One month later...

Ok, so things have gotten really busy. Apparently they're not just giving away Master's degrees no matter how much you pay. As some of you may know, I really don't like to write, and there is a LOT of writing! I'm just trying to stay calm and put one foot in front of the other. I've kind of just accepted the work as part of what I have to do to be here, and I still love being here. Speaking of which, I just had a good "fake" job interview. I hope that after my studies, that will translate into a good "real" job interview. They gave me a few pointers, but reminded me not to underestimate myself and that as an American who speaks fluent French and is "bi-cultural," I am an asset. Good advice.

Otherwise, here are a few things I've been thinking about lately:

-It's weird to be an American, and it's even weirder to be an American abroad. I forget how much the US is in the world spotlight when I'm at home. I participated in a trivia even for university students, and all of them knew which state Obama was a Senator in before becoming President. I don't know that all Americans would know that.

-I love my classmates. I'm really enjoying getting to know them and hanging out with them. I love having international friends. I love that I can go out and as a group, we have France, Bulgaria, China, the U.S. and occasionally Pakistan, Turkey, and Iran represented. Nice.

-I love Franglais and multi-lingualism and multi-culturalism in general.

-I love my life here in general. I'm too busy for a job right now and even had to drop my Salsa class, but things are good. I'm not even that bothered by the cold and rain.

-I'll be home in 4 weeks. Crazy. I've only had one truly homesick day, and that lasted about 12 hours. I'll be happy to see everyone, but in some ways it might be weird to be home. Rennes kind of feels like home now.

-I'll be 30 in 5 days. The time just flew by. I'm looking forward to my 30's.

-I've been reading a book about Zen Buddhism. I kind of like it.

Ok, I think that's about it for now. Hopefully I'll have more time to write soon.