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.