so it tends not to be a problem.

Ryanair
Ryanair is the devil, which is why I put it in red letters. It is extremely attractive because their fares are DIRT CHEAP. For a round trip ticket, you will pay anywhere from 1€ to 30€ for the fare, and then an additional 30€-40€ in taxes. I flew to Italy for 20€ one-way. But, here are extra things they will charge you for:

• Baggage, around 15€ per bag per flight
• Heavy Baggage - the maximum weight is 15kg, which if you have a barely-filled large suitcase, will exceed 15 kg. They charge 15€ per kilo extra for bags weighing more than 15kg. A friend of mine who was traveling around Europe had a 25kg bag. So the flight cost 30€, but she had to pay 150€ in extra charges for her heavy bag

And the thing that makes Ryanair such an inconvenience is the fact that they never fly into major airports. They fly out of Beauvais Airport. Where is Beauvais? About an hour and a half north of Paris. The bus ride is 13€ each way. Every airport that it flies to is also about an hour to an hour and a half outside of the city, costing you another 10€-13€ bus ride. In addition, the majority of their flights leave before 9am, or after 9pm. Let's say you have a flight from Paris at 8am. You have to take a bus that leaves Paris 3 hours before, at 5am. That means that you have to leave Vire the night before, and stay in a hostel. What time does the metro start in Paris? 5:30 am. What's the only way to get to the bus-stop? Taxi. How much will a taxi cost you? Anywhere between 15€-25€. Needless to say,Ryanair is a headache. You may say to yourself "Oh well, I'll handle it, it's so cheap!" but you'll be kicking yourself later.

Schengen Zone
It is very easy to travel throughout the Schengen Zone, it's just like traveling from New York to New Jersey - there is no border control or passport check. Note that if you leave the Schengen zone, (such as going to the UK or Ireland) you will have to go through passport control upon arrival and return. The following map shows the Schengen Zone in dark blue.

Very Fast Trains

The French railway system (SNCF - Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer) is one of the fastest and most extensive railway systems in the world. You can get to anywhere in France from Paris in no more than about 5 hours. Make sure the first thing you do when you arrive in France is to buy a Carte 12-25 to give you reductions on all of your train travel. You will be very familiar with the Corail Intercités train services that go between Paris and Vire, but when you want to go somewhere else, most likely you'll be taking a TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse). These trains are inhumanly fast, zooming at speeds of 300-320 km/hr (about 186-200 mph). These trains connect all of the major cities in France, most of them directly to Paris. In addition to the TGVs, there are a few other high-speed train services to know about. All of these trains are TGVs, but they are operated by different companies:

Eurostar - This train only has 2 routes - London to Paris, and London to Brussels. It takes advantage of the Chunnel. Travel time between Paris and London is only 2h15m! And between London and Brussels, 1h55m. It is important to note that it is MUCH cheaper to purchase a round trip ticket than 2 one-way tickets. In fact, A one-way ticket is about as much expensive as a round-trip ticket. Make sure you book early!!! The earlier you book your ticket, the less expensive it will cost. If you book at least two months in advance, it is possible to get a fare for around 70€ round-trip. www.eurostar.com












Thalys - These trains go from Paris to Brussels and continue to either Amsterdam, Brugges, or Cologne, Germany. Travel time to Brussels is an unbelievable 1 hour and 20 minutes, but the high-speed lines stop there, so it goes at a more "normal" train speed beyond Brussels. Travel time to Amsterdam is about 4 hours. However, this travel time is likely to be reduced to 3 hours within the next year (according to wikipedia, end of 2009) because a high-speed line will be opening between Brussels and Amsterdam. Like with the Eurostar, Book Early! The prices will be cheaper the earlier you book. Also, if you find yourself with a little extra cash, consider going in Comfort 1 (First Class). We booked about 3 months in advance, and we got first class for only 20€ more on the return part of the trip. It's well worth it, as they serve you a (good) meal and the seats are huge. There is also Wi-Fi available in the train (for a fee, though it's free in Comfort 1). www.thalys.com











ICE - This is the German version of the TGV, and there are ICE trains that go between Paris and Frankfurt.















All TGVs (Eurostar, Thalys, and ICE included) require a reservation. Reservations for all of these trains can be made at the website www.voyages-sncf.com. This website is only in French, but it gives you the best discount options available. For receiving your tickets, you can either print them, retrieve them in a ticket machine at a station, or have them mailed to you for free. I usually prefer to have them mailed to me.

I am cautious about Rail Passes. If you plan on buying one, make sure you plan out everywhere you go in advance, so you know that you'll be saving money. Going to Europe and "winging it" with a railpass will ultimately be a waste of money to you. Unless you plan on traveling to all places that you KNOW have good train service, I would just recommend buying individual passes. On a similar note, the website to buy Railpasses (www.raileurope.com) is a ripoff. Do not buy your train passes through this website. The fares are similar, but the only option for receiving the passes is via express mail, which costs an additional 20€.

