Le sigh......but le good sigh:) I want to start off by thanking ALL of you for your messages your calls, your emails and your wall postings on FB, you guys are awesome and that really REALLY helped me get through this last week, it's been a real winner..meh. But the last 24 hours of my life have been the best time I've spent so far in France...I have made friends...that's right, I have more than the other six lecturers in my cell phone, damn that feels good. For the last couple of weeks I've been meaning to get down to one of the largest cafés here in Tours called Le Palais (the palace, I find this very amusing because it is anything BUT). where they host a weekly evening event called café des langues (café of languages). It's hosted by some kind of organization, I'm not exactly sure, but basically it's a place where people of all ages can come down and involve themselves in language exchanges.

So last night I wandered warily down to the palace (tee hee) and was really exhausted and not expecting to stay long (as I had to leave to go to my friend Amanda's apartment to shower because we have had NO hot water for THREE days in my apartment, not that I'm bitter at all about having to run down three blocks from someone else's house at night with my hair dripping wet, in my PJ's, dirty clothes in one hand, all of my toiletries in the other...but that's another story). Anyway:) I made it down to the cafe, asked the bartrice (lady bartender) if that was in fact the place and she directed me outside...this was very helpful as outside consists of about 50 tables with people eating and no signs what so ever to direct you to where the supposed langue section of the café is. So I sat down and nervously looked around, and there were two other nervous looking people there too who promptly asked me (one in a german/french accent and the other in an italian/french accent) if I was there for the café. I sat down to join them ordered myself a pichet (what I thought was a small caraf of wine but turned out to be 50cl of wine....this is a lot people, not to mention it cost me 10 euros and I could've bought three bottles of wine at the store for that, oh well) and we proceeded to run down our statistics; this is a conversation I have gotten really good at, so I sound really good at french when I ask and respond to the obligatory questions about who I am, where I'm from and what I do. I swear if one more person tells me how beautiful Texas is though, I will punch them.

Slowly but surely of the course of the next few hours more and more people arrived and I found myself looking around at the 100+ attendees of the café at one point, seeing a table of french, italian and americans all trying to speak german, another mixed table speaking Italian, three people at our table working on chinese, and even behind me a table of sign language; I found myself overcome with emotion for the most beautiful display of human communication that had broken down all walls and barriers of cultural stereotypes and been replaced by an ernest want and desire to both learn a language, but also to connect with other human beings on your level. It was really quite remarkable. I spent the majority of the evening chatting with Elsa and Julie (two frenchies who'd spent a year in Ireland and both speak with Irish accents in English, this is most amusing), Alessandro and some German girl whose name I don't remember, who were basically like the european version of Peace Corps or habitat for humanity, and Benjamin and Matthieu, two other frenchies that are medical students in their second year here. I had an amazing time trading back and forth from English to French all night and I learned all kinds of new fun vocab...like last night J'étais pas soûl, j'étati seulement pompette (which means, last night I wasn't totally bombed, just a little tipsy...sorry mom and dad:). I got everyone's numbers and am definitely planning on meeting up with Elsa and Julie this week:) I have friends YAY, I finally exist on my own in France, that feels good.

Also this morning, after being woken by what sounded like a heard of wild buffalo in my apartment, but was really my new roommate Camille (who is as tiny and cute as she sounds) how someone that tiny can make so much noise is beyond me, my package from my mommy finally arrived!! It's been in transit for three weeks and has been held hostage at the post office for at least a week, until I sent an email stating exactly what was in it...ridiculous. I have my ice skates so I am definitely hitting the ice tonight, after waiting around all day for the repair man to FINALLY come and look at our water box and fix the fact that we all scream bloody murder when we take a shower because it's so freaking cold. Also in the box was one of the coolest things anyone has ever given me. My mom made me a beautiful thought box and inside are 365 inspiration sayings or quotes all loving written and decorated on separate leaflets of beautiful paper, one saying for each day, when life is trying. This is really one of the coolest things I've ever gotten, thanks mommy, I love it:)

