Pretending that I'm never coming home

Hello everybody! My time is quickly running out so I thought it was time for a new update. It's almost time to start the 1 month countdown until my departure, which conjures many different feelings. It mainly reminds me to appreciate each day I have left!

It seems that change is in the air. For one thing, I chopped my hair off. It was time. I had been sporting my long hair for far too long, and I told myself that during my year abroad, I would get a fresh new 'do. So voila! new hair, new moi.

So, I am a really lucky fille because my mom came to visit!!! For the second time! This time she brought along our good friend (also named Chris) and we traveled Paris and Bordeaux together. It's been great hanging out with them, hearing stories from home and showing them around my city.  The only problem is the weather lately has been terrible...rain and wind every day. They have been quite the troopers though, putting up with this storm and willing to go out anyway.

 In Paris we did the tourist routine and saw the important stuff. It's so hard to cram everything in in just a matter of a few days! You really need a lot of time and energy to see all there is to see in Paris, and even if you have both of those, I believe it takes many times of re-visiting the city to do everything you want to. Even after many times of going back myself, there are countless things I still haven't done. But at the same time, I actually felt pretty comfortable in Paris this time around, rather than being totally overwhelmed and confused and stressed like before. It was cool to have a feel for it, to be able to ride the metro without making mistakes, to speak French without being responded to in English. Maybe after a few more times I can pretend to be a real Parisienne! That is my excuse for having to revisit :) there is something about that city that I am in love with. Yep, just stamp 'hopeless romantic' across my forehead.

Some highlights of Paris:

Sacre Coeur

Notre Dame

Winged Victory at the Louvre

Maman and I at the Louvre

Tour Eiffel :)

After Paris we came back to Bordeaux. Unfortunately it was even worse weather :(  but we still made the most of it. Today we went to Saint Emillion, a beautiful town outside of Bordeaux famous for its wine. We were lucky to have no rain and even a little bit of sun there! It was my mom's last day, so it was a great way to end her trip and stock up on some quality wine. Having my mom come to visit really meant a lot to me. Sometimes I forget how much I miss home and everyone in my life in California, and my mom being here was a reminder of how important your roots are. I feel like I've established a new life here in France but I can never forget what's most important. Ok I'll stop before I get too sappy.
....and I got lazy with taking pictures, so none from Bordeaux. Maybe I'll add some later.

On to other things... as you may have forgotten,  I do go to school here in Bordeaux. If it seems like I don't mention it, it's because it is the least exciting part of my life here. But, it is almost over! I have one exam left, which is in a week (yikes!!!!) Then I can officially say my studies abroad are fini. I've actually been done with classes for quite a while, now it's just exam time. After it's done, I can focus on the important things: getting in every last picnic, quiz night, and adventure before I leave.

 And traveling of course! My friends are arriving in about a month and then we're off to Paris, Amsterdam, Spain and Portugal. It will be a whirlwind adventure and I'm so ready for it. I can hardly wait!
These are my 2 besties who I'll be traveling with: :)

On speaking francais:

Many of my friends ask me if I'm fluent in French yet. I just laugh because I know I am so far off from being fluent. It would probably take years of living in France to achieve that, but at the same time, I know I have made significant progress. That's another reason I'm so hesitant to go back home- I feel that I have finally gotten comfortable with speaking and now I just have to turn around and revert back to English. but I'm going to try really really hard to keep up my French back in California, even if I have to just talk to myself! Anyway, I think learning French came in stages. When I first arrived, I quickly learned to correct my mistakes and to say basic and useful phrases. As time went on, I picked up more expressions and expanded my vocabulary. Recently, I've improved on familiar ways of speaking and slang (which always cracks the frenchies up since I usually say it wrong). It's cool to track my progress and remember how I sounded in the beginning, compared to now. My strongest language is definitely Franglais.

Going Home

I've been thinking about my return home a lot lately. I'm mostly nervous because coming home means that my year abroad, which has been my focus ever since I started taking French, is coming to an end. As of now I don't have any set goals or a clear direction of what I want to do with my life. It's a scary thing knowing that I'm supposed to graduate college in a year...and then what? The end of this adventure brings up a lot of scary questions. I guess that's normal for everyone my age, but I really hope things fall into place. I have a strong feeling that coming back to France is in the stars for me :)

But at the same time, I am extremely super hella stoked to get back to beautiful California and see everyone and everything that I've missed. I'm sure it will be a trip to re-learn American ways of life and my friends will have to fill me in on all the culture I've missed. I'm especially missing my big fat bundle of joy Buddy:

Not to mention all the food I've desperately been missing, like In n Out, chinese food, breakfast (hash browns!!!!), mexican food,.... I have to stop before I start going crazy. I know I'm being a stereotypical food-obsessed American right now, but to the frenchies reading this blog, le bon vin et le fromage vous manqueront aussi, n'est-ce pas? ;)