A good website to have for reference is www.ter-sncf.com. The TER is the regional train system. This website will give you all of the timetables for the local TER trains as well as the Corail Intercités and TGV. If there is work to be done on one of the lines, therefore canceling some trains, this is the website to find that information. Also, if there is a nationwide strike, information regarding canceled trains will be posted at this site about 36 hous before strike day.

Oh No I'm Sick!

Unless you have a Vampire's immune system, it is likely that you'll get sick at some point. Go to the pharmacie, and get some medications. Compared to US meds, they tend to be rather weak, so don't be afraid to up the dose a bit. It won't hurt you (especially since it's over the counter).

I'm wary of the French medications though, so i brought plenty of allergy and cold meds with me from home.

If you don't get better and want to see a doctor, there is one that is across the street from the Bus station slightly up a hill on a small street. You can go in the morning to make an appointment, and have an appointment that afternoon. They will charge you somewhere around 20€-25€ and give you a prescription. The perscription drugs will not cost too much. I had a cold, and he prescribed 4 things, and it came to a total of 9€.

Another thing, If you don't feel well and need to miss a day of work, then don't sweat it. If you can, try to alert the teachers you work with. The students most likely won't complain. I was never told I had to make up the hours or that I wold lose pay for missing a day every once in a while.

The French National Pastime

Not Football... Strikes!

"Grèves National," and "Manifestations" abbreviated "Manifs" will be words that you become all too familiar with.

Strikes happen quite often. The teacher’s go on strike on average once every 2 months. So that is approximately 3.5 strikes for the assistants. However, not ALL of the teacher’s go on strike. You’re not required to go on strike with them. You lose a day of pay (Well, we’re supposed to) if you strike.

This year, we were lucky enough to witness our students go on strike. They blockaded the hallways in the school during the 2 weeks before Christmas break, essentially giving us a month long vacation. The students all came to school, but just sat around playing games and watching movies... "in protest." Nobody really stopped them. If anything, the teachers and parents were proud that the students are joining in on France’s most popular national pastime. This was nationwide, not just in Vire. They were protesting education reforms for next year (they always are). When i saw this happening, I was absolutely shocked, and I told the teachers how crazy I thought it was, and they said "Really? Hmm.. this is pretty normal..."

Often when the teachers go on strike, it is part of a Grève National. This is the kind of strike that shuts down anything public - education, trains, subways, buses, air traffic controllers, etc. They are usually 1 day long, and that day tends to be a Thursday. I booked a flight to Copenhagen for a Thursday that happened to be during a Grève National. So, if you're stuck traveling on a strike day, just be cautions. Give yourself plenty of time and learn as much information about the travel delays as you can. I got to Copenhagen just fine. I was expecting a huge time crunch for making my plane, but instead, there was only one train going to Paris that day from Vire, and it left at 6:30am. My flight was at 6pm... so I ended up blowing about 6 hours in Paris. Not the worst thing in the world.

Vacation Information

Vacation... or Holidays as us Americans will quickly start calling them when you realize that none of your students understand the word "vacation." There are 4 PAID vacations throughout the year:

• Vacances de Toussaint (All Saints Day) - Lasts for a week plus 3 days - return for a Thursday and Friday
• Vacances de Noël - 2 weeks at Christmas time.
  
• Vacances d'Hiver - 2 weeks in February
• Vacances de Printemps - 2 weeks in April

For exact dates, visit this website: http://www.education.gouv.fr/pid184/le-calendrier-scolaire.html?dept=&annee=5. This posts the vacation schedules for the current and following years for the whole country. Note that the Académie de Caen is in Zone A. The Toussaint and Noël vacations fall at the same time for the whole country, but the Hiver and Printemps differ zone to zone.

There are also a couple of banks holidays that you have off. If they fall on a Tuesday or Thursday, they are “bridged” over to create a 4-day weekend, so you’d have the Monday or Friday off as well. The following bank holidays you will have off:

• November 11th - Armistice Day
  
• Easter Moday (day after Easter, duh) - Date varies

For 9-month assistants that may be reading, here are the bank holidays that affect you in May and June:

• Labour Day - May 1st
• Ascention Day - Date varies (40 days aftr Easter)
• Pentecost Monday - Date varies (7 weeks after Easter Monday)

Pretty nice, huh?

Stages/Orientations

There are 2 orientation sessions (Stages) for the secondary assistants. All of the English students are grouped together. Our stage is in Saint Lô. Whoever your responsable is will take you to the stage and stay with you the whole day. For us, it was Bernard. The stage is only half of the English assistants in the Académie de Caen (the départements of Manche and the western half of Calvados). The other half will (Orne and the eastern half of Calvados) meet in Argentan. All of the other languages are grouped into one stage together.

