15.11.10

It's starting to hit me a little bit that all the 1-semester people are leaving in about 6 weeks. I can't lie, I'm a little upset about it even though it's still super early to be worrying about saying goodbye. It just seems bizarre to me that all these people are going to go back to their lives back at home while I'm still going to be here in France. It also struck me that staying one semester abroad is definitely not enough to do the things I want to do, so I am very glad I chose a full year experience. I still have so many things left on my list of things to do in Europe! For example: go to Italy, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Malta/Corse/the Mediterranean. Visit the friends that I have abroad. Explore the rest of France. Eat French food (I have been budgeting my money such that I am not eating anything fancier than sandwiches and yogurt and lentils). Make friends with more French people (I am in classes only with non-French people, so I am not really meeting any French people!). Accumulate enough points on my S'Miles train card that I get a free train ride (that means travelling more!). Listen to the radio in French (don't have a radio yet...). Go to the movies (and watch an actual French film, not an American film with subtitles). Get a real job (where I am not teaching English!). Do a bike tour of Nantes.

I am also kind of wondering when culture shock is going to hit me. I have been hearing so much about it that it worries me that it hasn't happened to me yet! There have been some days where I was homesick, but it was really nothing more than, "Oh, I wish they had Zumba here in France" or "I miss my mom's tabouli." Nothing major like I was expecting; I mean, I have been reading about depression and anxiety! But I don't think I have had that level of a shock. I do feel physically unhealthy here, though. The crappy gym that I go to hardly suffices in terms of a good workout. Between January 1 and August 25, I was intense about working out; two or three hours a day at the gym until I was in pain! Then I'd get home and take a walk after dinner. I only took it easy during exam week, when I went 6 out of 7 days instead! The last time I got such a workout was the day before I left the states, and I still remember that  particular class so clearly. It's such a ridiculously stupid thing to miss, but I really really miss it. I can't help it. Maybe that's the culture shock; maybe it's just picking at the only thing you find different about your host country, and lingering on that fact. I am pretty content with the way things are in France, but I wish the gym culture was a little better. Ironic that the fattest country in the world has better gyms.