its been a long time comin

Seeing as the internet situation here is a bit limited, I figured I’d update in word and paste myself a long blog when I have the chance.

It is now Monday, September 24, 2007. I have yet to have a house, although Katie’s host family has been and is being very generous by letting me crash here and stay here until I do find housing. I owe them. Big time.

But the trip started, with a 6pm flight out of Boston, landing me at London Heathrow at about 5:15 in the morning their time. Which was about 12:15 am on the east coast of the U.S.A. After that, a brief plane ride where I passed out against the window pane to CDG airport in Paris, finding my bags, getting a phone card, and getting a cab. Where I spoke with the cab driver, in French, because he didn’t speak much English. He told me that my French skills were pretty good, especially considering how few people know French these days. So I had myself a nice cab ride where I was shown the stadium where they play all their sports, and the big one right now is Rugby. Go figure. He then brought me through the heart of Paris, where we discussed how the Eiffel Tower is the romantic dreamer’s symbol of the city. I saw the Assemblé Nationale, and then was driven to the 6th arrondissement to meet none other than Katie Banaszak. I got there a little before here, and my cab driver told me that had it not been Ramadan, he would have invited me to have a coffee while I wait. But, no worries. She was there within 5 minutes.

Then I was taken inside of the building for international students in France, part of some FAC but I forget which one. And up into the Sweet Briar part of the building, where Katie and I sat on a terrace and ate sandwiches and talked about going to Tours and where I would live and how all of that would work out. Despite being up for 29 hours straight, and only sleeping for two of them, I considered myself pretty high functioning. I was able to have conversations with her, and with the professors who insisted we speak in French. One commented that my accent was quite good considering how tired I must have been. The he told me to take a siesta on the terrace. I almost did. But then we went inside, and I saw another MoHo student pal of mine, who was also studying abroad. Then came the time for Katie to have class, and I killed some time by searching on the internet for housing and looking up phone numbers and all of that business. Where I again met a MoHo studying abroad. WE’RE EVERYWHERE!!!! Hooray Mount Holyoke.

After this, Katie and I had the joy of taking all of my luggage through the metro, getting on the train, and landing at the train station commonly known as Austerlitz, where we waited patiently for our train to take us to Tours…

Note – there is a 6-month-old kitten that seems baffled by my computer. She is staring at my hands while I type and she keeps standing on my knee trying to see what the deal is. I also don’t think her parents would like her being on the bed, but I’ll let that go.

… So we waited. Katie got a pain au chocolat that was delightful. I took a half hour nap on the train. When I woke up, I watched the countryside go by. In New England, when you ride the train through the country it’s really through the forest. Especially when you’re following the Connecticut river. Here, you follow the Loire, and you go through real countryside. And you see castles in the distance. And it is incredible. And so different. And pretty.

We arrive in Tours. We lug my luggage (oh alliteration) from the train station in Tours, in the center of the city, through fabulous side streets and down through a garden to Katie’s host family’s house. Which has three stories, a beautiful living room, and garden, classic heavy wooden French doors with the doorknobs in the middle of the door as part of the entryway, a two story studio for the artist/graphic designer father, and a sweet little kitten (see above note). I’ve been staying with these people for four days now, and they have fed me fantastically and treated me unbelievably well. I am going to bring them flowers when I finally get my own place.

The next day, Katie and I got up and started house hunting and apartment hunting. I saw one apartment that was at the opposite end of my city, by the other river, which was not what I wanted. I found another, which was actually a house with a spare room with a military productions manager, but it was in a different little village and was also incredible far away, and 500 euro a month. After this, we went to Place Plum (Place Plumerau) that has a fantastic amount of nightlife, and is terribly old French in terms of buildings and layout. This is contrasted with Place Jean Jaures, where all of the official looking buildings and touristy restaurants are.

Saturday, nothing here is open, except bakeries. Although I found one real estate agency, and this is where I learned that when you haven’t started working, getting a place through agencies is almost impossible. The family was at a wedding Saturday night, and Katie and I spent our night making pesto, and watching the little mermaid. The man in the store told us that we had Canadian accents, and that we were “formidables”.

