I don't even know where to start. They last two days have been, well, interesting. The flight was fine and everything. But as soon as you leave that friendly British Airways cabin, everything changes. You have to go through customs and now you're in this country where English is not the first language and it is terrifying. Absolutely frightening.
BUT. The guy at customs was nice. He said my name was pretty, or at least that's what it sounded like he said. Then I went to baggage claim and made friends with the cutest 2-year-old ever. She waved at me and then took my hand and tried to steal me away. I would have let her, but I decided that wouldn't be the best thing to do. She also tried to carry my way-too-heavy bag. But she was precious and made my arrival to Marseille a little easier.
After baggage claim I found my host mom! She is the absolute best. She talks super fast and I can't understand a word she says, but she seems nice enough. And her place is precious. I absolutely adore it. I have a double bed, too, which I've been told is kind of rare. So thank you!
Last night my host mamma invited a friend over and we ate dinner and drank wine and ate cheese. How perfect, right? I went to bed pretty early on and ended up sleeping forever. Breakfast the next morning consisted of bread, nutella, jam and honey. Madame Josy (my host momma) had tea. In a bowl. So I poured my milk. In a bowl. And then we drank from bowls. I had to ask her because I didn't know what to do. She knows that breakfast in France is much different than breakfast in America, but she didn't know we drank from glasses for breakfast rather than bowls. It was awesome and cute. I think I prefer to drink from bowls anyway.
Later, Josy drove me to school. We met up with another one of her friends who was completely awesome and spoke slowly so that I could understand her. I thanked her a lot for that last part. We walked around the town a bit before it was time for the open house. Aix is absolutely beautiful. You must visit sometime. All of you. When I got to the school's open house, I was super anxious. Attempting to mingle when you don't know anyone is pretty hard. But everyone was pretty friendly and nice. THANKS FELLOW CLASSMATES! YOU ALL INTIMIDATED ME INCREDIBLY BUT I'M GLAD YOU'RE NICE.
Tomorrow is orientation. So we'll see how that goes.
Basically, my two days in France has consisted of incredible kindness and such beauty. The shops are cute and the weather is magnificent. I'm trying to stay positive about my whole lack of French comprehension because I know it can only improve from this moment, right?
I will post