Tuesday, September 2, 2008

INTERNET CONNECTION… FAILED (September 2nd)

So I’ve officially decided that the worst part of my experience so far is not having access to the Internet. Basically, I’m at a point now where I wouldn’t even complain if my Internet access happened to be dial-up! I mean, I’ve decided I can survive using other people’s showers until mine is repaired (something is wrong with the hot water pipe). I can most definitely survive on the French cuisine (It’s SO good), and even survive the fact that at this very moment we have no silverware, dishes, or pans and pots for preparing our own food. I’m not even worried about being forced to survive with only a suitcase worth of clothing anymore! Yet, not having Internet access is slowly killing my soul (Haha!).

For example, I’m writing these posts in Word, but I can’t actually post them because we don’t have access to the Internet until the fifteenth. I can’t check in on Dance Team stuff and make sure that everything is ready to go for the fall season. I can’t check people’s addresses in order to send them cards or postcards. I can’t quickly search for the translation of certain American words into French. I can’t even check the weather in the morning.

Overall, it’s just a nuisance. I’ve gotten so used to having the Internet at my every convenience that living without it is literally wreaking havoc on my daily life. Not to mention, I’m most definitely homesick. I miss my family, my friends, and my boyfriend. All I want to do is call them up and tell them all about Lyon! I want to show them pictures, video chat with them over iChat, etc. etc., but I can’t. I’d even settle for just watching their words appear in an IM. It’s ridiculous.

I’m not going to lie and say that I’m adjusting easily to life over here. That’s not the case. It’s a challenge. It’s tough trying to get by when I don’t speak more than three words of French, but I’m doing it. Everyday I’m getting by little by little. I take pictures of things that remind me of people from home, and I talk to the other girls about how they’re feeling as well. I’m starting to think these feelings are deriving from the fact that we all feel somewhat stranded here. We’re stuck in France (mostly) for three months. We don’t have the option to travel home on the weekends, and not all of our relatives, friends, or significant others are going to be visiting at some point throughout the semester. When all of that is taken into consideration, especially for those of us that are used to being able to be up in Rindge and go home on a whim, three months seems like a significant amount of time. Plus, it seems even tougher when you have absolutely no way to communicate with those you dearly miss.

I hope it all wears off soon. I just wish I had a solution for the feelings. Something that I could do that would make them all wear off faster. I’ve heard from my friends that have studied abroad before that the first two weeks are the worst, but if you can pull through them and push through the intense homesick tendencies, you’ll have an amazing time.

Right now, as I stare at my calendar hanging on my wall and deny my strong desire to start crossing off all of the days I’ve been here while starting a personal countdown to when I may finally go home again, I’m just hoping their right.

REVELATION
Beauty and the Beast is set in France, no? That whole first scene of the Disney version… when Belle is reading her little blue book… it’s filled with images of French life and appeal, right? I mean isn’t there a whole part where the peasants keep stating over and over again “Bonjour!”? I should totally download that opening song so that I can add it to my Une Pomme De Terre play list! When I have access to the Internet… ::sigh::.

Avec l'Amour,
G

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