Month: August 2009

There is an ocean of difference between the days following your arrival, jet-lagged and lost, to a country across the Atlantic, and the week after your arrival, when it feels as if you have been here forever. The days become almost routine so quickly it is hard to remember what it felt like to arrive. I wake up, take a shower, have my very healthy French breakfast, and jump on the tram for 20 minutes to go to my lovely French classes. I even dare to think that I might not look so much like an outsider because by now I am familiar with the “French tram behavior,” such as using the ipod and gazing blankly out the clear windows in the amazing august sun. I believe I feel this way because I like my life in France, and I feel it will only get better. There is not a breath of regret, not in the food, or in the amazing host family, or in the annoying French classes. This program, so far, suits me.

The other nice part of living in France is that, as I suspected, few French people know my country exists! So I get to sit for about an hour a night to talk about my life with my host mother. It sounds so foreign to them, which is the complete opposite for me because I know my share of French history. The good aspect of it is, I am certain I will leave a mark in this house, and on every person that I have to explain where I come from. Yes, it is a democracy. No, we do not have dishwashers. Yes, there are poor people. The feeling is one of mutual benefit: I learn their ways and they learn mine.

The title of the blog is entirely due to the fact that life here has me going from place to place non-stop. “Del ping al pong,” as said in Dominican slang. One moment I am taking French classes as an intermediate student getting used to the language, the second I am meeting with the one-site director, the adorable Madame Price-Kreitz, and I am a total debutante again, bombarded with information about responsibilities unlike any other I have encountered. Interning at the International Institute of Human Rights, for instance, was all but a dream for me until it was offered as a viable option over tea. My head spins, literally. I feel, and I hope I am not exaggerating here, that this will be an unimaginable year for me.

After three days in lovely Strasbourg I can safely say this is when I’ll fill up my “embarrassing moments” archives to last a lifetime of stories and laughs. The city is simply adorable: the perfect combination of German and French architecture over 100 years old functioning with the perks of modernity. It is incredibly diverse, truly international and multi-cultural, so the “ambiance” is simply perfect for me. My interaction with the city, however, is not all natural yet (and well, its only been three days). As was seen when I tried to use the automatic cashier to pay for a notebook (two people had to come help), and when I tried to order the check (I completely forgot the thousands of skits done in the practicums). Best of all was trying to open the door of my host family’s house with the key (I could not do it!). Well, it has been funny all around, and all I can do is laugh at myself and look forward to the time when this will all be automatic. You can never really prepare yourself for cultural immersion, no matter how many books you read and how many movies you watch, it’s not the same until you go out there and do it. So I can only keep trying until I get it right, that’s the important part.

The countdown is now 3 days until crossing the Atlantic for an entire year, and there are a ZILLION things racing through my head. It is not so much that I won’t see my family often, since coming down to sunny Dominican Republic is something I can only afford in December (Thank God in December!), but it’s pretty much everything else. The rhythm will be totally different. Right now the superficial questions are: what do I pack for? How do they dress? How do I greet my host family? My way (kiss and hug), or their way (three kisses!)? How do I recover from jet-lag? What if I get lost on the train to my language classes? What if I don’t understand A THING they say? And I can keep going. But most of all, I am just extremely exited. I am literally going to start a new life, outside my comfort zone at home and at school. I will once again go to a school where I will get lost, instead of going through Stein and O’Kane which are memorized like the palm of hand. Scary and exiting days are ahead, but right now, I have to pack and enjoy my last days on my sunny island!

A bien tot!