One Month Later

It has been exactly one month since I left Minneapolis for Paris.

I can HARDLY believe it. It was just five weeks ago that I was hot as the dickens down in Mississippi. It seems like that was so far away.

Everyday here I feel like I have new break throughs. I have the odd position of being a complete outsider in this city that i've become very familiar with. This is all due to the fact that I'm very isolated by the language. I have become fluent in listening. The true test of this is when I watched a french standup comedian Franck Dubosc and laughed...at all the right times. The problem is the speaking. I can put together sentences but rarely is it grammatically correct. This is not to say that I don't try. I really do. and usually succeed. every conversation i have in french is a complete success.

Anyway, my point is, I'm this silent observer of all the goes on around me and it is isolating in a lot of ways BUT each day i find myself breaking through this isolation. Either in my french class, or when i make a friend at the park, or when i have a conversation with a waiter in french. I do still think there is a small part of myself holding back because I know that I'm going home in just two months.

That being said, I have felt homesick at times. and mostly at times when things are strange to me. (and not "wacky" strange but different from what i know) for instance, when I'm lost in Paris, I'll think of 32nd and Nicollet; It's not an intersection i "frequent" but it is the last intersection I turn off of after leaving 35W on my way home. 32nd and Nicollet means that I'm minutes from home. I've also thought about my grandma's house a lot. Again, we don't go there often, maybe two or three times a month but it is such a place of comfort for me. I know where everything is. Usually the house is full of people I know and love. that is really what I miss.

The good news is, France is feeling more and more like a home to me. I take the RER and Metro with ease. I know where things are in relation to one another. and I'm really enjoying living here. At least once a day i have a "I'm living in France" moment where I just beam for a few seconds as i think about what my life is like right now.

So. That's that.