A Little Recap

Erica is right, I should probably just vent my frustration with the trip, you may get some laughs out it, you might not, who knows? But the ride has been interesting, I'll tell you that much.

My details thus far may seem sporadic, but had I not been such a procrastinator, you would have more of an order, as is, this is what I've got:

The days leading up to the trip were the beginnings of my doubt about this extravaganza, and I remember feeling nervous, and doubtful. Pre-departure nerves, I know, but I couldn't help it.

I remember fighting with my mom over eating, after deleting the numbers out of my cell phone (and believe me, that was quite the tragedy), and eventually getting KFC and eating it frantically in Dan's car, following Nelson in the car, and getting to the airport.

But we parked, which is crazy in itself, Dan being the guy of the group, I guess, carried the heavy bag, and I just remember mom going “Dan, that’s heavy, she is going to have to learn how to carry it.” And Dan replying “she is going to carry it enough as it is…” And then me just remarking to myself on how nice of a gesture that was, and how it was all too true…

….check-in was flawless, and we didn’t even get there until about 20 minutes before my boarding time. The good bye with Nelson was brief, a hug and a good luck, and he walked away munching on his chicken. Mom said some slight words of encouragement and then ran off leaving me with Dan, who just stood there saying something I think, but I really couldn’t listen. All of a sudden, Mom runs back crying, and says “I forgot to tell you I love you."

So Dan says all the stuff he is supposed to: the I love you, I will miss you, I don’t know what I am going to do without you, you know, all the stuff a girl has to hear before she gets on the plane. And then it’s time to go, just like that. So I kiss him goodbye, and get in the security line, and wait. For what seems like forever, casually glancing over my shoulder, Dan is still standing there. And from how far I am away, it looks like he is crying but every time he catches my eye, he smiles. And I think that is what hurt the most. He said he would stay until he couldn’t see me anymore, and he did.

Then I passed through the security, and actually began my journey.

By this I mean, I walked to my gate, and sat down, jammed closely against two other passengers, which little did I know, but now serves as the beginning of the “European” experience. I read the card Dan gave me, allowed one tear to fall, and then got on the plane. I don’t really remember who I sat next to a couple who smelled really bad, only because a family of four had taken my spot by mistake, and eventually made it to the airport. I checked into Air India, which was a fiasco. Then found a payphone, and called Dan, so he could distribute the information. Later calling Erica to give her an update.

Then, I sat on my but for like 2 hours waiting for the flight, and I saw the most beautiful Indian woman I had ever seen, as it turns out, she was a flight attendant for my flight. So I get on the plane, and sit next to this attractive French guy (usually an oxymoron) and watched Juno, Stranger than Fiction, Medium, and who knows what else, while casually drifting off, only to be awoken by the curry or whatever else we ate on that LONG flight.

So we land, and we get off the plane, and I go through customs, then head to the restroom before trying to find my bag, and this is where I first learned about public restrooms in France. I mean, I know I was here last year, and inevitably used them, but I don’t remember this kind of encounter. Well, the guy’s bathroom doesn’t really have a door, and they all just kind of go, right there. So honestly, I have seen more penises in the past month, than my entire life, and I am not too happy about the situation. Oh, and sometimes, the girls share the bathroom, so those moments are even better.

Anyways, I find my bag and throw it onto my back, then head towards the Sheridan, the hotel we are supposed to be meeting the infamous Kevin. I tried to use one of the phones, but with just an American calling card, not so much. Eventually I round the corner, and see two girls sitting there in piles of luggage and I hear “Stacey?”

This is the introduction of Charity and Laura. I learned a few things about them that day, for that hour we sat together. Charity, is engaged, she is a senior in French, doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life and goes to school with Laura. Laura, is single, a junior in French Early Education, and knows exactly what to do with hers. They casually lean and whisper jokes to each other, and I sit there feeling awkward, which now, has become a familiar characteristic of the trip.

