It's Christmastime!

m

Merry Christmas from our traditional family to yours!

The Buddhas are all decked out in Santa hats and reindeer antlers, there's a fire going, and it's been snowing like crazy for the past hour. Then later this afternoon, we're going to Sherwood for Indian food. I love Christmas.

What's awesome about Christmas is that it's not even about religion. Obviously it is for some people, but I love how it's also been turned into something that emphasizes peace, love, and family. Christmas is a day for spending time with people we love, showing kindness to others, playing in the snow, and eating too much (Indian?) food. More important than any religious or material significance that we tend to put upon this day is the Christmas spirit. Every year I see people stressing out about the perfect decorations, the perfect presents, the perfect dinner, all for this one day. We spend so much time trying to make Christmas perfect that we miss out on the simple magic of the holiday. We have this one day to be with people we love and to not have to focus on anything else. Relish it. Keep it simple. Listen, love, and practice forgiveness (maybe starting with yourself).

Christmas wish list 2010:
1. Snow. Lots of snow.
2. Health and happiness to everyone I know and love.
3. Peace - internal and external.
4. Plane ticket to France and/or Sénégal.
5. A beautiful day with the family that I have here with me.
6. Some more snow.

Listen to this today: Winter Song by Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson.

Merry Christmas to everyone, no matter what the day means to you :)

Love, Josie

The Return to Maryland.

m

So I'm sitting at my dining room table, fire going, mom in the kitchen, Rocco MIA with some friends, and downing glasses of water to prepare for my first class back at Bikram Yoga SP, and it's like no time has passed. It's like nothing has changed since I left in August to go to France. But so much has changed. So much time has gone by. Not only have my bangs grown out and my wardrobe been hit with an H&M invasion, but the experiences that I have had abroad have changed who I am as a person. How could they not?

So now it's almost Christmas and my heart is all over the world. I want to be everywhere I've ever been, everywhere I haven't been yet, and exactly where I am right now. I have the travel bug more than I've ever had it before, but I am also so happy to be home with my family again. It's just hard because I feel like I have so many different kinds of family now, in all corners of the world. I miss my host family in Rouen, I miss traveling around with my friends in Santorini, I miss Centre Baobab in Dakar, I miss my Senegalese friends in Mont Saint Aignan, I miss Simone in Germany, I even miss sleeping on trains and in airports while traveling all over the place. It's just a very different lifestyle, living in France as opposed to living back at home. And it's going to be even more different rejoining all the alcoholics up at St. Lawrence University in January.

But for now, I really am happy to be back with the family for the holidays. Even if Christmas means nothing more to me than any other day of the year, it's special because I'll be with my family who I love more than anything. Are we going to Christmas mass? Absolutely not. Are we having a giant Indian curry dish for Christmas dinner? Yes. Is is going to be awesome? Absolutely.

It's already time for me to get ready for yoga. My first class back in 4 months (besides one class in Brussels and one class in Paris), and it should be an adventure.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do with this blog yet. I mean I'm no longer a vegan, I'm no longer traveling the world, I'm no longer doing anything out of the ordinary, so I'm not sure how much longer I'm gonna keep updating this. So peace and love and talk to you next time, whenever that may be!

Love, Josie

"mais l'important, c'est pas la chute. c'est l'atterrissage."

m

I"m meeting my host mother downstairs for a 5am breakfast in a half hour. Then I'm leaving.

I got home around 3am this morning from a tearful goodbye up at Mont Saint Aignan. I'm going to be so tired when I finally get home tomorrow (today?) I'm so excited to sleep in my own bed again, to see my family again, to relax around my house again. But at the same time there is so much here that I have gotten to know and love, and words can't begin to express what I'm feeling when I think about leaving.

I've learned so much on this trip (most of which I will reflect upon later when I have more time), and all I can say is that I am so beyond happy that I did it. Any heartache I'm feeling now is a result of the fact that I poured my heart into my experience, and I got so much out of it in return.

