A Quick Hello

Bonjour à tous,

Just wanted to say a brief hello from France. Very brief. I dont have time to write a full entry and this wont be gramatically corect because I cant figure out the French keyboard. Oh well!

My French family is incredible. There are four little kids, and they have helped me so much.  Ill mention later that the French eat very differently. We have bread with a chocolate spread called Nutella and its the most fantastic invention ever, so of course it can only be found in France. The portion sizes are very small, but the food is amazing. We had lunch yesterday and it felt like a three course meal.

More later!

An Email from My French Host Family

I just received the nicest message from my French host family! They’re excited to meet me on Saturday, and they even complimented my French writing skills, though I’m sure they were just being polite. I can’t stress how glad I am to live with a full family. The little girls are ages 6 and 10, and the boys are pre-teens. In the end, I am happier around more people, so I think it was a good idea to request to live with a large family.

I leave for France in four days, so I’ll have limited contact for a while. I have to figure out my internet situation, and then I’ll catch up on blogging. Don’t call my cell phone-It’s useless in France. You can always email me, and I’ll call from my international phone when I purchase one.

Goodbye for now, until I’m in Paris.

One Week Until Paris

I’m not in Paris yet, but I’ve left Tucson and finished my junior year at the University of Arizona.

Two days ago, my best friend Tracey and I started our road trip to D.C., and here we are. We did a lot of driving and didn’t sleep very much, but it’s nice to be on the east coast. We drove through New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee before hitting our home base, which is northern Virginia. The southern states were pretty, and I appreciated everyone’s friendliness and accents.

I absolutely love the D.C. area. Last summer, I lived at American University for two months while doing an internship at Townhall.com, so I have some of my best memories from this place. I met some of my greatest friends at AU and Townhall last summer, and I immediately adapted to the fast pace and city lifestyle. It felt right to come here before traveling to Paris as opposed to California first. There’s nothing left to experience in my hometown, and there’s still so much for me to learn about DC. It’s also an interesting city, particularly for someone like me who aspires to work in news someday. I love being surrounded by politics, chaos, diversity, great public transportation methods, and history.

In the end, I’m glad I drove across country before jet setting to Paris. Though I’ll be in a foreign country, I feel slightly more comfortable about my endeavors having driven through multiple states on almost no sleep. Let’s hope I can feel confident and unafraid when I arrive in Paris next week. When I get there, I hope to quickly assimilate to Parisian life and take risks.

I’ve recently come to a conclusion that some of the most exciting things in my life have happened while I was not IN college. It makes sense, though. At school, I’m forced to live in the same place for nine months, and I can’t travel on a whim with the nature of my academic load. This is why so many college students drink and do drugs: What else can they really do to spice things up? They can’t leave, go on trips, or take that many uncomfortable risks. This is partly why I love college-I am most comfortable as a student. I sleep more, and I have a set routine.

Like last summer, this summer will be different. I’ll be forced to be uncomfortable, and it’s good for me. I always appreciate college more having been uncomfortable for a long period of time beforehand. This is why I don’t take summer classes at the UA-It would be repetitive, and I am the type of person who needs a change of scenery a few times a year.

I’m hoping to return from my travels having experienced a lot. At the same time, I want to be ready to relax and take it easy before my senior year. That means I’m going to make the most out of my Paris trip. So the weeklong countdown begins…

Sixteen Days Until I’m in Paris

I have a little more than two weeks left in the United States. On May 29, I’m flying from Washington Dulles airport to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, and I’m praying that I won’t have any Charles de Gaulle flight cancellations as I did in December! There are worse things than being stuck in Paris for an extra day, but imagine spending that extra 24 hours in a freezing airport where employees shove blankets at you with hostility and mixed consideration…(Where I slept at the Paris airport):

Luckily, I’ve gotten along with every French person I have ever met. I’ve been lucky to befriend a French foreign exchange student this year, and my French speaking and writing skills have improved considerably since she took me under her wing. Her mother wrote me emails, met with me when she visited the United States, and said I could stay at their Cannes house at the end of my Paris studies. It’s nice to meet people who genuinely want to help Americans learn French. I can only hope I encounter more compassionate people just like my awesome French friend and her family.

I’m going to buy my host family a gift, and I’m unsure of what to get. I know this family has four young kids, so I plan on giving the 6-year-old girl a coloring book with crayons and a doll, and perhaps I can buy games for the 10, 11, and 13 year-olds? Most importantly, I have to get the parents something nice.

This family has housed a dozen University of Arizona students, so I was advised not to buy a cactus as un cadeau. I’ll be in the D.C. area before I leave, so maybe I can get something truly American over there.

Sadly, I won’t be returning to the bay area until July 15. I was raised in northern California, and as much as I love it, I know I’ll have more fun road tripping with my best friend to D.C. before heading off to Paris. Sometimes, you can’t go home.

Let me know if you have any gift ideas. I can’t wait to meet my French host family. They’re supposed to be the nicest people and very understanding. A good friend of mine lived with them three summers ago, so I had the privilege of learning the in’s and out’s of la famille. They live within walking distance of the Eiffel Tower, and there’s an elementary school outside their apartment complex.

You can say that my surprise has been ruined. After all, I’ve seen my friend’s pictures of the kids and parents, I know what the apartment exterior looks like, and I know what to expect from the family. Even so, my experience will still be different, so no matter how much information I have beforehand, I know I’ll walk away from my trip having gained my own personal experiences from Paris.

(At Versailles with my mom):

Is it May 29 yet? Can I just be in Paris already?

Au revoir.