Well that's all for now, life is good today, but I'm going to crawl back into bed since all I get to do today is wait for the repair man to come:) I get paid for this, it's amazing. Although I still don't have access to my money in my bank account so it's not that amazing, yet:)

I miss you, I love you,

Sarah:)

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So today was the first day of classes, needless to say I was a little bit nervous never having taught any of these subjects before, but thanks to singing I find myself well versed in the International Phonetic Alphabet, which is the majority of what I am teaching (only slightly altered to fit the British pronunciation of everything, or the "regular pronunctiaon" RP as they call it here). I arrived to school at about 7.45 thinking I had correctly noted where and when my classes were. 15 minutes after class was scheduled to begin there were still no students, so I hustled down to the secretaries offices where I jabbered out something in broken french and she printed off the NEW version of my schedule and to my surprise my class had already begun 30 minutes earlier and in a different room. I hauled ass up to the other side of the building and stumbled through my first lesson, it was dismal to say the least, but probably not as bad as I think. I ended up running over and letting the next class in late and then this afternoon had to teach another class that i didn't even know I had yet since it was added to my schedule which I can't access yet because I don't have an account at the university since I'm still waiting for my paperwork to be processed and for my name to be imputed into the system (for the time being I am John Langosa...I inherited his schedule from last year).

Needless to say I am tired and frustrated, I seem to have spent the majority of the last two days in English so my french sucks. I came home today to find out that the package my loverly mother sent me is being held at customs until I send a statement saying exactly what is in said package and that I do not intend to sell it...oh the french, you really piss me off today. So for the time being my ice skates are being held hostage somewhere in France. Also I still have no access to my bank account here because even though I have received two notices from my bank with my account number and online access number, and my super secret code, I sitll have to wait for another piece of paper to arrive so that I can sign it and send it back via mail so they can in fact verify where I live....seriously, you have got to be kidding me...so I have no access to my French money.

I'm finding myself very wary today, and I guess it's a type of wariness that only other travelers or people who have moved far away and left everything behind can understand. It's just this sense of homesickness, but I don't know what for. I guess since I'm settling into my more permanent routine now it really feels, well, permanent. The gravity of how long I'm really going to be away and how hard that's actually going to be now that the newness has worn off is intense. It's strange though, because I don't miss texas, I don't want to live there again, and I just don't quite fit here yet, and it's exhausting to feel so outside, and with so few friends. I guess I'm homesick for the feeling of belonging, it's funny because on the doorstep of a grand life change you find yourself very wide eyed about your life and all the experiences you are going to have, and while those do come and they do happen there is still everyday life in between, and that my friends, can be exhausting. France is france, and it's lovely here, but it's still just everyday life only in a different place, one where I don't belong yet. Its hard traveling and seeing all these wonderful things but then turning around to realize you're alone and no one else is there with you. It's difficult to find yourself on the path from who you used to be to who you are becoming, It tends to be a rather lonely place I'm finding today.

So I've opened a bottle of wine and am considering some pasta and "friends" to maybe cheer me up. Any inspiration is most appreciated, as I find myself quite blue today and a bit sub-par. C'est la vie, as they say here and really everywhere, but yes, it is life, hopefully tomorrow will be better.

I love you, and I really miss you,

Sarah

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Hi all, here's a video of my trip in Lipari, enjoy!

I love you, I miss you

Sarah

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So I'm nearing the end of my Italian journey and I can't believe how much I've managed to do and how many new things I've managed to try in the last week. Having been in Europe for almost two weeks now (wow that's hard to believe, it feels like a month) I've been thinking hard about what this year should mean to me and really what is it that I want to accomplish, who do I want to become because of this experience. I think I've really narrowed it down to the fact that I really want to figure out exactly what makes me, well me. The more experience I have and the more people I come across the better acquainted I seem to get with myself, deciding what I really do like versus what I really don't like, how I really feel versus how I think I feel or should feel because other people think like that. I really want to make the effort to stop caring and just do what feels good, to take self responsibility and stop being a P.C version of myself in front of people, and Europe really seems like a great place to do that, especially since I've been allotted this fresh start.

