April 2nd. 29 days left in France, what the hell?
When I started, I knew time would fly...but I guess I didn't realize it would go by THIS fast. The last 6 months of my life have been SUCH a blur.
Cleared out my phone today and text messages sent in September feel like they were sent yesterday.
I'm so excited for the next, I'm gonna say...3 months.
April I'm going to try and live it up and enjoy the last of the time I have here as much as I can.
May will be readjusting to a life I once knew. I feel the same as when I left Tucson, but I know that I can't be. You can't spend 7 months in a completely foreign country away from everyone you've ever known for the first time and expect to go home as though nothing has changed.
June I shall be setting off to Israel for 10 days on my birthright trip. For those of you that don't know, every person with a Jewish parent is entitled to a free guided trip to Israel before they are 26. I know several people who have done this and they have told me it was absolutely the best experience ever. I cannot wait. I'm hoping it will further this year of self-discovery.
The last two and a half weeks have been really rough. Lots of stuff has been going on and because of that I am just ready to be at home and be around my family.
However, on the other hand, this has been SUCH a rewarding experience and I have met amazing people and I know that it won't take long for the nostalgia and the realization that I won't be able to just walk down the Vieux Port to see everyone hits.
It's been a Rollercoaster and I know I've complained about being here a lot but, honestly, I wouldn't change a minute of it for the world.
Showing posts with label Excitement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Excitement. Show all posts
Monday, April 2, 2012
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Honeymoon Phase
This weekend has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me. Ever since my last entry I got a burst of homesickness and I was so depressed and negative.
Friday night we went to see a friend of one assistant's roommate play a show. It was really good actually, he played a lot of covers and some originals. However, all the songs were basically about being ridiculously happy and in love, mixed in with a song about being homesick. THANKS. I left feeling pretty depressed and lonely.
We hung out with some other assistants by the port (Friday tradition). Then when I came home, as I was climbing up my stairs to bed I took fell off the third or fourth step HARD and hurt my right arm, right leg a bit, and I have completely messed up my left knee which has been causing me problems for the last 6 months.
This incident, in general, sucks when you live in a town where you basically have to walk everywhere. Now let's couple that with the fact that I am a salsa dancing addict and this is not good whatsoever.
Saturday I was super depressed because I felt like crap and was in serious pain and all I wanted was my mom to come take care of me. I also received a few letters from home on Saturday. I felt like I was on survivor or big brother and I just won a contest and got to hear from home. I started bawling when I read the letters and I don't even know why because I have been able to text, skype, or call my mom everyday since I've been here so it's not like I've been out of contact!
So Saturday night there was a salsa party that one of my friends invited me to. I was considering texting him and telling him I couldn't go because of my injury but I decided I needed to go. I went over to his place for dinner where I watched him and his friend transform from vampire to pirate. The pirate friend was practically having a breakdown because his costume wasn't scary enough when I tried to explain that in the US your costume doesn't have to be scary, but he didn't get it.
I spoke so much french and was able to, for the second time this week, hold a complete conversation in french. It feels pretty good, and as we left for salsa I was already starting to cheer up.
I didn't dance very much because of my knee. I danced with the group that I came with which, honestly was fine. I had some great dances, and when I wasn't dancing I was watching other good dancers to try and get tips (it helped and it helped me appreciate cuban style salsa a lot more). I had a blast and I am really hoping that my leg heals quickly so I am able to go out by Tuesday or Thursday. It seriously cheered me up so much.
This morning I woke up to realize that daylight savings time had ended. For the first time in my life I have gotten to experience changing my clocks/having my clocks change and let me say I was completely tripped out this morning. I wasn't exactly sure what time it was and how much sleep I really got, but I am excited either way
I talked to another assistant who lives in my flat and we decided to meet up for some coffee and some exploring. It was nice to debrief on our evenings and just relax. After we had our coffee we decided to wander around the port a bit. There's a weekly market there on Sundays and I saw so many things that I want to buy for family back home and I am SO excited about it.
We stumbled upon Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure de Marseille. A byzantine cathedral tucked away into the 2eme arrondissemnt just off the port. The cathedral honestly wasn't anything that special, however that being said it was still one of the most gorgeous things I've seen in Marseille and it reminded me why I wanted to come to France. I am not catholic at all, however, being in the church I had a truly spiritual moment. I just felt completely at peace, it was so quiet and pleasant, it's crazy to think we were less than 10 minutes from the bustling city center and yet so far removed. I definitely plan on going back there when I'm feeling down.
Friday night we went to see a friend of one assistant's roommate play a show. It was really good actually, he played a lot of covers and some originals. However, all the songs were basically about being ridiculously happy and in love, mixed in with a song about being homesick. THANKS. I left feeling pretty depressed and lonely.
We hung out with some other assistants by the port (Friday tradition). Then when I came home, as I was climbing up my stairs to bed I took fell off the third or fourth step HARD and hurt my right arm, right leg a bit, and I have completely messed up my left knee which has been causing me problems for the last 6 months.
