Thank you Ruvani
I’d like to start this blog with a shout out to Ruvani - the annoying girl who created it for me. Then I’d like to give another shout out to Ana - the girl who taught me how to make a post.
And yes, I know I am American and not Swedish - but like I said blame Ruvani for its creation, including any headings and titles.
Where to begin… I’ve been in Paris now since January 11, 2011. Almost two months; that is really depressing considering my French vocabulary has expanded by about seven words since arriving. On the other hand, my gesturing and facial expressions have improved considerably.
I’ve been to Spain and Italy so far - those are going to be two LONG blog posts.
I guess I’ll start at the beginning (as I’m convinced I have early onset Alzheimer’s I’m using this blog for my memory as much as anything; which means it may be extremely boring and overly detailed at times - there’s the disclaimer).
When I first arrived in Paris my cab driver could not speak much English. Considering I had been pretty calm on the flight over I was suddenly stricken with panic as to what I was doing in a country in which I knew very little of the language. I’d like to point out that although my cabby started going to a completely wrong address because he didn’t understand what I was saying to him - he managed a “Ohhh, Schwarzenegger,” when I told him I was from California.
The first two days were like Freshman year of Davis all over again - homesickness and longing for time to speed up so that I could say I had had this amazing experience but go back to being in my safe and comfy zone. How much has changed since…
I’m hoping my Karma’s racking up points because so far I’ve:
1. Gotten Bronchitis (thanks again to Ruvani).
2. Lost my bracelet which was a 20th birthday present from my parents.
3. Chipped my two front teeth
4. Gotten a 50 euro metro fine
5. Had my Macbook battery die
Today I had a great conversation with my friend Lisa from South Africa. She’s travelled all over - spent two years backpacking throughout Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia, studies in Australia, and came straight to Paris after an exchange in Uppsala, Sweden (shout out to the homeland). While in Asia she was able to spend some time in Cambodia, during which she visited the infamous Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge. She said she was haunted and angry, but most of all grateful for everything she had in her life and for the fact that all of her trials were really so miniscule (which is something for her to say, because really, her trials have not been so small). Anyway, looking at my list - it really is pathetic how trivial my troubles are in the grand scheme of things. As Ana would say, “I’M IN PARS BITCHES!”. I just need to remind myself of that and of all I have when I start to get a bit down.