Goodbye is far too sad, and far too final so for now I"m saying "ba beneen, à bientôt, and see you soon" to France and all of the amazing people I have known here.

America: I'll see you tomorrow.

Mida yidma!

-Josie

J-2.

N'ayez pas peur du passé car il est enfui à jamais,
Ne craignez pas l'avenir car il n'existe pas encore,
Vivez la vie au présent car elle mérite d'être vecue.

How to say goodbye.

I have my first final exam in 3 hours. I haven't studied yet. This is bad.

It's hard to stay focused on school - or to start focusing on school - when you are, at the same time, stressing out about packing, seeing friends, and saying goodbye. That's the only thing that really sucks about this program: the teachers give you absolutely no work until the final exams and projects, and by that point your worth ethic is past the point of no return, and your mind is full of other thoughts. What is there that I have to do in Rouen that I haven't done yet? Who do I need to make sure I see before I leave? How am I going to pack all of my things in my suitcases? Where can I buy another suitcase? With what money? Am I really going home in 4 days? And so the little things, like final exams, get lost amongst the multitude of thoughts about what to do before leaving France. Leaving France - wow, I can't believe it.

I said bye to Luc this morning, who left to go back to school in Paris for the week. It's just so strange to think that I won't see him again. I don't think it's hit me yet. I feel like it will, everything all at once, when I'm finally on the airplane. In 4 days. Wow.

I really am excited to go home. How could I not be? It's not like I would want to stay here without my family and my friends forever. But it just seems like the end snuck up on me. Wasn't it just yesterday that we were making ourselves feel better by saying, "We only have one week of classes, then Senegal, then 2 weeks of classes, and then break. And then it's almost December, which means we're almost there!" How could all of that have flown by so quickly? Now it's Monday, December 13, and I can't even begin to imagine how quickly these nexy few days are going to speed by.

List of things that I need to accomplish. Like now:
1. Study.
2. PACK MY SHIT.
3. Make pumpkin bread.
4. Wrap presents for Luc and Marie Christine.
5. Buy wrapping paper.
6. #4 and #5 are out of order.
7. Write notes for people.
8. Go to the Christmas market for last minute shopping and Rouen-exploring.
9. Buy another suitcase if necessary.
10. Clean my room (this should probs be moved to the top of the list)
11. Take pictures!
12. Continue the memory-making :)

People to write notes for:
1. Marie Christine
2. Luc
3. Bineta
4. Khady
5. Khadim
6. Cheikh
7. Djibril
8. Henri
9. Zoumana

I'll think of the rest later. I really should go study, especially considering I have to leave my house in less than 2 hours to be to the exam on time. Ahhhh.

Ak jamm. Ba bennen.

Josie

Last class already?!

m

I just got home from my last class at the Fac. Ever. I really just can't believe that the semester is already over. It's been such a whirlwind.

So the only class I had today was Literature with Mlle Dang (who is amazing), and we just listened to three exposés: Serge Gainsbourg, an absurd play, and Une Partie de Campagne. We also turned in our portfolios (which I somehow managed to finish finally). I just can't believe now it's just one weekend and then finals week. And then America. I'm really going to miss my daily mini Wolof lessons.

I feel like I'm just now really getting into life here in Rouen, into speaking French, into getting to know the people and make friends here. It's amazing how people can adapt like that to new environments, and be forever changed by it. Being here in the living room in my host family's house in Rouen, I feel like I've lived here all my life. Being here right now is just so normal, so comfortable, just exactly where I'm supposed to be when I come home from school at the Fac and want to relax. It's so ouf to think that in just one short week, all of this will go from being my life quotiedienne to nothing more than a very fond memory.

For now, I think I'm gonna go take a nap, maybe eat some lunch, and maybe (but probably not) start studying. I'm exhausted and almost fell asleep in class so many times today.