Eventually Sameen shows up, and having previously conversed with her via facebook, I thought there would be more of a connection, and I was disappointed when she seemed nothing like what I thought she would be.

And then there was Kevin. A short blonde haired man, wearing a BRIGHT pink shirt, and drinking an espresso comes up to us, and opens his mouth and just spews French at us, now, we had all just gotten off a 7-9 hour flight, depending, so you can imagine what our comprehension skills were like. I am pretty sure we all just nodded and put on our excited faces, and then followed him when he started to walk away in hopes that we were supposed to be following him. He just turned around to make sure we were following and then practically ran down the stairs. Me and my backpack are close behind, Charity is next with her two duffels and one wheelie suitcase, and then Laura and Sameen struggling to get down the stairs, with bags over 60 lbs! You can imagine the sight. Needless to say, we couldn’t move fast enough to get on the first train, so got on the second shortly after.

As we sat on the train, an awkward silence came over the group. This is when I decide to lighten the mood and tell the bag story from last year. In the event, that I have forgotten to mention this story at a previous time, last year, I had the back pack on, and the metro doors in Paris actually closed on it, and I was stuck, and Erica just tried to pull me in, was unable to do it, then a man had to get up and hit some button opening the door and flinging me onto the train. Point of the story being, that our trip would be successful as long as none of us got caught in the treacherous doors…and I am proud to say that we made it the whole trip without that kind of complication.

Anyways, so we make it to our stop and head into the hostel, the rooms are doubles, and instantly, Laura and Charity cling to each other, and Sameen and I just look at each other and shrug. We are handed our keys, and head up, one-by-one, mostly because the elevator doesn’t seem to be able to fit more than one of us at a time.

The room is cute, and Sameen starts unpacking promptly, putting this here and this there. I hesitate and don’t end up unpacking until like four days into the trip. C + L decide they are super tired, and want to just rest at the hostel, but Sameen and I go out “exploring” thinking that this will be the first of our many outings. *Sidenote, this was the only outing we ever went on together* Anyways, we went to look for something famous, since that is what she claimed to want to see and found the Luxembourg gardens. Ironically enough, we had been following signs to get there, when in all reality, as we learned the next day, it was across the street the whole time.

We took pictures, mine of places, Sameen of her face mostly, and then headed back to take a quick nap before going to dinner with Kevin that night. And at that dinner, we learned how awkward it was going to be to have to spend any time with Kevin. I swear sometimes he just has spasms and will move his head sporadically around and just stare at us, and up until this point, still has not spoken a word of English. That night was rough; the bed kind of reminded me of a hospital bed, stiff, cold, and sheets like paper. In the morning, we went to get our ids and tours of the school, and then after that, things start to blur, so at this point, I will tell the stories:

At one point, there was a plan to try to do stuff as a group, but that never worked out, other than the mandatory school excursions. Though cliques formed very quickly.

I guess we should explore life with Sameen: to begin with, conversations with Sameen were always very deep- one time, I was typing an email to BG, and I looked over and she was just laying there in bed, so I figured I would go for it. “What are you thinking about?” I ask and she just sighs and says “Clothes.” And I kind of just give her a puzzled look. And she says “You know, like outfit combinations, and shoes. God, I love shoes.” At this point, I sighed, and went back to typing. I learned that Sameen has made out with 27 different guys, loves to smoke, misses it terribly, and I think she may be a closet alcoholic. I mean the girl drank wine out of the bottle every night in Paris, and she was always remarking on “how good she was being there. How we were such good influences” and she would say this before chugging and I would just laugh.

Sometimes she would get really depressed at night, and this was a drastic change from her daily demeanor. As is, she was generally perky, somewhat narcissistic, but sometimes she would fall asleep clutching her teddy bear with one arm, and the wine bottle in the other. And proceed to mumble about how lonely she was, and I would get up, take the bottle, put it in the fridge, then turn out the light and go back to my computer.

