Ok for this week's blog (totally counts since it's Sunday :)) I thought I'd cover a topic that I've been asked about a lot: life in France. As many of you know I enjoy life here a lot, but there are definitely disadvantages as well.
First paperwork is an absolute pain here! Everything requires a million documents and if you're missing just one it takes even longer to accomplish the simplest tasks. I recently lost my bank card over here and had to order a new one. About a week later I had the new card but I discovered when I tried to pull money out of an ATM that they had changed my pin. Because I hadn't yet changed my address with my bank they had sent this to my old apartment and I had no way of getting to it because this happened during a school vacation which means the school wouldn't actually get any mail for 2 weeks while it was closed. To my surprise I was actually getting used to the paperwork I would need for banking! What all did I take? My passport, my insurance card just in case, a gas bill (luckily I had recently taken over out utility bills otherwise things would've been very complicated), and a copy of a document called a RIB that shows your account number. Luckily I had exactly what I needed to change my address and it was the first time that had ever happened to me! I was able to put in the request to change my address, get a new pin number sent to my address, and also get a special code for accessing my account via the internet since mine had become blocked due to the proceeding activities. Got it all done but then I had to wait. Already I had been without a bank card for a week and I thought that I would be able to use my card/bank like before just after. I was wrong. Unfortunately after waiting a week (normally it should only take 5 days) I went back and discovered that my codes had been sent to another address because someone accidentally typed 160 instead of 16.... I was not very happy because I knew that now it was going to take another week (there were bank holidays coming up) and I had very limited ways to monitor my spending, pay for anything, or withdraw cash. And even more it absolutely was not possible for me to get any of these codes in any other way. As soon as they put in the requests. A machine prints new codes somewhere in France, seals the envelope and sends it. There was no electric key pad that I could use to change my pin or access code. I just had to wait. And this was just for dealing with my banking. Imagine when you have ton request to change a visa!
Food here is wonderful! I love all of the delicious and delectable stuff I can buy. Cheese, fruit, veggies, meat, and even fish can be purchased in markets for the best quality products or in supermarkets if you're looking for cheap things. Unfortunately certain items are expensive no matter what. Red meat is one of those and therefore I buy very little and usually stick to basics like bread, pasta, rice, beans, milk, vegetables, and fruit. However I was passing the other day through an open air market and saw something that made me spend a little bit more than I normally would: scallops. Not in a can though. They had just been caught that morning and I HAD to buy them. I bought 3 for 5€ but it was totally worth every centime to make a nice scallop and pasta dish that afternoon :D
Transportation is another thing that can be great and horrible. I live it in Rouen tat I can walk nearly everywhere I need to go and if not there is almost always a bus or metro to take me around. However if you're in a smaller town things get very frustrating very quickly. Some busses only run 3 times a day! I got stranded after my job interview in Cholet for 30 minutes in pouring rain and freezing winds because I didn't arrive at the bus stop 2 minutes earlier! However I usually have very few complaints especially when you can take busses to other towns in France for next to no money! Sure you have to know schedules but for traveling it makes not having a car more feasible. I also love a newly discovered site that makes carpooling across France very easy!
Finally I'm going to talk briefly about a topic I'll probably talk about again soon : friends. Living in a foreign country that speaks a different languages makes finding true friends really hard. You arrive thinking you're going to be that awesome, really cool foreigner that everyone just wants to be around 24/7, but the truth is you may be awesome and you may be really interesting to others, but it not easy in both ends being friends with someone who doesn't speak your language at a native level. Last year I made too many anglophone friends and when they all left ended up very lonely. This year started much Better and I have many more French friends, but that sometimes doesn't make things easy. When you're available others aren't and even if you go out with friends you some time still feel lonely because they're all conversing all together about life and inside jokes while you're still trying to figure out what someone said 3 sentences ago. It happens. Now I'm not saying that I have difficulties understanding French, but speaking and living in a different culture takes a lot of hard work. Things that used to be so easy, like interjecting thoughts, become harder and sometimes leave you stranded in your own head while others continue to talk all around you. However it's situations like this that make you learn how to do that and help you learn words or phrases at the same time. Luckily for me, I have quite a few friends who seem to unknowingly take turns being interested in me while the others chat about other things. I'm also starting to make more friends with some of the groups I've become a part of to exchange languages. Like I said living and communicating in a foreign culture takes a lot of work and patience. I'm slowly and surely making progress and I can hopefully continue to do so over the next year :).
Well like I think that's about all I have for this week. Again, I'd love for you to ask me any questions you have to help me come up with topics, so don't hesitate! I'll be trying to get up some pictures in the next couple of days as well.
