From Right Here

Well people…vacation is so, so, over. I’m thinking that it would be impossible to go through life and not spend a few months living abroad again. If you’re thinking of a vacation, try going to a language school like I did - spend an extra few hundred dollars, go with a friend or by yourself, and meet tons of great people and get more out of your experience.

For all you Americans out there that are afraid to travel- there’s a whole other world that exists beyond our borders. I know it seems crazy, but it’s true. And people out there are not mean, and they like us…in fact, they’re obsessed. So go out there, and make some new friends.

I’m back in New York and I’ve found myself a job. Yes, even in the economy, people are still partying and drinking, new restaurants are opening every day, and there is still work out there for people who are not picky.

But I, dear friends, will no longer be blogging. I don’t want to blog about my life…I just want to live it. And I’m ready now, more than ever.

It was fun blogging about my experience abroad and I thank you so much for sharing it with me. I wish I could have shared a lot more, but right now…do a little digging and you will find a wealth of other blogs out there. Try www.wordpress.com or www.technorati.com - Look into the “tags” section and you will find blogs about anything and everything, and if I find some good ones, I will occasionally link to them here.

For now - try reading www.stillgoodnews.com - This is a site I have with a couple of friends where we find all the quirky, positive and hopeful news out there (Yes, there is still some good news out there!). It’s everything from - ‘re-using old subway cars as coral reefs’, to ‘why watching Law & Order makes you hungry.”

http://www.stillgoodnews.com/?p=122

If anyone would like to take over this site and write about your own adventure- please contact me at channon(’AT’ symbol)fromrighthere.com!

Thank you for reading!

I can’t say I just spent a whole day taking pictures of normal French people. I can’t categorize any person as normal, especially French! I spent Sunday at a Festival of “welcome”, a brilliant idea by the city of Montpellier, that invites every association, dance school, choral group, mosaic-workshop, gay/lesbian club, karate class in the greater Languedoc area to come and give out information to the public.

It was a beautiful day to appreciate how nice it is to live for a few months in one of France’s largest cities, where culture is king. Here’s some photos of Montpellierians…and French people, whom I try to impersonate on a daily basis.

Salsa dancing is VERRYYY popular in Montpellier. It may be because Montpellier is a huge cultural center for dance, with many dane schools and its own yearly dance festival - Montpellier Dance. They also had their own country line-dancing group.

Even when women are dressed “comfortably” in France, they always wear jewelery, and have great hair. Love her bag, too! And don’t even think of wearing sweats unless you’re headed to the gym…it’s just weird.

Alright, this is nothing to do with France but rather, something I’ve been saying for a long time.

Snacking is important.

Snacking is underrated.

Snacking in a meeting almost makes the meeting bearable (okay, that’s another story)…almost

Scientists recently discovered that because your brain uses glucose in order to function while thinking, it triggers your hunger pains so you’ll have to refill. Had to write a story about it - find the story at my other little baby:

www.stillgoodnews.com

Best snack ever - Triscuits… I swear they are ALMOST as good as pringles.

Oh, the art of doing-not-much, is so sweet here…. But of all the wonderfully literary and cultural things I can be getting myself into, I still have my little magazine-disease. It starts at the grocery store, or the corner “Tabac” shop. The magazines are all laid out in their little rows, with their bright titles, and they’re glossy happy faces. I notice when it’s a particularly “blonde” month full of blond-headed cover-girls, or whether we’ve moved into “brunettes”. I know the entire history of the death of Jane Magazine, and before I left NYC, I had to lug 3 boxes of old magazines down to the recycling bin.

And in France - they just freakin’ kill me - they offer FREE THINGS IN THE MAGAZINES!

Seriously, you don’t have to send in a post-card. You don’t have to collect UPC symbols. Your free gift is just sitting there in it’s lovely little cellophane wrapping. And I can’t escape the temptation. (Even though the magazines are in french and NO, I don’t understand all of it:):)

I’ve already gotten a free white bag with sparkly-sequins for only 2 Euro Extra!, a free book on sexy art, and a free scarf. I’ve been looking desperately for the “Sante” (Health Magazine) with the free travel pillow, but I may fall prey to the new BIBA - which contains a skirt that turns into a DRESS! Dit Quoi? These french people are pretty clever. They know me too well, here.

Okay, but I HAVE now got a library card (cost me 15 freakin’ euro!), and I can choose from an entire shelf of books in English. My latest was a recommendation from my new friend Claus who teaches at a German school in Paris. - “The New York Trilogy” by Paul Aster. Yes, I find it’s the very best thing to contemplate on your hometown when you’re living in another country.

Thanks for the recommondation Claus! This is a detective/mystery/man-ish kind of novel, that I found completely thoughtful and intriguing. My favorite quote -

“City of Glass” P94

Old man Stillman explaining why he wanders around all day collecting junk from the streets of New York and renaming them:
“…For our words no longer correspond to the world. When things were whole, we felt confident that our words could express them. But little by little these things have broken apart, shattered, collapsed into chaos. And yet, our words have remained the same…

But words, you understand, are capable of change…when you rip the cloth off the umbrella, is the umbrella still an umbrella?…Because it can no longer perform its function, the umbrella has ceased to be an umbrella…The word however has remained the same.

Therefore, it can no longer express the thing. It is imprecise; it is false; it hides the thing it is supposed to reveal. And if we cannot even name a common, everyday object that we hold in our hands, how can we expect to speak of the things that truly concern us?”

The great thing about Montpellier is that it is a French city with lots and lots of international students. Currently, at my little language school, I take class with a Canadian, a Swede, 3 Germans, an Italian, a Romanian a Russian and a Tawainese. I live with a Swede.

It gives me great opportunities to ask the questions we never wanted to work hard to answer - namely -

Canada - what exactly are they up to?

Switzerland - is there more than just the bank?

Taiwan - what is it?

M first few weeks here, I felt pretty dumb (I won’t say dumb-american, because let’s face it, there’s some pretty damn smart people in America). People generally seem to know a lot about the US - the celebrities, the politics, the cities. I’d kind of liken it to being the celebrity of the moment - America-lina, maybe. But I did often meet people from countries I couldn’t identify on a map. And, let’s face it, there are some places that no one actually - gets. Maybe it’s our lack of curiosity - but I prefer to blame it instead on the good old media - it’s easier, they’re big, and many people don’t like them.

So, coming soon - a little ditty on different countries around the world. I ask my friends some questions, they give me some enlightening facts about the world.

Mega!