2 mois.

I'm in France. How weird is that?!

I was walking around town this evening, around 18:00, it was already dark. The walk was normal, I knew the street I was on, I knew the next right would take me to Sainte-Anne and the left to the park. I was used to it. Or so I thought, as I was walking to the fork of the road preparing to take the right to my bus at Ste Anne, I looked up. There, right before my eyes, was a huge French flag being illuminated by spotlights. It stood out from the dark sky behind it, waving proudly in the French wind. I have yet to have the awe-ing moment or realisation that I'm studying in France. But there are moments, like this, that suddenly come and scream in my ear--TU ES EN FRANCE, TU PARLES LE FRANCAIS, TU CONNAIS LA VILLE, TU AS DES AMIS FRANCAIS , ET TU ES CONTENTE! I just stopped and stood in the middle of the cobblestone rue, staring at the flag with a big grin on my face--I'm in France, I speak French, I know the town, I have French friends and I am happy.

I find myself more often talking to my friends in French, it doesn't really bother me when we switch back and forth between languages. En fait, je remarque à peine. I'm beginning to realise that I can understand what people are saying to me without really concentrating. I just understand them.

It has been two months. It doesn't feel like it at all... I've become so used to the life here, the days are just flying by. I feel like I just arrived, but more than 50 days have already passed. If it keeps continuing like this, tomorrow will be the 31 of May and I will be packing my bags and heading home.

I'm taking it all in, one day at a time.

xx

Amsterdam!

I'm back in France! Yesterday was a very long day-8 heures dans une voiture pleine. Naturally, I slept the entire way.

I bought my host family crazy clog slipper things because I thought they were hilarious. My host family thought the same thing.

While I was in Amsterdam, I basically just walked around all the time by myself. I would wake up every morning and leave the apartment and walk for 5-10 hours until I was tired or it was time for dinner. It was amazing. Amsterdam, is so beautiful. The architecture is very different than in France, but it still holds that wonderful European style that I have always loved. I spent a bit way too much money for my taste, but je ne regrette rien. The apartment was beautiful and in the center of everything, so it was easy to walk everywhere. Which leads me to another one of my not-so-useless-but-still-pretty-useless moneyspending stories: I wanted to see the Anne Frank house. My host family told me that there is always a huge line to wait in if you want to see it, but it's still worth it. The only problem was I had no clue how to get there. So, I created a master plan. I had seen a lot of canal boat tours in front of the apart and I knew one of them stopped in front of la maison d'Anne Frank, so I went to the nearest ticket counter and bought a day-pass for 20E because I figured after Anne Frank I could go to some of the other stops that the tour offered. I got on the boat and it was very nice. There was an audio tour of interesting attractions that we passed and it was a beautiful warm day. The first stop was Anne Frank. I got off and walked to the house... what do I find? A huge line that goes down the entire block. I spend a few hours in the line before entering the house, which was so amazing and heart breaking. After I was done with the tour, it was already pretty late and I had no time to go to any of the other stops with my day-pass. But, how do I get home? ...I walk of course, Anne Frank's house was literally like 2 blocks away from my apartment. There was no point in me buying that 20E day-pass... oh la vache.

I go back to school tomorrow, I have to say, I'm kind of relieved. I really missed Rennes and I am so happy to be back.

xx