Finally, I'm in France!
I wanted to wait a couple days after arriving at my host family before I posted anything, partly because I needed time to adjust and to form a real opinion.
But, here we are. When I arrived in France a week ago, I spent 2 days in Paris for an orientation. This was an awesome opportunity to meet other AFSers, which is definitely what I enjoyed the most. They also roomed us by chapter, so my roomates were girls that were placed in the same region of France. The actual orientation, though, was pretty dull. Even though the information was helpful in theory (lots of discussion about different emotions that we'll experience, cultural differences, etc.), I don't think any of it actually prepared me for what I've gone through in the past few days. Although, to be fair, I doubt much really could have.
The experience of speaking french 24/7 is beyond exhausting, and that's something that they don't mention in any orientation or handbook. At first I thought I was just super jet lagged, but now I've adjusted to the time change and I'm still tired. I feel like an little kid--I can't quite articulate my emotions or needs and so I just smile a lot until people feed me. In order to actually say something that expresses how I actually feel in a given moment, I have to plan it out in advance and really focus on how to string the words together. Usually by the time I've done that, the conversation has moved on and so I just don't speak at all. This process--constantly needing to choose each word individually and combine them in a grammatically correct sentence--takes two or three times more energy than to just speak English. By the end of the day, I'm just drained of any energy. I can't even carry a conversation over dinner.
For the first few days I was in a perpetual state of sensory overload. I still do feel like I'm standing in the eye of the storm, but just slightly less. In the US, I could do my work just fine in a class where everyone was chatting. Now, I can only focus on one thing at a time. If there are voices speaking French in the background, it's 10x harder to complete an assignment. This has been the biggest challenge with school. Surprisingly, I pretty much understand most of what my teachers say. Completing the work is the issue.
However, even though school tends to feel like a vrai catastrophe, overall I've had an incredible time. My host parents are incredibly wonderful and kind people. In just a few days, they set me up with a new French SIM card, school supplies, helped me figure out my schedule, and gotten my bus schedule sorted. My host mom is basically super woman.
Anyway, I figure that my language skills can only get better from here. Each day is easier than the one before it, right?
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