Week One down, Twelve more to go

The past two weeks have been difficult. My dad was here the first week to help me move in, pay for housing, get me accustomed to living here. But that first night I was by myself was rough. I hadn't had internet service that whole day in my apartment which made it extremely difficult for me to imagine living here for four months without any form of communication with my family. Needless to say, I got it all worked out, and I've met some fabulous Brazilian friends who I call family now.

These girls (Bea on the left, Priscila in the middle) have become my very closest friends here. I'm so glad that I met them, or else I would have been completely lost! We also have a few crazy boys that follow us around (Bea's boyfriend, Henrique, and two Arabic boys, Menad and Marouen). The boys always make conversation lively with talk of sports and such.

It has been so interesting to see how our different cultures can all merge into one as we attempt to understand each other through the use of French, English, Portuguese AND Arabic! Combine the four languages, and we all have a fantastic time together! No, I may not be practicing the fast French all the time that the natives speak, but it's definitely a nice slow integration into the system before classes start.

I attended an orientation course on Monday, September 9, and the professor spoke so fast that I could pick up maybe 3/4 of what he was saying. I'm sure it will get better as the semester goes on, but it scared me for a bit.

My humble abode. The orange makes it extremely difficult to find when I'm lost ;) I live in Residential Housing and it's name is Castillon. It's quite quaint, but I've grown to love it and all the people inside. My room is just as small as I expected it to be, and despite my worst fears of the bed not being squishy enough, it's actually one of the best beds I've ever slept on; and even more, the shutters close over the windows to the point where NO light comes in whatsoever! Even in the middle of the day! It's fantastic for naps! The only downside to my apartment at the moment is that the laundry room is out of order...also we don't have wifi, just ethernet :( That means I have to walk to the laundromat when I need to do laundry, and I have to sit in a certain spot in my room to talk to my family or to make posts like this one! Other than that, I don't mind it too much here ;) The language can be a bit of a barrier at times, but once people realize that I can't understand when they talk really fast, they slow down for me. This region, Picardie, also has it's own dialect which is very different than that of Paris, so I can easily understand those people who are not from here even when they talk fast, but the Picardians are of course hard to understand. I'm sure I will pick it up in due time.

And finally, a picture of the medieval festival that occurred this past weekend. Apparently it's the biggest in the world? Don't quote me on that. But it was quite interesting! I got my grandmother a little souvenir, which I'm sure she will love. It was fun to get out for the first time with friends and to be able to see a little of the city. I bought my first real crêpe since being here (delicious) and I got to spend a lot of time exercising my legs out from being so lazy the past week! 

Maybe next time I post, it won't be two weeks later, because there is so much more that I want to talk about, but it's difficult to talk about everything in detail; therefore, I just talk about the most important things! 

I hope everyone back home is doing well. I miss and love you ALL!! Let me know if you have any questions or if you want me to talk about anything in more detail, and I will make note of it! 

À bientôt!  Until later!