A Scottish Christmas

For months, I have been saving money scrupulously for a really fantastic Christmas and New Year vacation. One that's just for me, paid for completely by me, and one that is positively fabulous. My two-week trip has been planned for months, with all sorts of exciting things to do; well, exciting for me anyway. Some of you may not be excited or interested in all the things I'm doing, but I assure you I am. While I like travelling and hanging out with other people, I have to say I'm thoroughly enjoying getting to do pretty much whatever I want without worrying about whether or not someone else is enjoying it as much as I am. Being a single lady is pretty great, especially when there's no schoolwork or anything to worry about. This post is long. I want you guys to know that it is totally cool for you to skip around or just skim over the pictures. Fair warning, though: if you skip too much, you won't get to hear some of the funny stories I've been accumulating for the past few days. So.... proceed in whichever fashion best suits you.

Christmastime in Paris

While I'm not spending my Christmas break in France, I did get to experience a lot of what Christmas in France is. Christmas in Paris is beautiful, quite cold, and remarkably less touristy than I was expecting. The best part, in my humble opinion, is the French Christmas Market, also known as the Marché de Noël. I spoke a bit about this a few weeks ago when I was in Reims; pretty much the deal is that they are awesome. There's cheap (and hot!) food, street vendors everywhere selling everything from huge blocks of homemade chocolate to handmade jewelry. In Paris, the big Christmas market is on the Champs-Élysées, running from Place de la Concorde to about halfway to the Arc de Triomphe. It's beautiful and fabulous and a really great way to spend an afternoon or evening.

For the Love of God

Originally, this post was going to be about the differences between French Christmas traditions and American ones. I've been taking notes for a few weeks on little things I wanted to mention. But it all seemed rather frivolous in light of current events and after the truly beautiful Sunday I experienced this weekend. So I give you readers fair warning; this blog post will discuss my spiritual beliefs, particularly in light of what happened on Friday. I've spent a lot of the last few years trying to minimize my religious beliefs, especially with new friends and acquaintances. This is not one of those times. I am religious, and in situations such as those we face at this moment, I look to God. Not necessarily for answers, but for guidance and comfort.

Lessons Taught and Lessons Learned

I get a lot of questions from people back home and French people here about why I’m doing this. Leaving my home, friends and family for ten months without really looking back very often. Seems pretty crazy to some people. Sometimes one of those people is me, but not very often. Most of those people are the same ones who couldn’t understand why I chose to go to a small women’s liberal arts college nearly a thousand miles from home and looked even more flummoxed when I said I was double-majoring in French and History. “What on earth are you going to do with that?” It’s a legitimate question, but not one that I lose a lot of sleep over. The easy answer to all of those questions is really quite simple: I’m doing all of this because I love it.  

Champagne, A Cathedral, and Christmas Shopping!

After a generally uneventful week, I got to take a day off from city living and ventured out into Reims, a small(ish) town about 2 hours outside of Paris. This was sweetened by the fact that the day trip was provided by the Sweetbriar (no pun intended) program, which meant that I got to hang out with all my American friends who will be leaving me here almost all by myself in just a few short weeks. Also, I didn't have to spend much in the way of money. So it was totally a win-win trip. We got to visit a gorgeous cathedral, have some real champagne straight from the source, and visit the cutest outdoor Christmas market. I may have been freezing my little Texas behind off most of the time, but I sure had a blast!

A Parisian Thanksgiving

This year was the second year in a row for me to be away from home on Thanksgiving, but the first to be in a different country of course. It's a time of year that reminds us of all the good things we have in life. A time to gather with family and think about all the advantages we have. Last year I celebrated with a family friend and her family near Atlanta because I had so much school work to do over the break that I just couldn't go home. It was different then, but also very much the same. When you live in a country that doesn't observe a similar holiday and is generally unaware that such a holiday exists in the States, it is very very different. For me, the absence of Thanksgiving sort of sneaked up on me. If it weren't for Facebook I probably would have forgotten about it completely. As it turned out, I spent a very enjoyable Thanksgiving day doing nothing really out of the ordinary. I went to class, babysat for my regular Thursday evening kids, and on Friday attended the Sweetbriar Program's Thanksgiving Dinner. It was nice, but so very different.

