Back...home?

Well, France isn't technically home, but I definitely had that returning-home feeling. After 15 long hours of travel (during which the plane to Paris was missed because of a delay in Rochester due to (what else?) ice and I was thrown into a momentary panic -fortunately there was another one an hour and a half later) and only about 40 minutes of sleep (broken up in 20 minute sections, mind you), I'm finally back in Nantes!

It's so funny to do this the second time around. My French is SO much better and I don't have to think about it when I talk, which makes things infinitely easier -the words bascially just fall out of my mouth, it's kind of funny. I already know my way around town and have a Tram pass, so I don't need my host family to show me how to get to IES. I'm much more relaxed in my host family's house (mainly because it's a new family, but also because I know a little better how things work in a French family) and that reduces my stress level SO much. Basically, I already know the ropes and I'm SO happy.

Of course, it's intimidating to walk into IES and expect (even though I know they wont be there) all the familiar faces and see instead 36 strangers. It's especially intimidating when they're all in a room at once! I havent yet had the guts to say Hi...but I'm getting there. They all went on a tour of the Fac and then they're eating lunch at the RU (restaurante universitaire), so I was sitting in the computer lab all by my onesies (but that's okay, I had emails to catch up on!) when in walks Tim, one of the 14 of us returnees! It was so exciting to see a familiar face =D

I learned a new word yesterday - cafard. "avoir le cafard" means to be down in the dumps...but it also translates literally to Cockroach. so...being down in the dumps means having cockroaches? oh how I love idioms =D happily, I have no cockroaches right now =D

à+!