De Grandes Attentes (Great Expectations)

Salut mes amis!

The beginning of an adventure is always a double-edged sword. On one hand, I am incredibly eager to jump on the plane and just get there already! And on the other, I want to crawl under my bed and pretend I don't speak French. I am thrilled and terrified at the same time.

I know that in a few weeks, all my past nerves will be chased away by the Paris pigeons and squashed by the exorbitant amount of bread I will be eating. I want to outline a few of the things that I think might happen on my journey; the good and the bad, so I can look back and say "Why was I worried about?" and "Did I really think that was going to happen?" So, without further ado, here are the things that I think will happen in France - both realistic and un.

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- I will eat way too much bread. An ungodly amount.

- I will regret the shoes I bring. (Even though I TRIED SO HARD to find good walking shoes), because walking miles and miles around a city would be painful in any shoe, and definitely will be in the ones I brought. Let's just say I sacrificed a bit of comfort for a lot of fashion, but hey, it's the French way.

- I will be annoyingly mute for the first week. I speak French. I do. I promise. But I am terrified of messing up. I feel like I'm going to step off the plane and be able to speak any language EXCEPT French. I know I will warm up to it; I will be in French classes 5x a week and surrounded be French everything, so I BETTER warm up to it. It's fine. I speak French. It'll be fine.

- I will try all kinds of new cheese... and some of them will be gross. I Love Cheese. Listen. I looovve cheese. I am so excited to try all the stinky (I hate that I just typed that word, it is my least favorite word but it will have to do) cheese that France has to offer, but at the end of the day, I might just be a cheddar girl.

- I will smile too much. France is my favorite place in the world. Bar none. I am also just a naturally optimistic person. This all means that I smile like 85% of the day. In a city when the resting chic face is a lipstick stained frown, I might be walking around like a clown, gawking at all the sights. But I will be happy. And I'd rather be a happy tourist than a forced-frown-fake-local.

- I will be too loud. I'm a theatre major. What do you want from me? I sing when I'm not talking and I talk when I'm not thinking, and, let's be honest, I'm rarely thinking. The French aren't exactly a quiet bunch - they enjoy a good repartee - but my scream-sing-witch-cackle-laugh may not blend in on the streets of Paris. But once again, it makes me happy. Instead of stifling my voice, I'm hoping France will help me master the art of listening... before I inevitably speak again.

- I will meet the French love of my life. Hey, I might as well put it out there right? If I put it into the universe, it may manifest into reality. In reality, boys will be the last thing on my mind while I'm out adventuring... but a girl can dream right? And if all else fails, I will always have Sebastian Stan.

- My French will improve tenfold. I mean how can it not? I'm going to come back to the US and forget how to speak English.

- I will never be able to drink $8 wine again. First thing's first, I'm legal in France. Everyone calm down. I am a responsible drinker, I don't actually like it that much. But I'm going to PARIS. It's MANDATORY. I am really looking forward to that moment when I am sitting in a cute cafe and I order a nice Chardonnay (is that the right thing? I don't know wine) and sip it while people watching. Going back to college and the boxed wine of Roche Bro's Groceries is going to be interesting, and I will definitely be that girl who has to comment on how much worse it is than the wine in Paris. Sorry in advance. That brings me to my last expectation.

- I will never be the same. This is not just an expectation, this is a fact. Spending a month in a foreign country, all by myself, speaking a different language, and learning new things every single second will inevitably transform my life. I know that when I get back I will be bursting with France stories, which will definitely earn me a few sarcastic "WoW yOu WeNt tO FrANcE?" comments. But yes I did! I did do that! Well, I'm going to do that. And I have never been more excited.

Stay tuned for a post in a few weeks when I reevaluate these expectations and see which ones proved true and where I may be delusional. Until then, see you tomorrow!

À bientôt!