Updates

I've added almost all of my pictures from this weekend to the photo gallery below if you're curious about what all I've been seeing here. Since I didn't get a chance to put down any details about what I've been up to before, I'll add them in now. 

[Also, if you'd like me to send you a postcard, please let me know! I'll do my best to hunt down a kooky, authentic one for you. Just leave me a comment - or email if you'd prefer - with your address, and I'll send one along in due time.]

The first few days were slow, for sure. All the excitement of being in a new country and being surrounded by new sights and sounds and tastes doesn't work too well with the actual process of acclimatization (add in the factor of jet lag, and I'm sure you'll understand). I know I'm overeager - pretty much always have been - so for me stepping off that plane, trekking across the Pays de la Loire, and then my first day in Nantes hopping on a bus for hours and hours with nothing to do didn't sit well with me.

The directors of IES, my study abroad program, want their students to ease in slowly to their new habitats and get to know their fellow classmates before getting

 to know the country. They're nice people, the directors. They care about us a lot.

But honestly, I didn't come here to mingle with other Americans. I came to France -- for France! For French people, French culture, French food, French courses. Not to make friends with 55 other Americans so that I have someone to reminisce over pictures with when I get back home. 

So, I've been a little impatient. Let me change that. I am impatient. 

But moment by moment, I'm calming myself down and forcing myself to look around and see that, despite the inertia in my designated schedule, I'm here. This is my semester abroad. Every second that ticks by.And it's up to me to decide how to use this time, whether or not my itinerary says 3 hours on a guided tour of a paper plant. It's up to me gain what I will from it, and in the end, walk away with more than I came here with. And no, I don't mean more clothes in my suitcases.

I'm in France. And I'm very, very excited.