Let's be real: a rant

Before reading: I realize that this entry is has a negative attitude, just what I've been trying to avoid, but I was having a bad day when I wrote it so, as you should with everything I write, take this with a grain of salt. Also know that I am posting it with good intent: to be honest with myself and others about the fluctuations of emotion in the study abroad experience. Our program coordinators call it culture shock. Also, I know I make it sound like my life at home is less than optimal which is untrue. However, I felt like I was lyon to everyone when I wasn't including the bad days as well as the good.


There are 117 days left until I leave France. Of those days, 41 are vacation (aka I won't be in Rennes, not even counting a few 3-day weekends).

That's not the point of this entry. Today I'm having one of my homesick days and I want to make sure whoever reads this has an accurate depiction of the study abroad (and host family) experience, at least for me.

I just wanted to say that it's not all fun and games. Sometimes it can be very frustrating, confusing and, in a word, heavy.

Usually when things are frustrating, they're little things that could easily be handled on a normal day but if I'm tired or hungry, forget about it. Examples: the overly crowded university restaurant, people literally pushing me out of the way in stores, silly French ways of doing things that are different from American, and using a fork and knife properly.

Things that are confusing usually stem from cultural misunderstandings. For me, that happens a lot in my home. I like my host family and I enjoy the time I spend with them, but according to my friends some of the rules I have to follow are weird and not typical.

Examples: 

Only showering between 5:30pm and 9pm (honestly I hate that rule and I won't ever understand it)

Not being allowed to close the bathroom door in the morning when I brush my teeth

Not being allowed to eat breakfast after 10am because that's when food for lunch is prepared (even though I've never seen that happening...)

The regimented-ness of the chore lists

Doing certain things on certain days (like every Thursday trash from the bedrooms is taken out. once I told my older host sister that I didn't have much in it so it was fine. I heard her talking to my younger sister about it and she was very unusually bent out of shape about it. It was bizarre, but I feel like maybe I'm missing something...?)

The style of "talking" that my host mom and sister sometimes have: they yell at each other, like at the dinner table...and then a millisecond everything is fine. I know that isn't that weird, but I just don't like yelling I guess. 

My host parents are anti-gay marriage. They said that they don't want gay people to be able to marry because then they could adopt a baby, and babies raised by gay parents will be "psychologically traumatized."

Every Sunday my host dad jokes about how I'm not wearing a dress and that's what girls are supposed to wear on Sundays...and my host sisters and host mom actually do it. He's joking, I know, but there is a small element of seriousness to it. He's kind of not joking...but I'm not going to follow a rule like that, it's sexist. It's not a matter of dressing up, it's a matter of wearing a dress.

My host mom says my youngest host-sister, who turns 13 tomorrow, is too young to do the dishes. At 13, I think I was helping with just about every chore in the house. 

When I talk to my friends about these things they all agree that it's just a very traditional French family, despite the nontraditional family structure.

Since I'm making a point of being honest, I'll throw it out there and say that sometimes I just don't want to be here. The rules, the schedules, the routines, they make me feel so stressed and uncomfortable. Don't get me wrong: I have no problems with doing chores, following loose schedules, and following rules.

And I'll be honest, again: I don't spend as much time as I'd like to with my host mom in the evenings. I just don't know what to talk to her about; I don't like what she watches on TV, I don't like being preached to about what's right and wrong in this world. I enjoy dinner time because I can just sit and listen to conversations and pipe in sometimes if I need to, but a good 25% of the time I am zoned out, in my own head thinking in English. If I lived in a dorm, I might actually have something to talk to the other residents about.

I'm slowly making French friends though, it's just taking some time.

Sometimes I think I've gotten over the culture shock, then I have a day like today where it all bubbles up and I think "what I wouldn't give to be at home on the couch watching tv with my family right now." It's funny though, because literally just this morning I was walking around thinking, "wow, I'm in France. This is so awesome, I can't believe it."

But again, in all honesty, I'm not immersing myself in the language as much as I should be. However, I'm not sure if my brain could handle all of this emotion without being able to process it and de-stress in English. Speaking is a difficulty for me in English, so when I try to do it in French sometimes it's just a train wreck. If I'm with people who I know aren't going to judge me, I'm fine. If I'm with professors or my host parents, not so much. Sometimes it's also hard for me to understand people, like store workers or whatever, when they're talking to me. A way to help that would be to watch French movies at night but my brain just can't handle it. I know my limits and what I'm capable of, I just need to take this at my own pace. Another part of it is that when I don't have something to say, I just don't say anything (in English or in French).

