I have caved in and created a blog! Hopefully, I will remember to post something at least once a week! It is mind boggling to think that I have already spent an entire month in France. In some ways, it feels as if I have only been here for one day, but in so many other ways, it seems as if months have passed since I left home. However, I believe that I am now over the initial culture shock. French life is so different from American living in so many ways. I am still learning about the little subtleties in their daily life. And the language! It has been difficult and frustrating trying to communicate our personalities to others, in French! We (meaning myself and the other American students in the program) frequently lament the fact that we feel as if we do not have a personality when we speak French and that our intelligence is hidden by our communication problems. But I think that we are gradually seeing improvements in our language skills, at least, I know that I am.
My French journey started in Paris, and it was AMAZING! We saw Sacre-Cour, Notre-Dame, the Eiffel Tower, l'Arc de Triomphe, and we took a boat ride along the Seine! I plan on going back during my week break at the end of February. Rennes is also an amazing city. It is crazy to think of how old everything is here. There is so much history here! For example, yesterday we went to a beach town along the northern coast of Brittany, Saint-Malo and then we went to a Monastery known as Mont-Saint-Michel. Some of the rooms and architecture at Saint Michel has not been touched since the 11th century! It was an amazing day, we joked that we traveled back to Middle Earth and visited Hogwarts!
My host family is amazing. I live with a woman and her two kids. Johan, is 14 and Victor is 9. But Victor lives with his father during the week. Madame is a French and German professor who is artistic, outgoing, talkative, and a connector! Within the first week, she has got me in contact with a crew team and I have started rowing!
I hope all is well at home, and I hope to post again soon!
Bisous!
Ah, Colleen! Quelle bonne idee de maintenir un blog pendant ton sejour la-bas. Il me semble que tu t'assimiles bien. Je suis si jalouse premierement que tu est en France et deuxiemement que je ne peux pas te rendre une visite!! Il faut manger plein de croissant au chocolat et, naturellement, il faut boire plein de bon vin francais :)
ReplyDeleteAmuses-toi bien!!! xoxo Shauna