An August of Ups (and Downs and Arounds)

As promised, I am here.

I will fill you in on my last 2 1/2 months here in the oh-so-lovely France. 

Let's back to the very beginning, the first few hours through the end of my first day with both feet on European ground. I am aware that may seem difficult to do, reach back into my memory that so recently has been on overdrive storing moments and scents and sounds from the foreign life. Luckily, while I sat in a strange, crowded airport near the international terminal waiting for the program coordinator to retrieve a Brazilian girl who would come to be my best friend within fourteen days, I had the foresight to write down my emotions. It is very good that I have this from my first day, for the contrast of my first morning to my first night is nearly comical. Here is the unedited essay straight from August 17th, Charles De Gaulle Airport of Paris:

Hello, My Name is...

Savannah Marie.

Maybe you remember me?

Somehow along the way, I forgot the words to say
"I'm doing fine, things are going well."
I was worried my empty eyes might betray
The homesickness and sadness France just couldn't expel

But, now sixty-three days have passed
The pain has lessened, time moves so fast
I've learned to smile, to dry my tears
I don't have time to waste away on fears

This poem is simple, for as some may know
Time without English, causes your mind to grow slow
To use big words, sentence structures, and display
Your strong sense of humor that once used to play
Tricks with verbs and adjectives alike
And yet now I can't remember whether there or their is right...

Please, though, don't get me wrong,
As Sylvia Plath once said, we usually write everything wrong
I'm exaggerating my sadness, undercutting the ways
In which my heart grew three times bigger one day
When I saw a friend that I feel I've known all my life
Because together we share, the most similar strife
The struggle of exchange isn't suffering alone
It is learning together, how to be grown.
Not every remark needs to said,
Some things can be seen with just the nod of the head
I promise you this, in my four months to come,
I will appreciate every single day, not just some.

Savannah Marie

p.s. a blog post to come, recapping the wonderful experiences I've had in the last two months and also some tips on how to exchange without succumbing to the strange :)