First Day on the Job

I was awoken this morning to the ethereal sounds of French teenagers floating gracefully through the hallways of their beloved school building, that I live in.  You know that means!! Work day 1!!

Wish me luck!

Lovesies,

Angie

Why me?

I write this blog on my second full day in France, and I sit here, I keep telling myself "you don't get homesick, you don't get homesick, you don't get homesick" all the while a small piece of me hopes that maybe if I click my heels together each time, I'll wake up tomorrow in Indianapolis.

Am I homesick? Getting there. Am I bored? A little. Am I slightly disappointed that there's literally nothing to do in this town on the weekends? Definitely.

But here's the thing... today at mass I as reminded just how lucky I am.  I've thought to myself "maybe this is what it takes for me to feel settled the rest of my life." I've been explaining to every person who I told about this year that "this is my chance to be selfish and worry about myself!" or "why not go to France? I'm 22, single, and unemployed!" I know that this year will be full of great things for me, but I think I need a bit of a mindset change.

Like I said, being alone and having an hour to think about life this morning, I realized that this isn't just a year for me, but a whole year to meet new people, and bring a little more happy into their lives.  This isn't all about me.  This is about everyone I interact with, and the knowledge I can learn from them.  This is a year to see the world so my future students have a more knowledgeable teacher, have a leader that can literally share the world with them.  Shame on me for making it all about me.  And I have absolutely no doubt that I'll forget this mindset a million times while I'm here.  Seriously, I have the memory of a goldfish.  But it's here.  I've made a public announcement that for at least 30 minutes I had my head on straight.  And you're my witness.  So, thanks!

Until the next revelation about life or a great cheese,

Lovesies,

Angie

And The Winner Is....

JETLAG!!

As I prepare for my final day in Dublin, and prep my bags and mind for France, I am realizing just how not over jetlag I am.  I have spent every night thinking about France, anticipating my arrival, wandering what this halfway-house apartment is going to look like while I wait for my permanent one to be fixed, and translating every thought I have into French.  (This translation process is hilarious because, without fail, I get rolling on one whole sentence or maybe even two, run into a word or phrase that I don't know, and wonder about that phrase for a solid minute or two, think of alternate phrases I could use, and then redirect my brain to sleep.  Repeat this process about 362 times, and this is every night for me at the moment. But I digress...)

Whether I like it or not, (and I do,) France starts tomorrow!! The rest of my year of gaining weight from a strict diet of baguettes, cheese, and wine, pretending that I'm an English expert, and frolicking through the fields of Bretagne starts tomorrow!! And you'll hear all my musings right here before anyone else.  Can I get a WOOT WOOT?!! (Guess I'll have to teach that to the Europeans before I look like a strange foreigner making tribal calls to herself...)

So, catcha next time (hopefully on more sleep)!

Until then...

Lovesies!

Angie

Here Goes Everything

And so here it is, kids.  The year that I grow up and enter the big kid world.  And what better place to do this than in a country with great food, wine, and, my personal favorite, cheese!

                                     

                                                              My ready-for-fromage face

Now you all know that great things often require an equally great amount of work and preparation. I've spent the last couple months emailing French teachers, applying for visas, and delivering Bonnie's famous chocolate-chip muffins to Department of Health workers who took pity on a young traveller with birth certificate confusion.  Really, it's been great.  

So that puts me here, in the JFK International Airport. (A day later than I and everyone I had incorrectly passed on my self-decided departure date had planned on.  But I digress...) I'm sitting here, running my checklist again in my head (boarding pass, passport, pictures of family, hungry tummy? Check!) and still wondering what I've gotten myself into.  I'm about to fling myself into a year of running around French classrooms, traveling Europe, pretending to understand Celsius, and "discovering myself," whatever that means...  

This is a year to be and do me.  Here goes everything!  And you're lucky enough to follow this crazy train of giggles as I live through this year.  So thanks for reading, hug your loved ones, and drink a glass of wine for me.

Lovesies,

Angie