Things I have learned so far in Italy:

I do, and always will I think, hate fresh tomatoes, and they serve it on everything here, even when you ask not to have it

Always ask for EXPLICIT directions when trying to explore an Island that you don't know (otherwise you end up roaming around on the edge of a cliff looking for the ancient ruins that are hiding behind an abandoned building way up higher on the mountain. You get sunburned, run out of water and end up having to hitch hike home with a crazy Italian who doesn't speak a word of English, nor does he have any front teeth. Then you realize when you get home that you were in exactly the right place and you made the hike successfully only to have missed what you were hiking to see in the first place completely...not that I'm speaking from experience).

Italian wine is the best wine ever, it's smooth and easy going, France has good wine too, but it just seems a little more, shall we say, uptight? :)

Pizza in Italy, is the best thing ever, the cheese they use here is different from anything I've ever tasted (buffalo milk cheese), it kicks all manner of Chicago, New York and California Pizza's Asses

Italians and all Europeans for that matter, have no clue how to drive, do not use turn signals, pass on the right, left no matter what size of curve you are going around and be it blind or not.

It is good to have a local native on the island to buy you crap, there is a "tourist" price for everything, and a "islander" price. This price difference is usually enough to buy you a decent bottle of wine later.

Driving a vespa, is much harder than it looks, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, or you will die. They are heavier than they look and at the slightest bump in the road or pothole they tip and swerve...I have new respect for hell's angels riders.

When you hike up to the ancient city of Lipari, there is an ancient amphitheater that still has a stage in it...you must go out and sing on it, it is absolutely mandatory and the best feeling ever (even if it takes you 15 minutes to work up the balls to do it in front of all the other tourists)

It is necessary to learn at least a few words in the local language before arriving, because otherwise you stand around like a bumbling idiot pointing and grunting at what you want. That being said, if you speak French, you can usually pick up on about 20% of the conversation if you listen for key cognate words.

It is impossible to say goodbye to your in-laws, or stop in and have a quick visit with them; this always takes at LEAST 20-30 minutes.

During an intense lightning storm, it is best to travel to the tippy top point of the the island and watch the lightning illuminate the expansive view in front of you, highlighting all six of the islands in the distance for you to see. This will truly be the most majestic thing you have seen to date.

Do NOT let your relative or anyone for that matter talk you into the mud baths on the island of Vulcano (volcano island), they smell like shit from far away and like your wading in a pool of hot rotten eggs when you're in them. Also, do not go bathe in the sea after said experience, because it smells just as bad (since the sulfur that heats the mud, also heats the water).

Gelato is way better than ice cream, just way better and Limone is the greatest flavor ever

Homemade tomato sauce is incredible, the amount of tomatoes needed to be picked for this event and the production it takes to produce it, almost makes it not worth it.

My cousin Nattie, is the only European I know who can make a proper cup of coffee, thank god for personal espresso machines in the house...however a real Italian espresso, tastes like dirt and like you're chewing a coffee bean.

That's all for now, island life has certainly been an eye opener, and southern italian culture for that matter is a time era that exists in it's own frame of reference; very old world very black and white. I have enjoyed my visit here but I am very anxious to get back to France and back to my friends. I start teaching next Wednesday so I am so excited to have something to do! Mom has shipped over my ice skates from the states and I'm enrolling in ice skating classes in French (we'll see how that goes, theres a whole load of vocabulary I don't know yet). I'm already planning my next trips and working on my "bucket list" of things to do before I leave Europe. Pictures are below.

