One Month? One Month Studying in France

This weekend marks the one month of my being here. Oh my is time starting to go by fast. However, I am on a two week vacation and don’t have any plans so that isn’t great for my French skills. I’m going to go to the store and buy some childrens grammar books, which was suggested by another fellow exchange student, and also, I attempt at reading the newspaper. I mainly just translate the advertisements and summarise the articles. It is so nice sleeping in though. And I have those black-out shades in my room so that’s good and bad because it makes it easy to sleep in, and well that’s also the bad part because I’ll sleep in till eleven o’clock and miss half the day. In my house that usually just consists of watching cartoons and eating so I guess it’s not the worst thing in the world. I’m happy to say that my sleeping schedule is set! I get tired at around nine or ten o’clock and will wake up at seven or eight o’clock but if it’s the weekend you can most likely guess that I am staying up late and therefore, sleeping in late as well. I have found the importance of having a good nights sleep for at least two weeks straight because I will wake up for school actually feeling refreshed!  I thought that was just something people said to convince you to get more sleep but now that I’ve experienced it, it’s amazing! I love waking up feeling like I don’t need another three hours of sleep, and then to make it the feeling even better I’ll eat a good breakfast every morning. I think I’m getting sick though, because I haven’t had a huge appetite and I’m pretty tired quite often. Wouldn’t surprise me if I get sick. I don’t see a lot of people cover their coughs or wash their hands before they eat (or touch the bread in which others eat also) so I’m just trying my best to eat healthy and not get sick.
So France and I have been together for one month. We are starting to figure each other out now. I’m finding out who I like and dislike, the foods I like and dislike and even the different ways people dress here. It’s safe to say (in general) I’m not a fan of the guys style because of the either too tight of pants or the huge oversized pants, which are not very common but still. Also, every guy wears a big ‘ol scarf which I don’t like or dislike but that’s just another culture thing that’s different. The girls don’t typically dress as girly as they do in the States. It’s more of an edgy style with all the dark colors and big platformed shoes of every kind. In more extreme cases girls will wear choker necklaces and be dressed as though they are in 80’s grunge. Not a fan of that style either. I like the sofer edgy looks, not so intense, but good for them for putting themselves out there I guess. Not only have I been learning a lot about France, but I have been learning so much about myself I would have NEVER found out if I hadn’t come here. Writing. I would have never started writing about my feelings so much if I was still at home watching Netflix five more hours a day than I should. I found that no matter what I’m thinking I can write it down and the paper not only absorbs the ink but also my feelings. After I write my page-long rant on the back of a worksheet I feel as though my mind has cleared. It’s an amazing feeling to know that I have found an escape that works for me. I’m now wondering if I could do this for a living! We’ll see. I need to see if I survive the next five-ish months first. Even though I have this fantastic escape there are still things that are heavy on my mind. Will I learn the amount of French I want to in the time I have? Will I ever even use French usefully when I come back? Or more emotionally hard things like have I damned relationships that mean the world to be in order to follow my dreams? It’s an awful feeling thinking that even when you do something you know is right for yourself that it can feel so wrong. But I know that in the end everything will work out how it should with a little faith, hope and love. I am a big (HUGE) believer in love and being the change you want to see in the world. And I want to see more people not let life get in the way of love. So even from an ocean away I am determined to love the people I love as much as I can. And also share the love here. I know that sounds cliche and it may not solve every problem, but I believe that love solves the big ones and the little ones will eventually work themselves out.