The first orientation session was just before our Toussaint break. The stages are great opportunities to meet your fellow assistants and form friends! The take place at the IUFM (teacher's school) and lunch is included. At the first stage, we just go over basics about the job and do some practice activities that would be fun to work with in classes. It wasn’t that helpful, but it was informative. It was more of a meet-and-greet and formalities than anything. The second stage takes place just before the Christmas break and is extremely helpful. Basically, you spend the whole morning complaining about things that bother you about your classes and teachers. Then during the afternoon, you go around and say one activity that worked well, and one that didn’t work so well. This is an excellent opportunity to get lesson ideas, so write them down!

The stages are run by English teachers, and they tend to alternate between doing the activities in French and English. I was glad that they allowed some of it to be done in English, because when I arrived in September, my French was not stellar (I hadn't taken any French classes in 3 years). It's great getting advice from these teachers though, and also from the other assistants. Take notes while you're there, something that may seem non-important may be useful to you later.

Internet and Wi-Fi

Internet
Unfortunately, there is no Wi-Fi in the dorm. We were told we would be getting it around October sometime, but we never got it. The assistants from the previous year were also told they would get it, and also never got it. However, you can talk to André 3000 who is the tech guy at the school, and also a math professor. He will give you the information for the school network and cables. You can attach your computer to the wall in one of the classrooms and surf from there. The internet speed is faster in the classroom than the computer in the hallway of the Internat. There are also computers available in the teachers' lounge. Ask André 3000 to give you a log-in so you can use these computers. From these computers you can also get all of the teacher's schedules and the student group schedules, it's a program called E.D.T. (Emploi de Temps).

As of this year (2009) there was Wi-Fi installed in the teacher's lounge. If you want to use the Wi-Fi in the teacher's lounge, ask André 3000 to add your computer to the "accepted computers" on the Wi-Fi network. He will ask for your MAC address of your computer. See the bottom of this article for directions on how to find your MAC address. It's nice to have access to the Wi-Fi, because you can go to a classroom above the teacher's lounge (215, 217, and 219 in particular) and have full access to the wifi when school is not in session.


Finding Mac Address
Windows XP
-Start
-Run
-type "cmd" then hit enter
-type "getmac" then hit enter
Your MAC address will be 6 sets of 2 digits and letters (00-1F-3B-55-20-25) and under "Transport Name" on the right, it will look something like "\Device\Tcpip_{0932938..."

Windows Vista
-Start
-In the "Start Seach" box, type cmd
-Follow directions as above

Mac (from Apple's website)
"Choose Apple System Profiler from the Apple menu, and locate the hardware address, which is under the Network section of the System Profile tab."

Cantine

The school's cafeteria is actually quite good. Meals are 2.22€ a piece as of April 2009. They serve breakfast from 7:15-7:45 Tuesday-Friday, Lunch from around 11am to about 2pm Monday-Friday, and Dinner from 6:45-7:30 Monday-Thursday. Seriously, the food isn't bad. There have been quite a few nights where they have served mystery meat, which turns out to be quite good. They tend to have quite a variety as well. In order to fill up your meal card, go to see the meal-card guy whose office is right near Madame Elizabeth's. You will know you have the right guy, because he shakes hands with his left hand. You can pre-pay for the meals, or write your name down in a notebook by the turn-style in the cafeteria and then just pay for the meals you've taken over time. You do not need to wait in the line with the students! We did this for a few weeks until the surveillants told us we could cut the line.

People to Know

Here are a few people that you should know in the school (non-teachers).


Madame Elizabeth
She works in the "Intendance" which is responsible for making all non-academic aspects of the school run properly. If you have any problems unrelated to teaching, such as "there is a funny noise coming from this locked room!" you go to her. She will make the right calls to the right people to get pretty much anything done. At the beginning of the year, there was no toilet seat on one of our toilets. I went down to her office one day around noon to let her know that we'd like a spare toilet seat, and within a few hours there was a fresh new toilet seat. You will meet Madame Elizabeth the day you arrive in Vire, as she is the one who is in charge of the building keys.

Les Secréteriats
The secretaries' office is across the hall from the proviseur. The secretary whose desk is on the right as you walk in, Bridgitte is very helpful. She is the one to go to with any administrative questions regarding the paperwork you will have to do. There is quite a bit of paperwork to do, however, each form asks 90% questions about your spouse, kids, and previous employment, which you don't need to fill out! The medical stuff is confusing. You are always covered, and will always be reimbursed (by sending in the bills), but you will not get your medical card at all before you leave. I kept getting letters saying "before you can get your Carte Vitale you need to send in these things that you definitely don't have" (such as an officially translated birth certificate). So, i just gave up. I was lucky that I never got too sick. If you ever need help with any medical things, ask Bridgitte or one of the teachers to help you, they know the system.

