One week in

Well, this is overwhelming. I have never lived in a city this large before, nor have I had to go through so much bureaucracy and red tape on my own before. But “overwhelmed” does not mean “bad”; this feels like a good overwhelm. A kind I can sift through to find the good stuff.

Part of that is this hesitant optimism I’m carrying everywhere. France is not some huge foreign monster trying to eat me – anymore. I understand the world around me. I talk to waiters, I make jokes. Yesterday I gave directions to a Frenchman. I’m not lonely, frightened, and confused, like I was last time. And yes, I definitely was those things last time.

I know the shops now, the good manners, the metro system, the appropriate patterns of behavior. I’m not tripping over myself. I don’t get a stomach ache from nerves by going into a grocery store. I go to the bank, the French equivalent of the DMV, and my job with something approximating confidence. And the strange encounters are not so destabilizing now. This morning, an old man asked me for beer money, and when I told him I didn’t have any, he rolled his eyes and kept moving. In 2019, that little meeting of the minds would have sent me back under my covers. Now, I feel like I should seek him out and pick his brain. Hi Mom, I promise I won’t.

I find familiar things. For instance, a couple days ago I was in line for something and the old lady ahead of me had three tiny old gross dogs. They were so tiny and old and gross that she was pulling them in a cart. Of course I let them sniff me and then I petted them, and the old lady told me all about how sick and old they are. This is familiar because my sister and her family just got a tiny gross dog too! I felt very at home with the nasty crusty dogs that breathed like leaf blowers.

The fashion is quite familiar, too. The younger generations, those around my age and younger, dress a lot like I do. Pale-wash jeans (no rips) and big hoodies are in, side parts are out. White sneakers are in, thin brows are out. The biggest difference is probably hair color. In the US, unnatural hair colors are becoming a bit like bright nail polish — takes a bit of extra effort and money, but pretty common and no longer a problem in a job interview. Bank tellers and preschool teachers can have pink hair in the States. But not here, no, no. Here in France, it seems like only people who are fully enmeshed in a subculture dye their hair unnaturally. Punks and goths in dark makeup and huge black boots will have purple hair, but not, say, a teacher, which was the case for me last year.

I don’t see many tattoos, but then again it is turning cold here and everybody is wearing long pants and sleeves. Black leather jackets are very in for women in their mid 20s to 40s. Pristine Carhartt paraphernalia is sooooo hot right now. My FFA Carhartt from 2016 Nationals is definitely helping me fit in.

But I don’t really need to fit in. Lyon is a real metropolitan environ, and my neighborhood is more diverse than most. In the States, the vast majority of immigrants come from Latin American countries, so immigrant food and restaurants, while differing somewhat regionally, covers much of the same ground. Here, immigrants come from the top, bottom and middle of Africa, all over Europe, and up through the Middle East. Just on my block I could eat at a different restaurant every week and never try the same country’s food.

Well, that’s probably enough for now. My feet ache from the walking, but the weather is great, and I have made a lot of friends in my program. Homesickness has not set in yet. I give that maybe two more weeks.

I want to extend a huge and deeply heartfelt thank you to the Pat and David Boshears and Tom Gillis at DBHS for supporting me. It means the world that people are taking enough of an interest in this adventure to want to help out, and it truly does help! With your help, I was able to get a bus pass, groceries for several weeks, and a card that allows me to go to all the museums in Lyon, not to mention supplies for my apartment.

If there’s anything anybody has specific questions on, feel free to comment or contact. I’m never to busy to write home.

Cordialement,

Allison