I love you, I miss you

Sarah♥

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Wow, so what an eventful trip already...for those of you who don't know I trekked it down to Italy this week for my last week of vacation before the school semester starts. Lipari, one of the Aeolian islands off the coast of Sicily was formed over 17,000 years ago during the last volcanic age. It is one of the six islands formed during said age, and also happens to be where my cousin Natalina lives with her family. So one train ride from tours to Paris, (where the entire Roissy airport was evacuated because someone left their freaking suitcase on the airport shuttle), an airplane ride down to Palermo, Sicily (where the entire plane applauded after we landed....think new york taxi cab driver, only in the air with more passengers), bus down to the city center of Palermo (since our flight was late due to airport evacuation) where I spoke not a freaking word of Italian (luckily there was an Italian woman on the bus who spoke French) up to the Hostel that Natalina had booked for me (where also luckily the owner spoke some french as well). Onto the Ferry boat the next morning and then four hours later arriving at Lipari....WOW.

The journey was pretty taxing but absolutely worth every minute. I have met SO many fun people already and I'm only three days into my journey. On the plane I sat next to two teenage french boys and chatted with them the whole journey, I am always so happy when the french people mistake me for an english (as in from england) french speaker, this is actually a compliment, it means my accent isn't absolutely atrocious. The bus ride from the Palermo airport was scary, Natalina had to call me and spell out every letter of the stop i needed to get off at, the street name and number of my hostel so I'd have something to point at....I furiously was searching my italian aria repertoire for words that could help me on my journey, I failed miserably. After a couple of grunts and points a lovely woman on the bus began speaking to me in French (thank god) and I was so relieved when she told me where to get off and exactly where my hostel was located. I spent the night in Palermo and made my way to a pizza place on the corner for a gelato and a slice.

I woke up the next morning at 5.30 to make my way to the port to buy my ticket for the ferry, since the ticket office opened at 6am, however this was most unhelpful since the gate to the port didn't open until 6.30 am! Oh Italy, how I love you. I ran into a wonderful German couple that was traveling to Stromboli (another island close to Lipari) and I spent the rest of the morning with them chatting and wound up with an invitation to come and stay in Berlin for the Krist Kindle Mart (Christ Child Market-german tradition leading up to the Christmas holiday)....Excellent! I love making new friends on this trip, it makes traveling alone a little less scary and a lot more fun. Four hours later (and very seasick) I arrived at Lipari where Natalina and Maya (her daughter) picked me up and we headed up into the hills of the Island to make some fresh lunch (after stopping at the local fruit and vegetable seller) and have a shower (apparently this is tradition in Italia, cleanliness is next to godliness....or so Nattie says the Italians think). Nattie lives and works with Pepe (short for Giuseppe) at their local boat and scuba shop, Pepe speaks hardly any english so it's been so fun having a multi lingual house. Maya being only two, understands english, but responds in Italian... so fun and cute.

Nattie and I took off down for a tour of the Island on her scooter (my first time on any type of two wheeled device), needless to say two curvaceous women on a scooter in dresses got lots of looks and whistles, great for my self confidence. We settled down on the beach for a swim (beaches here are made of rock too) and then went to go have a Gelato before picking up some local wine and heading back to the house. I ended up with two gelatos (determined to try every flavor before I leave, my favorite so far is Limone).

This morning the weather was total shit, but the wind looked like it was blowing in my favor, so I decided to head down the mountain path to the ancient roman baths to have a peak around. THe clouds were blowing away and it looked like I was in the clear. 45 minutes later it got very dark very quickly, I looked up in the sky and almost crapped myself since I was halfway down the mountain, the wind had instantaneously shifted, black clouds were rolling in, and I was on the edge of a volcanic cliff in a torrential hurricane like downpour. I huddled myself under a nearby olive tree and tried to wait it out, but 15 freaked out minutes later, unable to even hear myself think from the wind and thunderous claps of lightning I decided to haul ass back up, and I do mean UP, the mountain. I panted and heaved, sweated and wrapped my pagmina around my day pack, fearful of the rain ruining my camera, ipod and phone (which I was to call Nattie with incase of just such an emergency). I slipped and fell, rocks were literally falling off the edges of the very tall cliffs surrounding my previously descended path and I tried to fight back visions of myself laying on the path with a broken leg as I slipped up the mud (since the entire path had turned into a mud waterfall). I made it back up to where the road leaves to Natties house and oh my god, she was there in her car waiting for me, hoping I had the good sense to haul it back up the mountain.

