Gettin' lost!

I have spent so much time completely lost lately. And it has been so fabulous! I realize this might be a bit cheezy, especially when I realized that Wooster's Study-Abroad orientation booklet was entitled exactly that: 'Get Lost!' haha. But I really feel like this was one of the things about which Wooster knows what they're talking about...studying abroad really truly is about being completely lost, and learning to love it. At least for me. For instance, in our booklet there was a chart (literally, a chart. it's kindof hilarious) about how our emotional status is going to go, and it looks pretty much like a crazy roller coaster. We're going to show up in this foreign country, be totally ecstatic for a while, then normalcy sets in and we realize how far away from home we are and we go through a slump. But then, little by little, we fall in love with where we are, and the new homes and friends and cultures and people we've found here - across an ocean and 6 time zones, but home nevertheless.

As much as I "hate" being a statistic, that's exactly what's happened to me. I have, not going to lie, been counting the days until December 21st, and getting more and more excited as the days pass. However, in these past few weeks, I have realized that I'm also getting more and more excited for the days in between now and December 21st. It's a bit overwhelming, but incomprehensibly amazing, to look forward at my life and realize that I'm literally ecstatic for every single day from now until literally March. I have so much coming up in these next months, and so much to look forward to! It's just crazy. I'm so lucky.

My first getting lost experience was last Monday, where it was an absolutely beautiful, sunny 60 degree day and I was done with class at noon. So I decided to walk home across town with Emily and then find my way back. If I found a street that I'd been on before, I took another one. It was great fun. Hannah called me and she asked where I was and I said I had no idea. Because I didn't! And I found a really cool church, and a school and ended up in this park that was gorgeous. I had so much fun, that I decided to not take main roads anymore and have since found some amazing things...which never would have happened had I just taken the same bus line back to my host family's house and stayed inside watching Grey's Anatomy online all day.

My second, and absolute favorite getting lost experience was when Peter, Hannah, Taylor and I decided to go buy train tickets for 20 Euro to the town of Rennes, which is the capitol of the department of Brittany (the equivalent of French states, or more like counties = departments). We got off from the train (which was literally the most hysterical 2 hours of the trip so far. SO much fun) without any maps or any idea of what there is to do in Rennes and just started walkin. We found an amazing castle-thing, and then the centre ville where we asked at the Office du Tourisme what we should do. She told us there was a market, which we went and explored (and good lord it was amazing. If any of you have ever been to a French market, you'll understand but if not - there are no words. The scents and sounds and colors and options and accordion music and people yelling at you to buy their stuff, and the other people who are on a mission to find their yellow figs and ginger roots and Emmentale or any other of 300 types of cheeses who will literally knock you over if you get in their way, and the man selling olives who is calling you 'beautiful miss' and the taste-testing UGH the taste-testing...it's amazing). Then we went to eat crepes (BIEN SUR!) because crepes are a Brittany thing, and Rennes is the capital of Brittany so clearly - these were the best crepes you're gonna get.
Mine was Apple and Sausage (very different than American sausage) and very delicious. I also had butter, sugar and caramel crepe for dinner UMMMMMM so good. Then we did the Virgin Megastore, and then the Brittany Parlement Building which was beautiful. Afterwords, we found the Jardin du Plantes which most major French cities have, but Rennes' was gorgeous. We sat there and ate our delicious baguette and cheese selection (which was where the 'Journey to the center of the baguette' quote came from. That was Peter) in the most beautiful park on the most beautiful day. AH we just were sitting there discussing how amazing our lives are - all while completely lost.

Today, after I did my homework and whatnot, Hannah called and asked me if I wanted to go get coffee. That never actually happened, but I did learn what was at the end of tram line 2 (and, consequently, how trams turn around - not that exciting, but we felt cool for knowing). I also took a boat back home which is probably the coolest thing ever. Then we followed an obscure path through the woods and ended up in the middle of the University campus. We were loving it.

Since the last post (I apologize for the failing again!) I have also gone to a birthday party with my host sister, where I was very much the only English speaker, and made many, many friends. I have also started going to our conversation club - hosted by IES but they invited French students as well and we spend 45 minutes speaking French together and the 45 minutes speaking English together so we can all practice our foreign language. I have also met friends there, and love practicing in such an energetic and fun atmosphere.

I have done so many things I can't begin to list them all here...but all of them have added up to an amazing feeling of satisfaction: I may not have been able to completely follow a conversation, or not known where in the city I was, or what bus line I should be taking, or how I was getting home at any point along the way........but I feel like all of that is EXACTLY what I'm supposed to be doing right now. I'm not SUPPOSED to know what I'm doing or who I'm going to be doing it with or where I'm supposed to be or even where I am after I get there. Because it means that everything is new, and everything is different. I'm living my life in France! This fact has really just started to settle on my consciousness, but every time I sit back and look at where I am, and where I'm calling home at this moment is a brand new revelation. It's totally ridiculous, how awesome it is. I get to explore French capitals with my amazing friends, and I get to ride a boat across the Loire river, and I get to eat cheese and baguettes in glorious gardens, and I get to do my homework while drinking espresso and eating a chocolate croissant. That I get to study for 2 more months in France, doing even more amazing who-knows-what in who-knows-where just blows my mind, and I'm pretty sure....that that was the point.