Change

This week has been a big week both in terms of language development and, more generally, in terms of life development. I named this blog the way I did because I knew there would be change, and lots of it during this year so far away from home. In many ways, I thought that because I knew that the change was coming it wouldn't be such a big deal. Before I left, I had spoken to friends, family, and professors about the sort of experiences I would have here. Most of those conversations centered around the language development and culture, not necessarily the personal changes that have occurred since I've been here. I knew all about the stages of culture shock that I would experience after several lectures from friends and professors at Agnes Scott. If you've been reading the blog, you've seen me go through three of the five stages, from Honeymoon to Negotiation to Adjustment, which is where I'd say I am now. I probably won't experience all five stages since I'm only in France for ten months. My point is that I thought I understood what I was getting in to. But it tuns out that my mother was right, like she nearly always is. This experience has and will continue to change me in unexpected ways, and I will return to the States a year older and a million experiences later a very different person than who I was when I left.

Some Of My Favorite Things

I had planned for this post to be about my visit to the Catacombs on Friday. But I didn't get to go because it was closed due to "ventilation problems." Meaning the toxic dead people fumes might cause me to join the dead in the museum. Oh well, I guess I'll get over it and get to go some other time when there's no danger of me turning into a zombie. So instead I'm going to talk about all the things I love about living here. In recent weeks, I've dwelled a lot on the negative (which is consistent with my stage of culture shock). But in reality, the positive experiences have outstripped the negative so far. A lot of my American friends here are only semester students, and will be returning home in just over a month. I have absolutely no desire to join them. Would I like to be with my family at Christmas? Of course I would. Do I want to give up this experience just so I could spend a few short weeks with my family doing the same thing we do every year? Absolutely not. There are so many things I love about being here, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Election Night Special

I've been getting a lot of questions about politics lately, both from French people here and people at home. So I thought I'd do a little Election Day special. Before I start, I would like to clarify that this post is not an invitation to debate politics with me. This is not an attempt to change anyone's mind about who they are voting for (or, hopefully already voted for). If you feel the need to post a comment that argues against a point I make (though I plan to make very few politically-charged statements here), I urge you to think very seriously about why you are posting it. You will not change my mind. If you feel the need to post a comment, then there is pretty much no chance that I will change your mind, so what is the point in having an internet spat that will leave us both upset and angry? Ok. So now that that's out of the way, let's dig in a bit, shall we?

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week.

Remember last week when I was so happy and excited? I had a job, possibility, fun things in my future? Well the rainbows and butterflies disappeared pretty quickly to make way for a seriously crappy week. Several things all went wrong at the exact same time. It wasn't pretty. On the surface, what I'm about to tell you may not seem that bad; it was compounded by the fact that I've been irritable since about two weeks ago, when I lost feeling in the tips of my fingers and the end of my nose. It has not yet returned. So begins my miserable week.

A couple of fun anecdotes

It's been a while since I posted anything, so I thought I'd just do a general update. There haven't been any major events lately, but a few fun little anecdotes that I think you'll like. I've really been getting a rhythm down now that I've been in Paris for nearly 2 months. I do very few touristy things these days because they're generally pretty expensive and I find I'd rather hang out in areas where actual French culture is all around me instead of places where everyone is trying to sell me a souvenir. It's been really nice. When I'm not in class or doing homework I've been exploring the area where I live which is sort of removed from all the tourists. The Moulin Rouge is sorta close, but not close enough for the tourists to overflow into my area. Sacre Cœur is relatively close as well, but it's far enough away that there are very few tourist traps around. On good days I've been walking around and exploring the area and all the little secrets it has to offer.

