Change of Locations: my new APARTMENT!

Today I got home from university and Monique asked me if I wouldn't mind changing rooms and moving down into the apartment in the basement. And who would mind moving from a regular bedroom into an apartment? Surely not me!

The room is big enough that I can't fit it all in one picture so I'll put them all down below and explain the reason why I moved as well!

When you walk into the room on the left you have my bed, the closet, and that big TV stand thing.

So the reason for which I moved:

This weekend an 11 year-old girl named Pauline stayed with us. (Remember how my host mom does foster parenting.) She was supposed to go back to wherever she was originally this morning, but I guess something didn't work out so as it turns out she'll be here for the next two weeks! (You'll get to hear more about Pauline in the entry that will eventually follow this one.)

On walking in, this is what you''ll find on your right. Table, microwave, cabinets, toaster oven, mini-fridge, literally everything a small apartment would have. And to give you some perspective, the door is on the very right of this picture. Looking in from the door, that orange thing on the left is what you see directly in front of you.

Instead of making Pauline sleep in the basement by herself, Monique figured I wouldn't mind switching rooms. (And she was, as you all can probably guess, correct.)

Close-up of the table and microwave. (Notice on the table there's a water-boiler-thing. So yay, I can make tea whenever I want! That's actually one of the things I'm most excited about.)

 The only thing about moving down here that I really was not a big fan of was the fact that everyone helped, which meant everyone was in my room going through my stuff. I know Monique had them do that with the best intentions, but as you would probably guess again, I don't like when people are all up in my personal stuff. I have a certain way of having my things set up, ya know? Plus I like my privacy. Of all people, I thought the French would understand that!

And this is the view from next to the microwave. The thing on the right is the cabinet, the yellow thing that, as you can see in the photos above, separates the living space from the kitchen.

 Luckily after I got my stuff all packed up into suitcases (it took less than 10 minutes, I really don't have very much) they let me rearrange it in my new space by myself. Phew! I was scared they were going to insist on helping me do that too...

This is the TV stand across from my bed! It's kind of awesome that I have my own TV too. Now I can watch the Simpsons (or anything I want!!) whenever I want! Which will also help my French :) 

Overall I'm really happy with my new placement, as you can tell. I get all of the benefits of living in a dorm room (not to mention it's bigger than any dorm room I've ever seen) and living with a host family at the same time.

Not to mention I even get my own bathroom! It's separate from the apartment but only a few feet away. So now I can literally do whatever I want, whenever I want. Within the household rules, of course.

Yes...you did need to see my toilet. Cause it's my toilet!

The only downside I can foresee is that from where I'm sitting (my new bed) I can hear exactly what Jean-Baptiste (do you remember him? He lives in the apartment across from mine -- not able to get into the house though, it has a separate door) and his girlfriend are saying. I can close the door, of course, and I will if I need to concentrate or something. 

But I guess for the next two weeks I'll really be able to improve my French comprehension by doing a lot of eavesdropping. Not that I would ever do that. Anyway, I don't think it's eavesdropping when you don't have to make any effort to hear what's happening.

Oh and also when people are walking on the stairs I can never tell if they're going up or coming down...which is a little off-putting for someone who likes to know whether or not someone will be coming into their room but it's something to work on fixing, apparently!

And on a completely unrelated note:

Today I had my usual Monday rendezvous with Madame Ollivier to talk about what I'm going to teach on Thursday. I really like our Monday meetings because it doesn't take very long to talk about class so we end up talking about other things. 

This time it was about student loans, students whose parents pay for everything, learning not to take things for granted, the role that religion plays in peoples' motivation for doing good deeds, and how much we really don't like people who are obsessed with having brand-name things and frivolously spending money.

As it turns out, she was born and raised in St. Malo (the place with the beach where I visited) by parents who didn't make a lot of money, and a Catholic mom who did everything for her until she moved to Rennes to study. Once she got here, she quickly learned to be independent and the rest is history. She's not a practicing Catholic but she got married in a church and had her son baptized because that's just what you do. 

Also, she thinks it's kind of crazy that some Americans are sent to Rennes by their parents and they've already travelled around the world more than she has (she's 34 years old) while other students, like me, are racking up thousands of dollars of debt and already stressing about working to pay it off. She agrees that the income gap in America is, quite honestly, ridiculously large and that university costs so much that it's almost impossible for students to pay off unless they're incredibly smart about it (e.g., Holly Giovengo). 

All in all, it turns out that Mme Ollivier and I are pretty similar. I had my suspicions given the last conversation we had about marriage/children but today confirmed it. It was a great conversation, a mix of French and English (which I prefer because it stresses me out less -- basically I just take advantage of the fact that she knows English and make no effort to try to find the French word if I don't know it), and I'm really glad I'm getting to have these interactions with French people.

Cultural differences set aside, people are just people and it's pretty easy to find a common ground. And it's neat to be able to do it in another language, too!

The only downside of today: I've had a stomach ache all day :( it's really the crappiest I've felt the whole time I've been in Rennes so I shouldn't be complaining.

On a side note, the next entry I write is going to be about the weekend I just had. It was really great so be ready!