Update

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on this blog…

Those words are probably quite often posted on blogs. At least by people who are lazy like me. Where to begin? I’ll try to be concise.

The beginning of December had become probably my best time in France to date. I was starting to get comfortable with the daily life and I was spending a lot of good times with my roommates and their friends (my friends as well, of course). I can say the same for the time I have spent here since I visited home. One of the reasons we get along so well would probably be our views on life. Like me, they are all quite laid-back and like to just enjoy themselves. Add to that their sense of humor and the fact that they are slightly crazy, and you can see why I get along well with them. Generally we like to hang out at home, play video games, watch movies, go out and have a drink, or do any number of other activities together (movie theater, restaurant, etc.). Oh, and we eat dinner together most nights. Generally it is Chantana who cooks.

Right now we have had kind of a full house, which I really like because I enjoy having company even if we don’t do anything. It really feels like we have our own strange, sometimes dysfunctional, family here. Permanently there’s me, Lina (from Kansas City), and the brothers, Benoit and Damien. Other than that, Chantana (Damien’s girlfriend) has been here increasingly more and more and basically lives here now. I believe Damien has asked her to move in, which I am okay with because she does some mean cooking and brings a bit of balance to the house. Lastly we have Bastien, or Cousin as we call him (because he is the cousin of Benoit and Damien and is basically Benoit’s best friend). Cousin has been staying here for about a month because his grandmother was staying in his apartment for christmas. Other honorable mentions in our house (those who are here quite often but don’t actually live here) are Camille, Cousin’s girlfriend, and Greg, the childhood friend of the boys. Perhaps another time I will practice my descriptive writing and talk a little bit more about each of the personalities we have here.

Like I said, I was getting very comfortable here in December… then I visited home for a couple weeks. Let’s just say I took full advantage of my time there. I got to spend time with my parents and grandmother (who has Alzheimer’s and is quite the joy to be around because she doesn’t stop talking) and see the rest of my extended family for Christmas. I hung out with friends almost every single day and can say that I did a pretty good job of seeing almost everyone, though there are a few I missed, unfortunately. I even managed to go on a date and spend some time with a wonderful girl I know. All of this made time pass incredibly fast and it was over before I knew it. It wasn’t hard to come back to France, but the couple days after were difficult. The homesickness combined with severe jetlag really had me down.

Nonetheless, France has taught me to pick myself up quickly when I get that way, so I think I am back to where I was before I left, though I do still miss my friends and family back home.

Wednesday was the beginning of the “Soldes” (sales) in France. Sales are done a little bit differently here than in the U.S. Back home, stores have sales whenever they want, but here, stores are only allowed by law to have to really big sales during the year. From how Benoit described it, they get two weeks at this time, two in the summer, and then two to be used at any other time. What this creates is massive consumerist pandemonium during a few weeks in the year where everyone goes out and shops themselves silly. I haven’t taken part yet, though I do need to get a few things (a scarf, external hard drive). Apparently the markdowns get better as the time goes on and the selection becomes less desirable. I’m not as worried about selection as I am saving money, so I will get to it in a while.

Last night me and the roomies discussed visiting Amsterdam in a few weeks. I am rather excited for this trip, as its the first one I will have taken since going to Berlin in September. All the other assistants have traveled like crazy (some every or every-other weekend), while I have stayed in Lille.

Well, that’s all for the moment. This is Ryan signing off.

A bientôt.

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