On Recommence

Chicago... it was exactly what I needed. In so many ways that I didn't even expect.

Before going home for Christmas, I felt like I was failing my experience in some way by needing a break. But I have to say, looking back now, I don't think I would have lasted the rest of my time in France had I not taken those 12 days to really take a breather. The idea of being abroad 9 months total had become overwhelming, more so than I was even willing to admit to myself... but now I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted from my shoulders, and I couldn't feel more relieved or happy. Plain and simple.

Thanksgiving en France

When I asked my students what they thought Thanksgiving was, most replied that it was a fête for Christmas and we ate turkey... Well, they got it half right at least! I spent the majority of my lessons over the last two weeks discussing the history and traditions of Thanksgiving and teaching any relevant vocabulary or phrases... and the more I talked about it, the more I realized how sad I really was not to be home for it. 

Luckily, I wasn't alone in feeling this way so a bunch of my friends got together for a Francegiving chez Maria's! This was surprisingly hard to pull off, for a few reasons...
1. Food-- most of what we are accustomed to eating for Thanksgiving is not readily available. Turkey? Not until closer to Christmas, so 3 rotisserie chickens took its place. Pumpkin/Cranberry in any form? Nada, so we did without. Pies? Nope,so we got an apple tart and some cookies.
2. Cooking-- not only had none of us ever done Thanksgiving on our own... none of us had an oven at our disposal!
3. Timing-- well, it's not a holiday here, so we had to work the Thursday of, so we switched our Francegiving feast to Friday.

Un Mélange

This post has been in the making for the last two weeks, but as with anything I write-- I'm a perfectionist. So that means, I write and rewrite about 10 times before I am absolutely satisfied with what I've said. But finally, I finished. I ended up making this post a bit of a mixture, un mélange, of three topics: Traveling, Au Pair-ing, and Teaching.

Travel:

We ate lunch next to this temple from 10 BC.

I love a good day trip: no need to pack a bag, just bring your camera and a bit of cash and you're good to go. My friend Christian, another au pair/assistant, and I had been talking about taking a day trip for a while, and we finally found a day and time to do one. We decided to go to Vienne, a small city not more than an hour and a half train ride away. I had heard about Vienne from my au pair family because it is known for its Roman ruins, which are somewhat rare to this region. When I lived in Montpellier, it seemed like every city had Roman ruins, but that was an entirely different region and the Roman history goes back much further there than in central France.

Les Vacances de la Toussaint

As of October 19th, I have officially been in France for one full month-- which means I only have a little over 7 months left. Since my last post, I have been on quite the emotional roller coaster feeling pretty stressed out and homesick for the first time since my arrival. It's actually kind of amazing that with all the changes I have been experiencing it took me so long to begin to feel this way-- last time it was within the first week. While moving to France IS exciting and a dream come true, that's not to say it doesn't have it's difficulties. I have been trying to adjust to life as an au pair in the suburbs, while also juggling a confusing teaching program, while balancing being social, finding time to travel, and just enjoying my time here-- all while being completely immersed in my favorite language 24/7! It's thrilling... but definitely exhausting.

Needless to say, this two week vacation could not have come at a better time. While I only traveled the first week and will still need to be home to be an au pair for the second, I am so relieved to have a chance to do some traveling as well as relaxing!

Deux Semaines de la France

... where do I even begin? Well, two weeks ago I arrived in France and it's been pretty hectic since day one. I plan to make some dedicated posts soon in regards to my experiences being an au pair as well as the TAPIF program, but for now I wanted to provide a quick update about some of the fun stuff... traveling!

Place Jean Jaures in Saint Etienne.

I have made it a real point to explore my new city of Saint Etienne. I really have already come to love Saint Etienne and appreciate that it isn't as large as I may have initially wanted. It's still big enough that it feels like a city, but not so big that it's difficult to walk all around. In my 14 days of being here, I have already made it into Saint Etienne 7 times, so I am starting to develop a pretty good idea of the different areas.

There are so many different squares that are so nice to sit at for hours. Just the other day I had some time to kill between appointments, so I went and had  lunch all by myself in Place Liberation Peuple where it was sunny, quiet, and I read a book and people watched. To put a cherry on top, I ordered a nutella crêpe afterwards-- perfect day and perfect 2 hour lunch.  I need to take some more pictures next time I am downtown, but I've been holding out for blue skies. Next step is discovering the nightlife a bit because I have heard good things, but that's easier said than done when living in suburbia... it will happen though! I am incredibly happy that I was placed in this region and am really excited to explore some of the nearby towns more-- the train really makes that so cheap and easy, so there are plenty of day trips in my future.

Je suis arrivée!

