Not a vacation anymore?

Hey, wait a minute. I'm nearly three weeks into my time here. The longest time I've ever been away from home visiting a place is two weeks. In my mind, two weeks is the sane limit for a vacation. If you're lucky enough to jet set for longer periods of time, well, that's just not fair. =P

But anyway, moving on. I'm to the point where I'm actually feeling legitimately settled in. Bank account? Done. Cell phone? Check. Homework to do? You betcha. Laundry that needs doing again? Hurray! At $3 USD a wash, those laundry machines can stuff it. I have a balcony and a clothesline. Though I occasionally miss the convenience as well as fabric softener, it gives me time to think and a doing a little dance with my line-dried items tends to help the stiffness...usually to bachata or dance music recently!

But the idea here is that I feel adjusted. I don't know what I did to deserve my good fortune, but after years of feeling like I'm working so hard but can't cut a break, here I am. Life is actually (relatively) easy for once. And I know well enough to appreciate what I've got going. It helps that I'm pretty good at shrugging, saying, c'est pas grave, and heading on my way and just letting it go if something is a pain or annoying. At least I have a bike, which makes it fun to get from A to B to C to B then back to A then to B again...oh, my. I'm going to have some sick legs from all this pedaling.

Speaking of that, I made a wrong turn (on purpose this time, I promise. I'm very curious!) and found myself in the oldest part of the city. There's a school of medicine that's straight out of the Middle Ages, and what did I do? Snoop, of course. I felt like Nancy Drew...and nobody seemed to question me. A nod of recognition and people pass right over you, unless you're trying to go somewhere forbidden (which I did, by the way, and got caught. Oopsie!). Wait till you see the pictures! I'll put them up when I'm done with homework, maybe tomorrow...I'm not on vacation here, remember? =P For now, I'm probably going to go out this evening to a friend of a friend's house party, or something like that. Plans are super loose here, nights are late, and people aren't shy about sharing their wine/beer/tequila. Running into a group of Erasmus students is usually an adventure, since the mix of languages can be something like English, Italian, Spanish, and Arabic, and you all attempt your French together. They're the most warm, friendly bunch of people I've had the pleasure to acquaint myself with/befriend.

Last night, by the way, I made dinner with friends - spaghetti carbonara! We were missing one or two things, but it was delicious nonetheless. It's so much more fun cooking with company; even if the wine you found for 2,50 euro tastes like it costs that much you don't really care. You finish the bottle anyway. There's a reason vin and vinaigre are so close in French. Don't worry, I promise to buy some of the good stuff eventually...I've just got to figure out what the good stuff is. I know as much about wine as I do about NASCAR (left turn, left turn, left turn..zzzzz)

So, that's it for now. Until next time!