Monday, December 13, 2010

My Life in France: Plans for Colmar

When I tell friends and acquaintances "Oh, I live in France now," on Facebook chat or through some other sort of media, it's almost impossible for me not to ruin my cool, nonchalant attitude by adding "HEEEEEE" and then running around my apartment in circles squealing in joy. A lot of the time, I still can't believe I'm here.

I graduated from UC Santa Barbara in Spring, majoring in literature and minoring in French, and though I miss my friends, the beach, and being a student terribly, I'd say living in France is some major compensation. I've taken a position as a language assistant in Lyon, which means a few things:

  1. I'm trying not to get fatter, despite the dramatic increase in better quality food.
  2. My French is getting better, to the point where I can now call someone a "conard" (asshole) instead of a "canard" (duck) when they shove me on the metro.
  3. I spend 12 hours a week working with high school or middle school students to help them practice their English conversation, so I'm always looking for things I can discuss in class: consumerism, Thanksgiving, global warming, fast food, etc. 
  4. I go online to look for lesson plans, but then inevitably start looking at amazing cities to visit instead, and hatching elaborate-but-cheap travel plans.
Stumble has helped me with #4 today, by introducing me to the little town of Colmar, France, just outside of Alsace:
 By Fr Antunes
Pretty please, can I go?!
Colmar, France. By Nikkodem

Sunny micro-climate, excellent wine, canals... it's called "Little Venice." What is not to love?

The rest of my day is going to be spent figuring out how to get to Colmar, how to afford getting to Colmar, Skyping friends, family, boyfriend (even my dog), catching up on Mad Men Season 4, and browsing Style.com with Don Draper and Pete Campbell to keep me company.

"Well, hello, Melissa. I can see that you've started a blog.  What's that? No, it's not difficult being impossibly sexy all the time. Glad you asked."

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