So now, at least I have a good story to tell ten years from now while I sit around a circle with a beer talking about the stupidest thing I ever did....hike down a volcanic cliff in hurricane forecast....brilliant Sarah, just brilliant.

I'm here for another five days and there will be more updates to follow, but I just had to post this one because it's been such an adventure already. Pictures below.

I love you, I miss you,

Sarah

The greatest Kitchen EVER (note hand made brick pizza oven in the back behind Nattie)

View from the top of Lipari

Bella Italia

On the Cliff edge just before the storm broke loose

Italian market...unbelievable

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So I've finally managed to get some photos together for you. I have a video of the apartment but ever since I uploaded snow leopard I can't seem to upload my videos from my camera though iphoto...suggestions, anyone?

This weekend has been fairly relaxing, I've really enjoyed finally being done with my "housekeeping" and having some time to just plod along about the city. Today I went out for a quick bite with some friends and then down to the Palais du Sport, which is like the general recreation building. They of course have an ice rink, so I'm super excited, hopefully getting my skates shipped to me soon (right Mommy?). They had every class you could imagine there, even pole dancing, which I'm seriously considering stopping in on. I'm glad to have found some activities where I'll meet some people outside of our group. The rest of the day today I've kindof spent in seclusion working on stuff for class and getting my first week's lesson plans together since I'm flying to Italy tomorrow and will probably be pretty out of touch, since I'll be on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean. Last night I went out to my first french bar/dance club, let me say, the music here is everything it was cracked up to be, back in the 90's in the US. Apparently musical trends take about ten years to cross the pond, and in process gain a disco background beat...none the less it was still really fun, and all the clubs here and bars for that matter are smoke free...this makes me very happy, I don't go home smelling like ass.

I have to tell you, I have never seen a people that love photo ID pictures as much as the French do. It seems to be a necessity on everything that you have around here, I'm working on getting my 12-25 card (a discount card that allows me 25-60% off rail travel just because I'm still young, love it.) and a cinema card, joining the ice skating club here and applying for social security; every single one of these applications requires a photo ID, they actually have photo ID machines in the grocery stores here, it's nuts. Speaking of grocery stores, they really seem to be ahead of the curve here on the littler and trash tip. No grocery stores provide you with bags to carry your goodies home, you have to bring your own or buy reusable ones there...guess that hiking back pack is really going to come in handy. The only downside to this apartment's location is that it's not exactly centralized for grocery shopping, it's a long haul back to the apartment with heavy bags...and then up four flights of stairs.

I booked my plane ticket for Portugal today, which is very exciting. Due to the way my teaching schedule runs, I have 13 days off in October, rough life. All of the lecteurs are flying to Porto for a long weekend over the october holiday. I can't believe how CHEAP flights are here, everything is so unbelievable. I'm so glad I spent a very LONG year saving, it's made all the difference. I found this great site that's a bike-the-loire-valley company, and you can literally sign up for a five day bike ride across the entire loire valley (where I live) that stops at all the cities and all the chateaus. I'm really REALLY interested in this...although I may just get a map and be brave and rent a bike here and try for it myself....we'll see. You can rent bikes here for 5 euros a semester if you're a student, it's pretty awesome. Although the bikes you rent are SUPER akward and bright BRIGHT yellow, they're from a company called vélociti (bike city) and they're painted yellow with black checks so they look like bike taxi cabs...I had too much wine and rode my friend's around the other night (see photo below).