Filch
We're not sure of this guy's real name (the name comes from Harry Potter), but he is the creepy guy that walks around the school and grounds at night with a big flashlight making sure nobody is out of their place. He speaks a slangy version of French that I never quite got the hang of. He does not have a cat.

Surveillants
These are sort of the RAs (Resident Assistants) for the students living in the dorm. They are worthwhile to get to know, incase you come back to the school with multiple bottles of wine, they won't stop to question you. They tend to be around the same age as the assistants.

Kitchen in the Lycée Marie Curie Internat

There is a kitchen for the assistants' use! Normally, it will just be the assistants who use it, but every once in a while the BTS students (who stay only Monday nights) will come in and warm something up in the microwave. The kitchen consists of a large refrigerator, a kettle, a hot-plate, a microwave, and an "oven" that's more like a large toaster oven. The kitchen is fairly well stocked with pots, pans, plates, cups, mugs, silverware, etc. The hotplate is kind of a pain to use. The dials are completely misaligned so you never know if it's as hot as it can be. It functions best when nothing else is being used (oven, microwave).

Important note about the fridge: There are 2 buttons on the top of the fridge, on the outside. The left one turns the light on and off inside the fridge, that on isn't a big deal. The right one, however, if you push it, it will de-ice the freezer. By de-ice the freezer, it shuts off the fridge until all of the ice melts, dripping over everything in the fridge and creating a huge puddle on the floor. Beware of that button. In its normal state, it should appear to be in the "out" position.

Madame Elizabeth will bug you from day one to make a list assigning kitchen cleaning duties. We made a simple list, and it turned out to be a good idea. We alternated, and when it was your "week," you had to take out the garbage that week (usually accumulated to about 2 or 3 bags, you can steal them from the cleaning ladies), sweep, and mop the floors. There was a general unspoken rule to clean up your mess after you cooked - it worked out pretty well for us. For the list, we skipped over the vacation weeks. If someone was assigned to clean a week they were in Italy, then the list isn't very effective now, is it?

Internat at Lycée Marie Curie

Most likely, you will be living in the school's dorm, called the Internat. The internat at the high school houses approximately 300 students, and there are also the assistants, a few teachers, and some administration. However, the assistants are the only ones that stay in the school over the weekends and vacations.

The dorm has 2 sections which are approximately identical in size. One section has 3 levels (floors 0-2). The other section, where the assistants stay, has 4 levels (floors 0-3) and the 4th level (floor 3) is almost exclusively for the assistants. The hallway is also shared by a professor who stays during the weeknights and a group of BTS students who live there only on Monday nights. The assistants rooms all tend to be grouped together at the end of the hallway. There is a wide section at the end of the hallway that quickly becomes the hang-out area for the assistants. There is a computer with internet and a printer, some chairs, a phone (can't call out of the school though), and a white board (installed this year, very handy). The rooms themselves are a decent size. The way they come arranged at the beginning of the year I found to be a bit non-logical, and in the way that leaves the least open space possible. None of the furniture is glued to the floor - go ahead and move it how you wish. Each room comes with 2 (or 1) armoir closet, a desk, a bed, a shelving unit that's meant to go behind the bed, and usually some variation of chairs and tables. There is also a bathroom that consists of a shower and a sink. There are 2 toilets at the end of the hallway (by the entrance). Also near the toilet there are cleaning supplies/mops/brooms for cleaning your room. The cleaning ladies clean the toilets.

When you arrive you will be given 4 keys. When I arrived I was so jet lagged, and Madame Elizabeth (who i will talk about more later) was yapping away in really fast French and I was understanding approximately 1% of it. She gave me the keys, and I just said "I'll figure them out later." The keys serve the following function:
-Room Key
-Gate Key (will be silver)
-School Door Key (will be a large key)
-Interior key that separates the dorm and the school.

The first 3 keys are pretty self explanatory. The 4th key is for a special set of doors. On every floor there are doors which separate the dorm and the school. They all lock via a feature on top of the door. You have to put the key into the little key slot that's next to the door (under the "emergency-open-the-freaking-door button) and turn it to the right... or left, one will make the door "click." After you open the door, the feature on top re-locks, and it slams on the closed lock, causing the tops of all these doors to be damaged. It is quite a bad design. During the weekends and vacations, they ask that you keep the gate and the school door locked.

Detailed maps of Vire

By clicking on the image, a large (and more clear) map of the town will pop up showing.



The greater Vire area.



















Centre-Ville
This map contains many of the useful places to know in Centre-Ville such as restaurants, food shops, and some practical places as well. Click on the map to see a larger and clearer version of it.