School, Looking forward to the weekend, and then some

Well, I had my 3rd class today, and OMG was it hard!!! I wish I remembered more. Today was working with the subjonctif - not easy stuff, I understood most of it, but not a lot. I'm completely exhausted today. I didn't get to sleep that quickly last night and as a result I ended up not wanted to wake up this morning. But I did, had to go to class, and then return to the house to do my chores, which I've just finished and decided to blog a bit.

Tomorrow I have to go to Geneva to get my residency permit which will allow me to travel while here and be legal. I do miss my friends & family, it's a little lonely here. I still haven't done anything. I'm hoping to get myself to go out this weekend - even if I'm totally alone, I want to try something different.

We have some family friends who live in Florence who have agreed to let me crash on their floor during part of my April vacation, so I'm also starting to look at that and how I might go about going there. The train goes through Milan, so currently I'm thinking I may stop in Milan for a couple days and then continue onto Florence for the weekend and be back for work on the 11th of April. Who knows for sure. Even though it's a ways out I need to start thinking about it now. I'm trying to decide if maybe I should try to go anywhere else while in Italy, maybe leave earlier and spend a whole week there... but I've never really traveled on my own and wouldn't know what to do with myself. Plus I'm a little nervous. Even roaming around Nyon is out of my comfort zone, and I speak a little French, what would I do if I was in a place where the only words I know are Thank You & Wine?!?! It's an adventure, I know but I sort of feel like I should have some sense of where the ground is....

It's really, really, really cold today. It's about -4ºC with wind, a lot of wind. (so, for those who haven't adapted to the metric system - that's like 25ºF and then a wind chill factor that feels like 5ºF). Even with my new winter coat, gloves & a scarf I was tearing because of the cold. I prefer to stay in the house, as much as possible.

I don't know what I'd do without the internet. It's made the transition much easier. Being able to skype my parents, FB my friends & brothers and bootleg American TV on occasion has been a godsend. I miss the consistency of home, knowing exactly where I can go, what I can do, etc. It's just so weird to adjust. And then there are the random cravings. I had bought a bag of sour patch kids at the airport when I left Seattle and last night I ate half of them. I just needed that sugar, fructose & artificial coloring!!

My headaches come & go. It still seems to be daily, as it was in the states, and I still require a ton of sleep to function, but I've yet to have a debilitating on, thank goodness *knock on wood*

I wish I could live without wondering what's going to happen, but you know me, I'm a ______. (perfectionist, worry-wort, stress-magnent, take your pick). Because of that I wonder if I would be OK on my own in another country. I'm on my own here, but not. It's not the same. I've got at least bodies in the same place as me, bodies that will speak to me, offer me a beer at the end of a very tough day, agree that it's unseasonably cold, etc. If I were completely alone I worry I'd be even more of a basketcase.

Anyway, for now I have to focus on the future, what this job is going to bring me in terms of growth opportunities and experiences. Who knows what I'll do when I return. Life seems to be moving forward everywhere and for everyone else, I sometimes still feel 18, anxious to do something with my life, and then I have to remind myself: you ARE doing something with your life. It's actually harder than it sounds.

Kyle & Scot are in a new band that has their first show on the 23rd of February and 98% of me wishes I could be there. The other 2% wishes they would play here! :D I've promised to go see some shows and meet people, but how exactly is still TBD. If you're in Seattle and not shy of awesome, but likely loud music you should go see them. Visit on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/controlkeys and see them at the Funhouse on the 23rd!

All my best,

Mattie

Ben & I had a playdate yesterday while Kiki was at preschool. We went to the same place on Lake Geneva that we had gone my first day, along the water in Nyon. We played in the park, then went and had a chocolat chaud in a little café. It was great fun. There are lots of ducks (cannard) and swans (siennes (sp?)) at the water and a couple came right up to us hoping for a snack, unfortunately, we had rien (nothing).