I found that it was easier to just look busy, typing imaginary emails to people, it spared me from conversation, about Shark Tooth (#17, I think, on Sameen’s lip lock list) and listening to the girls giggling next door. This reminds me, for like the first week and a half, they were attached at the hip. Then Sameen slowly started becoming attached with them, but she would come back at night, and say she liked Charity a lot more, and later, Laura told me she thought Sameen was kind of self-centered, though now, ha, you could never tell.

So we went on excursions with Kevin-Saint Chapelle (this is the church with the incredible window situation), Versailles, the Louvre, the Colonnade, Place de la Concorde, pastry shops, fountains, Chartres, other cathedrals, museums, and etc. He would always explain said places in tres vite francais, and I would just look at Laura, who would lean over and give me the gist of what I had missed. What I tried to tell her is that I could understand the gist, I needed the detail, but oh well.

The Louvre excursion was interesting- because it was one of the topics we had to write a paper about. And what was great about it, is that we got there, and did a little intro about the Art of the Italian Renaissance with this crazy woman. She had frumpy brown hair, wore her sweater big and hanging off her shoulder, and I swear she was a little bit crazy. The way she talked…was just so odd. Anyways, she walked us through that section in Sully, and then split. I ran right back to the Egyptian section, spending pretty much my entire time there, getting really lost when I tried to leave, I would keep just re-entering the pharaoh room, and eventually paused, thought that may be a sign of some sort, then continued on. We spent 5 hours in the Louvre and I loved that. Then the girls met back up for lunch and we all headed to the food court, I settled on Sushi, which was quite the expense, but you didn’t see the options.
This is when I started to realize that I had a little more in common with the girls than I thought. Charity and I both like Damien Rice, Laura and I both like 90s TV shows, like Saved by the Bell and Family Matters, Sameen and I like the same kind of books, so since this was towards the beginning of the trip, I had some hope going into it. (Though I always kind of preferred Laura over Charity, which worked out well since Sameen favored Charity so much). The Saint Chapelle explanation was done by the same woman, except at a café- in front of the Sorbonne, and she was using a book to explain the windows, the decorations, how it came to be built, and with this book, ended dumping her tea all over her lap. She was quite the character, reminded me a lot of that librarian from movies, who loves her work, but you wonder if she ever has a social life.

The Chartres visit was done by a man named Malcolm. Malcolm was very British, with his mannerisms, his accent, and his general attitude. But it is from Malcolm, that we learned how to read cathedrals, and even what the word itself means. We learned how to read the windows of 11-12-13th century cathedrals, how to read the walls, the statues, how to read the story the church offers, and you know, coming from Malcolm, this didn’t bore us for a second.

Versailles was done with a headset, we got whatever language we wanted- since I knew we were probably going to have to answer questions about it later, I choose English, which I have done in every place we go, mostly because I think it is better to understand and enjoy, instead of having French spewed into my hear and trying to decode it. The girls chose French, like they always did, and they ALWAYS complained about it afterward. What is that definition of insanity again?

After that, we were given the day to ourselves, and I don’t really know what happened to everyone else, but I just went and sat down next to a fountain, and ten minutes later, it kicked on, splashing me a little, so I went and laid over in another grassy area, and looked around, noticing that I was the only single person there, and decided to just put in the headphones, and drift off to sleep. I woke up soon after and opened my eyes, to this adorable little girl standing over me, staring at me. Then the apologetic father running her and grabbing her wiggling body, offering desoles, and pardons as he moved.

There is one sight in Paris that we all agreed on, la Tour Eiffel, and since I was the only one who had ever gone, I was in charge. I loved that excursion. The Eiffel Tower is blue these days and it has the stars from The European Union symbol on it, Kevin says that it is there because France is the president of the EU, but I don’t know that to be true. Anyways, last year, when I was there, and it sparkled golden, it was breathtaking. But seeing it sparkle blue was simply phenomenal. We stood in the line, which took all of 45 minutes and were pushed into the elevator onto the 2nd floor. We took pictures together, the four of us, and laughed, and talked to each other, and that is the only time I can remember truly enjoying their company. Up at the top, there were more pictures, and we headed down, and I think home.

