*cough cough* I'm sick

accurate

That's my feelings towards my body right now. You know sometimes you wake up and you feel like a million little people are jackhammering your brain apart? And so your brain starts to drip, liquid form, out your nose and you just want to cry for days? That's how I feel right now. And it is NOT fun because I have to read French and enjoy France and it's HARD when I can't even see straight because the jackhammers won't turn off.

Also, it's weird being sick without the comforts of home ie your parents there to make you soup and listen to you whine. And I don't know about yall but when I'm sick, I like my comfort sick food, which happens to be grilled cheese and tomato soup which also happens to be not a thing here. I like it because even when I can't taste, I know the taste so well it's like real eating. Yesterday was the birthday of my French guy's mama, so we went to her house for birthday festivities. They talked up how great her food was all week so naturally I was STOKED because I'm obsessed with food (in case you've somehow missed that). But when we got there yesterday, I couldn't taste anything!!! Seriously so sad. But they (my french couple) have been helping me out a lot by giving me cool natural French remedies for this! So that helps a ton. Not grilled cheese and tomato soup, but you gotta work with what you got, you know?

So in times like this, I gotta give a shoutout to the best people in the world--the people who have sent me letters recently which I've read a lot the past two days to cheer myself up. You guys rock and I'm so happy to have you my life yay!!!! Someone tell my grandma she made it on my blog!!! Also maybe explain what a blog is...?

My wonderful grandma

My fave man in the world

MONEDAWG

HUBEZZZZ

I'm off to dose up on my Emergen-C (don't worry, the costco size made the maiden voyage with me) and sleep my sickness away (hopefully). I just felt like checkin in with you guys. Call me, beep me, if ya wanna reach me! I'd loooooove to hear from you! Yes, you! It's easy to make my day, I promise.

With love,
A 50% Sarah (and Regina George)

One Month Checkup

IT'S WRIGLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT! And believe it or not, I've been peaced out of the state of Wisconsin, the country of America for one whole month. 31 days. Whammy. Well it was a month on Saturday, I just was too busy this weekend to actually post this. Sorry. ANYWAYS that's the longest time I've been gone from Spotted Cow and Babcock ice cream EVER. Time flies when you're having fun.

Since you all know what I've been up to in this last month, I'll update you and then we'll go twirling through my many thoughts and emotions that have hit me in a the last month.

Well turns out that I can run, and I just joined a track team! I'm trying to make french friends (for obvious reason) and I figured since running has given me some of my best friends in America, it can probably give me some of my best friends in France, right? Plus I'm trying to find a runner that has better hair than Wilson Hacker (so far I haven't had any luck at all but I guess that isn't surprising?). Oh and it may be too early to tell, as I've gone to two practices, but I'm pretty sure French runners are less awkward than American runners. Hallelujah amirite?

CAN IT BE DONE? dat hair! (Hi Wilson)

School has its days for sure. My first day of my sociology class, the professor talked about the sociology of the "American college"--ie the fact we all drink ourselves silly four days out of the week. I got to give all these French students my firsthand experience of watching my friends drink (cmon kiddos, I'm not 21, so I DEFINITELY don't drink in America. hahahahahahah) and the effects that pounding shots can have on them. Pretty cool. Plus I did it in mostly all french aka I think I'm getting better at this language? We'll see. There's no homework ever besides reading so my brain hurts most of the time--I hate reading for my classes that are English, so this whole "your grade is based off reading and four hour lectures" will certainly prove to be interesting.

Probably the hardest thing in the world is going a day without buying and kind of French pastry. Seriously I can name about twenty patisseries in a five minute radius of me no matter where I am in Aix. I can also tell you who has the best macarons, pain au chocolat, croissants, tartes, palmiers, brioches etc in the city. But since I'm trying to NOT gain the France fifteen (which I'm sure is a thing you never hear about), I have to practice self restraint. IT'S SO HARD YOU GUYS. Like harder than not eating spoonfuls of peanut butter at a time. And that is a STRUGGLE.

pistachio macarons are my kryponite omg srsly 

It's also hard to not gain the France fifteen with the kickass meals that Alex and Sebastian (my french couple if you haven't been keeping up) make. Seriously it's unreal and I'm unbelievably spoiled. One day, while I was reading, Alex just pops into my room with WARM CHOCOLATE CAKE. Like yeah okay I'm pretty sure you're an angel because that's always what I need when I have to read anything in French.

Why I'll gain the France fifteen: FRENCH FRENCH TOAST!!!

