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