Week 1 & Week 2

Friday, 05 September 2008 - Thursday, 18 September 2008

Hi, everyone!

Today's blog won't be a day by day account as all the others will be. Things have been much too crazy here to write every night, but now that I'm settled in, I should have more time. However, I do want to tell y'all some about what I'm referring to as my "adjustment period."

The First Two Weeks in a Foreign Country 101

1. Jet lag: Nothing is more exhausting than travel. On Friday, September 5, I got up around 6am. I finished packing, had a final large sweet tea at Chick-Fil-A, and went to the airport where I had to say goodbye to my mom while trying not to cry or get sick. I flew to Philadelphia where I had a 3 hour layover. Then, after sitting on the tarmac for awhile so some hydraulic gage light could be repaired, we finally took off two hours behind schedule. As luck would have it, I didn't sleep a wink on the plane. Once in Paris, Natasha and I took a cab to "Gare de Lyon" where we caught our train to Avignon. Except we almost missed the train because we intially got on the wrong car and then figured it out and had to move to the other end of the train four minutes before it left the station. The doors were litterally closing on me as I boarded the train, plus I had tons of luggage to deal with. It's very traumatic when you're not sure where you're going and running on no sleep. Three hours later we finally got to Avignon, had an early dinner and went to sleep (Local time: 9pm; EDT: 3pm).

Total time awake: 33 hours

And jet lag lingers. It took me about a week to adjust to the time here. Natasha and I both slept all of last weekend.

2. Parlez-vous français? Well, I thought I did. But it was horrible at first (and I'm still working on it). I was exhausted and freaked out, my brain was in overdrive, and I couldn't understand anything. Whenever I was spoken to, every word of French I know seemed to flee my brain. That still happens some but it's getting much better. My classes seem like they're going to be wonderful; I love all of the professors. But oral comprehension tests are going to be rough in class, though. The tv/radio programs and songs they make us listen to move very quickly and are quite difficult to understand sometimes.

3. Cuisine: The food is very different here. "Laura, you're living in the food capitol of the world. It must be amazing," is what you're thinking. And you're right -- some of it is amazing. I haven't eaten anything I absolutely detest. But a lot of the food is very rich and very strong. The French eat a lot -- four courses at dinner. I can't handle the cheese course because it's all so strong, as is the chocolate. They also eat a lot of their meat pretty rare, which freaked me out the first night we had steak. But there are other treats here that are delicious. The quiche, the eclairs, the tarts....oh my gosh, yum! They're indescribable.

But not to worry. I'm countering all of this rich food by walking everywhere I go. I'm going to be in great shape when I come home!

4. Homesickness: It's the worst, especially the first week. I couldn't imagine why I ever thought it was a good idea to come here for 4 months practically on my own. I had just met Natasha (who's wonderful, by the way), and I have never felt more alone than I did my first week here. I called my mom in tears everyday, begging her to let me come home, although we both knew that was impossible. I felt alone, depressed, incompetent, and my appetite was gone. But the desperation passes and you get up in the morning knowing that you have to work hard to improve your language skills and make some new friends. And that's exactly what I did. I've formed quite an international clique. I have friends from Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Canada, the UK, and Ecuador; it's really exciting. I'm still not confident I can do it all (parts of the French language are difficult, of course, and it's easy to get discouraged. And of course I still miss my family and my friends at home and at Stetson dearly. But...

I take it one day at a time, and everyday it gets better.

I hope all is wonderful in your lives. I'll write again next week.

Love,
Laura