Day 1:
September 19th I arrived at O'Hare 3 hours early to be on time for my 8 hour flight at 6:10pm. The flight arrive in Paris around 9:15am the next day, but I had to wait until about 1pm for my second flight to Lyon which got in around 2:30pm. I was greeted at the airport by Gui, the father, and V, the 4 year old son. The drive home provided me with a 45 minute view of the Loire valley-- which is incredibly hilly, so driving a stickshift here should prove to be interesting. When we arrived at the house, which is a little removed but only a 15 minute walk to the train, I was greeted with bisous (kisses on the cheek) by So, the mother, and G, their 2 year old son. They had been in the midst of picking raspberries from their backyard for their goûter (afternoon snack). All in all, I ended up traveling for almost 17 hours!

My day wasn't over yet, though, because it was only just after 4 in the afternoon when I got to their home. I was determined to stay up until at least 8pm to try and ward off most jet-lag and kept busy until about then so that I was truly exhausted by the time I did sleep-- so we all hopped in the car to go to a nearby park. I see now why Gui and So told me I COULD walk to pick up the boys from daycare, but it'd be easier to drive... the Loire hills would be pretty intense to deal with 2 and 4 year olds. We all played on the jungle gym of the park for what seemed like a long time, but it was probably just my jet-lag kicking in. I picked up a few reminders of phrases that might be helpful for me when handling les garçons (the boys) on my own!

"Il est temps de vivre la vie que tu t'es imaginée!"

I am beyond excited that it's practically time for me to head to France, though I am also entirely shocked at how quickly my summer in Chicago has passed by. I feel like, aside from a few exceptions, I've been able to spend plenty of time with most of the people I intended to at the start of summer. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to visit my Indiana friends before I left, but that will be the first thing I do when I get back next June. Leaving behind the people I care about is not easy, but I am so happy that I have succeeded at my goal of returning to live in France for a bit longer... before I have to be a real adult and settle into a Chicago more permanently!

Luckily, the most important part of my preparations is done-- getting a visa! While I am thankful that I have it, I have to say the process was somewhat frustrating. The paperwork was not complicated, however, going to the French consulate in Chicago is where things hit a bump.

1 Month to Go!

As of today I have 7 days until my summer traveling begins-- this time next week I will be in Paris and ending my first day of touring with Kevin. Also this time next week, I will only have 25 days left to explore until I come home to Chicago in June. Yikes. The last two weeks have gone by very quickly and it's hard to believe that in less than a month my study abroad experience will be over! I have finished the majority of my finals, except for one this week, and will have to begin saying goodbye to many of my friends here soon. Some are headed back home right away, while others have decided to explore more of Europe as well. In the spirit of wanting to live it up our final weeks and weekends a group of us decided to make one last trip together this past weekend. Destination: Collioure, France.

Presque Fini...

These last couple weeks have been moving way too quickly! I am sad that the time for me to leave is getting closer, but thankfully I have quite a bit of traveling left before I leave. The last couple of weeks with my friends have been pretty incredible and I know we have enough time left to still make some more lasting memories.

St. Louis statue

Speaking of memories, I definitely have an unforgettable one to add to the ever-growing list. Last weekend we had our last exchange program outing. It was nice to be able to look forward to one each month and this one had most people incredibly excited. The trip? Visit the city of Aigues Mortes followed by horseback riding throughout the Camargue. I have been wanting to visit Aigues Mortes since I learned about it briefly in my Civi du Sud class. If you know of the walled city of Carcassonne, Aigues Mortes is also an incredibly well preserved walled city. The name "Aigues Mortes" actually means "Dead Water" and the area was sought after by King Louis IX, aka Saint Louis, to be the location of the only Mediterranean ports during the 13th century. Why? For the crusades, of course. The walled city itself was built over a number of years, but the main goal was to ensure it was incredibly secure. If my memory serves, this resulted in them creating walls that were 6 meters thick! Standing inside one of the towers you could see this thickness in the few windows that were allowed. We walked around most of the city by way of the fortress walls, and it was great to be able to see the city inside it on one side and the outside fields and water on the other.

Spring Break in France: Mega Post

Typically, I do not go anywhere on Spring Break-- except back to Chicago to just relax for a week. This year, I got to have a two week Spring Break and celebrate my 22nd in France! Amazing. The only other time I've gone away for break was my senior year of high school, where I was lucky enough to spend a week in London (with Lana and Christina) and a week with family in Germany (Hi, Uncle Rich and Aunt Susan!). At this rate, maybe I can expect a trip abroad every four years or so? Haha! After my time spent here I hope it's even more frequent than that!

Normally, ISU gives us a week break-- this time I got two! I had so much time to play with and was excited when I figured out I just really, really, wanted to stay in France and explore it a bit more. For the first week my friend Sydney and I decided to go to Toulouse and Bordeaux and spend a couple days in both city. Although we hadn't experienced much rain in Montpellier, we ran into quite a bit of it in both Toulouse and Bordeaux. We made the best of it though: got a bit soaked a few times running for food, made sure to go out when it WAS nice, and had one wonderfully lazy day in Bordeaux.

Travel bug? Maybe...

