Mon Anniversaire

The fun thing about the word anniversaire is you can use it pretty much whenever you want. For example, joyeux anniversaire means happy birthday, but it also means happy anniversary (such as a wedding anniversary).

A month ago, I arrived in Lyon, so joyeux anniversaire a moi!

In honor of my one-month anniversary I figured I should do something special today. That "something special" ended up being me helping some American boys figure out what to do with their trays at my favorite restaurant, holding the door open for some people, and giving up my seat on the metro for an elderly lady.

Oh, and I also went to class.

It was the perfect anniversaire.

In honor of this day, I bring you some of my favorite things from my life in France so far:

I didn't think I would ever find something I liked more than speculoos gelato (or the petit vennois near Versailles if you want real food), but then tonight I tasted St. Moret cream cheese. It is the best thing I've eaten so far, and I have eaten a lot of good food. I'm now considering leaving all of my stuff in France and packing my suitcase full of 50 pounds of this cream cheese to bring back to the States because I love it so much.

I also learned my new favorite French word -- reprendre. Despite the fact that this word has three French r's and is in the troisième group (the worst group to conjugate) I love this word. It literally means to retake (prendre means to take), but it can be used in the same way we use 'to take in' in the States, such as when you need to take in a skirt.

I don't imagine that I will have much use for this word outside of tonight's dinner when I told my host family how my mom tailors -- or reprend -- my clothes, but I still love this word. I might even try and make it into my own catch phrase...

I've learned a lot in the past month. I've learned how to not flood the bathroom when I'm taking a freezing cold shower. I've learned that the bathroom doesn't actually hate me, it was just initiating me into French life. I've learned how to close my wardrobe. And I've also learned where to go if you need to buy notebooks...

I can only imagine what my two-month anniversaire will bring.