Normandy, etc.

Day 1: Normandy

This past weekend, I went on a little vacation out of the city, which was awesome. on our first day, we went to Bayeux, a small town close to the famous Normandy D-Day beaches and home to the famous Bayeux Tapestry. To fully understand the tapestry experience, you have to see it, but I'll do my best to give you a general idea. When you walk into the room with the tapestry, it's dark with a lighted display case about 18-24 inches tall at eye-level.

TDs and Job Interviews!

It hasn't been that interesting, so just one post this week. Mostly just info on a couple of job interviews I had this week and how horrifyingly hard my classes here are. Seriously, sometimes I think these professors look out at a class full of students and are thinking, hmmm... How can I scare the bejeezus out of them today? ooooh! I know, I'll talk nonstop for two hours in a completely disorganized way jumping from topic to topic making it impossible for them to take coherent notes! Won't that be fun! There's just a little taster for you guys. There's more to come!

Splashing & Crashing, a good book, and my date with a sandwich

After my first full week of classes both with the Sweetbriar program and at the Sorbonne, I feel like I'm finally starting to get the hang of life in Paris. I'm not saying I don't make linguistic blunders (stay tuned for the latest) and I'm no longer immediately recognized as an American by locals, but I know how everything works and I'm confidant that I can make myself understood in most situations. This week was full of some really fun little stories that I think everyone will get a kick out of; they involve a hilarious grammatical error, an amazing literary experience, and a grammar lesson that changed my life.

I see dead people! And some really pretty art.

So just a little warning before I get started: This post will be pretty long with lots of history and stuff. I'm the history geek so that's what I like to talk about. However, I do understand that many of you do not care quite as much about all this, so feel free to just skim here and there. But most of these stories are pretty interesting, so I would encourage you to try to get into it if you aren't a geek like me.

Weekend Catastrophe

So this is one of those stories that is going to sound really bad and scary when I tell it; I'm warning you so no one reads this, freaks out, and jumps on the next plane to Paris. It all worked out in the end, so there's no need to panic. It is also one of those stories that really sucked while it was actually happening, but at the same time I knew it would be a good story to tell after it was all over. So no panicking. Just read through to the end and try not to be scandalized, ok?

Arrival in Paris

 I have been in Paris now for 3 full days, and they've been fabulous! I guess I'll start with the host family and work from there. I'm living in a 2-parent home with 5 kids; 4 boys and 1 girl. They are between the ages of 14-22. The two oldest, the girl and boy #1 don't live in the house full time, but they come for dinner or something sometimes. But the family is also playing host to another young boy, about 12 or 13 who's living with them for the year so he can go to the private middle school (collège) that he wants to. This isn't that uncommon, as I understand it. So the apartment is HUGE for

"Americain"

So several times in the last couple of weeks, I've run into this idea that Americans speak "Americain" and English people (as in from the UK) speak "Anglais". More than one French person has said things like "oh, you speak American? I only speak a little English." This struck me as completely bizarre. So a few nights ago when my host Mom asked me how to say something in American, My American roomie and I decided to start a conversation about this perplexing phenomenon. We asked why she said American, and not English; and she said it was because they were two different languages, right? I'm not talking like different dialects or accents, she was under the impression that they were two separate languages, like Spanish and

La Musée des Beaux Arts and Academic Preparation for Paris

So on Monday, a pretty large group of Sweet Briar people got to go on a guided visit of the art museum in Tours. It's a really great museum for such a small town, and houses artwork from the really old (I'm talking 7th or 8th century) to the modern (1980s and later) The building is very thoughtfully arranged, with the older stuff in the older area of the building where the floors squeak and the doorways/hallways are smaller, while the more modern art is in the area of the museum that was constructed within the last 20-30 years. This is all great, but the best part of our visit was our tour guide. I've christened him "Monsieur Moustache", and he's fabulous. If you want to see him in action, go check out the video on the facebook page. Even if you all don't speak French, you will appreciate how utterly adorable he is!