Now of course, there's the question I get all the time: do you miss Madison?  Duh I miss Madison that city is paradise. Like especially: the Capitol, the lakes, GAME DAYS, the farmer's market on Saturdays (esp spicy cheese bread), my house and my parents' baking (the brown sugar is different here and probably wouldn't make good brown sugar cookies aka I cry for days. At least they have pudding cake. Although nothing tops the Lindstrom kitchen pudding cake), Tim Hacker's bread, fried cheese curds (especially from Gates and Brovi omg drool), anything related to Shorewood, so my children and my blue headband girls and my coworkers, 270 Langdon Street, all my friends.

But with all that I miss from Madison, I'm finding cool equivalents/just cool things in Aix that fill the void. There's HUGE markets every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday that give me all I need in the world and more. There's a huge fountain that reminds me of the Capitol and while I will forever love anything my parents make, you can't get much better than french baking. And french bread (sorry Tim). And as for the lakes, the Mediterranean Sea is only a twenty minute bus ride away PLUS it's 682039 times clearer than the Madison lakes, so that makes everything better. So the only thing I haven't been able to find an equivalent to is a Badger game day, but that's not that surprising. I know they will always be there to welcome me back to Madison. And with the help from my friends here, I've started to make cool French friends, German friends, Norwegian friends, etc and life is starting to make more sense. You never realize how lucky you are to have so many wonderful friends until they're all across an ocean. Luv u all heheh cheesy moment sry.

Kay so now that I survived one month, I am seriously looking forward to what the next ten months bring me. Even the next month!!! In October, I'm going to both Rome to hang out with some friends there and obviously Finland to kick it with one of my coolest aunts. So don't go far, your favorite globe-trotting Madison girl will be back soon with more stories and adventures for you!

Miss all you suckers,

SARAH

the water brings out my shark yknow

what a WEEK

I FINISHED A WEEK OF CLASS AND I DIDN'T COMPLETELY DIE!!!!! That's the most important thing that has happened. None of them are particularly interesting/worth talking about, but I can tell my French will improve in all of them. Now on to entertaining things.

Okay so I figure now, three (?!) weeks into my little adventure, I have a very good handle on the other people in my program and their personalities. So I thought I'd introduce you to the most interesting ones (everyone has screen names, don't worry).

Probably most interesting in this little cast of characters is the married couple. That's right, there's a married couple on my program. The girl is the one actually in the program--her husband is just here because she is. Her husband is always prepared in the "I always have a knife on me" kind of way. He also resembles someone who is going on a safari. I personally didn't know there were safaris in southern France, but I guess I learn something new every day. And, in an exciting twist to the story, SHE'S PREGNANT. As in, in nine months there will be a baby clawing its way out of her. A BABY. SHE'S PREGNANT. IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. WITH SAFARI MAN'S BABY. And I thought my year would bring me challenges. Woof.

I don't necessarily talk to the married couple that much--they hang out a lot together, probably discussing the fact that they'll have a baby soon. However, in the limited interactions I've had, they've been very nice. The husband talks much more than the girl, at least for now. We're all witnessing her coming out of her shell WOO go married girl.

The person I probably talk to the most is the most fabulous man I've ever met. He is a die hard fan of Madonna and Princess Diana--he has a rotating selection of Lady Di photos that he uses as phone backgrounds. You can NEVER insult Madonna in front of him if you don't want your head torn off. The two of us are very similar in which we adore drama (I lived in a house of 50 girls last year--I had to like it or life would've been rough), macaroons, and wine. Needless to say, we get along great. We have a discussion together (side note: if you think discussions are awkward in America, just try one in France. French people don't like talking in front of others and therefore about half the two hour discussion is awkward silences. I would chime in but my knowledge of France post-Napoleon is very small. For now, at least) and I can already tell that it will be the highlight of my Friday. The TA loooooves asking us questions about Chicago to which we both kind of make up things because we don't actually know that much about the city, it's just easier than trying to explain what Wisconsin is.

Uhmmmm and that about does it for interesting people. The rest are your very stereotypical midwesterners. We talk about cheese and beer and how we miss Ian's pizza. The french cheese is phenom, but it makes a different kind of mac and cheese that's not suitable for pizza. The struggle is sometimes real. Oh and there's a guy from Edina which always makes me giggle because hahah Edina. cakeeaters4lyfe.

I'm still on a mission to find cool French friends--there was a massive fair today on le Cours Mirabeau of clubs and sports (unlike in America, they're not affiliated with the univerisities) and I found a track team that I'll probably join for shits and gigs because what's better than running in France? Okay, yeah, a lot of things are but at least there's pretty scenery and (hopefully) pretty men to look at...? There's also volunteer opportunities that consist of teaching English to tiny children and I mean after spending a summer surrounded by tiny children, I'm seriously feeling the void.

