Two and a half weeks out

Well, here goes nothing! Here's a warning from the outset: I can be a very inconsistent journal-keeper, so it remains to be seen how this blogging experiment will work out.

Twenty days from now will find me disembarking in Paris. Not a moment too soon, I think. The past few weeks have been strange, especially with classes resuming and me not being enrolled in them or working at the Honors office. Things are finally coming together, though. My visa/passport finally came back in the mail from the French Consulate, my plane ticket is bought... all that remains is to spend time with all the people I'm going to miss, squeeze a final paycheck or two out of transcription, and pack my bags -- keeping them under 50 pounds, of course!

I just got back in touch with the family I did a homestay with when I was in high school, and they're still living in Paris and very generously offered to let me stay with them for a couple of days when I first arrive in Paris. I'm really looking forward to reconnecting with Caroline and her family, and hopefully being able to prove that the overly shy 16-year-old American -- and oh man, I sure was -- is not afraid to express an opinion or two in French. I may not be in classes, but I still feel the need to fully verse myself in current global and US-affairs before heading over to France, since I get the impression that the French (or at least the Tauverons) are better at staying abreast of domestic US events than even most Americans are. Gotta keep up!

...I am also eagerly anticipating reconnecting with that most delicious of French desserts, the fantastically mouthwatering Chocolat Liégeois. Composed of chocolate and vanilla ice creams, melted chocolate, whipped cream and chocolate flakes, this dessert alone is reason enough to go to France. But I digress. I also think my description does not do it justice. You, dear reader, will just have to visit me in France and find out.

After my brief séjour in Paris, it will be time to make my way down to Feurs. According to the interwebs, it's a small town of about 8,000 residents that's an hour and 15 minute train ride from Lyon via St.-Etienne. And according to the English teaching assistant who was there last year, "Compared to the other quaint, charming villages, Feurs is a drab, bare bones kind of place. There are a few bakeries and grocery stores, banks and all the essentials, but other than the cinema, there is no way to entertain yourself in Feurs after 7pm (unless you're into drinking beer with old Turkish men and betting on horse races." Yowza. However, I'm still glad I'm in a small town, even if it's not the most quaint or charming one around. Cost of living will be less, so hopefully I can save some money for traveling, and I should have plenty of time for reading and training for the Paris Marathon in April, which I've set a (hopefully attainable) goal for myself to complete. I have no idea yet what my living arrangements will be, but it'll all work out. It always does.