At this point, I should probably tell you about school, seeing as how it is the reason I am here. My teacher, Ann, was one of the nicest teachers I have ever had, yet one of the strictest. She could be so nice, someone would say something, and then snap, she would be a polar opposite. Like there was this one student, Sasha, a boy from Germany who would come in late every day. Oh, maybe I should define late, Ann would come in at 9:15 every day for our 9 o’clock class, Sasha would come in at 9:20, and she would yell and yell at him. I came into this class like 6 weeks into its season, and was afraid everyone would already be friends, and that I was going to be really left out. But probably the epitome of this is that one time, the last day actually, Sasha came in at 1:07, class ends at 1, yeah….But as it turns out, the school cycles students out and in for however long they want to stay. But the class is from 9-1, and there’s a coffee break at 11, which is important to include because that is where I met the friends.

On the first day, I walked in and there was only one student there (it was 9:02) he just smiled at me and said “Quel pays avez-vous?” I looked at him strangely, since he had just asked me what country I have and he pointed to the map and I responded, “Je suis americaine.” And then he said he was too, and asked what state I was from, and Zach, as his name was later learned responded that he was from California. And that was about it, for the whole two weeks with Zach.

Soon after the silence had fallen over the remnants of my convo with Zach, a woman walked in, with gray hair, a red scarf, and mostly gray clothes and says “Bonjour.” And I reply accordingly, and then she goes “English?” and smiles encouragingly. And this is how I met Gill. She invited me to coffee time with her, and that is how I met Juno and Ida, but for that first day, talked mostly to Gill. Throughout the week, I fell into place next to Gill, and one day she did something amazing- she offered me her lilo, and a pillow. I graciously declined, mostly because I had no idea what a lilo was and why I would want one. And then Patrick, from Chicago, goes “Are you crazy? You would actually get some sleep at night….it’s an inflatable mattress.” So Gill gives me directions, and I take the metro to her house and end up staying there, just talking for three hours, until she has to go somewhere. But invites me to come to dinner later that week with her and her husband and Juno. Gill is this 50 something? Year old woman who has three children and they are all older than me. Her and her husband George, (yes, that’s right, George and Gill) just up and moved to Paris because they want to start a church there. Anyways, so I come to dinner later that week with Juno, and have this feast, (keep in mind I have been living off Panini sandwiches) of roasted chicken and potatoes, zucchini, carrots, three different kinds of wine, and then Apple Crumble. Followed by more of Gill’s coffee (I drank a cup every day during break, I don’t even like coffee, but I drank it), and macaroons. That night, we sat around talking as well, Gill told me on they had once held a mock Thanksgiving dinner for one of their American students at their church in England and had imitated the American accent the whole time, I was curious to know exactly what that sounded like, so she showed me, as did George, and Juno, and I laughed. It was pretty accurate….anyways, the blue like, aka RER B, the line that made it so easy for me to get to her house the first time was broken down, so I had to walk there, and then take alternate trains home.

This is a good time to tell you about the Metro, I suppose. Last year, where Erica and I were here, I got the metro system down. London’s tube worked like this, Paris was like this, Rome’s was like this, Barcelona’s was crazy, then there was the San Fran metro, and the Chicago, so while I may not be an expert, I have some experience, and after the girls got lost a couple times from taking the wrong train here, and having to walk for two hours to get back, Kevin told them to just follow me because it would be easier for everyone.

