It's almost time to say goodbye.

This will probably be my penultimate post; I'm heading back to the States on Thursday. I plan to write a debrief sort of post sometime after I get back to the States and re-acclimated to the culture. I've had an eventful last week or so, what with finals and my parents coming to visit for a few days. Eventful, but honestly not all that interesting, other than my Dad cracking me up with some of his attempts to speak French. There are some pictures over on Facebook, if you're interested. They were only here for about 3 days, so we mostly just did the rounds on all the museums. They had a museum pass, and my student I.D. gets me into most Paris museums for free, so we had a really nice time observing a lot of art and history. But that's not really what I want to talk about in this post. A couple of days ago, a friend from the States asked me a question that really fits in well with what I'm feeling this week.

So I went to Disneyland. In Paris.

So, before you read any further, you should know that this post will be full of me basically being a little 10-year-old girl on her first ever trip to a Disney park. I'm serious. Don't say I didn't warn you... During my 2-week break from school at the beginning of May, I went to Disneyland Paris. And it was awesome. And utterly exhausting. But basically the best thing I've done in the last couple of months. I went with my dear friend Lindsey. She's American too, but she's been living in Paris for the last 5 years or so, and teaches 5th grade at a French school in the area. We have a mutual love for all things French, Disney, and fairy-tale related. And it was her birthday. I mean, seriously. Who doesn't want to spend their 28th birthday at Disneyland? So we had a slumber party at her house two nights in a row, drove to Disney together (with accompanying Disney music playing, of course) spent about fourteen hours in the park, and had a fabulous time.

France, I'm so PROUD of you!

So, in case you all on the other side of the pond haven't heard, France passed a law legalizing gay marriage and adoption about a week ago. It's a really amazing thing. I even got to go down to the Assemblé Nationale and stand outside when they announce the successful passage of the law. Unfortunately, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing I decided to do on my way home from class, so I didn't have my camera with me. Here's what I'll say, though: the screams of delight, expressions of love, and general jubilation far outweighed the boos and shouts of disgust from the right-wing protestors. After I got home that night, I had a very interesting conversation with my host Mom which got me thinking about French culture and how this new law works within the French social construct.

What have I been up to lately?

Well, as the title suggests, this is going to be general mash-up of just stuff I've been doing lately. I know I haven't been posting as much this semester, but with my internship and classes and homework and regular life stuff, I've been busy and have had a hard time making the time. If we're facebook friends, you're probably aware that I went to Versailles last weekend. I've also been hanging out with new and different people this semester, so I'm going to tell you a bit about them. I also had a really interesting experience involving a Stephen King book this week. So it's been an interesting couple of weeks, to say the least.

Kind, respectful teenagers? I must be joking!

I'm really busy with schoolwork and getting ready for the end of my stay here in France, but I really wanted to tell you all about my internship at a French high school that I'm doing this semester. It's been one of the absolute best things I've done during the last eight months. I love the kids, I love my fellow teachers, and I love the course material. It's made me so excited to graduate in a year and actually get to do this for real and get paid for it. I've been at the school for a while now, and have some really great stories and observations and things to share with you all.

Provence

This past weekend, I got to spend a couple of days in Provence. For those of you who don't know, Provence is located in the Southeastern tip of France. It's known for its distinctive landscape and historical landmarks for the most part. It touches the Mediterranean Sea, but unfortunately we didn't get to see the coastal areas.  Take a little look at this nifty little map I've provided for you. France is roughly the same size as Texas, so you can see that Provence is quite a trip from Paris. On the TGV(that's the high-speed train), it was between three and four hours each way.  In a car, it would have taken a little less than twice that time. Our trip centered around three main events: Avignon, best known as the Pope's home during the Great Schism during the 11th century (more on that later); then Arles, known both as Vincent Van Gogh's home and for its historical landmarks (particularly from Roman and Medieval times; and the small town of Uzès, near the Pont du Gard. 

SNOW!