And that contradiction right there, that's what's so confusing and heavy. Luckily I don't feel this way that often though.

Living in a host family is hard, and to anyone considering doing it I would greatly advise you to think long and hard about who you are as a person and if you could actually handle living in a new house with new rules and new people.

Living here really is helping me get to know myself as a person though, so I'm glad I did it and I'm trying not to let the little things bug me too much. It's not worth it anyway, cause I'M IN FRANCE!

I'm not trying to give the impression that my host family isn't nice, they're all very nice agreeable people. Monique has done and continues to do great things for other people, including me by allowing me to stay in her home and learn from her family, but she's just not the type of person with whom I get along on a deep level. I'm sure some of it is cultural, some of it is generational, and some of it is just human nature.

What's important is that I'm learning what I like and don't like in other people and their lifestyles, which will (and is) helping me figure out and define who I am based on what I'm not.

I just wanted to put it out there, that I'm not trying to give anyone the illusion that my life here is all sugar-coated chocolate-filled French pastry, sometimes it's the crappy kind that you get out of a vending machine.

Valentine's Day!

So as I'm sure you know, today is Valentine's Day.

My friends and I decided to do a sort of "secret Santa" except for choosing our Valentines! I really love coming up with gifts for people so I was pretty happy :) And for some reason, I decided to take a picture of my breakfast.

As usual, I had cereal. Here you can see our cloth napkins and the different containers that milk and orange juice come in! And also the REAL CHUNKS OF CHOCOLATE in my cereal. So good.

I had Tanya for my Valentine, but I forgot to take pictures of what I got and made for her. I'm sure she'll post them soon enough so I'll update soon. However I'll just tell you now: I got her an 8-pack of Bueno bars, a candy bar she really loves, a Brittany shot glass (don't worry people, she's 21 :p) and I made her a coloring book :)

Amanda had me though, and this is what she got:

On the left is a card all in French. Then there's chocolate (soo goooood), dried fruit (because she and I have bonded over our love of pruneaux!) and almond paste..aka marzipan. She got that because one day we were walking around the store and I told her how much I love to eat it. So she got it! I wasn't expecting the gift to be so thoughtful so I'm very very thankful to have such a great friend :)

This is the other side of the card that she made me.

And this evening, we went to go see Cyrano de Bergerac at the Theatre National de Bretagne (missing some accents, I know). I'm not in that picture, by the way.

The play was...different. It was a modern version, so all of the action took place in one big room...the setting was a mental hospital, and the inpatients put on the play. It was weird, but interesting. I would have liked to have seen the original version, because it's more romantic and it is, after all, Cyrano de Bergerac, but this was free so I'm happy with what I saw!

l'université Rennes 2

At the metro station called Villejean (the name of our campus)

These pictures are in no particular order because that is just how it works when I post from my phone and I do not feel like editing. Also, there will be a lack of contractions since I cannot seem to find the apostrophe on this French keyboard (posting from the library).

That's the library...also found the apostrophe!

School lunch: jambalaya: That shrimp was fresh, the benefits of living in Brittany! and alcohol soaked dessert again...

Building E, where I have most of my classes. Pretty, right?.........

Spiral staircases everywhere here...like the miscellaneous matter growing there (and on vitually everthing)? rainy climate...

Trash covered stairs that I take every day. But look how green the grass is! benefits of the rain

Bathroom stall art!

I will post pics of the craz and terribly laid out cafeteria soon.

In other news: the other night I made a French friend at English night at a bar called O'Connels and we talked about French milk. I was super happy because you don't often find people who are willing to talk to you about weird things like milk so you have to hold on tight when you do!

Also tonight we are going to see Cyrano de Bergerac which I am suuuuper excited to see. I'm done writing for now though, this keyboard is giving me a headache.

L'avenir

So I was just thinking about writing this post and what I would call it when I realized what the word "avenir" (for those who don't know French, it means the future) is actually composed of: à + venir (and for the non-francophones, it's like saying "to come" like, what's to come.). 

Isn't that an awesome way to say the future?