My life is slowly but surely coming together here weeee and I love life. If you want to send me a letter, which I highly recommend (you'll make my day and I'll have more pen pals than just my grandma), here's my address! I promise I'll send ya one back.

Sarah Lindstrom
APA
30, avenue Victor Hugo
13100 Aix-en-Provence
FRANCE

yay kewl thx friends talk to yall l8r!

switching goals

(Disclaimer: this has nothing to do with MK&A, I just really wanted to use that as a title for some reason)

Okay here we go.

Obviously, when I found out I was going to spend a whole year in the south of France, I started making a list of goals. They range from the obvious (become fluent in French) to lofty (find a husband) to the biggest, maybe the loftiest: visit 17 countries.

Why 17 do you ask?

Well, as it happens, one of my oldest friends and her family travel basically everywhere. Nineteen countries, to be exact. She's ridden elephants in Thailand, been to the desert in Jordan (and got some siqq sand art), lived in Nicaragua for a month and way more that I can't possibly remember right now. As for me and my family, we're too busy being athletic (or Andrew is at least)/cheering on athleticism/coaching "athletes" (aka the cutest 8 and unders the planet has seen) to have much time to go anywhere. Before coming here, as I've said, I've been to three countries, including the US and Canada. Norway is the lucky last one.

Like any good friend, I like finding ways I can top this girl. We're going to call her Melon (sorry bout it hahahh). Melon is too smart for me to get better grades--she was one of two girls to graduate from my high school with a 4.0, she's faster than me at running so that leaves not much I can go off of. I can swim better than her (most people can). I knew, for my pride, that I needed something more than just swimming (which I am not good at) to top Melon. So lo and behold, I decided one fateful day in December that I would visit more countries than her.

So do the math! She's been to 19 countries, I've been to three. Well four now including France. Therefore, throughout this year I have 16 more countries to go to! Turns out on Saturday, I'm going to Nice and Monaco with a girl on my program so then, in middle of September, I'll have only 15 more to go which when you think about it, isn't even that many. So many places I have to go! If you have a super cool place in Europe/Africa that you think I should go frolic through, lemme know! You know how to reach me.

I leave this blog post, not with an embarrassing picture of me, but of Melon. Holding a melon. (and a Coke, her signature drink lawl)

And because I couldn't resist, here's another one of Melon eating melon. Do you think that's considered cannibalism? 

mmm mmm I taste gud 

Until next time, when I will have another country under my belt,

Sarah

where in the world has Sarah been??

HI GUYS I'M BAAAAAAACK I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'VE SURVIVED SEW LONG WITHOUT A SUPER WITTY BLOG POST OF MINE!!! (important note: basically everything I say is sarcastic in case you somehow missed that)

OKAY ANYWAYS where do I even begin?! I've been to the Mediterranean twice now, and as a girl who grew up surrounded by the Madison lakes, I was legitimately shocked when I could see the rocks at the bottom of the sea and algae wasn't eating me alive. CLEAR WATER EXISTS and I'm still like a kid in a candy store about that.

clear water in Marseille wut

even clearer water in Cassis!!! 

I found this fabled clear water in two cities, Cassis and Marseille. One tiny, one HUGE. They always talk about how Marseille is the second biggest city in France, how it's a little Chicago (they got crime up the wazoo there), but I wasn't expecting it to actually be big. I think part of me is surprised that big things, even cities, exist in France because most everything is just so cute and tiny--from their coffee to their cars! Although god bless my french couple for having a coffee maker that makes HUGE (so for most of America, small) cups of coffee so I can wake up in the morning.

you know what they say about big cities 

Oh and it's rained at least a little the past three days!!! I was walking home from school on Friday and it just started downpouring which I loved because the dry climate is not good for my skin or my hair. Next time you complain about the humidity, which will probably be in about five minutes, keep me in mind. The whole city basically shut down--everyone didn't know what to do! It only rains like 20 days or something out of the year so I guess that's understandable but I couldn't help but eat my crepe and laugh. I'm done channeling my dad now.

nomin on a crepe in the rain because what else would I do

OH MAN and tomorrow, real school starts!!! Except not for me--I'm pretty sure I worked out my schedule to only have class Wednesday--Friday aka my weekend lasts til Tuesday aka I CAN TRAVEL SO MANY PLACES!!! Some of my first other countries I'm going to include Finland and Monaco--gotta get to 17 countries somehow, ya know? (hey skellz)

I think I'm done now. Love and miss you all guyz!!!

deuces from the Mediterranean,

pretty water calls for an ugly face obv

Sarah