No definitive plans yet for tonight, but the day is still young. It's only 1. And it's our last weekend in Rouen, so I'm sure people will start rallying to do something later in the afternoon. Maybe I'll go walk around and check out the Christmas markets some more. Ok - maybe after the nap.

Love, Josie

Jusqu'ici tout va bien.

m

So, sorry I suck. I haven't written in so long, that I forget what has even happened in my life. What has been so fun about keeping this blog is that I get to keep track of the little day-to-day things about my life in France, and now so many days are lost. Mais, pas de souci - on recommence maintanent.

Thinking about the fact that I'm leaving so soon makes me want to shut down and not write, because I won't even know where to begin. So I'm not thinking about it. Don't ask how I feel about leaving France, because I don't have the words, good or bad. All I have to share right now are my experiences. Donc, the highlights of my life as of late:

- Buying awesome gloves from the Rouen Christmas market
- Watching my first Marilyn Monroe movie ever in France: Some Like It Hot (Certains L'Aiment Chaud) with Luc and Tiffany
- Walking to school every day, and either being too hot or too cold the entire time
- Trying to make dinner for myself. It was a disaster involving trying to cook rice and lentils together. At the same time. In the same pot. Which was actually a pressure cooker.
- Taking with my host mom at dinner every night. I always go back up to my room in such a wonderful mood. Words can't express how happy I am to have moved here. (And now impossible it is going to be to leave).
- Spending an entire weekend with my Senegalese family. It's amazing and sad that I'm just getting to know them so well at the end of my trip.

Une petite histoire before I go:
Today, I took the bus coming home because it was late and I didn't feel like walking. I got on the bus, bought a ticket because I don't have a bus pass anymore, and the bus driver made a comment about my gloves, I told him I bought them at the Christmas market in town, and we started talking. He was really nice except for the fact that when I told him I was thinking about studying in Senegal in the future, he told me that I didn't want to do that because that country is really poor and there's nothing going on there. I said that I had, in fact, already been and I loved it. And then he offered up that he was from Algeria. Suddenly, it all made sense. There's this weird thing in France about race. Obviously this is a gross generalization, but here it is, simplified: The French are racist towards people from the Maghreb (c'est à dire, from Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco). They don't seem to have a problem with many from Sub-Saharan Africa (aka Senegalese). The Senegalese don't have a problem with anyone. And immigrants to France form the Maghreb don't like the French because of their racism, but don't like the black Africans just because. Now, this doesn't speak for everyone, but it's just a general sentiment that I've felt since I've been in France. The people I surround myself with obviously aren't blatantly racist, but just from what I've heard, seen, and experienced, there is an underlying racism of France towards immigrants from the Maghreb.

So anyway, we talked, he tried to figure out the name for Chat Roulette (which I couldn't remember until after I got off the bus), and he told be about how much he hated French people because of how racist they were. In his defense, he did have some pretty crazy stories about not being able to rent apartments, or people being hostile to him for no reason other than the fact that he is Algerian. But still - I'm not a fight fire with fire kind of person, so I was a little less than impressed. This is all while he was driving the bus in the darkness from Mont Saint Aignan to Rouen, but no big deal.

But as a bonus, he didn't realize I wasn't French until like half way through the conversation. Which. Is. Awesome. I'm making progrès :)

I promise to write more soon. Now, it's bed time!

Love, Josie

Germany: Un Coup de Foudre.

m

Whatever-day-it-was-that-I-left-Germany, November-possibly-December, 2010.

I am completely in love with Germany. My time here went by way too fast, and I wish more than anything that I had more time to spend in this beautiful country. Even the freezing cold added some kind of magic to my experience here. Compared to Rouen (and even Paris) where Christmas is too far away to get excited about it, Köln is all over the Christmas spirit. There are lights, signs, and decorations everywhere, excitedly announcing the arrival of the best holiday of the year. Not to mention the wonderful Christmas markets with people selling the even-more-wonderful glühwein. I can't believe we don't have Christmas markets in America! I was so excited about the German culture, that I even tried bratwurst! One full day in Germany definitely wasn't enough. There is so much to do and so much to see - I really hope I can go back soon (next weekend?). I LOVE GERMANY.

