Jet lag sans internet

(I wrote this on the 27^h)

Monday evening I reached my breaking point…I couldn’t stand not having internet anymore.  I’m pretty sure the lack of sleep combined with feeling isolated from the US/world in general made the 26^th a tough day. (I couldn’t even check the weather…by the way it’s been in the 80s!) Carmela and I tried to figure out why the 3G key she has would not work and apparently my Macbook with the Lion operating system is too advanced for the key?  (Feels like freshman year of college when Windows Vista wouldn’t work with McDaniel’s internet…I clearly do not buy laptops at the right time!)  I called my Mom and cried for almost the whole conversation.  I even uttered the words “I want to come home.”  But, I know this isn’t true because deep down my gut is telling me to stay.  I’ve already met some awesome people, have started to figure out the bus system (I’m on Liane 5 which takes me right to le centre ville), and can feel my confidence in French improving already. So, I refuse to give up just yet!  Today I went to the Macdo (McDonald’s…cool abbrev, right?) by campus and used the free and unlimited wi-fi there. (Saying wifi with French pronounciation is just amusing…wee-fee J)  Anywho, at least I got to catch up on Twitter, Facebook, the blog, and email a bit.

Carmela has many resources on campus and I am meeting with another professor who apparently knows how to get the 3G key to work even with my Mac. (*Added later: He didn't but my parents and Apple did! haha)  Maybe this internet ordeal is just a way to force me out of the apartment a bit and explore.  I have already made myself quite at home at the Université de Bourgogne…it’s almost as if I’m a student-almost!  I cannot continue to express how lucky I am to have Carmela here during my stay.  As she said she is “not here to control my life but here when I need help” and boy has she gone above and beyond!  I have met countless people at the university (she is an English professor) and I even got to sit in on one of her classes and meet some grad students.  I gave them my e-mail in case they want to practice English (and allow me to practice French) and I offered myself to them if they need help with their work for Carmela’s class.  They are science master students though so I’m not quite sure how much English I can offer but I can help with wording, grammar, punctuation, and writing style.  I haven’t sensed an anti-American sentiment so far but let’s just say when I’m asked where I am from people are not over the moon when they hear “Etats-Unis”.  I think I won the grad class over by poking fun at a stereotype of Americans.  They were introducing themselves and telling me where they were from in France but, each person kept say their city of origin and then directions of where it is located in France. Finally after three students I said “I know I’m American but I am aware of the map of France so you can just say the city you are from.”  This got a lot of laughs and I think they relaxed a bit.  Hopefully they understand that Americans generally do care about other countries in the world.  That is something I really wish to share with the French people I do come into contact with.

So hopefully this is my last post that I have to type without internet.  I’m currently sitting in the science building at the university and some of the grad students I met yesterday just walked by and invited me to go to an exhibit at the Planetarium with them on Friday.  That was pretty cool J And I just bought a little Lipton “Ice Tea” (shouldn’t it be iced?) but there was already 2 euros in the machine waiting for me.  Maybe this is my lucky day!

I think I’m going to start a French “Word of the Post” for all my Anglophones…so today’s word is: la pêche which means peach….that was the flavor of my iced tea!