list day
For my most loyal of readers (hi Mom and Dad!) I have made a few lists of arbitrary things I've been thinking about recently.
Places I want to visit that I have not yet (Eurocentric):
Belfast
Tallinn, Estonia
St. Petersburg
Moscow
Helsinki
Bratislava
Nice
San Sebastián
Barcelona
Strasbourg
Amsterdam
Le Puy-en-Velay
Casablanca
Marrakesh
Liverpool
Dublin
Turkey
Krakow
Warsaw
Bucharest
Brussels
Athens
Copenhagen
Sofia
Reasons I am glad to move into my apartment on Quai de Lisle:
It has a toilet seat
Share a shower with only one person
Quieter
Better mattress
No more four-mile round trips to go anywhere
Feels more like a home
Can get a landline and internet
Can host friends!
Refrigerator!
Doesn’t smell like pee
Only three flights of stairs instead of four
More space
No more climbing the hill
Closer to my schools
Closer to the grocery store
It sits right on the river
Goals for these nine months in France:
Learn French
Find some good French lit
Make French friends
Enjoy my job
Travel a lot (I realize I won’t be able to accomplish the above list, sadly!)
Don’t spend too much money
Don’t avoid experiences because of money, or any other reason for that matter
No more speaking English in the apartment after January 1
Join the running club
Run in the Paris marathon (see the following list)
Go visit my Spanish host family
Learn how to buy good cheese
Running goals:
Sub-19 5k
Sub-40 10k
Sub-1:03 15k
Sub-1:30 half marathon (March 5 semi-marathon de Paris)
Sub-3:15 marathon (April 9 marathon de Paris)
What I love about being here:
Making new friends already!
The kids I’ve already met
Allée Jean-Charles Varennes with the beautiful bridges
Running to the reservoir lake at Etang de Sault
Inexpensive chocolate
Travel possibilities
All the challenges, even getting a new watch battery
Great boots
Clothes in my size
The green hills
Having a ton of free time
French cities I’ve visited:
Paris
Montluçon
Maillet
Clermont-Ferrand
Néris-les-Bains
What I am looking forward to:
Mark’s visit and traveling over winter break
Seeing Sandra in Belfast
My parents visit
Uncle Jim’s visit
Moving into my apartment
Going to the big discothèque near Clermont
Racing in a Montluçon Athletisme singlet
My first day of real teaching
Speaking French well
Visiting Cáceres
Not having anymore paperwork for identity card, etc
Getting a bike
My birthday
Places I want to visit that I have not yet (Eurocentric):
Belfast
Tallinn, Estonia
St. Petersburg
Moscow
Helsinki
Bratislava
Nice
San Sebastián
Barcelona
Strasbourg
Amsterdam
Le Puy-en-Velay
Casablanca
Marrakesh
Liverpool
Dublin
Turkey
Krakow
Warsaw
Bucharest
Brussels
Athens
Copenhagen
Sofia
Reasons I am glad to move into my apartment on Quai de Lisle:
It has a toilet seat
Share a shower with only one person
Quieter
Better mattress
No more four-mile round trips to go anywhere
Feels more like a home
Can get a landline and internet
Can host friends!
Refrigerator!
Doesn’t smell like pee
Only three flights of stairs instead of four
More space
No more climbing the hill
Closer to my schools
Closer to the grocery store
It sits right on the river
Goals for these nine months in France:
Learn French
Find some good French lit
Make French friends
Enjoy my job
Travel a lot (I realize I won’t be able to accomplish the above list, sadly!)
Don’t spend too much money
Don’t avoid experiences because of money, or any other reason for that matter
No more speaking English in the apartment after January 1
Join the running club
Run in the Paris marathon (see the following list)
Go visit my Spanish host family
Learn how to buy good cheese
Running goals:
Sub-19 5k
Sub-40 10k
Sub-1:03 15k
Sub-1:30 half marathon (March 5 semi-marathon de Paris)
Sub-3:15 marathon (April 9 marathon de Paris)
What I love about being here:
Making new friends already!
The kids I’ve already met
Allée Jean-Charles Varennes with the beautiful bridges
Running to the reservoir lake at Etang de Sault
Inexpensive chocolate
Travel possibilities
All the challenges, even getting a new watch battery
Great boots
Clothes in my size
The green hills
Having a ton of free time
French cities I’ve visited:
Paris
Montluçon
Maillet
Clermont-Ferrand
Néris-les-Bains
What I am looking forward to:
Mark’s visit and traveling over winter break
Seeing Sandra in Belfast
My parents visit
Uncle Jim’s visit
Moving into my apartment
Going to the big discothèque near Clermont
Racing in a Montluçon Athletisme singlet
My first day of real teaching
Speaking French well
Visiting Cáceres
Not having anymore paperwork for identity card, etc
Getting a bike
My birthday
posted by Paige @ 7:05 PM
2 Comments:
At 1:05 AM,
Anonymous said…
You're darn right I'm a loyal reader.
That's a great list but you need to add Dubrovnik (just because it's cool to say in an Eastern European accent and a very low voice). Try saying it.
I can't wait to hear your French. I'm heading to the library to get the French language tapes - the same series I listened to in Spanish when I learned never to order callous in a restaurant. Thay was important information!
The tricky balance: don't spend too much money but don't let money stand in the way of a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
I hope you have/are having fun with the French students.
At 2:03 AM,
Anonymous said…
The apartment and all sounds so great! I have to find some of those places on the map. Enjoy everything, you are having such a wonderful and unique opportuniy. I love you tons and tons!!!
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