So far my stomach has had a very averse reaction to all sorts of food here, I haven't yet decided if it's the alcohol (since europe has different distillation standards), the food or just my nerves a bit in general. I have to keep reminding myself to unwind. I haven't been too homesick yet, a bit graham-sick of course:) but really the only things I've found that I miss are a proper cup of coffee and a real beer. The coffee here is the equivalent of what an espresso shot is in the US, so when you order a coffee you get a teeny-weeny cup, sometimes even a shot glass of coffee, with sugar, no cream. I miss the days of head sized bowls of coffee, I'm looking forward to a trip to London in November and a freaking decent cup/bowl/IV bag of coffee. I'm going to have to ask the waiters here to just start bringing it to me with a needle so I can directly inject it, because these little cups aren't doing me any good...not to mention I have to walk all the way to town to get it...no coffee machine in the apt here, maybe i'll break down and buy one.

Ok here come the photos....

Me outside the Tours Train station at night...about a 12 min walk from the apt

Vélociti bike riding after far tooooo much wine

The Cathédrale in Tours Centre...haven't been in yet, I'm really tempted to go to a mass though

this was the candy shop at the airport on the way, it was just too happy and needed to be photographed:)

Ok that's all for now, I'll have an Italy update for you when I get back, I don't know if I'll have phone access/IE Computer access there so I'll keep you posted.

One final thing, should you be feeling motivated to send me something I finally have a proper mailbox here and I would love to have any physical contact with my loved ones in the US as possible. If you want to mail me anything by snail mail I am

Sarah Reed

103 rue georges SAND

37000 Tours

France

I would love to hear from any of you:)

I love you, I miss you

Sarah

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My first week (la première semaine) for all you non frenchies, was lovely. I have met all of my fellow colleagues who are from all over the globe, there are only 2 americans. Our orientation has been the past two days where I've received instruction on just about everything one could imagine, classroom management, the type of students to expect, how to handle things, WHAT I will be teaching finally, and lots and lots of paperwork. After the end of orientation we had a lovely dinner with all of our fellow lecteurs and my roommate Solène, we spent the night eating and drinking wine (which by the way is fabulous here) and chatting all in french all evening. I am so happy here. Today started with a jolt as I accidentally overslept and had ten minutes to make it from here to my bank (about a 20 minute walk) because in France before you can do ANYTHING you MUST have a bank account and access to RIB (basically direct deposit tickets). Everything here is done by that, down to your cell phone, you give each company a RIB and the money goes direct out of your account and so on. I am paid directly by RIB as well so I give one to the uni and my rent is also deducted by RIB. It's a great process, just a bit of a pain to actually obtain an account. One thing I have learned is how much the french LOVE paperwork and obsessive amounts of copies of everything. Having already been informed of this I hauled ass (literally running down the street to make it to my appointment on time) with my dossier full of copies of every document under the sun and opened an account. This was my first big girl thing to do in France and slightly intimidating because the entire process is done in French, now I must say, I was very pleased with myself. They tell you how important it is gain favour with as many people as you can here, especially the secretaries, since they can literally make your life a living hell here. THere is no such thing as a person in a low place, you piss of the custodial staff, the bathrooms will be locked all day one day. You piss off the secretaries, no dry erase markers for you, and your'e up shit creek when you have a paycheck problem. It is most important to be POLITE at all times here, and really kiss as much ass as is possible. That being said, I'm getting pretty good at it:) I managed to successfully open my bank account, side stepping some of the problems my fellow compatriots have had, I had quite a lengthy conversation with my accountant about american health care reform, very interesting, and again, all in french:)

Having satisfied that need, I headed off for the hours of endless paperwork I am to fill out and for enrollment in social security here as well as my medical insurance. I arrived at the building to find, uh-ho, it's 1pm, right in the middle of the two hour lunch day that is implemented in ALL business and educational offices. So I mulled around, and sure enough most of the streets had cleared out and everyone who was anyone was munching somewhere. I found a local phone shop and secured myself a pay as you go phone, since minutes are SO expensive here and I need a carte-bleu (or credit card) here to open an real phone plan, pay as you go an text messages are the new means of communication for me....which I must say I rather LOATHE (those of you who know me know how much i hate text messages). So I mulled back to the office and filled out paperwork and I am now legal and ready to be paid for the two days of orientation and three days of classes I'm going to teach in september....I love france:) Next week I have the week off and am considering a trip to Italy, we'll see how everything plays out the rest of this week.