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about mon avenir and what I hope to do/how I see my life being in a lot of different ways. Since this post is going to be dense, I'll add random pictures throughout to keep you entertained!

We actually did a bit of rock climbing at St. Malo :p I cut my thumb! The rocks were super slippery because they get covered by ocean water at high tide.

It started with how my house will be run since I was thrown into a new home with new rules and customs, some that I like and some that I don't.

Things I'll try to keep from my French life:

drinking espresso, not crappy watered-down Starbucks

eating breakfast every day...

using cloth napkins, not paper ones

conserving heat by sleeping with thick blankets and wearing slippers

conserving water by showering for less time (however, I won't be shutting off the water when I shampoo like I have to hear...ugh)

not using the dryer, but hang-drying my clothes

early to bed, early to rise (although some might say that 7:15 is not early...)

having music playing (jazz, foreign) while I eat/work in my house

composting 

recycling as much as possible

eating quality cheese/meats/bread

drinking herbal tea (loose leaf) before bed

decorating my house with things from all over the world in lots of earth tones

having dessert right after dinner with everyone at the table

making sure I have an adventure every day, even a little one (today I walked around town by myself for an hour or so and discovered a bunch of new things!)

drinking wine with big meals

Lord of the Rings moment...that's a FIREPLACE. And there were two in the same room!

Things I won't be keeping from my French life:

a regimented lifestyle

any sort of house rules in general that aren't very very important (although I know this may change as time goes on)

talking about politics

only watching the news/classical music/educational programming

the Sunday ritual of staying in the house all...day...long...

showering at night (aka NEVER being able to find a good time to exercise)

living with a bunch of people (this probably stems from the fact that I usually live with 2 other people, if any at all, and now I live with 4 or 5 others...)

What this all seems to boil down to is: conserving energy, eating/drinking well, having a tranquil and flexible routine, and doing relaxing things, often. 

Do I want kids? No. Not at this point. (They would completely ruin my plans...) In fact, I can't even imagine children having any sort of role in my life over the next ten years and that's perfectly fine since I want to adopt/foster parent anyway.

My latest plan with school is: finish my French major (check), get a social work minor and an English lit major, then do the MAT at Pitt (a 1-year masters degree in education). From there, I'm not 100% sure what will happen. I could find a job teaching in the USA and live incredibly meagerly to make an attempt to pay off a good chunk of my loans for a few years (and in the summers travel throughout the world volunteering/teaching English), I could move abroad and teach English as a second language right away, or I could move abroad and just...stay there. Forever.

I was talking to one of the program coordinators yesterday and she was telling me about the year she spent in Syria (before the war) teaching French. She wants to go abroad again but for now she's doing this because it was a good opportunity. Her degrees are in teaching French as a second language and teaching English, but since she's French she didn't really have any loans....

My life might end up being like that though; different jobs every few years that will eventually add up to something.

Yay for legalized gay marriage in France! Et vive La Bretagne!

The thing about living abroad (and Charlotte, the program coordinator, confirmed this for me) is that you don't really want to do it alone. It's lonely and less safe. I have a friend who wants to teach English abroad as well, so maybe we'll do that together. And there's always Darren, I know he's going to end up abroad at some point!

Things I love about living in Europe:

You can eat this for dinner and it's so cheap, so satisfying, so delicious. It's perfect. A lot of picnic dinners like this...that's what I see in my future.

Le dimanche

Sundays can be pretty boring here, being the "sacred day" and all...

However, today was not too terribly bad! I was La Reine for the first time when we had our galette des rois today. For those of you who don't know, it's a pastry in which there is a little figurine inside and and whoever gets the figurine gets to be the king of queen. So I wrote a cardboard crown while we ate dessert :p But I got this little spiderman out of it! And the galette was delicious, it had almond paste in it mmmmm.

And I also ate rabbit for the first time! It just tasted like dark chicken meat. But it had a white wine/cream sauce and was delicious.

L'alimentation

Now it's time for the food post.

Every morning, my host mom sets the table for everyone in the house (even though we all eat at different times). She unloads the dishwasher around 7am, which can get a bit...noisy, because of the whole open-air spiral staircase thing. But it's still nice, nonetheless.

For breakfast, I always have cereal because most of the cereal my host mom buys is DELICIOUS. Chunks of real chocolate...so good.

