This Has Nothing to Do With France.

I decided to surprise my parents this weekend by coming home unexpectedly. Only my little sister knew my plans. So, I packed up my car with stuff to take home (moving next week) and headed out onto the freeway. I was cruising like the lead foot I am and making good time. I was giggling like a demon when my dad called to say I had some mail, and he had no idea that I was on my way up. I stopped at a gas station about 45 minutes south of Duluth and had the unpleasant surprise of seeing my keys sitting on the passenger seat....while all the doors were locked. Damn and blast. I ended up having to call my parents anyway, surprising them with the request to drive down with a spare key to unlock me. So my dad told me he was on his way and I settled down at a table inside the Little Store gas station with a Glamour magazine and a book of crossword puzzles. I also did an neat bit of people watching, and seeing as how I was at a small town gas station just off the freeway, it was rather entertaining. My favorite characters were these two scruffy guys, probably in their early sixties, looking a bit greasy and ratty. The two of them each had two frozen pizzas under one arm and their favorite nudie mag under the other. Well, boys, looks like you're going to have one hell of a crazy friday night. Enjoy that Penthouse.

Don't worry, my dad arrived in record time and unlocked the car for me. The rest of the drive home was rather uneventful, tho, my mp3 player died on me and I was forced to listen to 'Delilah' on the radio for about 30 minutes. This guy's new wife took a knife for him,...wielded by his mental unstable ex-wife....and Delilah paid tribute to her with the song 'Bleeding Love' ... wow.

Main Concern

Housing. Housing. Housing.

Everyone has been asking me where I'll be living once I get to France. A few weeks ago, I'd answer I don't know yet and not feel stressed about that status...but now. I want to know that I'll have a place when I arrive! It's not really a big deal. Plenty of people have said that they didn't find housing until after they arrived. But, well. I don't want that to be me. It would be easy to live alone, but would probably be more expensive and lonely. Plus, I'd like the chance to work on my French speaking! I cannot live with my host family in Montpellier, but I wasn't counting on that, and I'm still welcome to visit them. A couple of gals in the program have mentioned something about living together. So we'll see what happens. I'm going to send a message to a gal from Roseville who will also be in Beziers. I'll get it figured out! But for now, I have to get a ticket on the mega bus for Chicago!

Mid-Summer Butterflies

I fly out of Minneapolis/St. Paul, and the U.S.A. entirely on September 17th. I'll land in Paris, and head straight down south. At this point, I have over two months to prepare, but there's so much to do already! I have my official acceptance letter; I'll be teaching English twelve hours a week in a city near Montpellier (where I studied abroad). It's called Beziers - look it up! it's gorgeous. Now I have to book visa appointments and travel down to Chicago twice before I leave. I have to contact the school and get some more information, open a French bank account, and find housing! EEEk! No wonder I've got a few little butterflies flopping around my stomach these days.

I just emailed my host mom from my study abroad days, and hopefully she'll be able to help me a bit with any questions I might have. For now, I'm enjoying the hot, humid weather of Minnesota in July.

Je suis ravie (I'm estatic).

-Becca