So my journey into the land of the (admittedly not so) unknown has begun – and I can happily say that so far, it’s going ok. Obviously there have been some hiccups, it is me after all. Among all the things I had to do before setting off, I somehow completely failed to write down either the address or telephone number of the woman I was staying with…leading to rather horrible realisation on the journey to the airport. Dad = not impressed. I also managed to forget my phone charger, but I feel that in taking into account all the millions of things I DID remember to pack, this seems a forgivable offence.
Settled cosily into the plush blue and yellow seats of Ryanair (ahem), I waved goodbye to my homeland in favour of a new one. Typical British summer weather, the rain was a comforting send-off and helped to make me feel less upset about leaving – I knew that whatever the weather was doing in France, it wasn’t going to be as miserable and disappointing as England. Pretty much any doubts I had about going were settled there and then.
And France didn’t let me down. Hot, hot and even more hot. I think I could get used to this!!
This is my third day of being here and I can already feel myself really getting into the lifestyle, the language and just everything French in general. I always knew that the most interesting part of this year was going to be learning about the culture and adapting to it – and so far, that’s exactly what’s occurring. Par exemple, so far I've learnt that you shouldn't go to a restaurant before 7pm because there won’t be anyone there, and if you ask for milk in your coffee, people have the right to look at you like you’re crazy.
Obviously, it’s difficult to toujours parler en francais, but I’m finding that when I go to bed, my brain is constantly trying to translate all my thoughts into French and it’s as if it doesn’t want to have to settle for English. Good job I have a dictionary close to hand! This does also mean that I always have a headache, but hey, I’m speaking a different language, whaddya expect. It's amazing how much progress you can make in just a few days; when I arrived on Wednesday evening, I was stuttering, could barely string a sentence together and just kept saying "Je suis fatiguée” in the hope that that would work as a good enough excuse for my utter failings at saying anything else. Now I’ve found that as I’m becoming more confident, I’m speaking more and even if I don’t know how to say something, I’m sure as hell giving it a go anyway! Can’t say that I always make a lot of sense though…
It’s weird to think that I’m going to be here for the whole year – this isn’t just an extended holiday, but actually now my daily life. I’ve already got my loyalty card for the massive supermarché round the corner, so I think you could say I’m going to fit in rather well…. Once I’ve started at uni and the hard work really kicks in, that’s probably going to be a different story. Oh well, we’ll see.
So despite my earlier stress, panic, and overall emotional melt-downs, I think I’ll be ok. I’m living in a really, REALLY nice apartment with two very lovely, very friendly French people so that’s going to help massively. It’s definitely not going to be all plain-sailing, but hey, I always did like a challenge.
A bientôt!
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