Then during the week I have lunch at the university. (I'll add more pictures later, once I start taking them :p). You get one main plate and either 2 or 3 sides, depending on the main dish that you get. Everything I've had there is pretty good though! Way better than Pitt food, I can tell ya that. I like to get the plat du jour because then I get 3 sides (I usually get bread, a fruit or vegetable side, and a dessert---yogurt, pudding, rum-drenched-cake covered in whipped cream...). Sometimes I get cheese for a side though, when I'm feeling particularly French.

As much as I enjoy the food, sometimes I hate the cafeteria because it gets so crowded that we have to stand with trays full of food and wait for someone to get up. But that's only if the universe is particularly angry at me. Oh, and usually after I eat there I'm pretty dang full. I make sure I eat a lot because then I usually won't eat again till 7pm since they don't snack much here.

Oh, and what I just said is a lie. I feel like they snack here a lot, and it's on pain au chocolat or some equally rich pastry. The French paradox...so I don't snack a lot, and if I do I buy dried fruit.

After lunch, I usually get a coffee in the same building because it's much cheaper and very good. When I come home I'm probably going to end up buying myself an espresso machine...used, of course!

And thennnn eventually it's dinner time. A typical (winter) meal: soup, then a protein and carb (usually fish/turkey and pasta/potatoes/rice), then cheese and bread (if you want, not always), then dessert (yogurt, pudding, fruit, fruit salad, little cookies). It doesn't sound like much, but by the end of dinner I'm usually pretty stuffed.

But sometimes my host mom will switch it up for dinner. Last night we had a more adult-like dinner since the kids weren't there: different smoked meats, bread, tomatoes and lettuce. A few nights ago my host mom made this Asian-like soup which was spicy and deeelcious, and then another day she used a wok and made a stir-fry with Vermicelli noodles.



Of course since this is a food post, I cannot neglect to mention galettes/crepes/wine.

If you've read my previous posts, you've seen a galette. If you haven't, click here.

This is a crepe that Amanda and I split in Nantes. If it looks like there's a pool of butter and sugar sitting in the middle, that's because there is. There are also toasted almonds :)

And in all honesty, I haven't drank that much wine. But when I do, it's either on Sunday at lunch with my host dad or it's vin chaud (which is hot red wine with spices in it). 

A few more adjustments...

And here are updates to Email Series #2

This household is not perfect...the only household that is perfect for me are my parents' houses or when  I live on my own. I think I was in the honeymoon phase of culture shock when I wrote that. However, I don't hold it against them that it isn't the perfect household. I still reaaaalllly like it here and that's what matters, not the little things that I don't like.

I haven't been going out as much, to bars I mean, because my classes start too early and it's wayyy to expensive. I have discovered a love for mojitos though. Sugar and mint, that's literally all I taste in them. And you can make them last FOREVER by eating the mint leaves :p Oh, the college life...

Since sending the email on Jan 23, I've stuck to using the subject vous with Monique. So far she hasn't told me to use tu, which I'm supposed to wait for, so I guess I made the right decision? I use tu with my host dad though, so I still find it kind of bizarre.

Oh, and I still haven't gotten a haircut. My friend Amanda said she'd do it for me if I buy scissors, so she's been watching youtube tutorials and we'll see how it goes! I'm hoping to get that done by the end of next weekend...

And I was correct about the Nantes trip. It was VERY damp...aka freaking TEMPESTS. My friend's umbrella flipped inside-out and then broke...it was crazy. Also I forgot to mention in my other Nantes post that for dinner one night, my friends and I just bought bread, cheese, and meat (like cured ham or whatever) and had that for dinner. It was sooooo cheap (4 euro per person, unheard of!) and delicious.

Also I went to a fest-noz! (The Breton party thing, in case you forgot). I didn't dance; there were sooo many people and I didn't know the dances, but I'll also make a separate post about that because it was pretty interesting.

I still love Brittany just as much now as I did a few weeks ago! If not more...yesterday I had a crepe filled with honey. Literally filled so much that it was leaking honey out the sides...it was heaven.

Oh, and this is what I do to count my money when I'm going to pay for something. I still can't tell exactly which coin is which when they're all jumbled in my wallet so I just make a fool of myself and lay them all out, face up, on my hand.

