sucon

je ne parle pas francais

so world, i'm here, in paris, mildly fucked. it's been revealed to me in the past few days that i am severely behind on my french. i have at least two years less than most of the people with me. i do not understand people when they talk. it's very frustrating, but i guess i'll just have to work my ass off. i feel as if i should confront my teacher from last semester, but i do not want to cop out and blame other people. i could have worked harder and then i wouldn't be in this situation. fucking a. but oh well. hopefully i can work hard now and make up for it.

things in paris are interesting. walking down the street you hardly ever see people smiling, which disturbs me. even the omnipresent french couple with puppy dog eyes (at each other) don't seem to be happy. thankfully the people i've been hanging out with make me laugh, and i'm very happy to be here.

this is an interesting time because i could be really stressed out, but i'm not. i feel as if everything is ahead of me. i'm even not stressing about my boylessness because i know i haven't even begun to try to meet guys. it's a particularly nice sensation to only have hope and not despair and depression about the situation, as is usualy the case. if i haven't met anyone in about two months, then i'll be depressed. as of right now, everything is good.

some people have gotten a head start and have already found housing. i unfortunately have been very relaxed. but i refused to get stressed about it. because there is no other choice, i will find a job as an au pair. and it will be great. i'm gonna get into the swing of it tomorrow, so hopefully i'll have a placement asap.

here's an anecdote from this weekend:
last night a few of us went to a tiny local bar to get a drink. there was no one there but us. we had a good time, chatting with the bartender. he spoke perfect english and frustrated us because we wanted him to speak french. but he was soo nice and answered all of our questions about everything: cell phones, bars, the difference between marijuana and hash. we were working on our second drinks (this very flavorful light beer), when his boss came back in. he handed her a not that this sketchy looking guy had come in earlier and left. when she read it they started speaking very quickly in french. then he asked to use this girls cell phone to call the police. so they kicked us out of the bar so they could talk to the police. it was interesting. they were very nice about it. gave us free shots before we had to leave. odd situation. odd way to start my social life in paris.

beyond that, things are good. boat trip on the seine. saw notre dame, eiffel tower, louvre, champs elysees. mild headache from probably alcohol and jet lag. mild nerves about finding a place to live. life is good.

posted by lindsey @ 8:21 PM