Les Châteaux de Chenonceau et Clos Lucé

So this Saturday, we visited the Chateau de Chenanceau, which was most famously the home of King Henry III and Queen Catherine di Medici (we're talking French Henrys, not the Tudors, just to clarify). Have you seen Ever After? Portions of the film were filmed with this chateau in mind, as well as Chambourd (see last week's post). What I loved about this chateau was the way it sits on the water.

Food!

I have had some interesting experiences involving food lately. So to start off, I'm mildly lactose intolerant, which can be a bit of a problem here in the cream and cheese capital of the world. Probably not as bad as poor Claire who has Celiac, but still can be difficult to maneuver if I don't have my lactase on me. But the food in general is just so different here that it's worth talking about even without the added complication of the lactose intolerance.

Classes at l'Institute de Touraine and a truly French encounter...

So today marks the half-way point of my time in Tours, France. Tours is a small city about 3 hours outside Paris, on the Loire River. During these first two weeks, I have been attending classes about 3 hours a day at l'Institute de Touraine with the other 78 students in the program. They've divided us up into four classes with 15-20 people in each of them for our grammar classes. The grammar class lasts two hours every day, from 9:45-11:45am. It is taught by a French professor who speaks minimal to no English. Apart from the fact that there is no English spoken in the class, it's your normal French grammar class with written work and some discussion of the proper usage of certain tenses, modes, etc. For example, yesterday we each wrote an exciting

Settling in

So I've been here a week and now have figured a few things out. Not everything, but the super duper important things, like where and how to send a postcard to the States, how to order something at a restaurant/understand what the menu says about the items, and find the nearest bus stop. It's a start, definitely. And I generally understand everything that is said to me, but formulating a response can take me a bit sometimes. So here's a general run-down of what I've been doing this week.

In the program, there are 79 other students from universities all over the country; the biggest groups (I think) are from Northwestern (20), Whittier (about 10), and Amherst (around 7); I am the only one from Agnes Scott.

Utterly exhausted after a really exciting day. Just going to put up some pics for you all to see :D Bonne nuit!

I have arrived! We flew in this morning, arriving in Paris at about 11 am local time. While this was one of the most exhausting trips I have ever taken, it was fabulous nearly every step of the way, if you can get over the whole not sleeping thing. Yep. I haven't slept since Tuesday night, but honestly my adrenaline and all-consuming excitement about everything going on has been helping me function somehow. So here are some highlights:

Beginnings in the end

This week has been full of endings, goodbyes, and lasts. Generally I avoid all of the sad, tearful goodbyes and endings as I've mentioned before. I packed up my room this week, leaving Agnes for a long time; I turned in all my final papers; I said goodbye to a lot of really great friends. But like I said last week, all of these partings and endings make for really good greetings and beginnings. This week I also started the process to get my student visa, I made arrangements for a phone while I'm in France, and I received my flight itinerary for France.

Goodbyes

That first post looks kinda lonely, and I felt like it was pretty vague and not a little boring. Hopefully this one will be better.

I hate goodbyes. They suck. I don't think they should be legal. There are very few situations in which anyone is happy to be saying goodbye, one of which is when a serial killer knocks on your door and you somehow get him to walk away; and even then you probably wouldn't be happy, you'd be scared to death. But despite all these unattractive attributes, I have to say goodbye a lot. I say goodbye in August when my parents take me to the airport so I can go back to school.

This is a blog about change, inside and out. It's about taking a scary risk and hoping for the best. This is a blog about the biggest roller-coaster ride anyone has ever faced. Today I begin my journey from small town Texan to full-blown Parisienne. I'm taking a moment to take everything in, but not too long; before I know it, I'll be hurtling down that first hill into the unknown.