Minor Adjustments

I've been looking through what I've posted and realized that there is A LOT that I'm missing. I'll try to post more over the next few days, but I figured I'd start now.

The plan (since it's been drilled into my head here in France that you always start by telling your reader your plan):

Go through the series of emails, one by one, and add more description/tell what has changed since then.  Starting with the post A Series of Emails

My 15 year old host sister Monica is from the Congo, but she's been living with Monique for 7 years. This weekend I met her older brother, Vincent. He lives in St. Malo and he's nice enough to take the time to talk to me :)

My 13 year old host sister's name is Morgane; she's been here for 2 years but she goes home on the weekends. Apparently when she came here she could hardly write and wasn't very good in school, but she's improved drastically (with the help of Monique) and I never would have guessed that she ever had difficulties like that.

My 12 year old host brother's name is Aurelien; he's partially blind and he also leaves on the weekends.

Sleeping is still a weird-ish thing here, or at least different from at home. I have classes at 8:30 three days a week and I always hear Monica when she gets up in the mornings around 6:30 because she lives in the attic above me.  I usually go to bed around 9:30 or 10, and every single night I wake up between the hours of 3:30 and 5:30 for no reason at all, so I usually check my email on my phone and respond to any new ones I get...I'm well aware of how weird that is.

The preliminary language course that we had for 2 weeks was a bit of a joke...but it killed time and I met some interesting professors. At the end we got to taste all kinds of Breton specialties (aka cakes with 10 pounds of butter in them and cidre --mildly alcoholic, carbonated apple cider is how I would describe it) and it was allllll freeeeee!

How'd I do on the placement test? I got into the C2 level...which is the highest possible. So woohoo! Speaking French is still pretty hard, but I'm realizing that I just have to let go of the notion that I need to speak without making mistakes which is difficult for me to do, but once I get past that I know I'll be fine.

Like I said in the last email, I still don't understand how the French are so skinny. I do feel like I might have lost a few pounds, but still how that happened is beyond me.

I'll dedicate an entire post a little later to the French traditions (that I've experienced) surrounding food and meals.

And now for your entertainment, let's play a game of find the Frenchie! Hint: there are 4. This should be rather easy for you since you may have already seen pictures of my friends...

Think you've got it? The only boy in the photo, that's Matthieu. Then behind him on the left with the black and white scarf is Pauline. To his right with the glasses is Lola, and to her right is Lise. They're the program monitors.

You can't really tell in this picture, but Pauline is adorable and very French. Matthieu is hilarious, Lola is super classy and sarcastically funny, and Lise is sort of quiet and sort of a hippie if you can't tell :p

Okay, it's later!

You can't study in France without doing a bit of wine tasting!

I know it looks like I wear the same outfit every day but...(at Mt. St. Michel)

With Tanya in Le jardin des Plantes (Nantes)

I've been waiting to see this fountain since 8th grade when I did a project in Ish's class on Le Jardin du Luxembourg. (Paris, with Amanda)

We found a cool cafe that I fell in love with! I got tea -- herbal, of course -- and it's brewed loose-leaf in those awesome kettles! Also tea and coffee are usually served with a little chocolate or cake. Deeelicious!

Oh, and the first bar I stepped foot in and ordered a drink was in Paris. (things I like to be able to say :p )

Lost Time

I'm realizing that my life here is pretty awesome and I have pictures to prove it...or rather my friends posted pictures to Facebook which prove it.

Anyway, to remember that fact I'm gradually going to go through and pick out pics/explain why the day/mini-adventure was awesome!

And it'll also make up for the density of some of my posts :P

Need I elaborate?

I took part in a REAL FRENCH PROTEST! I was dying the whole time.

The very beginning of our friendship! I really never would have guessed that we'd become so close, so quickly. (at an Italian restaurant in Paris)

My host mom gave me free tickets to a tourism expo outside of Rennes. We went and this is what we found! Okay by me :)

I'll leave the rest for later!

Le Mont Saint Michel et Saint Malo

Today we had an excursion with our program. Mt. St. Michel is an abbey from the middle ages...it was very overcast and rainy today and I'm too lazy to edit my photos (as per usual) so the pictures are dark. 

