One-sixth

One month is down. One-sixth of our trip is done. And I'm kind of horrified by that.

It went so quickly! I know we're not done yet, but we've now been in France for as long as I studied abroad in Italy. That month seemed like an eternity. This time it's going by way too quickly for my liking.

But that's not to say we haven't learned things in our month here. Here are just a few of them:

1. We do not know as much French as we thought we did. It's one thing to hear it nice and slow with a corresponding picture on Rosetta Stone; it's entirely another to hear it from a rapid-fire native speaker.

2. Shopping and cooking here isn't as fun as I thought it would be...because we don't have an oven (or a grill). That eliminates roasting vegetables, cooking meat, and baking of any and all kinds. On the upside, it means a baguette, cheese, and wine is a perfectly appropriate dinner.

3. Washing machines are not necessarily inanimate objects.

4. Toms are not the best all-weather footwear (but when it's sunny, they're SO comfortable!).

5. The French are people just like us...only with better access to good cheese and wine. They whip out their iPhones at the dinner table and text their friends. They have to walk their dogs in the rain. They have "auto-ecoles," because they have to teach their 16-year-olds to drive, too. There are rude ones, but there have been many more kind ones. In the end, they're just ordinary people, too, trying to live their lives, and we're extremely grateful they've let us plop awkwardly in their country and stay for another five months.

And on that note, we're actually in Tampa for the weekend for a good friend's wedding, so I'll say au revoir for now. See you soon back in France!

xoxo,
E & B