1 week down, 31 to go

I've been here a week already. Crazy. It was a pretty quick week, but at the same time I can't believe it's only been a week. I feel like I've been here forever.
Yesterday I moved in with my host family, which is actually just one older lady and her dog. There is a British girl living there also. She has a huge creepy house. She lives upstairs, and the British girl and I live downstairs. The bed I'm sleeping in is just two OLD mattresses. Its pretty comfy, except she doesn't have any sheets, just a really really thick comforter. She does have Wifi, but I don't have her password. She said I can use it though, so I'll have to figure that out soon, because I am sick of going to McDonalds (cheapest place with internet) to get online.
I was supposed to go to my first school yesterday, but first I got off the wrong stop on the tram, then when I finally got to the right stop, I looked at the map backwards and headed in the wrong direction. My teacher told me I should have gone into school anyways. I guess that is a difference between here and home. Schools at home are pretty much on lockdown all the time, and you can't just walk in, and aimlessly wander. I have to be at my other school in an hour. I am kind of nervous about it.
I put some pictures on my shutterfly. But they take FOREVER to load, so there are not a ton. If I figure out how to use the wifi at my host family's house, I'll put more on sometime.

better better better!!!!

The past day and a half have been amazing. We found a place to live. It is not available until Nov 1, so I am spending the next month with a host family. It is an older woman that speaks no English. I'm super excited because it will be an awesome chance to practice my French.
So...yeah. Now that the housing problem is over, I am sooo happy. This city is beautiful. I've met some really really interesting people from all over, I go to meet my teachers Monday, and things are just really good, aside from this stupid French keyboard that I can't type on to save my life.

my ukie village apartment seems like a palace!!!

So yesterday we went apartment hunting. It did not go so well. We did see one very cute apartment. But it was unfurnished, and in France, unfurnished means UNFURNISHED, not even a fridge. For the short time we will be here, we did not really think that was worth it. One apartment finding service told us that we should consider renting a room in someone else's apartment. Since we are all really desperate here, we decided to give it a try. After paying another 120 euros, they gave us a list of numbers to call, and told us this one guy's apartment was the nicest. So we went there first. It was across the river (the 'bad' part of town, also where I am teaching). The guy turned out to be a pot smoking middle aged Moraccan dancer. Anyone who has ever lived with me knows that I am not the cleanest person (sorry mom, dad, siblings, Jaime, Joni, Kim, etc), but seriously, this place was GROSS. First of all it smelled like a bad mix of dirty apartment, pot, and some sort of ethnic cuisine that I assume is Moraccan, but having never eaten Moraccan food, I am not sure. He had a marijuana plant in the bathroom, and these random basement rooms that he used for dance practice, or some such thing. The bedroom, which cost 500 euros a month, was unfurnished, and super depressing. Needless to say, none of us took the room, despite being the nicest on the list. Even if the apartment was perfect, there is something creepy about a middle aged man sharing a room with a 20 something female. We are meeting again today to continue looking. Hopefully it goes a little better!

stressed and stuff

I owe emails/facebook messages to lots of people, and I am sorry for that. My internet time is very limited right now, since I am still in the hostel, and there are only two computers here for everyone to share. But once I have my own place, and can use my own computer, with a normal keyboard (this French one is so annoying to use), I will reply to everyone's emails and Facebook messages. That is assuming I figure out how to use the voltage adapter, because I killed my computer battery last night watching Stand By Me. I was kind of bummed, and that movie usually makes me feel better. It didn't work so well last night.
I can only stay in the hostel one more night. So if I don't find a place to live today, I have no idea what do to tomorrow. Wish me luck, because I will definitely need it. This is stressful!!
But thank you sooooooo much for sending me the emails and messages. I really really appreciate it, and all the kind words and support mean more to me than I can possibly explain. Love you all!!

nothing to do but wait

I'm sitting at my gate. My bags are checked. My super sad couple of days of goodbyes are over. I board the plane in 40 minutes, then it takes off (hopefully!!) in an hour and 25 minutes.

