I Thought the "Go" Would be Easier...

I’m sitting in my new room, which is in unpacking chaos. There’s definitely not enough hangers for my clothes in the wardrobe, so I hope I can buy some soon to finish unpacking. I have a double bed, a desk, and wardrobe. That’s all I need. My bathroom is really nice, although, it is upstairs, but I have my own bathroom!

Anyways… I feel very strange right now. It is better than a few hours ago when I wanted to cry mid-way through dinner. I had no reason to cry other than the fact of change, and a lot of change at that. So far, France has been a fun vacation for me, but real life started today and hit me in the face.

The mom and daughter picked me up in Paris in the apartment I was staying at, and I retrieved my luggage from the creepy cave easily enough. Luckily it all fit in the car after a few adjustments. Then we drove 45 mins to my new home. I talked to the mom most of the time about this and that... in English.

We arrived to the house, which was very cute. The family showed me their garden, which was full of plum trees and walnut trees and some other fruit I had never heard of. The house is great too. It has a renovated kitchen, and is very nice overall.

The girl then asked if I wanted to go on a bike ride, and I immediately said yes. The boy ended up coming too, and they we rode to see a donkey and 2 horses, which we fed with our hands through the fence! We then went to a stream area. The girl talked to me a lot, mostly in English, and then in French when she couldn’t say a word or phrases, and I understood most of it. The boy never spoke to me, and he hasn’t really yet, so I am a little worried.

When we returned, I hung out in the kitchen a bit while the dad and girl cooked dessert, and they let me read the French recipe out loud, which was a little challenging. He spoke mostly French to me, and I understood like 50%, which is really cool! When Jerome and his friends talk, I barely understand, so I am not sure why I understand the dad so well.

I then unpacked for a bit waiting for dinner to be ready. We didn’t eat till like 9pm, and I was starving. I barely ate today, so I was looking forward to food. We ate salad, then goat cheese in this baked pastry, lasagna, then the desert: a chocolate cocette (kinda like a chocolate lava cake). I was stuffed after, but it was all super yummy. They talked in French during dinner, and I was so lost. That’s when I wanted to go to my room and just cry, but I was strong. They asked me to watch an Adam Sandler movie after dinner, which was in English thank God. The movie really helped me get over everything. I think I needed a good solid 1.5 hrs of English in my system and good ole stupid, American humor.

I talked to my mom for a few minutes on skype all depressed sounding. She is probably worried about me, but I feel better. I talked to Jerome after for a few minutes, and I felt a lot better after his words of encouragement. He told me that I have nothing to stress about which is true… I mean my summary describes a much better description than my actual feelings. I have nothing to be bummed about, but I just am. I am just overwhelmed and need to adjust. That’s all. This is all a lot tougher than I imagined… I am going through culture shock. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day… I know it will be. I just don’t know what to expect, and that’s a scary thing!

I can just imagine myself months from now reading this thinking how silly I am being (I sure hope I feel that way), and that makes me feel better. I just need to get into the swing of things. Change is always a challenge.