From Europe with Love...Marcia: Je kiffe Poitiers!

That's French slang for "I love Poitiers!"...

Where did the last 2 months go?

Writing during my first weeks seemed so easy and then all of a sudden life hit me...In a great way! Yes, 8 business school classes all at once is a big load, especially because the schedule is almost daily from 9am to 5:00pm...It's bizarre seating in a classroom that many hours per day...I do, however, LOVE my professors, my school and my classmates...I feel like my experience here will really make a big impact on my career and, of course, it's already making a HUGE impact on my life...

Besides studying, I have really spent two months on social overdrive mode...Socializing student style is improvized, random, and always fun...Collective dinners at someone's home or dorm (yea shock, I know!!!), parties, parks, bohemian nights, movie nights, crepe soirees...You get the picture! Actually, if you REALLY want to get the picture go to these e-albums to see a portion of the last months of French style socializing! Poitiers - Album 1 and Poitiers - Album 2. Way too many stories jammed packed into each picture, each face, each moment...Lovely stories, funny stories, boy-loves-girl stories, girl-loves-boy stories, stories of people speaking 8 to 10 languages in the same room, church stories, school stories--each story with its own soundtrack: For the dancing pictures Black Eyed Peas' Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night, for the park pictures Gypsy Kings and Juanes, for our many dinners everything from Jacques Brel to Mariachi to geeky 80s stuff, for the cabaret night Shakira's Si te vas (which I sang while my friend Freddy played the guitar and the crowd went nuts) and on and on...One night's soundtrack was quite memorable...4 classmates and I had dinner with two of our professors; in between our delicious conversation, one of the professors would sing snippets of tunes from all over the world...We enjoyed yummy Italian food and the laughter increased as we tried a variety of reds...

My financial analysis class dines with our professors

I am STILL madly in love with this country...
When I return to the US I'll miss the 80-200 kisses I get every day...Let me explain, our business school is small and we're all like a big huge family, especially those of us in the same year (250), my core group is 50 people and many of us greet each other with a kiss on each cheek every morning, that's two kisses per person...And sometimes we'll give each other two kisses at the end of the day...To that you add all the friends outside the core group and the kiss count just grows and grows...I don't know how I'm supposed to go back to a non-touching culture after here...Then again, I guess I've done it before between Latin America and the US...

I'll also miss the two hour lunches during which even parking meters are free because lunch time is sacred here! Wouldn't it make more sense to capitalize on the fact that people must have lunch and make sure the meters were fed...I love that they could care less and that the most important thing is for everyone to have their well-deserved leisurely lunch every day...

I'll miss feeling like I know everyone in town...Something I've felt since my second or third week here...I'll walk 2 minutes and bump into someone I know and 2 minutes or less later it'll happen again. I seat at a cafe and people constantly stop by to say hi...I'm embarrassed to say that in the 3+ years I've lived in my apartment in San Rafael I've managed to learn 4 of my neighbors' names...Here I've learned dozens of names and faces...Somehow the pace of living here allows me to do that...

Another random cool thing about France: the cashiers at the supermarkets seat down...I've always wondered why the people at Safeway and Lucky and Albertsons and even at progressive Whole Foods are not allowed to seat as they ring up our food...It's wonderful that here they ring up your groceries from the comfort of a cushioned chair or stool. It just seems like the right thing to do...

All buildings I've been to in Poitiers are energy efficient, so lights stay on for just a few minutes at a time in places like hallways, bathrooms, and common areas...You have no idea how much guilt I've had about my US habits of consumption...People here write small to save paper; I, on the other hand, used to write big and on just one side of the page when I arrived...My daily showers have decreased in length, and I recycle everything!

With the current school load I haven't been able to travel as much as I would have liked by now, still I've seen some beautiful and amazing places...All filled with rich history, gorgeous landscapes, and exceptional architecture. In France I've seen Paris, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Saint Emilion, Chenanceau, and a little village annexed to Poitiers called Chasseneuil du Poitou...The town's name is almost bigger than the town, but its character and history are so much larger! Here are links to e-albums of my travels inside France: Paris, La Rochelle, Bordeaux and Saint Emillion, Chenanceau, and Chasseneuil du Poitou.

So much more to say...But this is a good start to re-starting the blog...Miss you all, think of you often, wish I could have my two worlds in one place...Savoring every minute of this world, this French, French world...