When I first got off the train on Friday at around 7pm, I met up with Simone (so exciting!) and her friend Sandra and we walked around Köln a little bit. I got to walk through two different Christmas markets, both of which were nothing short of magical, before walking through Köln to get to the car.

We got to Schermbeck at about 9:30pm, and it was freezing but adorable. I met Simone's mom, ate some bread with confiture and cheese (actually delicious), and bundled up and fell asleep watching 27 Dresses. Not very eventful maybe, but it was perfect in its own way.

Sidenote: I think that people who try to get babies' attention by waving at them are extremely obnoxious. And usually American. I just feel like if I were a parent trying to get my baby to fall asleep on a train and a bearded, overweight man in a bright red "Starbucks" tshirt were waving and saying "hello" in a voice that sounded like his testicles had been cut off, I would probably want to smack him. I mean, I already kind of want to and I'm just a third-party observer.

In other news, there is snow on the ground and it is beautiful. Was. We just drove through the world's longest tunnel so now it's pitch black, but I'm sure it will be beautiful on the other side too (when we finally get make it through). Wow, and it is. I love the snow.

It snowed on Thanksgiving in Rouen, which was awesome. Sadly though, it didn't really stick at all. Yesterday though, it snowed in Schermbeck during the Christmas market festivities. It was freezing but amazing. Simone and some of her friends from school had a stand to raise money for their school's equivalent of Prom. We sold cookies, coffee, hot chocolate, waffles, and -- of course -- glühwein. All of her friends were so nice. It's always hard hanging out with people who don't speak the same language as you, but everyone made me feel really welcome, and that was really awesome of them. I had a blast at the Christmas market, and I really hope I can come back again next year! If not, I'm definitely bringing the tradition to America -- starting with glühwein. Yesterday, we were outside from 10am - 8pm and those hot drinks kept us going in the cold.

I can't believe I'm already on my way back to Rouen -- I feel like I just got to Germany. That's the problem with weekend trips: they end up being two days of traveling and one day of visiting. Better than nothing though. And now I know that I love Germany and need to come back. ASAP. The warm people, food, and drink more than make up for the freezing temperature. And honestly, I kind of liked the cold. You get used to not being able to feel your toes after a little while. I really can't wait to go back to Germany; it is an amazing country inhabited by wonderful people. Even though I only got a few short days there, I am so glad I decided to go!

Highlights:

-Seeing Simone!!!
-glühwein
-Christmas markets!
-barely making my train this morning
-German chocolate from pedophile Santa
-meeting the German Mr. Buckley
-"tu as envie de faire qqch avec Max?"
-eating a pretzel bigger than my head
-hearing people speak German

Observation: Too many of my highlights have to do with eating and drinking. Time to re-evaluate my lifestyle choices?

Cultural Learnings:
-engagement rings go on the left hand; wedding bands go on the right
-celebrate St. Nicholas Day on December 6 - shoe with candy
-Christmas markets every year (did I mention the glühwein?)
-hot chocolate with amaretto or rum (or both)
-people are generally pretty open about homosexuality
-you can get your driver's license taken away for jaywalking
-cheese + jelly = normal to eat
-16 to drink beer; 18 for hard liquor; not difficult to evade any/all drinking laws
-license plate tells you where someone's from. ex: K=Köln. WES=Schermbeck. The more the letters, the smaller the city.

I'm sitting in a backward-facing seat on a fast-moving and kind of swerving train. I'm gonna go listen to some music and stop writing now. Hopefully I make it easily on my train to Rouen! Wish me luck. So far my first solo voyage in Europe is almost completed successfully :)

Love, Josie