Nothing very exciting happened this week. However that is not necessarily a bad thing at all. It was very relaxing and yet also productive in all the ways this experience should be! I’ll go ahead and just give you a play by play on how this past week went down.
Monday I went to this very large and very popular shopping mall called Alma with Eliza and Alyssa. Before we took the metro to Alma, we ate lunch at this little creperie in downtown Rennes. The crepes were amazing. I had a salmon crepe then a caramel crepe because Bretagne is known for those so I had to! After that I had a cafe au lait which was the beginning of my new found love for coffee. I still drink tea at home though.
Tuesday morning I wrote, studied some vocab and hung out with my older host sister, Ombeline, while she did her homework. Which she did almost everyday for at least an hour! She’s studying to be a lawyer so I guess that makes sense. She also told me, in detail, all about the french school system and how they have to take English (or any other language) up until at least the second year in college on top of all your other classes. It was very nice being able to have a long conversation about something. I’m at the point where I can understand almost everything, but only of certain topics. School and small talk are more on the easy side but topics like politics or analyzing art in depth are things I still get a little lost on. Still have 62 days to work on those!
Then that evening I went out with Faustine and her friends and didn’t go home until around 11:45, it was just about eight of us just talking, laughing, and eating kebab pizza. Faustine’s friends are so nice to me! They talked to me all night in English but I had to talk to them in French! It was fun helping them out while they were helping me out at the same time. One girl asked me if I would rather go back to Colorado or to stay and live here in France. I immediately started thinking about the deep things such as not being with my friends and family and Pim, of course. Then, before I answered, I quickly thought about what it would mean to MY life. Stay with me here; I am one of those people who move to a place where I know no one and can make friends and be really very happy and content. However (you knew this was coming) I’ve found I’ve never been happier than when I’m with people who love me and really know who I am. I’m really good at the loving other people part, but the other people really loving me and want to be a part of my life part (especially friends) is something that I don’t find very often but is something I have in Colorado. Don’t get me wrong. I am in no rush to get back home. My life in France is just how I want it to be and I wouldn’t trade this semester for anything. But my whole life? I just don’t think that’s my path for the long haul. But right now I don’t feel out of place at all. Wow, that was a lot of rambling, but now you see how fast my mind rambles on all the time. Anyways, I gave the short answer being that I wouldn’t want to be so far from my friends and family for too long and that I like driving and I like my highschool too much. That question really did get me thinking of the pros and cons to both scenarios.
Back on to the rest of my week; After a really fun Tuesday night I woke up and cooked myself some BAE (bacon and eggs), which is worth mentioning because it was the first time since my first week here that I made just myself something hot for breakfast. I’m going to be an adult soon so I better start acting like one. Or at least pretend to act like one in the eyes of others. And to continue the streak of doing adult like things, I made my family corn dogs for lunch! They all thought they were bizarre but they also thought that they were good regardless. The corn dogs weren’t the best but I’m happy with how they turned out. They were really easy and fun to make too! Ombeline helped me make them so that added to fun. The rest of the day consisted of doing work and hanging out around the house.
Thursday I finally got out of Fouillard for the first time since Monday. I took my usual bus 50 into Rennes before lunch to take myself on a little shopping/lunch date. It was great feeling so independent! And shopping by myself was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I had to find a dress for a wedding next weekend and in the second boutique I went into I found one! I also found about four other things I really wanted but I thought against it seeing that the cheapest item I wanted (besides the dress) was about fifty euros. So the shopping part of my date ended short, but also just in time for lunch. I got some cafe au lait and a small baguette sandwich to go. I walked around while my coffee cooled down a bit and found this gorgeous spot with flowers and a little field with benches next to what looked like a wall of a castle that once stood there which had huge lavender colored flowers hanging down from the top of the wall that looked like it could be a scene in a movie. After I ate and drank I wandered around unfamiliar parts of downtown and almost bought a ukulele and a few vinyls when I realized I have no idea how to bring those items safely back with me to Colorado or even fit them in my bag. When I got home the house was empty because my family went to the dentist. Then, after they got back home, we watched TV for a while and ate dinner.
Friday came too quickly. I spent most of it finishing this presentation for school and realizing I only had two more days to sleep in didn’t make me very pleased. Typing this now, realizing I have to wake up early and walk to the bus in the cold makes not very pleased again. But that was prom night for Vista so that made me happy seeing my twin sister all dressed up and looking like a glamorous celebrity. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty bummed I couldn’t go but I still have next year and hey, it’s a small price to pay to be living in France.
Yesterday I tried a new food! Pig intestine. Wasn’t a huge fan to say the least but at least I had the guts to try it (pun intended). That evening I hung out with Faustine’s crew again for a while. I was a little lost at times but I’m seeing myself improve so much in my listening makes me feel not as bad when I don’t catch a sentence or two.
Today I ate crepes for breakfast while having a fun conversation with Natalie about the dream I had last night which was her coming to Colorado, meeting all my friends and shopping with me. She told me she’s only been on a plane once in her life and would be too scared to go to America because her English isn’t good. I assured her that I would be her translator like I was in my dream, It’s wired to dream in French! You can’t escape having new experiences even in your sleep! I also went on a run after lunch that day. Ombeline left for college and now I’m just keeping myself busy until I have to go to bed. My class starts at 10:20 tomorrow so it will be nice to start the week off a little more refreshed! I’m not particularly excited to go back to school. I’m going to miss the late nights watching movies with my host parents and Ombeline and I’m going to miss sleeping in and not worrying about what time I have to wake up in the morning, but for the next three weeks I have at least one day off in each of them and school is also the place where my french grows the most so there is an upside to most everything.