I was crying a little when I went through security because I had just said bye to my parents. So I forgot to take out my little plastic bag of liquids. I feel like such a rebel. They are probably going to come after me now. I also forgot to take the bag of liquids out when I went to Maine a few months ago. Nothing happened then either. That is not super reassuring, as a passenger.

Peace out. My next entry will be from Bordeaux. I am going to land at like 2:30 in the morning, Illinois time. I hope I have a place to stay when I arrive in Bordeaux. I don't know about this hostel business.

the boys will not be watching playoffs from their living rooms!!!!!

So this has nothing to do with France, but I really don't sleep anymore, and I wanted to write this everywhere because I LOVE IT-Cubs are the NL Central CHAMPS for the second year in a row! I didn't see the game because I was at the football game this afternoon, but I taped it. So I'll probably go watch it now.
I'm so excited for the next couple weeks to get over. It's exhausting to think about one thing, and on thing only all of the time. I've been running a lot more, because it helps me deal with things. However, it has been killing my legs. Yesterday afternoon I ran 8 miles, then didn't stretch or ice anything because I had to go somewhere. So by last night my legs and knees hurt so much that I could barely drive. Ouch. :( It's super frustrating because I really want to try for the marathon next fall, but anytime I do anything over 5 miles, my knees are in so much pain that I can barely walk the next day. I've done everything the doctor told me to do, and they just don't get any better. Sad.


I started a shutterfly account for my pictures. I think I know how to use it, but my pictures will probably not be in any order because I'm lazy like that. But the address is pinkchickens.shutterfly.com

I need to fit 8 months of stuff into 2 suitcases

I hate packing. That is why I really haven't started, and I'm leaving in a little more than 48 hours. Maybe if I put it off enough, it will just go away, which is why I'm going to the ISU Football game today.

I haven't thrown up...yet

So this morning I received an email from the teacher at one of my schools, and he asked that i bring a whole lot of teaching supplies, including math, science, and geography textbooks for 10-13 year olds, children's movies and cds, flash cards, comic books, easy crossword puzzles, etc. I'm like cool. That is really good information to get 4 days before I leave. So I spent the better part of today running around trying to find that stuff. Because I was a social studies and French secondary education major, textbooks for 10-13 year olds are not something I have just laying around. I was able to find a few at the Closet. And I left a message with the jr high principal, but he never called me back. Then I ventured over to Lasalle, which is a little scary for me because I get lost literally every time I am in that town, so I try to avoid going there at all costs. During student teaching, it took me about 3 weeks before I could drive to LP High School without taking the scenic route. So anyways, I went to Lasalle to go to the teacher supply store. I was actually lucky because it's on First Street in Lasalle, which is also the street of the WORST place I've ever worked. So I didn't think getting there would be much of a problem for me, but my mom apparently did think getting there would be problem for me, so she volunteered to drive me. No complaints. I got a lot of pretty good stuff between all the stores I went too, PLUS I got lunch at Steak n Shake. Now I just have to figure out how to fit all these books and stuff in my suitcases. Hmmm...a suitcase full of books should be a lot of fun to carry through two airports, a taxi ride, a train station, a train ride, who knows how far on foot from the train station to where I'm staying the first night in a town about 80 miles south of Bordeaux, back to the train station the next day, another train ride, around Bordeaux the second day, and to wherever I end up staying the second night (and hopefully every night after that, until I find a permanent place to live because I really don't want to be a nomad for more than a night).
Also, Hall High School is in need of a French teacher for next year. Hmm...I am not a super competitive person. My high school spirit was definitely lacking during my 4 years at PHS. But could I really apply at Hall?? I've heard some scary things about that place.

pass the pepto

I leave a week from tomorrow. Today has been the first day that I have kind of a nervous feeling in my stomach. Sometimes I feel ridiculous getting nervous about this. At work few weeks ago I waited on a family whose son was leaving for Afghanistan the next day. I'm sure the guy was nervous, but outwardly he seemed totally chill. And I'm spazzing about going to Western Europe to teach a whole 12 hours a week.