ER rooms and 911 Calls...oh my!

Things have been so exciting since I've gotten here. It's like Auch wants to kick me out or something. But it can't make me. I will not leave....even if there isn't an H&M.

Day one here was full of visits to various establishments relating to the French government. My worst fears were avoided...I was only missing one piece of paperwork, and that was only an email from mama away. All the other people in the house also moved in, and now we are full! There is a girl across the hall from me, who's name is Alice. She was born in Auch, and now works in one of the high schools. Down the hall a ways is a girl named Marcela, who is from Bolivia. She is super nice, and speaks English (woo!) but she'll be teaching Spanish in the schools here. Downstairs, there are two guys that apparently we won't be seeing much of. Charlie works third shift, so he mostly sleeps during the day. And Ben has an attached studio type thing, so he stays there. Upstairs is Whitney. She's from San Fran, and is teaching in one of the high schools down the river. I'm pretty sure we're going to be besties. She just graduated as well, she has a boyfriend back home, and she's looking for job/applying to schools...basically, we're in the same place in our lives so it will be nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of, or to cry to or to snap me out of any funks that may arise.

I also went and met up with a guy who I had talked to about renting a room from, but who fell through. He was super fun (Cedric) and he showed us around to some of the touristy things, but also things like the gym, the yoga center, the library, etc. It was very helpful. Then he took us to his favorite bar - a super cute, somewhat secluded patio bar, with trees everywhere and lights in them. It was very homey, and we had a good time. On the way home though, we saw a car crash., where a clearly intoxicated man crashed his car into the center of the roundabout...then he got out and was yelling at everyone. It was no good, so Cedric called the police/ambulance for him.

Day two (which had something of a hazy start, as it took me a little while to figure out that it wasn't actually day three yet....i.e. tomorrow, when I'm meeting my advisor and seeing my school. Not today) was a fun one. After I arrived at the office to find no one there, as the primary schools don't open on Wednesdays, I headed toward the hospital. I've had this dumb skin rash that we thought was poison ivy, but then it exploded and got really bad and spread all over my body. I didn't really get to sleep at all last night, so I decided I should do something about it. I walked out (about a 45 minute walk along the river, which would have been lovely had my entire leg not been on fire) to the hospital, and they directed me to the emergency room (SALLE D'URGENCES). Those are not fun places to be - especially not for what turned out to be a 3 hour wait. Though it was worth it to get a prescription for all sorts of goodies, and strong ones at that. I'm just crossing my fingers that they work, and SOON!

Tomorrow, I'm ACTUALLY meeting with my advisor, which will be exceedingly helpful. We've communicated by email, but only setting up preliminary details. It will be wonderful to meet him (he sounds SUPER nice) and get some information about what I"m doing with my life here. It's odd that I've been functioning so well not knowing anything....and now all the information holes are being filled in. This is kindof the last piece of the puzzle, too...after the travel, then the town, then the house, then the roommates...the only thing left is finding out about my actual employment. I have full confidence that that piece will fit in perfectly too, though, just like all the other ones have!

ALSO - I figured out how to add the tab to my 'Picture of the Day' blog that I decided to do. So you can all check that out too. Woohoooo!

I LIVE IN FRANCE

I live in a house in France now. How weird is that to say?! It's pretty exciting though....I love it. And everything has been so easy! A large part of me feels like this whole experience just sortof came upon me. This whole relaxed approach that I've been taking has resulted in quite a shocking comeuppance. But really truly everything has worked out so well....almost too well, but I'm not going to start complaining now! All the travel has been super easy....I haven't gotten stuck on ANY forms of transportation!! This is very exciting for me, especially with my Paris record thus far. Plus, we got through two metro checkpoints completely unscathed. Things started to get REAL though on the train from Toulouse. Driving through really, the middle of nowhere, I was freaking out just a wee bit. Approaching my stop was a little intense. I realized that I was approaching my new life and it was a little like WOAHHHH slow down. But there was no turning back.

And I'm so glad there wasn't!! Right from the start, things were, once again, super great. I was attempting to get off the train, with my bazillion pounds of luggage, when my landlord all of a sudden was like 'Emily?' And then everything was great. We walked around the corner from the station to the house, which was awesomely convenient. Then he let me get all settled in and showered, and then we went over the rent, bank accounts, government housing assistance, grocery stores, bus passes, and everything else you can think about. then That was a little overwhelming. But I very much hope that I got it all down...

