Sorry for the mass blog, but the past few days don’t have much interesting facts to report. Friday Professor Canovas let us have the day off and so we were all very excited and started to think of all the fun things we could do this weekend. Soon, though, that died out pretty quickly. For me at least. Felicia really wanted to go to Germany for a weekend before school. We all figured why not because you won’t get a chance to just travel to Germany for the weekend for 200 bucks very often in your life. But then, that got me looking at money, and now I’m more anxious than ever about my money situations. I just thought everything was such a good deal I hadn’t been really keeping track and now I am realizing I put myself in a bad place and I should have been more careful.
The weekend didn’t really go as planned. We all wanted to go out and explore the city and take as many pictures as we could. But apparently this is some sort of celebratory weekend for Lyon. There are hundreds of people EVERYWHERE. Not only that, but it has been the hottest temperatures in Lyon yet, reaching mid 90s, and I definitely don’t have any shorts or warm weather clothes. It was miserable. The French don’t believe in public drinking fountains either so you have to carry around a massive water bottle with you everywhere you go. It looks like rain today though so hopefully that will get this hot weather out of here.
We did get opportunities to take some pictures though, and a few turned out well, so I’m excited to show them to you all when I get the chance. The cathedrals are really beautiful I just want to sit in Saint John’s all day. Fourviere is beautiful too, but something about Saint Johns in its simplicity and history gets me.
I think that I’m finally getting the effects of culture shock sadly. They explain it to you over and over again before you leave. First you’re so happy with the new place you could explode. Then something will happen where you just nitpick at what is wrong with this country and why you want to be back in America. And if you don’t keep that in check you’ll get depressed. I didn’t think it was possible for me to not like anywhere I would travel, but right now the heat, the people, the sloth-like pace the people move at and everything else is just kinda getting to me. Especially it’s all kinda topped off by today being the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and we don’t get to pay our respects. No one cares here and it bothers me. I wanna watch the specials on TV and cry, I want to see the shrines, and hear the speeches. But nope. The stupid French could care less about what happened to us.
On the upside, I think some of the other girls are getting like me. Really frustrated with this place. There is a lot that is so different from home. Plus not having internet and not being able to talk to my family is taking a big toll. Its really not like me to complain about this but it really is an issue right now. I just need school to start or something so I have something else to focus on. Maybe I just feel lazy this weekend because all I’ve done is eat and walk. And I’m angry at myself for being irritated with it here. This has been my dream and I’m irritated with where I’ve always wanted to go? It makes me angry. And we all get together and complain, and that just makes me more angry because I HATE being that person who sits there and complains about a situation you can’t change, or isn’t something we should be complaining about. This trip has been NOTHING but wonderful. Canovas has been fantastic. I’ve eaten good food, seen beautiful things. And the past few days all I wanna do is sit and stare at a wall and be angry.
I don’t want anyone to worry though. Once I get working on something I think I will be a lot better off and I’ll be back to being in love with it here again. I really do love it. It’s just silly culture shock.
Like I said, nothing really to report this weekend. I’ll upload the pictures as soon as I can but the internet is still terrible. Love you all.
Take it easy on yourself,Cort. You are awesome and doing a very awesome...once in a life time thing. This will pass and you will love it there and cry when it is time to leave. Maybe you could paint a picture of the sights you've seen...focus on that or some kinda project like that. I would love for you to paint me something from there..I could pay you....just an idea. LOVE LOVE you!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how much I relate to all the things you're feeling while you're there. I remember feeling the same way about Korea. In general I loved everything about that place, but sometimes it was just so frustrating. I was there when the Iraq war started, and you can't believe how much crap I caught as an American, the people were not very understanding. The culture was so different, at times, it was almost too much to handle. If I'm being really honest, there were days in Korea that I wished I would just fall down the stairs and break my leg so I could go home. But don't worry, it passes and you start to realize that the good out weighs the bad. Plus it helped me realize how lucky i am to live here. Just hang in there, it will get better. Love you tons!!
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