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd wake up one morning, see snow falling outside, and just groan. But the day came, earlier this week. I'm still technically on Spring Break, so I really don't have much to report besides snow and just general yuckiness. Next week, I'll start student teaching about 7 hours/week with a brand new group of students. It's very exciting, but I haven't actually started yet, so there's nothing really to report. Most of my French friends have been abuzz with all this Pope stuff, but honestly I don't really care that much. I think it's great that they chose a Latin American one (as I understand it, it's the first time that's happened), but since I don't really look to the Pope for spiritual guidance, I haven't been paying close attention.

Family bonding, teacher stuff, and planning ahead.

I know it has been way too long since I last posted, but I've been pretty busy with mostly boring stuff that you guys probably wouldn't be too interested in. Suffice it to say, there was an ear infection, some school stuff, and just general life stuff happening. It's been a while, but I don't have too much to tell you, to be honest. I've really connected with my new host-family here over the past few weeks, so there's that to talk about. An interesting story involving my 9- and 11-year-old kids asking me what Wal-Mart is, and the possibility of a summer job when I get back to the States in a few months. But that's about it. I may be in Paris, but I still have to do the boring, un-glamorous life stuff. And with seriously limited funds, I can't afford to do museums or monuments or anything like that if it costs money. So besides the fact that I live in Paris, my life is pretty normal. Just not much to tell at this point.

Milestones

Last weekend, I turned 21. In the States, that's a major milestone mostly for the drinking age. That's great and all, but it's not one of the things I've been looking forward to for a really long time. I've been able to drink legally here in France since my arrival in August, so to be honest, it wasn't really a big deal. But it was definitely a Birthday to remember. I'm not going to go into much detail here because it wasn't the partying and drinking that's worth remembering. Don't get me wrong, that was fun most of the time. Having a Metro car full of haughty Parisians sing "Happy Birthday" (in French) to me at the exact moment I turned 21 makes a really great story to tell, but that's not what made this Birthday special. It's the thinking I've done in the week since about my life in general; milestones like this one always make me think about where I'm going and what I'm doing, this one in particular because now I really am classified as an adult in pretty much every sense of the word. It's sorta a big deal.

I'm back with a new apartment and some teacher anecdotes!

I'm back in Paris now, after that fabulous two-week trip of a lifetime. I started my grammar class this week, but my University classes don't start until February 4th, so I've got a lot of free time on my hands. Not a lot to do with said free time at the moment, but it's there nonetheless. I do have one major update for everyone on the other side of the pond: I have a new apartment and a new family! I have also been officially abandoned by more than half of my new American friends, so I don't have a lot of social stuff to talk about. But it has been about two weeks since you heard from me, so I'll try to make this post worth the wait.

Ghost Stories, Fan Girl Freak Out, and Theatre

 My last few days in London were definitely the highlight of my time in London. First up was the Tower of London. I didn't think I was going to be able to go because the cost (£20) was prohibitive for anyone on a tight budget. But thanks to a generous donation from Mimi, my grandmother, I was able to go. For those of you who don't know, the Tower of London is a fortress that has existed in some form since Roman times, but most of the original buildings were destroyed or worn down by the time William the Conqueror made it a true fortress in the 13th century. The Tower of London is actually made of twenty different towers, united behind a large wall. It was a home and fortress to the royal family through the 14th century, when it was transformed into a prison. Today, it houses the British Crown Jewels, a very large museum, and the Yeoman Warders. I spent about 4 hours in total at the Tower.

New Year's Eve

My New Year's Eve was partly fun and partly stressful. I got to go out on the Thames to see this really amazing fireworks display, but the events that followed the display put this story squarely in the "misadventures" column. It's one of those stories that was really not fun while it was happening, but now that it's over, I can look back on it and share it as just one of those stories that makes a good conversation. The fireworks were amazing. Pretty much a good fifteen minutes' worth of huge, over-the-top, amazing fireworks that were just crazy awesome. We love fireworks in my family, so I've definitely seen my fair share, but this was the first time I'd ever been to a major, professionally-planned display. And it was fabulous.

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.