Back in France

I'm so glad to be back in France. I've been able to meet up with all my friends and I realized something very quickly: I lost a good chunk of the progress in my French skills that I worked (and payed) for the whole winter and spring. I had a feeling this would happen. This just means that I have to take the studying seriously now, watch some French TV, and speak it whenever possible. Unfortunately I don't have the money to take anymore classes. Which makes me sad because I really enjoyed them. 

I went to a cafe my first week back with my German friend, she has a French boyfriend and has made huge improvements in French since I left. Whenever I would talk to the waiter he only replied in English, even though I never once spoke English to him. When my friend spoke to him in French, he replied in French. This annoyed me. Is it my accent? I've been told its a little strong but my friend has an accent too. Did I seem to be struggling when she appeared to have no difficulty? Or was it that he heard the English accent and wanted to practice his English? 

I asked one of my teachers this back in the spring. Why, when I speak French to a stranger, do some people immediately respond in English? He said its one of 3 things. 
1. the older generation of French people were taught in school a mindset of "if you can't do something perfectly then don't do it at all." Therefore the older generation might get a little annoyed and speak English with you since your French is not perfect
2. Politeness is very important here and a French person might speak English with you out of politeness because they know its easier for you to speak English.
3. The younger generation is very excited about learning English and jumps at an opportunity to speak it with a native speaker. (this is why Adam is still not even close to being fluent after 2 years here)

So I need French friends to speak with. I love my friends here but none of them are French. We speak French together but don't always know how to correct each others mistakes. I am also going to look into language exchange. You meet up with someone who wants to practice your language and you switch between languages. My friend does this and said that most are just guys looking for a foreign girlfriend. There is also that French girl I met on the tram in January. We lost touch but I will text her one of these days, she was really nice.

I started reading Harry Potter in French. It took me one hour to read the first chapter. But at least it is something I actually enjoy reading. And is good practice. Its at a lower reading level and has everyday speech.

I will do these things in between my hectic, exciting and ever growing travel schedule. Here's a quick summary of that:

~Norway was fun, beautiful, chilly, and rainy. One of my travel nurse BFFs just happened to be in Norway too so we spent 2 days together
~Just finished up a road trip with one of my college BFFs through Provence and a little region in south western France called Lot. Then ended up in Barcelona where Adam met up with us and where some of our Grenoble friends also happened to be vacationing so we met up with them too. 
~Adam has a 3 week long business trip to Ethiopia so I decided not to sit around with nothing to do. Starting Saturday I will be doing some solo exploring of Prague and Budapest for a week.
~Then I'm meeting up with a nurse friend who will be traveling in northern England, where we will explore Manchester and York for 4 days and pop down to London for a day to meet up with some other Stanford friends who will just happen to be there too.
~2nd week of September Adam has a business trip to Madrid so I will be joining him and then we are staying through the weekend and renting a car to explore either northern or southern Spain... haven't decided yet
~Adam just found out about another business trip at the end of September to Istanbul, which I am the most excited about, because it has been high on my travel list for a long time.
~The fall has many possibilities but I'll save that for another time

Don't go thinking I'm rich with all this traveling. I don't have a job in France (which needs to change) and don't have very much saved up in the first place. 2 volunteer trips to Madagascar before knowing I'd move to Europe really hurt my bank account's potential. 
I want to take advantage of my time in Europe to travel as much as possible before moving back to the US and having 1/2 Asian babies.
It is very possible to travel through Europe on a tight budget (if you're willing to compromise a little) 
~We stay in hostels or budget hotels/airbnb. Or when I join Adam on a business trip his company gives him a really nice hotel that I sneak into. 
~Luckily, flights within Europe are pretty cheap but still we fly the budget airlines with stingy rules. Trains are an option too but not always the best. Adam usually combines our trips with a business trip so that his flight back home gets paid for.
~We cook half of our meals ourselves in the hostel kitchen or snack on baguettes, cheese, fruit or granola bars all day when we plan to splurge on a nice dinner.
~We don't drink. This saves a lot. Its easy for us though, thanks to Adam's "asian glow" and my general dislike for most alcoholic beverages. Occasionally I'll have a beer or glass of wine if I feel like it
~We only pay for an attraction if one of us considers it a must-see or do. Otherwise we wander the streets, taking in the culture. Or hike, because its free and you get great views.

Same goes for when we are home in France. We both have sort of minimalist attitudes, Adam is better at it than me, so its easy for us to live on a tight budget.

With all the traveling I have there probably won't be another post for a while. I will be posting pictures to facebook of course.