I think I did. And then I left to wander around. The town is amazing! I'm very capable of living here, I belieI kept getting goosebumps after walking around almost every corner. I'm in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains, and you can see them in the distance when you're up on top of the hill. The river goes through the valley and the cathedral is on top of the hill on the far side. Everything is in walking distance and there's a ton of things going on! It's way bigger than I thought it would be, so very pleasantly surprised. Not only that, there's a fabric store around the corner. I'm making curtains.

Old town - I don't know what it's called yet. But my gosh it's pretty.

The cathedral! In the sunset!!

The town center

The view from the top of the hill

If you could hear the birds in these trees....it was amazing.

Back up the hill.

Um I live here.

Tomorrow, I'm going to get my life figured out (open a bank account, send in my immigration information, and my application for housing assistance) with the lovely Bolivian girl who is living down the hall from me in the house. I just really don't want to get arrested for the lack of some random form, or owe the French government a million billion Euros.

Last night in Paris!

....which means I move into my house TOMORROWWWW! I can't believe it's already happening. I'm getting very excited to see it, but I'm definitely employing reserved optimism. I just don't want to get ahead of myself. Everything has gone so unbelievably smoothly so far -- my academie seems to be very helpful and good at disseminating information on time, or even early, my contacts at the school are really great, I had tons of options for housing that were all reasonable and pretty welcoming, etc. -- and I just really really really hope that that trend continues!! I feel unbelievably lucky that I get to be doing this, and I will do my best to keep that in mind - above everything else.

 We have had SUCH a time in Paris, which only adds to that feeling of being lucky. Thursday, after we got settled, we actually persevered through the jet lag, and stayed up until about 10:30. We then slept for about 13.5 hours, which was much needed but waking up at 11 was painful on our first day in the city. We then experienced the now (or should be) infamous shower story. Hannah and I had taken showers the night before, and then I switched the shower head back to faucet. Then, Peter gets in and tries to shower and between the three of us (three bi-lingual, college grads, employed 20-somethings) could not figure out how to get the shower back on to save our lives. So this morning, we went down to the front desk to ask for help. They, logically, assumed that it was broken so they sent up the repair guy. When he gets in the shower, he starts to check it out, and then quickly turns around, with a 'vous etes completement stupiiiiiiiiiiid, et americains" look on his face. He points to the knob and says, 'you pull it.' We had done everything but 'pulling it.' And it was unbelievably embarrassing.


 After this ordeal, we (cough, hannah, cough) then took our precious time getting ready, and then we finally took off. Hannah and I went shopping, and I finally purchased a pair of the very French sneakers that I've loved for a long time.

I got the grey ones. We decided to go get lunch, and found a gorgeous spot under the Tour Eiffel. We stopped for cafe nearby, and paid 5 Euro for a cup (about $7...and you thought Starbucks was bad...). We made ourselves some dinner, which was delicious (salad with corn, avocado, chicken, peppers, tomatoes; baguette; boursin - the fig/walnut kind SO GOOD - et du vin! It was delish, and very rewarding.

 Tourist picsssss   

 Our view from our lunch spot

Dinner on our balcon 

 Saturday was Versailles day! Peter and I had gone to the chateau de Versailles at some point during our time in Nantes, therefore we decided not to deal with the huge, huge crowds to go inside the castle - though we did find a back-door entrance to les jardins, so we got to go in to the outer half of the gardens and explore a little bit. It was a spectacular day (i got a little bit sunburned!) and we had a great time. I also had fallen in love with the town when I was there before, so went to explore that for a while. It's still great. I love it. I would totally live there. We had a very (verrrrryyyyyy) extended lunch, which we enjoyed according to French custom...with lots of food and drink and caffeine.

 

 Les Jardins de Versailles   

Lunch!

Then we ventured around the wonderful marche, we followed Peter on his quest for ethernet cable, which proved to be completely futile, I bought a phone (so I have a French number! If you would like it, just ask!) and we met Jocelyn, the adorable French man who had worked at "Chez Mickeyyyy" (disney world).

Then we ventured back and prepared for our adventures out to Montmartre. We met Peter's friend who is in grad school here, and went to find the fondue restaurant recommended by the always helpful Julie Sink. Best eating experience of my life. It was so much fun. The seating consists of two wall-length benches that go the whole length of the one room, two big tables on either side, and benches along the aisle. To get to the wall seats, the waiter literally lifted us up over the tables so we actually had to step over it. We were sitting between a group of American girls studying abroad there and a very boisterous Italian family that we became quite close with. Then they just started bringing us food - we didn't have to order or anything. I guess there weren't any options. There was cheese and oil fondue, with bread, steak, veggies and lots of sauces. Oh man it was good.

