I'll Soon Be Dreaming in French

My dad sent me an e-mail titled, 'Your blog sux' recently, so I figured it was time to crack my knuckles over the keyboard again. Although I'm only doing this because I don't want to clean my room.

I don't have a dryer, so I hang washed clothes from most surfaces.
And by that, I mean crumple them up on my table.

France is still great, but it's getting tough to appreciate. The strange signs and blabbering that met me around every corner were fascinating at first, and I found delight in everything new and French. But now, the glamour that comes with all things new has been dulled by the realization that I need to understand their blabber to survive. 

This happened for a happy three minutes yesterday when I was lost on the subway. I had wandered around the station for a bit and tried to look thoughtfully at the metro maps on the wall while I gathered the courage to ask for help. After I stood in front of the red and green squiggles for an appropriate amount of time, I courageously approached two mall cops and asked, 

"Comment je peux aller à la Université Catholique de Lille?"

To which they replied,

"Sacrebleu! You are so brave! Here, have a piece of cake. You must be tired from being lost in this cold, have my jacket. Please, take a seat on my chair, I'll flag down the train and speak to the conductor. He'll take you wherever you need to go."

And that's what it felt like when they told me to take the next train and get off at Carmeille, then take a left onto Vaubaun and I'd be right there. Those two darling men spoke to me, and I understood! I felt like I was on top of the world. So, riding on the glory of my proficiency, I thanked them and started to head toward the tracks. Before I could take a few steps, one of them asked where I was from and I had to backtrack awkwardly while my brain scrambled for the appropriate words. I replied, and instead of politely nodding and bidding me a 'Bonjour,' they actually spoke a few sentences to me about having family in Texas and wasn't it cold outside? I said something to the effect of agreement and asked if they had family elsewhere in the world. This continued for a solid three minutes before my boarding call came and I bid them 'Adieu,' with a chest was so puffed up with pride, I could have floated onto the train. 

Authors note- I was ridiculously late for class.

I also gathered the courage to go to the outdoor 'Wazemmes' market on Sunday morning and bought a bundle of flowers and a plant. All of the plants mom gave me for Christmas died on my windowsill, so wanted something that wouldn't let me kill it. Because Voldermort wasn't available, I settled for a cactus.

Me and cactus being pathetic together.

I've got a million more stories, but I've got to translate some basic English into broken French. 

À tout a l'heure!