Mt. St. Michel is actually an island though, and during certain parts of the year it's completely surrounded by the sea. The Bretons (people of Brittany) and Normands (people of Normandy) both claim it's part of their region, but my host dad told me to say that I was in Normandy. So...there you go!

Another awesome thing is that Mt. St. Michel was actually what inspired the design for the city Minas Thrith in the Lord of the Rings! And if you know me, you know I was geeking out about it. 

On the left is the LOTR city, the right the one that I visited today (not my photo, of course). But that's the coolest thing ever right?!

We also visited St. Malo, which is an awesome beach and it's only an hour away from Rennes!

And here's a picture of my friends and I all together. Tanya on the left, Amanda on the top right, and Kelsey bottom right.

It's so awesome to walk around medieval towns, I really did feel like I was in the Lord of the Rings at certain points. There were also all kinds of little shops and cafes throughout.

Bad news though: I'm becoming  a 2 cup-a-day addict...of ESPRESSO. Oh well, c'est la vie! 

Le soleil!

It was beautiful and sunny today! A rarity in this town.

The view from my bus stop, the metro station, my morning coffee (and Tanya, one of my good friends here!), school lunch (so good) and the library! Oh, and that dessert is cake soaked in so much rum that I couldn't even eat it...

aaaa

Thought of the day

Life is one big adventure, every single day is a new experience. People come and people go so instead of being sad when they're gone, enjoy the time that you have with them. Everything and everyone in life happens for a reason, it's just up to you to find it.

Email Series #2

January 15

 Today I'm making a point of talking more with Monique even though I know my French isn't perfect. I have to remember not to stay in my room too long because then I end up just isolating myself. Monique is really nice about letting me (and the other kids) do basically whatever we want. I don't know how they did it, but they placed me in the perfect household for me. 

Hm, what makes Pauline French? Well first of all she just looks French (aka she's absolutely beautiful, she's pretty thin but in a healthy way, he dresses very fashionably but in a normal kind of way, like a normal person, she has a short haircut) she speaks the French way -- which is both nasal and comes out of the front of the mouth at the same time...don't ask--and she does the bises very often which a lot of the monitors don't because we're american and they know it's weird for us. I'll take a picture with her and put it on the internet eventually, then you'll know what I'm talking about. Oh and also she smokes sometimes. I think almost everyone here smokes, at least sometimes.

The Monaco doesn't taste like beer, it tasted like sugary pop. So I'll still say I don't like beer.

Monique does know I like cooking but she's pretty darn sick. I think once she gets better life here will change a bit, but in a good way. I like it this way though, it's very laid back.

I'm not sure what exactly is going on in Mali either, but the USA is actually going to intervene along with the UN. I don't know exactly what the shootings in Paris were about, but it was surrounding Kurdish people so I don't think it was the same thing. That was the day I left Paris though, so I was happy for that.

Today we had a meeting about the teaching practicum, the teaching English as a second language in schools like I told you about, and I decided that I'm 100% going to do it even if I don't end up getting any credit through Pitt. I've heard that the classes here won't take much time or effort and the teaching English will actually only take up 3 hours a week, which is WAYYYY less work than I do for any class I've ever taken at Pitt. I think I definitely should become a teacher because it's one of the only things in life that I get really really excited for.

And after the meeting my friends and I went to a cafe and I got a white hot chocolate and we shared a sandwich. I got a small hot chocolate and that was 3.10, so about 4 dollars. Things here are EXPENSIVE but they drink coffee very often nonetheless. The coffee here is very good too.

I think I might know part of why the French are thin: they eat HUGE meals and then hardly snack in between. It might also be the walking they do, since it's not necessary to have a car. Every day I take the bus and the metro, I really like it here. 

I think you might like living in France because of the cafes and all the food is good, I'm pretty sure you'd eat everything I've eaten so far. Also the news is TOTALLY different here. The newscasters talk in depth about issues, not just tiny little stories, and everyone knows what's going on pretty much all the time. The French are very educated and they like to talk politics. On Saturday I'm going to go to a protest, something that happens pretty often in France, to support gay marriage. There was a huge one in Paris on Sunday against it...France is generally pretty divided about that. And other than that you'd like it because you can get delicious food to go, like sandwiches, so you'd never have to cook if you didn't want to :p

I'm pretty excited for our language course tomorrow. I feel pretty good about spending more time with the family today; at dinner the kids were telling jokes and I understood some of them. French jokes are often just a play on words, so if I don't know one of the words the joke is completely lost. 