Then we climbed to the top of the hill to see Sacre Coeur, and the nighttime skyline of the City of Lights!



Today we took it pretty easy, trying just to soak in the last little bit of Paris that we could. Seeing as France pretty much shuts down on Sundays, it was pretty easy to do. We got some groceries at the marche this morning and took a picinic lunch to the Jardins du Luxembourg. Then we found an antique market and I almost died from the lack of space/money that prevented me from buying absolutely everything. It was spectacular.

It's fall in Paris too!!!

Jardin du Luxembourg! So gorgeous

Notre Dame - note the line, which is why we remained this far away

Tomorrow I'm off to my new maison! I will update when I can, but I'll take all the crossed fingers and happy thoughts you're all sending my way!

Euro Trip Part Deux

So here we go on Euro Trip number two for me!! This one is so different, though. And it's great. Quick summary - I am moving to a town in the south-western region of France (Basque country) called Auch. It's a fairly small-sized town (Grand Haven/Wooster sized for those of you who know each town, respectively....about 30,000 people for those of you who don't) right outside of Toulouse. I am going there with a program called the Teaching Assistant Program in France, which basically is run as a joint program through the French and American embassies and Ministries of Education. I'm going to be assisting primary school teachers in their English classes.

And that's pretty much all I know.

As you might know, I'm not usually very comfortable jumping into big things (like international travel) without many details....so I have to say it is quite an accomplishment for me to be as calm and unconcerned as I am about going into this experience. In a combination with my lifelong fascination with this country, my experiences I've already had here, and a college diploma in hand....I have somehow concocted a really wonderful attitude toward this whole thing. It's like a mix between extreme excitement (to teach adorable small French children, to integrate myself more thoroughly in the culture/language, to actually operate on my own schedule instead of a host family's or a school's or anyone else's, and to have more time to take it all in) and just a comfort in the country that I have yet to have on my arrival or at any point.

Getting here was completely effortless (except for dragging my ridiculously heavy bags through the metro), and when we got out of the metro, it very much felt like I was almost coming home (though not quite...it's still Paris after all). But I recognize the chain store names, the banks, the street signs, I can navigate the map, I can UNDERSTAND people - which is so great. I've even been walking around half expecting to run into someone I might know. It's a wonderful go-with-the-flow attitude that I think will really work out well, and that I'm actually quite proud of myself for feeling and for sticking to it.

And with all of those mental preparations I've made, we FINALLY got to the part of ACTUALLY LEAVING! As I said, the flight and all that was effortless. My good friend from Nantes (where I studied abroad) Hannah Becker and I met up, and our families went out to a lovely brunch in Chicago - complete with a sendoff champagne toast - before getting through O'Hare security in pretty much record time. We knew that one of our other friends from Nantes, who is doing the same program, was flying out of O'Hare at the same-ish time. So we checked the board when we got in, saw that she was boarding, and proceeded to sprint down the terminal to finally catch her as she was waiting in line. It was great to see her (even though we were super sweaty and winded) as I hadn't since we left France two years ago.

 When we got to Paris, we had no trouble getting through customs, getting our long-stay immigration stamp things (so official, aren't we?) and made our way to the train station to meet our other good friend Peter, who I LOVE dearly, and who I also haven't seen in two years! We then had a HOOT getting into the city and then to the apartment we've rented for a few days. The Parisians, known for their generosity and hospitality, did not design their metro to be remotely traveler/foreigner friendly....especially not people who are carrying seven months of their lives on their backs.

I think this picture should go down in infamy.

So we had a time. But thankfully we didn't have any stairs we had to go UP...just lots of stairs going down. So it was ok. We were definitely the dumb Americans, though. When we got out, we then had to walk uphill, through a busy street marche, where my suitcase wheel broke and I almost trampled an old French woman. But there were no complete casualties, and we got to our apartment just fine. We were met by the owner/landlord (?) who showed us around and helped us get situated (and who apparently though our American French accents were adorable).

This is the living room, with two couches along the walls.

The bedroom is right on the other side of the living room.

Let me tell you. This bathroom is ridiculous. The ENTIRE thing is covered in orange shag carpet. INCLUDING all the walls, the TRASH CAN, the back of the door. Also, when you turn the light off, there's a spotlight on that little buddah statue. It's a little unnerving.

Then we cleaned ourselves, got set up and went to get lunch from a patisserie and ate it in a beautiful park. It was so quintessential French, and I loved it! Paris is definitely redeeming itself for sure! I'll put up pictures and things later....and I will update you all on the really exciting things when I actually get to where I'm going!

Lunch spot!