A Little Eccentric

Oh la la

Hey all. This will probably be my last blog with pics, unfortunately. The reason is because there is no WiFi in this whole damn town. I have spent a whole day looking and asking. I’ll have to use computers at school, but that means I have no way to upload pics off my camera. That really sucks, but so does everything in this town. The only way I can do it now is because I asked the hotel my Mom and I were staying at to give me a half hour to do some things and they actually said yes!

Right now, things are going better, but my emotions are in the toilet. Yesterday was a really good day. I met up with an American and two Canadians and we walked around town. Colleen, the Wyomingite, was really helpful and friendly. We walked around and saw the cathedral of the town and some other cool things like this old square, the river (La Loire), and lots of shops and restaurants. There is even a square called “Place du Monstre’ and it has this huge sculpture of an abominable snowman looking thing.

We got dinner in a creperie, shared a bottle of cidre and a big dessert crepe. It was really nice and made me feel good to have some people to talk to. After that, we went to this Renaissance fair where they were all dressed up in costumes and taught everyone Renaissance style dancing. Seeing all these French dudes in tights taking the dancing very seriously only emphasized how ludicrous this country can be.

With my language skills, I’m disappointed. I can communicate on a basic level but I lack the communication skills to really have a conversation and make friends. I’m hoping this will change as I am here, but right now it makes things really, really hard. Almost all the students who came here from abroad have been here for a semester already and are fluent while I’m still bumbling around. Plus, I am from a very small town and am having trouble with all the public transportation, etc.
More than once I’ve wanted to come home already. The girls I met have been here since September and have no desire to go home. None of them seem to have very close friends at home and are OK with being so far from their families. I am learning, that while I might be a bit too entrenched in my ways at home, I think the relationships I have are terrifically important. I have a very close family and friends and I think that is a big part of the reason I am having so much trouble adapting.


But, as Colleen told me, things are have barely started yet. Give it some time for classes to start, time to meet some people and work on my language skills, etc. I have trouble with that. I want things here and now and have trouble waiting and working towards a long-term goal. And if worse comes to worse, I can always go get drunk. (Just kidding)
Also, this is what my hair looks like in the humidity.

posted by Molly Jo @ 8:29 AM