Basically, there's the upside and the downside to all things in life. If you get caught up in it too much, you'll miss the ride :) which is the best part! So on that note, I will assure you that I'm making the most out of every day that remains. Vive la France!!!!! I love and miss you all. See you very soon! :)

Bienvenue au printemps

bonjour tous! since it's has been such a beautiful weather, I decided a new blog post is definitely in order. Before I begin, let me set the scene: I'm perched on my very narrow little window balcony catching the last rays of the sunshine, which is on one hand tres francais and cool but also very dangerous. I hope  I don't fall off while writing this. Also, I'm creepily peering in on the moving-in process of my neighbors across the street, and I'd just like to note that they appear to be yelling at each other at one moment, and intensely making out the next. ahhh l'amour francais!

Anyway, on to relevant things. It's officially springtime in France! The weather has been gloriously warm and sunny. It has seriously turned the city around. Instead of being miserably cold and frost-bitten, les bordelais are emerging out and everyone is enjoying the warm days. I've spent almost every afternoon in the jardin public- picnic-ing, reading, hanging out with friends or just doing anything (note how studying is not included in that list :) ) And I finally can retire the gigantic parka I had been sporting around and break out the summer clothes! Like a true Californian, I was really missing the sun, and I'm very glad to have it back.

 

pique nique in the jardin

Beach Day!!!

This weekend, my friends and I voyaged to Arcachon, a beach town about an hour outside of Bordeaux for a day of fun in the sun. It was basically the best day ever! I finally arrived after having missed the first 2 trains I was supposed to take (yes, some things never change). We had great friends (Americans, English and Frenchies!), tons of food, drinks, and various sports balls to play with. I took a quick little dip in the Atlantic, which surprisingly was not that cold. I guess I'm just used to frigid waters that you cannot really swim in unless you are properly equipped with a full-body wet suit. Nevertheless, it was great to be reunited with the ocean! And it was nice to get out of Bordeaux and enjoy some other attractions that the south-west of France has to offer. The beach also gave me a little teaser of the west coast, which I've missed so much. Our beach day inspired us to plan a trip to Biarritz in the near future- another beach town in the Basque country. Such travelers, I know.

Visitors
So I am a very lucky fille and get to have lots of people visiting me. First let's backtrack. Mon petit copain de paris Victor came down to Bordeaux pour me rendre une visite! It was awesome having him here. And speaking of Arcachon, we took a little day trip there as well! It wasn't quite as nice weather as Beach Day, but it was still lovely. He got me to try several French foods that I've always been wary of, like steak tartar, and mussels. It's cool having a true frenchy around to make you experience these kinds of things.

 

arcachon!

Next order of business: my mom and her friend are coming to visit, for the second time, during spring break! I'm super excited to see her again (I can't believe I get to have family visit me twice during my year here!) And, her friend is hilarious and crazy, so I can't wait for the shenanigans the 3 of us will get into. I'm meeting them in Paris, then coming back to Bordeaux. We're going to fit in a couple of trips to Toulouse and perhaps San Sebastian to taste a little bit more of France. I love playing tour guide!

And, at the end of May, my two best friends Brian and Aidan are coming!!! I know I know, I'm too spoiled. So far, we have Spain and Portugal planned, and Amsterdam is definitely in the stars too. And maybe some other adventures. I'm stoked cause I haven't been able to travel very much, but I get to do so with my two boys :)

Mandatory note on school just to prove I actually do attend university (sort of) :
It's almost over!

I already finished two of my classes, and the third one will be over in a couple weeks. As for my  psych course,  it's a mystery. No one knows when the final is. I am going with the flow and not stressing because after 7 months here, I've learned to laugh at the ridiculous inefficiency and disorganization of France. I've even learned to embrace it :)

annnnd this leads me to the fact that I'm going home in like 2 months !!!!!!! I have extremely mixed emotions about this. seriously, sometimes when the thought of leaving France pops in my head, I want to start crying. But on the other hand I miss having a routine back home and being familiar with my culture. I also know that I have to make this last part of my journey really count, so that's what I'm gonna do! Yeah I know, I mentioned this whole dilemma before. But it really is something I think all of us go through when you are put into this situation. Adjusting to a new life, and then having to re-learn how to behave in your own. It's a bizarre paradox. Anyway, I keep reminding myself to focus on the moment and enjoy every last second. Go hard or go home right?

So that's all for now folks. I'm gonna try to get better at chronicling my remaining time here, but to be quite honest it's the same shit that goes on day to day- I just make it sound all fancy and interesting in this blog :) (at least that's what I'm aiming for)

I'll leave you with this:

 lol.


bisous a tous!