I don’t really have any intention of trying to remember the other excursions except this one: Vaux le Vicomte, we went a couple days before we went to Versailles. This place was gorgeous, and we went at sunset, but were mostly going just for the candlelit special. They literally cover the entire place in candles, the garden, the house, and it is absolutely phenomenal. Oh, and then there was this taxi driver- we had to take two taxies because 6 people don’t fit in one, and Laura and Sameen and I got in the first and Kevin told him where to take us. And he did take us there, and then pulled into a parking lot, and we got out and closed our doors, and then he got out, re-opened our doors, adjusted our seatbelts, got back in the car, slammed his door and drove a few feet away and parked, sitting there drinking his Evian water and staring at us. We just stood there, and waited for the other group. It was pretty hilarious.

The view from the top of the hostel will always be something to write home about- it was great. The Eiffel Tower was right there, and I know the pictures make it seem kind of far, but it wasn’t at all, and I hate that there is no way to really show you that. We spent a couple nights just sitting up there looking, watching, and waiting for it to sparkle.

We did end up going back to Saint Chapelle at night, for a concert- Mozart mostly, these violins, a cello, and there were only like 30 people in there, and the glow of the candles on the windows, and the soothing music made the atmosphere perfect.

Laura and I did go out one time together to attempt to do the Ile de la Cite part of the project, but ended up just shopping instead. We bought some earrings, and tarts on the island, and eyed this pair of boots I fell in love with- but they didn’t have my size (that in itself, is a reoccurring phase here).

On our last day in Paris, Charity, Laura and I all washed our clothes (well some of them) in the sink, and then hauled them to the laundry mat, their clothes finished before mine, mostly because they didn’t do any jeans and I told Laura that they could go if they didn’t want to wait- and she said no, they would wait. And said something to Charity, then two seconds later said “You know, if you are not going to be lonely, I think we will go.” And I look at the meter that says minutes left and grunt, replying “Well I am going to be lonely whether or not you stay, so it doesn’t really matter.” –This was promptly met with Charity’s “God Stacey, throw yourself in front of a bus.” And that was the last of my attempts at friendship with her.

Paris is by far, a city for lovers, couples surround you, everywhere you do, and it is unavoidable, you are sucked into romantic atmosphere, and duos here and there, cluttering the area around you, holding hands, and yeah….Paris is beautiful, but a word of advice from someone who obviously did not learn the first time- bring a lover. Or be depressed. Period.

So I was not too heartbroken about leaving Paris, I had my last meal at Gill’s house, and then headed home to pack, sleeping again on that flat mattress, and back in the cold atmosphere I started in. Last minute packing in the morning was crazy- I had to throw away quite a bit of stuff, my work book from class, some of my travel shampoos, a magazine, a book, stuff I thought I would need, just to make others fit, and I still had to strap my towel to the outside of my bag. But was still the first one done, go figure.

So I got in the elevator, and returned my key. Followed by Sameen, who’s bag weighed more than ever, and then Charity, and then Laura- who had put her other bag in the big one, and I would bet that thing was over 70 pounds. Laura and Sameen opted out of the metro extravaganza and took a taxi to the train station. Charity and I decided to go for it—

---it wasn’t THAT bad, lots of stairs, and people movers, and people, and doors, and trains, but we got there in one piece, then got on the train for Tours, starting Round Two of the adventure. On the ride, we tried to get Kevin to give us some words of encouragement about our families, but he was just being Kevin, awkward as usual. At this point, I seriously gave some thought to this whole thing-
--I still am not a big fan of staying here for more than a semester, I’m not really sure how to tell the host family that, I just know that it will be awkward, come to think of it; I don’t know how to tell the host family anything. I don’t really know what I was thinking, this is so overwhelming. But then I look at the other girls, and notice the same expression on their faces, and think that maybe I was wrong about them- maybe once we don’t see each other ALL the time, the times we do see each other will be more enjoyable.

Anyways, so the train gets to Tours, and we all pile out with our stuff and at the end of the platform, there are three women and one man, and I think hmm, I wonder who has him. And the girls all flock with the girls, and I look at Patrik, and he says “Stacey?” And I nod, and then he grabs my wheelie and that is it. I just walk away from the other girls who are all still there clustered and walk off with Patrik. He is leading and making a lot of turns very quickly-and it’s kind of hard to follow him, but I try. And then we stop at a car, he throws my bag into the back, and helps me get the other one in. His phone rings, I stand by my door for a minute, and he waves and points, so I get in. And wait. For like 20 minutes.