I feel like I have put a language-blocker on my brain because for some reason I can't get myself to think in French. I'm trying to write in my journal in French, I've actually written a lot. I think it's probably normal to think in English because if I didn't, I would have too many pent up thoughts and emotions. Writing emails to you helps me sort out my feelings about France and remember things I did, if you couldn't tell :p I'll probably end up printing them all out when I get back because I've been finding that I tell you things that I forget to write in my journal because I'm not surprised by them but you would be since you haven't studied French culture as much as me. 

Oh and I'm getting used to the whole shower at night thing, I'm going to go do that now. 

January 23

Cool thanks, I'm glad that worked out. Everything's going well, getting settled into the routine of my preliminary language course but if course that will change in less than a week, then it'll be all hectic and crazy again! On Friday we have a wine tasting though, so that will be cool.

Yesterday Monique was telling me about all the places she's been; all over the place, really. Africa, Taiwan, China. When she was in Africa she got a really bad infection and actually had to be sent back to France, and Pierre's sister (I think she said his sister?) actually died there from what I'm guessing was smallpox? I don't know the word in French so I really do have to guess :p it was something that can kill you in a matter of a few days. Anyway, I have been afraid to ask Monique questions because I don't know whether to "tutoie" or "vousvoie" her. Since you don't know French, tutoie is when you use the subject "tu" which is informal, used for people your own age or those you know very well and vousvoie is when you use the subject "vous" which is formal, more respectful, used for superiors like professors and such. Pierre told me right off the bat to use tu with him, but Monique hasn't said anything. I have accidentally used tu before because I hardly have to vousvoie anyone, and she didn't say anything. The other kids use tu with her. But I'll probably vousvoie her until she says otherwise.

Anyway, she has a lot of friends who also went to Africa and she says that when you return, your immune system is weakened so that's why when she gets sick, she gets really sick. But she's better now so that's good.

Yesterday I wrote in a xmas card for her in English to a student she had here 14 years ago. She told me about a lot of the other students, one girl is in Africa right now and a few others are ambassadors. I have a lot to live up to :P

I don't think I want to go to Africa though, after hearing those horror stories...although I think she would still advocate going even so. I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do after I graduate. I think I will probably major in French and English Literature and then do the MAT (the 1-year masters in education program at Pitt) and then after that I want to move somewhere else in the world to teach english/something else to do with education. Teaching english is a really great option for people like me though. 

Something else about France: for women here, bedhead is not frowned upon. People here are allowed to have crazy hair...so tonight, I'm not going to put any product in my hair and we'll see what it looks like tomorrow morning. Hopefully the look will suit me :P

My friend did give me a coupon for 15% off a haircut, but getting your hair cut here is ridiculously expensive and, for some reason, the French think it's perfectly justifiable to charge more to cut long hair, even if you only get an inch trimmed off. For some reason, that strikes me as something that is sooo French, even the French hate it. My friend Amanda said she'd cut my hair for me, just a trim, so I might let her do it...free is free. If it's uneven...well oh well, the French don't seem to care anyway.

We have a 3 day weekend next weekend, so my friends and I are going to travel further into Brittany. (I say further into it because we are on the very edge of the region.) To really see Brittany, you have to go further into the peninsula. I'm 100% it will be a cold and very damp trip (since it rains here EVERY DAY! and if the sun comes out you're lucky...) but it's a neat region with a lot of culture. 

(this section grandma will like) Breton culture is very celtic. here are a few links to videos with a traditional and more modern/fusion examples

the instruments (the flute and bagpipe like thing) are really popular and the language they're speaking is the regional language here, Breton (but there's also gallo in the western part of brittany, where I am)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUw6Ce66yT0   the lady in this video is very famous for this (you don't have to listen to the whole thing...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB8Nim4JBNk   and this woman won the french equivalent of american idol, she's from this region so she made this song. if you listen you can hear the similarities to the traditional song --- i hope this link works, if not search in youtube "nolwenn lero tri martolod"

In february there's going to be a "fest-noz" which is a traditional breton party with the music and dancing and food; also in Rennes there are bars you can go to and hear the music played live. I'm really excited to delve into the Breton culture, if it wasn't evident...