Making sense of things

So here's the thing: I'm not good about keeping up this blog. And after talking about it, Colleen and I identified the main reason for this. It's not an earth-shattering revelation, but it is worth explaining because I think it's a pretty significant aspect of my time in France.

You see... I live here.

And here...

And here, too. I snapped these pictures while I was walking to the grocery today. Not stopping to take them may have made me a hazard, but you see my point. This is la vie quotidienne.

And please don't misunderstand me. I love it. Every time I go on one of these walks, I see a thousand things I wish I could capture in a picture. But I don't know how I could ever convey that feeling - or even just the images themselves - in either pictures or words. I take pictures now, not because I am in any way capable of capturing what I'm seeing, but with hope that someday the image of the place will remind me of how I felt being there.

And if it was just one experience or a few places I might be able to write something nice - tell a story, express my feelings. 

My time in France has long since passed that threshold. I spent all of last semester thinking of this as 'my year abroad' or 'my study abroad experience', but I've come to realize that is simply not an accurate way to look at my life here. I was looking at everything through the lens of a visitor. But the reality is that I'm no more a visitor here now than I was a visitor in Lexington this time three years ago.

Just... the paperwork is more complicated.

Changing my attitude, as far as I can tell, has had two major consequences. The first is that I'm actually able to let things sink in on a day-to-day basis. The second is that I no longer feel the need to take my camera everywhere or recount stories of every new thing I encounter. 

Basically, while I'm living in France and it's great, it is also true that being here isn't an academic year-long vacation. It's just my super cool life.

It's also kind of hard work - but that's another story.

Having said all that, I'll continue to write posts occasionally and I hope some of this particular post made sense. Of course, you can let me know if it didn't... or if it did. Whatever you like. 

Personally, I liked this (I hope you do, too):

I was going to leave you with that, but I realized I owe you some pictures of my new room. So, without further ado, meet room 126...