So he gets in the car and says something along the lines of “for my job, I sell buildings, stores, houses, apartment, etc.” And I said “Aimez-vous ca?” And he kind of shrugged, then proceeding to ask me when my birthday was, then point out random streets, buildings, where my school is. And then we’re here.

We go inside, and my first reaction is “wow this is pretty” which then turns into “Oh, votre maison est jolie” and we carry my stuff upstairs, and then go back down for the tour, and he asks what I would like to do- “regarde la tele?” and I said I’d like to unpack. Patrik tells me that this is my home too and I welcome to anything in it (which only goes so far in French culture) and that I am going to be alone for a couple hours because he has to go to work, and Marie is out shopping- this sounds okay to me. So I get situated in my room, find a book from England and go downstairs and start to read. Patrik comes down, and says something that I don’t understand—then leaves, coming back with a Tintin book- Tintin is a comic series that I don’t particularly care for, having read 3 books of his now- and says I should try to read French.

After Patrik leaves, I do try to read French, and then watch French on the TV, but instead pass out on the most uncomfortable couch of all time. I wake up to the sound of the door opening and there’s Marie. While Patrik is very tall, and kind of big around the middle, Marie is very tiny and skinny, and nothing like I expected—she talks about a mile a minute, and I can’t understand a word of it. So I smile and nod, and move on to reading more. When Patrik gets home, they decide to go to a market, inviting me to go along—why not?

*Sidenote, French markets are a LOT different than ours. I hear the word market, and I think vegetables, here that means everything—meat, fish, bread, pastries, veggies, fruits, etc. and in this case, they meant like a giant indoor market. Everything is broken up into sections- and everything is VERY fresh, like I think new kills. Like you walk by a case of meat slabs, then whole fish, then dead rabbits, then pig heads—and we wonder why I don’t eat these things! Also amusing, they have an entire store for just frozen goods, like you walk in, and it’s all freezers….

So Patrik will try to put things into English for me as much as he can, which isn’t all that often, but he will look up a word to help me out, Marie just spews a little slower. Though now, it has kind of flipped, she will use English a little more than he will, but he stills understands my butchered French better than she does. And the only time I am just with Marie, is when we eat breakfast together—which is cereal. Otherwise, for dinner every night, there is a soup of some kind, then a salad, then the meal (let’s see, there was a quiche one night, lobster, crepes, cod, chicken and duck so far) and then a dessert, then cheese, then a fruit. It’s basically more food in one meal than I eat all day at home. This weekend I have had all three meals each day at home, and I feel so sick because of all the food. I assumed lunch wasn’t as big of a deal, my mistake.

So after school, I have learned they are both out, and I come home to an empty house—this is my favorite part of the day, mostly because I can go to my room, listen to music, read (in English!), nap, do homework or whatever. I thrive on the personal time. Then there’s pre-dinner TV, which is filled with questions. Then there is dinner at 8, with lots of intercultural questions- last night’s was “Why do Americans think we hate them?” That was a good one…

….though my favorite was the time when Patrik and I were alone because Marie was in Bordeaux visiting her dad, and he asked me what my dad does for a living. And honestly, I don’t know how to answer that in English. I haven’t had a conversation more than 10 minutes long with him in like the past 4 months. I told him that my dad moved, and he was living in Texas, and I wasn’t sure. And Patrik says “Texas?” and I say yes, and he goes, “for us, Texas is….” *then proceeds to lean back from the table, form his hands like guns, and go “BAM BAM BAM BAM” while thrashing* I laughed, and said “Patrik, Texas est BAM BAM BAM BAM” and we laughed until Marie got home.

