wow this is really boring

Maybe it's so boring because it's my first night. I don't know. I also don't have anyway of getting a hold of people in my group because none of us have cellphones yet, and I'm pretty sure that I will be one of the few lucky enough to have wireless in my home-stay...although at the same time that's not so great because sitting on the internet is something to do when I'm home and bored, not in France. I just wish my stomach would stop hurting. Ughhhh I feel so queasy. I feel like there is so much acid in my stomach swishing around.

The plane ride was crazy. There were some Canadians on the group going to Moscow for a theater program and of course they were really friendly, and fun to talk to. And of course between their group and our American MSU group everyone got really drunk thanks to AirFrance's open bar. Needless to say, I didn't sleep a wink of the 8hour flight. Oi.
We were served a gourmet meal on AirFrance.
Zero got drunk on the plane ride, too. For those of you who don't know Zero, he is a mini beanie baby penguin I decided to take with me. I want to take pictures of him all over France, haha. Maybe I could make a funny book of his adventures and get it published.

Then came the long bus ride to Tours, 4 hours to be exact because there was a 45min smoke break in the middle. One of the girls got car sick :/ eww.

But Huguette is a really friendly and nice french woman. Every time she introduced me to people today, she said, "Allow me to introduce Dana. She speaks French veeerrry well!!" So I feel really flattered.

I have 5 roommates, but I've only met 3. One American, and the japanese and korean girls. Melanie is from around Albany, NY, and she is very loud and can't speak any French. But she is nice, and at least gives me some sort of company while I'm so bored right now and sick. The other two are engaged, apparently. The guy is American and the girl is Guatemalan, but they went to Paris for the weekend which is why I haven't met them yet.

The house is amazing! The window of my bedroom looks right at the cathedral. This whole place reminds me off Amelie-esque rooms. Theres also a boudoir in my room which is funny...just a door that opens up to a sink with a mirror. Ahaha. Oh French people. Huguette is so eccentric and such a typical artsy frenchwoman, and she decorates the place in just that style. There are a lot of cool art pieces scattered around from sculptures to paintings, vases to mosaic pieces.



Closet with a sink.



I managed to clean myself up for dinner at 730, and went downstairs and watched the news with Huguette and chatted with her about geography, where I'm from, the USA, etc. She asked me about my family, my studies, etc. I'm SO relieved that she is so friendly and easy to chat with. And I think she really likes the fact that I can speak French on a level where we just having interesting conversations.

I've been on the internet forever, and I'm finally getting tired. Tomorrow is going to be another loooong day mostly because there are absolutely no stores open on Sundays. Ah! What the hell am I supposed to do? I think Melanie is going to show me around a little bit, and then maybe I'll get going on my reading.

PS. The French really do keep all doors closed all the time. I keep feeling like I'm intruding. Or I'll keep a door open unthinking and then she or her son will just close it right behind me.

i made it

I'm safely in Tours at the moment, but unfortunately sick as a dog. I don't know if it is sickness from insane jet lag and traveling, but I'm extremely miserable and ill with what feels like the flu.

My host mom, Huguette, is very nice and smiley, and there are other students living here, too. I haven't met them yet, but I will at dinner in a couple hours (its 5:30 local time here.) I'm kind of mad because two of them are American, and I was told over and over how I wouldn't be living with any Americans.

I keep thinking to myself, oh gosh, what did I sign myself up for? But I really don't feel good at all, and I'm not going to write much more because I want to save my laptop battery until I buy a converter for the plug.

I have no idea what I'm supposed to do until Monday morning, but I have a feeling I'll be laying in bed a lot as of now.

Leaving tomorrow

I had a really nice last day home with my close pals, although Matt and I ate PizzaHut tonight and then promptly about 2 hours after got a bit of food poisoning and were both just sitting on my couch feeling pretty sick. Yay for that last hoorah.

Now that he's gone and I still feel sick, I'm getting quite nervous and anxious and keep thinking, "Wow, its May 30th already?" However, there are a lot of good people coming on the trip with me, and I'd be an idiot not to suck it up and have the time of my life in France. So, I have resolved to keep pushing forward and not dwell on any issues here since they will still be here when I get back in two months.

Thank you to all family and friends who have been supportive and will be in touch with me! I'm going to have a crazy couple of days of travel so expect to hear from me Sunday or Monday.

love, dana

untitled

Bonjour, tous. I'm going to be keeping an account of all my doings in France with this blog, instead of sending out mass emails all the time (not to say I won't be sending out any emails.) I leave May 30th, may be out of reach for a couple days after that, but I will be keeping an up to date blog from then on.

Feel free to pass this on to anyone else who is interested, or didn't get the memo. Merci!