- Bought my plane ticket
- Scheduled a meeting at the French Consulate in Boston
- Begun translating my Birth Certificate (which, really, France, really?)
- Gone to a meeting where we talked about the logistics of getting from Charles de Gaulle Airport to the Dijon train station
- Purchased my International Student Identity Card
These were all steps I knew I would have to take, but the gravity of them has really made me realize that I will physically be in France at the end of January. I know this might sound silly; how would I not, after all, know I was going? It's not so much that I didn't know but the far off vision of going to France is now less than a month away and the reality of it leaves me breathless. Not only will I be going to France, I will be living there, speaking French, interacting with a people that aren't so different from me but who are simultaneously very different.
We were talking in a meeting about Dijon about how differently the French hold themselves. There are 38 million people living in a space that is roughly the size of Texas and quarters are much tighter. It's not cramped per say, but where I tend to talk with my hands, the French (apparently) seem much more self contained. I found this fact quite interesting. I know that I'll be experiencing quite the culture shock but the realities of these little details ground the idea of me going abroad. It's absolutely terrifying but still exhilarating.
We were talking in a meeting about Dijon about how differently the French hold themselves. There are 38 million people living in a space that is roughly the size of Texas and quarters are much tighter. It's not cramped per say, but where I tend to talk with my hands, the French (apparently) seem much more self contained. I found this fact quite interesting. I know that I'll be experiencing quite the culture shock but the realities of these little details ground the idea of me going abroad. It's absolutely terrifying but still exhilarating.
I have also begun to receive recommendations for what I should do when I am in France. They are welcome of course but at a certain point as the list grows (and grows and grows), I feel less inclined to visit these places because I'm told to. I want to visit amazing places and I value the opinions of people who have gone there before, but at the same time I want to experience France on my own terms. I want to go some place because I feel this inexplicable pull to go there. I don't want a list that will be ticked off as the months go by. I truly want to experience French culture and I hope that a less structured stay in Dijon will allow me to experience the country, its language, its history and its people best.
Title wise: I would love to watch À bout de souffle for a second time but in the country of its origin.
Title wise: I would love to watch À bout de souffle for a second time but in the country of its origin.
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