Lovin Life

Life is going great. Life is grand; life is glorious; life is surprising; life is spontanious; life is...life is...life is just simply wonderful! La vie, elle est belle! I've had a change of perspective over the past 48 hours. Since moving into my new host family on Friday, I'm beginning to finally feel a l'aise, at ease, with life. I don't feel like I have to fight or force things anymore--instead, I'm just living. I'm savoring each moment and not thinking about the next or how I got there. I've been trying new things and learning a lot about myself. I haven't been pushing my limits too the extreme, but I have been stepping outside of my "timid American student" persona and trying to pick up new attributes--trying on titles such as "spontaneous American Student" or  "Likes-to-try-new-things, ?Young Girl from the States". I like the way they feel. I'm still trying to get comfortable wearing them and they often lead me a bit outside of my comfort zone (ok, let's be honest here, they kind of lead me way outside of my comfort zone...but in a good, healthy way). Don't worry Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Granpa, the "Smart, Logical, Doesn't-go-too-far/Jump-off-the-deep-end, Quiet, American Girl you raised or watched grow up is still lurking underneath, but she's letting these other personas step out for a bit and stretch their legs--even if she's not far behind keeping a close eye on them lol ;D.

Last night, a couple of my girl friends and myself were invited to a French house party. It was an "appartment warming" party for a new roommate in an apartment where a friend of a friend (who is French) used to live. Ok, that's kind of vague and complicated at the same time. I appologize, but basically all you need to know is that I'm FINALLY meeting REAL French people lol! Long story short, my friends and I didn't think we were going to the party (we had heard about it earlier in the week, but we weren't sure what we were going to do about actually going to it...that's the thing, these parties sound like fun, but they can be intimidating--especially for someone who doesn't have a past with going to parties). We had actually planned on going to see Sherlock Holmes 2 at the cinema at Chatlet, Les Halles (one of the larger train/metro stations in the city), but it was sold out. Luckily, due to a few chance communications (even if it takes FOREVER to send a text message here, I'm soooo glad that I can send des textos!) with our French cell phones and through Facebook, we were able to deduce that it wasn't too late to head over to the party near Montparnasse (one of the more central-southern districts of the city--it's also very near where I used to live). It was a great experience. They were all VERY nice. By the end of the night I'd made friends with several really nice French girls. I even got their phone numbers and said if they ever wanted to grab drinks or had another party, I'd love to hang out again! (No guys sadly...lol--mais c'est pas grave lol ;D). Getting back home was a bit tricky. My friends and I left the party about about 2am (the night life here is crazy--people stay up all night at clubs and just hanging out at these low-key house parties) to catch the metro home since it closes at 2:30 on weekend nights. At least, that is what we thought. Since I'm not in the habit of taking the metro during the wee hours of the morning, I guess I should have double checked when it closed. Anyway, we got kicked out of the metro a bit past the hour and ended up having to take the night bus. Oh le noctillin--soooooo funny! This is not a bus you ride by yourself. If you can avoid it, then you should. However, after a quick glance at the bus route maps at the Montparnasse bus stop/station, my friend and I deduced that it wouldn't be hard at all to take the N1 or N2 since our home stays are close to stops on those lines. We quickly hopped on the N1 and away we went. After a few minutes on the bus, a very friendly French man heard us talking in English and interrupted our conversation (about university funding and athletics hehehe--even at two am you can have intelligent conversations apparently lol) asking if he could talk with us and practice his English. "My English, it zees not veeery goot, you zee." We didn't really say "yes", but we didn't really say "no", so he continued to ask us simple questions in very broken, very drunk English. It was quite a hoot. He was harmless, but quite intertaining. When he realized we could speak French, he asked if we wanted to speak French with him, and I, in spit-fire French (I'm getting MUCH better at and MUCH more comfortable with speaking French) I say: "Ouais, bien sur, on peut parler en francais si vous avez envie (yeah, we can speak in French if you want to)". The look on his face was PRICELESS. He and his less-drunk, obviously-more-adept-at-speaking-English friend looked at me and scoffed. I couldn't help but smile. What can I say--I'm proud of the progress I've made in France. I CAN speak the language. It's kind of nice to know that French people (even if they are a bit tipsy...or a bit more than a bit tipsy....) think so too. Anyway, they got off the bus before we did so I didn't have to worry about them trying to follow us (not that they would have I don't think, but it doesn't hurt to be aware/be careful...). The night bus dropped me off at one of the two metro stops that are about equal distance from my new apartment (only about a 1-2 minute walk) and I made it home just fine at about 3am. What an adventure. I was nervous and scared to meet new people, but I'm fine. As my new host mom would say: "nothing changed--you just overcame your fear that was all in your head and learned that the world doesn't end when you try something new or stretch out your comfort bubble a bit". She's right--it doesn't. Hopefully I'll meet up with those really nice girls I met last night sometime soon and see if there are some friendships to be made.

This afternoon I got to spend time with my friend Fred who was a student at PLU last year. He lives in France and so we met up and had brunch and then explored the Champs Elysees. It was great to see him. It's been over a year since I last saw him, and even though we've stayed in touch over Facebook and Skype, it's always nice to get to see your friends in person again! We explored all the expensive car shops and a few clothing stores on Champs Elysees. It was weird seeing all these really expensive marques (brands) like Chanel and Mercedes-Benz--I laughed a bit when I starting thinking about what it would be like to actually be in this store because I wanted to buy an over-priced luxery car or really expensive parfum. Hahaha, a lifestyle I have never been interested it. It was still kind of fun to pretend though hehehehe (hey, the person in the corner watching me look at the cars doesn't know I'm not actually considering--in a million years--buying a car like this....it could happen....hahaha not). We also explored the Virgin Mega Store on the Champs Elysees and I bought 4 CDs of contemporary French artists for 20 Euro--great deal! I want to have more French music, and I never know what to get, so I bought two albums that looked good and thought I'd try them on a whim! Fred also reccomended one and I found an artist that I already knew. I'm in the processes of listening to all the new songs. Music really helps me better understand the language--there's something about mastering the lyrics of a song and being able to sing along with the artist. I don't know how to explain it, but it's somewhat gratifying--especially if you understand what they are saying (which is becoming a lot easier for me yay!).

This afternoon I'm going to finish my homework, work on planning my trip to Morocco in early April (soooo excited--I hope it works out!), and possibly take a nap!

Je vous aime tous! Bisous!
-Sarah