The Countdown Begins

This summer has gone by very quickly and suddenly I am leaving for France in only 25 days! Now that I have my visa and can legally work in France, all that's really left for me to do is pack. Since I am leaving in less than a month, I thought I'd make a list of some of the things I'm not looking forward to and things that I am looking forward to. I'm really excited about going but at the same time I can't help but be nervous!


Things I am NOT looking forward to:

- Being away from my family/boyfriend/friends for 7.5 months

- The time change (it will be difficult finding times to talk to people at home that work for both me and them) 

- Strikes (the French love going on strikes - last time I was in France, the SNCF went on strike and my train to Paris was cancelled so I had to rent a car to get there and almost missed my flight to Munich)

- Not being able to understand everyone (my French is good, but I still struggle with slang and people who speak too quickly)

- People not understanding me sometimes

- Dog poop (French people don't like to clean it up)

- How expensive everything is since I am used to Milwaukee's decent prices

- Living out of 1 suitcase for 7.5 months 



Things I AM looking forward to:

- Being in FRANCE!!!

- Traveling all over Europe

- Speaking French (and hopefully improving a lot!) 

- French food (especially galettes and crepes)

- Yummy Boulangeries 

- Pain au chocolat

- Nantes' Christmas market and vin chaud (hot spiced wine) in the winter

-  Living in a place with so much history and culture to explore

- Meeting people from many different countries

- Visiting chateaux 

- Being an English teaching assistant and getting insight into the French education system (also getting to teach about America, Chicago, and Milwaukee)

- Making French friends


To me, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives concerning living in France. Even though I'm nervous about it now, I had an amazing time studying abroad there and I know being a teaching assistant will be just as wonderful. Leaving my family/boyfriend/friends behind is going to be extremely difficult, but I will be home for 2 weeks over Christmas break so I know that will help. 7.5 months seems like a long time now, but I know it will go by like a flash (especially if I am having the time of my life!)