SEPTEN is one of the 6 centres in the nuclear engineering division (DIN) at EDF. They range in size from about 500 for SEPTEN up to one being over a thousand. There are around 5 000 people in DIN in total. 130 000 in EDF. There are two centres in Lyon, two in Paris, one in Marsille and one in Tour.
Each centre had a different basis. SEPTEN in involved with design stage and safety calculations. The others are:
• New build
• Maintenance of the current fleet
• Material and chemical studies
• Non-nuclear parts of the plant (turbines, water cooling, transmission, etc)
• Decommissioning
In SEPTEN I am working in the "Combastable Nuclear" section, which is nuclear fuel.
The first thing I must say is that they are all very welcoming even if there is a language barrier. My boss is this wonderful guy called Serge. He has all the mannerisms you would expect from a French man. But he speaks almost no English which is important for me.
In my section there are about 8 of us who are all in our 20s. There is one italian on an internship and one full time spanish guy (interesting to hear a spanish accent speak french). The rest are all french. Annoyingly they all speak much more english than I do french (not for much longer though!).
In my office there is just two of us. Vincent and I. Vincent is a really nice guy. 25 and from Lyon, he has been a real help is so many thing. Only problem: he went to the international school, so no problem with English.
Now kissing. I was just not prepared. On my second day a woman comes in to our office walks round to my desk and I sort of smile at her (I had been introduced to her by my boss the day before). Then I realise that she is advancing on me, looking over my right shoulder. I almost turnaround to she what she is looking at. Luckily just in time to avert disaster I understand what going on and kiss one cheek.
Brilliant one down. But how many to go? My heart started to race. Palms started to sweat. Was it just one or two? Or four as I had seen in some places? What if I went for another and she didn't? I've had that done many time back home and felt like a prized idiot. Was I going to be known as the english chap who is awkward when kissing?
As that the French kiss all the time they are therefore very good at it. As I doing the first kiss I seemed to sense there was going to be another, but as our faces were passing past each other for the second one I then knew the upcoming kiss was going to be the last. Amazing. Note to self: make sure I wear my eau de toilette every single day.
The next day, Friday, I got in early, as I plan to do. Getting in early is a double edged sword, especially for me. Something I was able to firgure out on the first day. It is good for a few reasons: I work better earlier in the day. The office is quite. And I don't have to say hello to anyone. That might sound very unsociable of me but in Britain one would just walk into the office, wave and say good morning as you walk past an open door. But in France you'd go in and shake hand or kiss. But I simply don't know the protocol. How far to you go? Every one on your route? What if work in the furthest office from the lift or the one next to it? So being the first in completely misses this potential social minefield.
Now for the bad side. I got in at about 7 30 and for about 30 mins no one else came into the office. But as people started coming I had someone coming to our office to shake or kiss about every 10 mins until 9 30. And this was a Friday where a lot of people take of. (I'll explain that in some future post). In fear what it will be like mid week.
So an advantage of coming in last would be that you get all the hellos out of the way in one go.
I couldn't imagine what an open plan office would be like.
Currently I'm having French lessons for a week which I will write about soon.
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