Sunday, there isn’t too much open either. Except bakeries, again. So Katie and I took a walk around the city, up to the cathedral and the Musée des beaux-arts, and through to Place Plum, where we got ourselves some gelatos.

Monday, Katie leaves, and I think the frustration level kicked in. I got back to the Bordet’s house and my parents called and I just started crying. I just felt way too overwhelmed, and frustrated. I felt like nobody who was supposed was helping me. But, after speaking to the Bordet mother, I felt better, and then she fed me, and then both she and her husband are so awesome that I just had to stay here.

So Tuesday, I decide to get smart and head to my school. Here is when I realized that the girl who sent out information, although some was helpful, left out the fact that the people in charge of the language assistants in each district took care of each assistant personally. So I show up at my school, feeling all school-y and preppy, only to realize that I was given that school simply for administrative reasons, and because it’s an okay address on the paper. The two women at the center who I was supposed to see were so incredibly nice and sweet to me that I almost died. They told me how to get to their school, then one picked me up in her car when I was at the bus stop, and they very nicely explained that I should have contacted them first, because they had already made arrangements for me to go get my carte de sejour, and that I had to do NOTHING for them until the date of October 2nd. And even then, they are going to meet all of us at the train station and guide us through Orléans when we get there. So really, all I need to do right now is get a house and a bank account. And buy a train ticket. And the house thing is looking up. Vaget, in all her glory, has agreed to be my guaranty here, so I have a French person that I can say will vouch for me and support me even though I can support myself. That means I can get a house through an agency. FINALLY. Also, there is a guy who is renting out a room in his apartment that is near my schools, a little ways from the nightlife…. But the thing is, the city is so small, that it’s really not a big deal. I’ve been walking all over it. It’ll be about 10-15 minutes on a bus, and about a 20-30 minute walk, depending on where I want to go in the centre-ville of Tours. It only takes about 30 minutes to get from one end to the other on the bus. I had to do that Tuesday. And this guy is gone from Friday to Sunday, so I get an apartment to myself on those days. I have a good feeling about this guy.
I have better feelings about this place on Tuesday, and about my situation than I have in a while. I shouldn’t say this place. I like this place, a lot. And I’m learning how to navigate it pretty well. So that’s good.
Although I must say that I wouldn’t be able to do this without the support of the people around me. First off, my parents have been awesome, offering support and talking me through fits of crying and reminding me that I am a big girl who has made it here so far and that really, I can do anything. The Bordets have been incredible, especially during my mild state of depression, they offered their house to me and accepted me into their home and have fed me and been fantastic. So then I have to thank Katie, for meeting me here, bringing me to Tours, and introducing me to these people so that I would have a place to stay, and guiding me around Tours for the first few days I was here, and overall being an awesome buddy watching The Little Mermaid and eating two things of cheese and a baguette. Whatever, I’m in France. It was a huge help. And everyone else, you all have been incredible support and I smile when I think of you all, and I wish I could describe to you the city in the most perfect words, and explain throughout each moment what it’s like, but that’s all too hard. Although I will say this: I have seen more beautiful, thin, well dressed women here than I have ever seen in one place. It’s incredible. I also don’t know if this is a result of me being in France, but all of a sudden my tastes have soared from the reasonably priced to “oh my god that’s soooooo cute and expensive and FRENCH”. I really just don’t know.
Update:
met the other assistants in Tours. and they are AMAZING. Found a fantastic roommate and a fantastic apartment with a courtyard and fresh mint growing in the garden for my lovely little texan and i to share in the next few months. Alyson is awesome, cute, and has a sweet little accent. Jen is another assistant that lives above us, and there are several other scattered around the city. Since I've met all of these guys, the life has gotten better. Its amazing what having a social life can do. We've done a bunch of late dinners and explored the old parts of the city, which seem to have a great nightlife, and have all bonded over the ridiculousness of trying to get a house when working this job. (side note: you can buy beer in the mcdonald's here, and while i watch this guy drink his across the way, i'm using mcdonald's free wifi). We all had our first orientation today, and 7 of us along with 6 British english assistants went. It was all in all, an adventure.
So, now i'm slowing down and settling in and things are good.
I love and miss you all
I'll send a link for pictures when they're posted