….my least favorite was when Marie and Patrik told me that I shouldn’t be reading books in English- just French. If I read books in English, I am resting in my native language, and not trying. Also, I should speak more. This is the day that I had just told the other girls about how much I speak here, as it turns out, none of them do. They all just go to their rooms….I don’t get how that’s fair at all. So that night, I made an extra effort, and told Patrik about where I live, showed him on the map, showed him where Dan, Christy and Erica live. That was also the night I told them about Ireland, and Dan, and told them that Dan was Irish, and Marie said “Really?” and I showed her the picture, and she went “Wow! He is Irish” and I smiled. I told them about Lake Erie, the Great Lakes, who I preferred in the election (which was a risky call, but he asked, and I just went with gut instinct) and about possibly going home in December.

That was a delicate transition, but Patrik asked if I was going to Burkina in the Spring because most of their students do, and I said maybe, (keep in mind, when I say he said/she said/I said in these contexts that I am translating, so it’s not quite the same) but I may be going home because of some school issues with my diploma. As it turns out, I may only be getting 12 credits for this semester, which makes it not even worth it.

Anyways, so I really thought Marie didn’t like me at all, she was always very removed, but yesterday, she helped me do laundry, and lately has been helping me come up with sentences, but still being very strict saying that I need to talk more, and I smile and think about how much I talk at home and what a contrast it is, and if she only knew! But today, we went to the market (a different outdoor one) to get strawberries to make jam (well Patrik went to get that), Marie and I looked at shoes and clothes, and jewelry, and we ended up looking at these gorgeous earrings, and she asked me if I wanted a pair, I said yes (mostly because I had some money in my pocket) and I picked out these red dangly ones, and then she told the lady, and pulled out her wallet, and I said, no, I brought money, and she insisted, and said it was a small present. How sweet of her! I mean they were only three euro, but still….

…yesterday, we had our second Tours excursion with Kevin to two gardens. Of course when we got there, we had our little intro and then separated. I ended up running into Kevin, and spent like an hour just talking to him about Dennis (his boyfriend), food, what he misses from the states, etc. It was surprisingly chill. Though as soon as the others got back, he was back to being awkward…great, well, that is what headphones or casques are for.

As for school, I haven’t found any potential friends- most of my class is of Asian descent, and I can’t understand their Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French or English, so I am mostly out of luck. My teacher here, unlike Ann, does not speak one word of English, so that’s fun. I tested two levels below the other girls, which actually makes perfect sense because back home, they were in 400 level classes, while I was only in 200, and they are all older than me. We do have a new addition, a girl named Whitney- also engaged, a senior, French, who has limited social abilities, but talks to Laura. And Charity and Sameen are inseparable these days. So 5-2(Charity and Sameen) =3-2 (Laura and Whitney) = 1 (Me!) Laura lives right around the corner from me- maybe I can steal her.

So general feelings about the trip- I am renting a cell phone tomorrow, so that will be a fun development, posting some new pictures online, but I am still feeling pretty regretful about the whole thing, you can’t tell from the pictures, right? My newest goal is to soak in as much as I can, try to talk about what I can, try to not feel so pressured (I am doing okay with this, I am just not going to spend so much time here, which is okay, I went to see a movie called “Go Fast” by myself today, it wasn’t too bad, other than the being surrounded by couples thing), but I joined a CineClub at school, I am thinking about getting a tutor, I am going to spend time at the library, read English books for the sanity, spend more time at the park, keep the journal updated, and just try to do my best, if only for the grade.

Whether or not I want to be here, I’m here. So, if I have to be stuck somewhere, it may as well be somewhere I thought I always wanted.

I promise to keep up with updates….

….oh, so apparently I am going to Normandy for my birthday (it’s a pre-planned excursion), which sounds glamorous, but apparently will be spending the whole day in cemeteries, go me.



Everyone parked, now mind you, if you don't know much about my family, know this much- the typical routine is the drop and scoot (we drop people off at the airport, hand them their luggage and promptly say goodbye before pulling away and leaving them in the dust...)