Before this trip, I didn't think I had much growing up left to do, to be honest. I had already lived away from home, at college. I had already held a job and learned how to sign a lease. At home and at school I am mostly independent and (I thought) competent.
Ever since my parents dropped me off in Lyon, I have missed them, and I've missed home, but that's nothing new for me, since normally I go to college in a city that is a 7 hour drive from home.
However, here I've had to do more things for myself by myself than ever before, and on top of that, I've had to do them in a foreign language. At school, I always had at least 2 meals a day provided for me at the dining halls; here, I have to shop for groceries and cook my own food. I've never had to take care of as many bureaucratic and administrative things at home as I have had to here. It's mostly because I am an international student that I have so many official things I have to take care of, but I also think France is a more bureaucratic country than even the United States. UCLA's bureaucracy pales in comparison to the amount of paperwork and waiting in line I've had to do here.
For example, to receive my long stay visa that allows me to stay in France and visit other countries, I had to go to a specific office in Lyon with, among other things, my passport, an attestation of housing, a photocopy of the passport of the woman whose house I am living in, her electricity bill and a photocopy of it, a passport-style photo of myself, my immunization records, and a receipt for a specific 58 euro stamp that I had to buy from the French government.
These bureaucratic nightmares have been stressing me out, yes. But what's more stressful is the holes I keep digging for myself. Somehow due to the stress of living here and speaking a different language, I have succumbed entirely to absentmindedness. In the past few weeks, I've managed to damage both my cameras, lose my French cell phone, and, worst of all, leave my credit card at a cash register.
I'm not proud of how forgetful I have been acting. It's frustrating for me, because as soon as I start feeling comfortable here, I make another mistake. But I think, if anything, I've been learning to grow up faster here than I have ever before, because I usually have to fix all my mistakes myself. My parents can help me to a certain extent, but not as much as if I were in California. For example, I had to go buy a new French phone. Then I spent a day going to three different phone stores until I got to one where they could restore my former phone number.
The most important thing I've been learning here when it comes to growing up is that, if I make a mistake, even if it's a really bad one, I can't just go into my room and try to hide from it. I have to go deal with it.
I know this post is making my trip sound a lot less perfect than it has seemed in all my other posts thus far. I thought I would add a dose of realism to this blog. But, in truth, despite all of the mishaps, I continue to walk the streets of Lyon and gaze around me, awed by the beauty and excitement of France. I am realizing what the term "culture shock" truly means. Things can seem disconcerting here, but I am learning to appreciate them as aspects of a different culture that I am trying to understand.
Learning to grow up doesn't just consist of depressing experiences, either. I've also learned how to navigate a foreign city, all by myself. Taking the metro everywhere has made me feel far more independent than I feel even at home or in LA, where public transportation cannot get you very far.
I'm also learning how to travel as an adult. My friends and I went to Annecy this past weekend, a charming town nestled into the Alps, next to a large lake. Making hotel room reservations and train reservations by ourselves, without help from anyone, made me feel like I'm really an adult now, since it has always been my mom who has made these plans for me.
At Annecy, I had another grown-up feeling moment, which was my favorite part of the trip. Today is my roommate Huong's birthday, so we decided to celebrate that last weekend with a nice (expensive) dinner out in Annecy. We had a two-hour long, three-course meal that culminated with singing Huong happy birthday. We even ordered wine. Just knowing that my friends and I can go out to dinner and enjoy ourselves while having good food and good wine made realize just how much I have grown up. We didn't really need to do anything fancy. The food we had was good, but not gourmet. But the company was enough, and I think realizing the value of friends over material things, especially when you are in a strange place as I am here, is really a life experience that will stay with me.
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| Dinner at Annecy |
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