Positifs!

my private harmonica concert!!!! 

french hospital food = DELICIOUS.  it would have bread and cheese.

so many flowers :)

Now, I’ve reacquired the ability to walk ALL BY MYSELF!  I can eat full meals. I can go to the bathroom.  I can get out of bed.  Today I took my first shower (man was I rancid after a whole week – Heather you would’ve died!!!).  Walking, moving, showering - not struggling to lift my hands above my head, to bend over, to merely get myself out of bed.  These are things I’ve never appreciated until now.  I am telling you, appreciate every day.  The fact that our bodies work correctly almost every day is incredible.  Don’t take it for granted!  Be happy for life.  Having the ability to take care of yourself is an incredible gift! It’s like the analogy Emma’s dad uses – you should be as happy just to carry your wallet every day as you are when you find it after it is lost.  A new goal –try to think about and appreciate my body (and wallet) every day. 

Being in the hospital has helped me see just how many connections I’ve made here - a lot more than I’ve realized.  My friend Shannon told me before I left the US that I have to make strong enough connections with the people in France that it is hard to leave.  After this week, I am 100% positive that I have.  The thought of leaving the other kids in my program, of saying goodbye to my host family, classmates, teachers, and random other people I’ve met is overwhelmingly sad.  I really care about these people and they care about me.  I have people in France who made me cookies, brought me books to read, brought me flowers.  People who took the hour plus journey to Echirolles and back just to check up on me.  Emma even had a private harmonica concert for me - I cannot get over that  (Thanks girl!).  My grammar professor called me in the hospital to let me know my classmates and her were thinking of me and to tell me not to worry about school.  She even offered private one-on-one sessions if I needed help catching up.  Having these connections and learning from all these people is what it’s all about. 

One last thing I wanted to share before I give a highlight reel of the week is a quote from my travel journal. 

“Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”

-Miriam Beard

Although sometimes my experience in France has been overwhelming and I feel like the cost isn’t worth it, it is.  It’s hard to explain exactly how much my experience thus far has changed me, but it definitely has.  I am a stronger person after being here.  I can feel it.  I like this quote because it is so true how traveling is about much more than visiting all the tourist traps Europe has to offer.  It’s about learning from others who are different from you and changing the way you view the world. 

Favorite things of the week:

1.      -KAITLYN IS VISITING THE DAY I GET OUT.  Can’t even describe my excitement.  Couldn’t sleep last night I was so excited.

2.      -WALKING  & SHOWERING & EATING NORMALLY!!!!

3.      -Chatting it up with the nurses in French – everyone here has been so nice!

4.      -Micheline’s daily visits/ photo shoot

5.      -Visits from my friends in the programs.  Emma’s private harmonica concert.  Emma and Elita reading to me.  Special thanks to Emma, Elita, Molly, Elliot, Elliot’s mom, Greg, Hannah, Micheline, Miriam (and her sassy romantic novel :P), my host mom and dad, my host sister.  Every single visit made each day a little brighter.  -Thanks for saving me from boredom – especially during midterms!

6.      -Lapping one of my neighbors who I usually see out walking in the courtyards.  He said wow today you’re super fast.  Ya, I make friends with all the old fogeys.

7.      -Watching tons of French TV (America’s Next Top Model, 7^th Heaven, Glee, Smallville, Malcom in the Middle, random movies) and music videos (check out Elle me dit by MIKA.  So good!)

8.      Reading 3 books including A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway (thanks Tommy)! It’s about Hemingway’s life in Paris in the 1920s as a poor, young writer.  SO excited to go to Paris, visit Shakespeare and Company, and wander along the Seine!

9.      -A nurse mistaking me for a French girl (a slow French girl, but none the less someone French!)!  My pronunciation can’t be horrible!

10.  -Having an hour casual conversation with Micheline, my host mom, and my host sister.  I couldn’t believe how easy conversation flowed out of my mouth and how effortless my oral comprehension was.  This is the first time I’ve had a long conversation where I felt as if I strongly held up my third!

I also have to mention how much more I respect and understand hospitals in general.  The staff her has been incredibly professional, helpful, supportive, and kind.  Without that attitude surrounding me every day, my experience would have been terrible.  Without the love of my friends here, my experience would have been terrible.  There is so much that it takes to help a person get back their health and now I am thankful that I’ve made the time in my life to make those visits to my relatives and friends when they needed that support when they were in the hospital.