This incident, in general, sucks when you live in a town where you basically have to walk everywhere. Now let's couple that with the fact that I am a salsa dancing addict and this is not good whatsoever.
Saturday I was super depressed because I felt like crap and was in serious pain and all I wanted was my mom to come take care of me. I also received a few letters from home on Saturday. I felt like I was on survivor or big brother and I just won a contest and got to hear from home. I started bawling when I read the letters and I don't even know why because I have been able to text, skype, or call my mom everyday since I've been here so it's not like I've been out of contact!
So Saturday night there was a salsa party that one of my friends invited me to. I was considering texting him and telling him I couldn't go because of my injury but I decided I needed to go. I went over to his place for dinner where I watched him and his friend transform from vampire to pirate. The pirate friend was practically having a breakdown because his costume wasn't scary enough when I tried to explain that in the US your costume doesn't have to be scary, but he didn't get it.
I spoke so much french and was able to, for the second time this week, hold a complete conversation in french. It feels pretty good, and as we left for salsa I was already starting to cheer up.
I didn't dance very much because of my knee. I danced with the group that I came with which, honestly was fine. I had some great dances, and when I wasn't dancing I was watching other good dancers to try and get tips (it helped and it helped me appreciate cuban style salsa a lot more). I had a blast and I am really hoping that my leg heals quickly so I am able to go out by Tuesday or Thursday. It seriously cheered me up so much.
This morning I woke up to realize that daylight savings time had ended. For the first time in my life I have gotten to experience changing my clocks/having my clocks change and let me say I was completely tripped out this morning. I wasn't exactly sure what time it was and how much sleep I really got, but I am excited either way
I talked to another assistant who lives in my flat and we decided to meet up for some coffee and some exploring. It was nice to debrief on our evenings and just relax. After we had our coffee we decided to wander around the port a bit. There's a weekly market there on Sundays and I saw so many things that I want to buy for family back home and I am SO excited about it.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Here it comes
17 days and I will be on my way to starting the craziest journey of my life.
I am completely bi polar with my emotions, going between completely panicked and terrified...to so antsy and excited that I want to go camp out at the airport right now.
I still have no set place to live. I look almost daily but I just get quickly stressed and discouraged. Ugh, I don't know how to do this. I have no idea how to be an adult.
One of my closest friends left for Korea on Wednesday. That, coupled with a series of events that have occurred this week sent me into a tailspin. I spent about 90% of the day in tears. I didn't get out of bed until I had to at about 4pm. It was so rough. I think everything hit me like a ton of bricks. Her leaving made me realize probably one of the hardest parts of growing up yet, the fact that I probably will never live in the same city as all of the people I have grown up with and loved for the majority of my life.
Not only am I leaving people I've known for years, but I'm leaving a bunch of new friends who I have had barely enough time to get to know! I am thankful for the internet; facebook, skype, blogger, etc. because that way I will be able to keep in touch and keep tabs on all my wonderful family and friends.
There are so many changes going on in every single facet of my life that it's mildly hard to take at sometimes and it makes me wonder if I picked the worst time in the world to leave. However, on the other side of that, maybe I picked the best time. I'm not sure if I'd be able to cope with all this if I was caught up in the middle.
In some ways I feel like I'm still 16 years old. Naive, boy-crazy, and not a true care in the world. In many other ways, I am not that girl at all. I have grown up leaps and bounds in the last 4 years. I am hoping that all the lessons I have learned have prepared me to take on the world all by myself. We will see in just over 2 shorts weeks.
I am completely bi polar with my emotions, going between completely panicked and terrified...to so antsy and excited that I want to go camp out at the airport right now.
I still have no set place to live. I look almost daily but I just get quickly stressed and discouraged. Ugh, I don't know how to do this. I have no idea how to be an adult.
One of my closest friends left for Korea on Wednesday. That, coupled with a series of events that have occurred this week sent me into a tailspin. I spent about 90% of the day in tears. I didn't get out of bed until I had to at about 4pm. It was so rough. I think everything hit me like a ton of bricks. Her leaving made me realize probably one of the hardest parts of growing up yet, the fact that I probably will never live in the same city as all of the people I have grown up with and loved for the majority of my life.
Not only am I leaving people I've known for years, but I'm leaving a bunch of new friends who I have had barely enough time to get to know! I am thankful for the internet; facebook, skype, blogger, etc. because that way I will be able to keep in touch and keep tabs on all my wonderful family and friends.
There are so many changes going on in every single facet of my life that it's mildly hard to take at sometimes and it makes me wonder if I picked the worst time in the world to leave. However, on the other side of that, maybe I picked the best time. I'm not sure if I'd be able to cope with all this if I was caught up in the middle.
In some ways I feel like I'm still 16 years old. Naive, boy-crazy, and not a true care in the world. In many other ways, I am not that girl at all. I have grown up leaps and bounds in the last 4 years. I am hoping that all the lessons I have learned have prepared me to take on the world all by myself. We will see in just over 2 shorts weeks.
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