Glad to be living with foodies.

As most of you already know, I made it to France safe and sound. It was a really long flight and the layover in London seemed to last forever, but we made it here on schedule. We also happened to land on one of the few rainy days of the year!

My host mother, Sophie, picked me up from the airport. She was standing in a group with all of the other host families. They already had a picture of us, so she recognized me in the crowd, even though I know I looked like a wreck. I walked over to her and committed my first serious “faux pas” of the semester…I hugged her.  I’ve heard it a million times “French people DO NOT hug!”  I hear it in my head and I know. But there was this really awkward moment where she leaned in and I forgot about the kisses. So what was I supposed to do? I come from a family of huggers. It just seemed natural.  As soon as I latched on I realized what I had done. There was only one thing I could do, and that was to let go and try to move past it.  Fortunately that wasn’t too difficult. Sophie’s boyfriend came to the airport with her to pick me up. He’s this really great (slightly older) Canadian guy who is, for all intents and purposes “bilingual”, but speaks French really slowly and with an extremely thick accent.  All this time I’ve been self-conscious about my French, my accent in particular, but him being here for the first day really took the pressure off. And guess what? It turns out I speak French!

Immediately upon arrival at the apartment, Sophie wanted to have coffee (woohoo!). But not only did we have coffee…we had Reeses cups (Her boyfriend just got back from the US and brought them as a gift), almond pastries, and a chocolate torte.  I should also mention that dinner that evening included 3 types of cheese.I had a good feeling about this homestay arrangement.  The only thing that would make it better would be bacon.

The apartment is right in the middle of Vieux Nice (Old Nice), which is crammed full of tiny little shops and tons of pedestrians on windy narrow roads.  Apparently I lucked out because no one else ended up right in the middle like this and everyone seemed jealous.  It’s no secret that I have zero sense of direction, but fortunately for me it’s nearly impossible to get lost here. The ocean is in view from almost anywhere in Nice, so that definitely helps. I’ve managed to navigate all over the place, both on my own and in a group.  I haven’t even used a map in 2 days! Another great thing about Nice is that almost everything is within walking distance. Though the city recently built a tramline and the bus system seems to be pretty reliable, I really love walking around here, minus the dog poop. EVERYWHERE.