Lady Gaga in StÉ

Lady Gaga coming to this small village??

Nope!  The colloquial language/slang for StÉ/the Stephanois is called gaga.  I kept seeing ads for a movie/play called "Bienvenue chez les gagas" (Welcome to the gaga's)  and was like, that's awfully pop culture for this store.  Nope, it's the local dialect/slang.


















Still makes me laugh

An interesting vacation

Although technically I am at the end of my first week of vacation, I haven't worked for two weeks (I was in the hospital for a week).  It's weird, I already miss classes.  But, I'm also glad to have time to take it easy and to.... go to Barcelona!  It's on my list of places to go (a  very long list that just keeps getting longer the more I travel) and I am so excited.  To make it even more exciting, dad is meeting me there :)

I love StÉ, but it's a small town, and after all this health stuff I am also just excited to get out of my town for a bit :)

Time to explore!

(via http://fillourhearts.tumblr.com)

Why I came to France

I came to France for many reasons.  To practice French. To get a chance to teach English as a Foreign Language. To learn more about French culture. Because I have always dreamed of living in another country for a bit. Etc etc.

But another reason was that I wanted to take a risk, to grow, to become more independent.  Both I and my friends, before I came to France, reminded me that it would be a challenge - a fun challenge, but a challenge all the same.

My university was near NYC and most of my friends post-grad live in the area. It would have been easy to move there - I already had a social network there.  I already knew the city.  Hell, I even knew the language ;)  I already had a safety net there.

Here's the thing, that whole "go to France to grow up thing" -- I really didn't expect it to be this much fun!! I didn't expect to love my job so much (little secret - I like the vacation right now, but I miss my students), to make such good friends, to so thoroughly enjoy it here!