It's been almost a year since I've posted anything. I started this blog originally with the intention to burst everyone's bubble romanticizing France, yet still keep a positive tune. However, things haven't been very positive over here. My conversations with several friends during my last trip home revealed that no one knows how catastrophic the situation is for a lot of people here in Europe. Not much has changed and while I'm trying to keep a positive outlook, it's been very hard these days, so there's the main reason why I haven't been very present. Anywhere. Except at work.
While frantically trying to earn some money, I've been trying to A) take care of baby B) Study for the GRE (torturous to the tune of "Cutthroat Kitchen") and C) trying to work. Oh, and then I find out that due to an administrative error, I'm not getting paid for one of my teaching jobs until the end of January rather than the end of December as I had been informed and now I'm totally screwed financially this month. And when I say screwed, I mean truly screwed. I have no savings, no retirement, nothing. D) The GRE is starting to drive me crazy, and E) while trying to continue to do some research and after getting bawled out by one of my professors, I'm feeling pretty discouraged today - yet I keep reminding myself that I do have cheerleaders in my corner.
French universities are very confusing and are not forthcoming with information. Back home, American universities welcome you with open arms, campus activities and plenty of parties to get you into trouble if you're not careful... Football games, basketball games and sports galore to keep up that spirit and artistic endeavors to open the mind run rampant on American campuses.
I remember my first experience at a French university when I was an assistant for the IUFM and I was sent over to the university in Poitiers to work with the students over there. To get there, I had to take a bus 15 minutes out of the city center to a virtually empty campus with a few large, ominous, gray, concrete, scary buildings with long halls that echo and no campus map, no campus activities, no band music in the distance and certainly no smiling faces welcoming you to the university. But my second year as a lecturer at the University of Poitiers also gave way to long-lasting friendships that formed when four Anglophones shared an office with furniture that had seen more than its fair share of wear & tear, and an outdated PC. It became our little hideaway, a place where we created, conversed, giggled and helped each other up when we were feeling down or frustrated by bureaucracy. I miss that daily support that helped me get through each day.
What's happening now is too sad and too hard for me to report. I'm preparing to go back to the States for a while because I need a break from France, from Europe and from too much bureaucracy.
What to do with this blog? Let me know in the comments below or on fb what you want to hear about life as an ex-pat in the land of the Gauls. I thought perhaps I could share stories of the good years before it became too hard and I stopped writing and taking photos and being, well, me. What do you think?
And, as I wanted this to be a photoblog, here are a couple photos of what happens to the stroller when I do errands. Baby ends up in baby carrier. Baguettes in baby seat ;) Enjoy :)
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