Life is good for right now, and any of you are more than welcome to CALL me anytime you like:) 865-630-4466 calls my computer directly and if I'm not around you can just leave me a voice message:) I'll be back on later after I finish my baguette and saucisson with fromage for dinner, I love france:)

I miss you, I love you,

Sarah:)

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Wow, so what an incredibly difficult 40 hours or so it's been. My visa paperwork finally came through last Saturday, the day before I was supposed to leave, and I flew out of Texas on Sunday september 6th. That was by far and away the worst and hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life, I have never cried so much in a 24 hour period of time ever, Ever....I was a blubbering mess at the airport the entire time. I flew from DFW to LON heathrow thinking OK, this is cheaper than flying to Paris, so I'll just take trains the entire way and it will be fun...WRONG. The one thing I have discovered about the train system, awesome may it be, is that it's not giant suitcase friendly...meaning there are no escalators or elevators anywhere in sight, seriously, not for miles. I lugged two giant seventy pound bags, with one forty pound backpack, laptop bag and purse down to the tube in London, up to the international train station in London, up the ramp to the Chunnel train (high speed train direct from Lon to Paris) down to the RER (Parisian subway) in Paris, to get to the other side of Paris where my connecting train was, onto said TGV (French bullet train) and then finally to the train station in Tours. THe worst part was the up and down of the subway in Paris, one very nice man helped me the whole way with both of my bags up and down 5 flights of stairs...he was very kind...Parisians are not mean, so all of you who say they're all rude, can take that. Now in England, people were just plain mean, they stared at me, laughed, and on more than one occasion asked me what I was doing with so much shit, and what was I thinking. Long story short, fly to Paris, even if it means having a connection anywhere else, taking the trains with giant suitcases, not worth it.

So I arrived in Tours and my proprietor (landlady) and my new camarade de chambre (roommate) met me there and we all crammed into a teeny little car and drove to the apartment. The flat I'm living in is quite cute, there will be three girls living here. So far I have met Siobhan from Scotland who is very cool and very good at french I might add. Cami, a medical student, should arrive next week. The flat isn't as small as I expected, but I do think it's funny because the toilet and the showers are in different rooms here....side note, our toilet room is the nicest in the flat, brand new wood flooring and fresh beautiful wall paper, my favorite part is that all toilet paper here seems to be pink, it's very amusing. My room is rather large, and painted orange, which makes me happy as it suits Graham's nickname for me "Pumpkin." So I live in a pumpkinny room with a bright pink bed spread...how fitting? Siobhan and I took a stroll around town last night, Tours is full of charm...being a 1000 year old french city can have that effect:)

Today is my first day at the university, so as all of you are getting ready or have already headed off to bed I am up and about to face my first day as a teacher. I've actually been up for about two hours as my body clearly has NO idea what time it is or who I am still at the moment. Today I will hopefully tackle the grocery store and find myself a cell phone. I have yet to have to pay rent as I don't have a bank account here, but apparently it's not necessary up front here the way it is in US to pay your rent before you move in, who knew?? Did I mention my apartment is so old that it's blinds are actually wooden shutters and the key to my room looks like something out of the 1900's (seriously). Well I am going to be off now, thanks so much for all your love and encouragement, it's a lot less scary now that I am here, but still pretty lonely. I miss graham more than I ever thought possible to miss a human being, so I am still adjusting very slowly. I will post pictures soon, I'm a bit behind and still moving very slowly today.

I miss you, I love you,

Sarah:)

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