Growing up I hated Texas. It represented everything I despised: the heat, country music, and the Dallas Cowboys (I’m going to catch a lot of flak for that last one). If I had the chance, I would have gotten out of Texas faster than Usain Bolt reaching the finish line in the 100m. The dream of living in Paris for a year was an opportunity to finally get out of the land of cows, dirty gas stations, and that annoying southern twang that us Texans are known for. But something funny happened the semester before I arrived here. A close friend of mine, Scott Johnston, introduced me to the television show Friday Night Lights. For those of you not familiar with the series, the show follows a high school football team in a small, west Texas town. Football in Texas in king and even more so in small Texas towns where the only thing the residents have to look forward to is the football team playing each Friday. My point being, I love Texas and I think since being abroad that passion has grown exponentially. Other study abroad students have asked me what makes Texas so great and for a while it was hard to answer that question. But after mulling it over I came up with a few things that’ll maybe give some of you a glimpse as to why the Lone Star State is not only special to me, but my fellow Texans as well.
Whataburger
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| Do you see that? 24 hour service: a catalyst for a great conversation over great food and one hell of a milkshake. |
Friday Night Lights
This show is about more than football. It epitomizes Texas.
Texas fall weather
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| Lake Travis deep in the heart of Austin, Texas. |
State Fair
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| The Texas State Fair: home to Big Tex (above), fried foods, a fantastic car show, and Texas-OU weekend. Photo courtesy of busbank.com |
The Republic of Texas: that's right, republic. Prior to Texas being annexed into the Union we won our independence from Mexico and were our own country from 1836-1846.
Tex-Mex
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| An establishment only found in Dallas. Rest assured whenever grandma came into town we were going to El Fenix. |
And now enough Texas bravado and onto what has been going on in France. This past week (and month for that matter) has been a lot of fun. I mean A LOT. Rather than going through the whole month, I’ll give y’all a rundown on the events this past week.
Monday I slept in more than usual as a result of having gone out to watch some football with David like every Sunday night. I think I was just trying to sleep off the Eagles loss to the Cardinals…really the Cardinals? We’ll be playing the Giants next, but with Vick out with broken ribs our chances aren’t looking so hot. Once I got dressed I took the normal one-hour metro ride to St. Denis to do complete my medical appointment. That itself was a process itself, however I had an enjoyable, albeit weird, conversation with the doctor about the JFK assassination (because we all know Texans don’t like Democrats). Following that, I met up with the ‘les gars’ (dudes) in the hangout room to chill for a bit. I’m really lucky to have found them. They remind me of some of my friends who I grew up with in Garland. Now if only I could converse with them fluently…oh well, with time. Following spending a couple of hours with them I came home and had one of the best dinners yet with my host family. We had a fun discussion about the talents of classical musicians versus rock musicians. It was an interesting one, as Maurice seemed adamant that the former were more talented. Good discussion! Later that night I met up with Laryssa and her roommates for a cool jazz trio performance at the Piano Vache for a GREAT evening (albeit sans comfortable seats).
While it was a bit anticlimactic to celebrate the big 21st birthday in Paris because of the drinking laws here, it was a great experience regardless. Tuesday started off with me almost being late for an interview for an English teaching job. Needless to say, once I reached the university I was sweating a bit, but I arrived in the nick of time. I’ll be teaching French students English in a very non-formal environment. While I didn’t initially want to do anything that would inhibit my French, this job does pay well enough to go toward travel expenses. Following the interview I met up with Laryssa at Breakfast in America for a nice brunch.
That night my host family had the family over and once again Laurence prepared a top-notch meal. I think she out does herself every time with her cooking. Highlight of the meal? An onion pie (tarte d’onion) that was out of this world delicious. The night was capped with a homemade (!!!) birthday cake that was also fantastic. A few pictures below.
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| Mauric, Zach, Laurence, Camille |
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| Camille and Bertrand |
If Tuesday’s birthday celebration was the cake, then Friday’s bar outing was the icing. I was lucky to have my friends come out and celebrate at the Violon Dingue for my 21st birthday. Pictures below.
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| My teammates aka mes frères |
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| The ladies |
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| Lucas and David |
And there you have it, a wrap-up of what has been going on the past week. I’ll figure out a better way to keep y’all updated because at the moment the method of posting every month isn’t working. I have a terrible memory, so I think it’s also essential that I update this blog as regularly as I can because I don’t want to forget this experience. It seems too good to be true to actually be living here in Paris. Those of you who even have the slightest interest in studying abroad, DO IT.
As much as I miss my friends and family back home, I can’t help but realize that Paris really does feel like home now. It’s premature to say that now only three months into this journey, however I’m having the time of my life and I don’t want it to end. But sappy words aside, I’ll talk to y’all soon. And in the words of Drake, take care.
New vocabulary: querelleur (quarrelsome, also incredibly difficult to pronounce), squelettique (a really skinny person), brêle (a terrible team, i.e. the Eagles)
Most listened to song : Devil Town- Bright Eyes