This last week was pretty low key, though I was fine with that--I have had tests and papers scattered all around the last few weeks, and have more in the coming weeks. I can't complain though because I only have 5 weeks of actual school left, and plenty of vacation time throughout, but the end is definitely in sight which is definitely more bitter than sweet for me. Next weekend I will be visiting Anduze, France with my exchange group, and I am pretty excited because with just a little bit of Googling I can already tell it's going to be a really gorgeous city. My final exchange group trip will be at the end of April when we go to Arles and Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer-- I'm excited for that trip because the description mentioned the possibility of horseback riding!

Trips, trips, and more trips. I love that I can fill my time with seeing new places and I have especially come to enjoy the smaller cities that have less of a tourist-vibe to them. That said, trip planning has really been the biggest stress for me at this point because I am doing a lot of it and it can take a bit of time. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining because I much prefer traveling than writing essays or studying for tests, but it definitely takes a lot of effort to plan a bigger trip thoroughly. I have definitely caught a bit of the travel bug, but depending on how complicated the trip is we have a love/hate relationship. Day trips are my favorite-- quick and simple and you don't really need much of a plan! I will be doing MANY more of these throughout these (last :'( ) 9 weeks! Planning my trip to Toulouse and Bordeaux was really simple and we really just needed to figure out a few small details and decide how much we were willing to spend on transportation and housing. A 6 day trip? No big deal.

13 Weeks Left-- What?!

Yet another week has just flown by! I recently counted my time left here, and it broke down like this: 13 weeks until I am home; 8 weeks left of being in school (2 of those weeks we have vacation though); 5 weeks until I turn 22; and about 4 weeks until my 2 week vacation in April. I am in disbelief, and the closer it comes, the more I wished I had come in the Fall and spent the whole year here! Don't get me wrong, I miss being home, but there's still so much I want to do while I am here. I just keep reminding myself that this will absolutely not be the last time I am in France, or Europe for that matter.

This last week I had most of my midterms, though I still have one next week, and I think things went well! One teacher in particular, who I am lucky enough to have for both phonetics and grammar, has made the classroom setting such an interesting place to be. She understands that grammar can be boring and difficult to grasp, so she often brings ways of integrating the outside world into our grammar class. After we read an article and analyze the verbs a bit, we often have discussions about the differences between American and French cultures. It gives us an opportunity to not only speak, and utilize the verbs, tenses, and vocab we have been learning, but it also allows us a better insight on French views.

La Vie en France

Can I just start this post by saying that I love my life in France? But really. Montpellier has been absolutely amazing, and it keeps getting better now that we are getting the gorgeous 60 degree weather. On top of that, I get to speak one of the most beautiful languages in the world on a daily basis! I don't know what I am going to do when I go back home and can no longer go back and forth between French and English regularly. There's even a part of me that is growing to love having to go to the grocery store every week or two, and I had already fallen in love with being able to get freshly baked baguettes whenever I want. Also, I finally found another Chi Omega in Montpellier-- I knew there had to be at least one! Funny enough, she was in one of my classes already and just so happened to wear her letters the one day a week we had class together. That's the other thing about France: school. I am going to have the most bizarre transition back to ISU because I am only in four classes, and I have SO much free time which is completely abnormal for me-- but it's been easy to get used to! But, just because I'm not in 18 credit hours worth of classes this semester doesn't mean I am slacking. I am truly in a constant state of learning-- and I love it!

No Habla Español!

I'll admit it, I completely underestimated how much I would enjoy being in Spain. Of course it's warm, and gorgeous, and has really interesting things to see, but just hadn't made it to the top of my list of places to see. That being said, I am SO glad I was able to get there, and it looks like I'll go back before I leave. For all the difficulties that the French university system has thrown my way, I must say they make up for it by giving us completely random breaks: 2 weeks in February and 2 weeks in April (right over my 22nd birthday!). So for this first break I was able to go to Barcelona and Alicante Spain and was lucky enough to spend 4 days in both! Be prepared for a long blog-- I have lots to share :)

Allons-y! Exploring Nimes

Life is good and I am continuing to feel more at home here. Today is the first day in two weeks that I haven't done anything. It felt good to take a breather from the world because it's been so non-stop since I arrived, especially this last week.

I had my first classes this week, and the only thing I was worried about in any of them was the mention of oral presentations-- memorized. As most of you probably know, I HATE presentations. I am absolutely fine when I teach students, but when it comes to being evaluated, I get incredibly nervous. Thankfully, these are weeks away, and I will hopefully have had time to perfect my speaking skills by the time they roll around. At this point, it does not look like I'll be in courses with only French students. I had been trying to make this happen, but the system here (as I've said before) is a little dysfunctional. I sat in on a literature lecture that was supposed to revolve around mythology and I could barely keep up with what the professor was saying. To take this course for a grade would probably be a huge mistake, so instead I am looking to audit a lecture or two (probably literature or cinema) in order to still gain better comprehension. My courses will be language intensive, though, even if I am with other French language learners, and I think I will gain a lot (I already have).