Day #59 - goin' home, and comin' back

This week's blog entry is probably going to be quite short because nothing particularly French has happened for the past 2 weeks, as I haven't actually been in France. Yeah, that's right, I caved! I caved and went crawling on back to the UK with my tail between my legs.

edinburgh: eternal king of autumm

When I booked the trip, only a couple of weeks into my time in Rouen, I was actually quite nervous about heading home. I have this habit of getting comfortable in a certain place and not wanting to leave, so I just knew that if I went back home, there is no way I would want to get back on a plane and come back to a country where there is no proper sliced bread and people don't make me cups of tea without asking and the dishwashers don't work properly (thanks, Mum).
However, I solved this by going to stay with my boyfriend for a while, where there is no proper sliced bread and people don't make me cups of tea without asking and the dishwashers don't work properly. Crisis neatly avoided.

OF COURSE I'M JOKING. But I did go back to my university town for a week before I headed back to my parents' house, and it was just what the doctor ordered. I felt like Dorothy must have after she woke up and realised all her relatives hadn't actually died in a hurricane in The Wizard of Oz. I stepped off the plane and my bus driver called me 'love'. I overheard an angry elderly Scottish couple arguing about pork pies. When the bus rounded the corner and I saw the castle and the Scott Monument and North Bridge with Arthur's Seat beyond it, I could have happily burst into tears. I walked around a lot, there was a Halloween party, and I saw a show at Bedlam. The trip reminded me that, yeah, Edinburgh's still there, and the people are (mostly) still there, and very little will change while I'm away.

Sounds kind of silly, but I really hate change, so it was nice to see. 

marry me

Seeing my family was also lovely, and I got a suitcase full of clean clothes (shout-out to my big sister! Yeah! High five!) and about 4,000,000 cups of tea.

And I needn't have worried about France being terrifying the second time round. I managed to navigate the Parisian metro system and get back from Charles de Gaulle airport in time to go out for my friend's birthday meal in the centre of Rouen. I think heading back home actually gave me the opportunity to step back and breathe for a little while - something that going somewhere new wouldn't have offered - and now I'm back in Rouen I can see it for what it actually is, without all that newly-moved-in jangly nervousness that clouded my brain when I first arrived in September.

Only downside: I missed a couple of classes while I was away, and it looks like I'm actually going to have to do work from now on. Bonjour, essay season. Ah, well.

Sorry if my blog isn't as funny as it used to be. I'm afraid that I'm actually becoming accustomed to life in France. Eeech.

Josie 

x