birthdayness

Today was a really great day, even though it's freezing outside and I'm dead tired. It's the first week of classes, so things are a little hectic, and I think I've finally figured out my schedule--after going to five classes yesterday--never happening again. I surprisingly moved up in my French class because I wanted more of a challenge...which is surprising because I suddenly feel kind of confident about my French. Sure, I still need to learn a lot more, but I'm not as worried about how I sound, I just try and get it out. It's weird not being so embarrassed anymore. And then when I got home after a long day of errands (we went to the elusive but famous Shakespeare and Co to buy our textbooks, but it took us a while to find it hidden on a tiny street--I'm absolutely obsessed with that place, I need to go back and explore it more), I was told that it's Beatrice's grandson, Martin (the one who stays with us on the weekends)'s 14th birthday, as well as National Crepe Day (such a good day to have your birthday on), so the whole family was over and they made crepes. At first it was really awkward for Julia and I to sit in on the family festivities but everyone is so nice, and hey, free crepes. Then Beatrice's friends came to pick up their kids, and they were really friendly and spoke to us in Franglais. Beatrice and the husband joked around a lot, and they made fun of each other's accents when speaking English, and I just kept thinking that I would never have been able to do this if I had chosen to live in an apartment. And last night Julia and I cooked (as in boiled water) in the kitchen for the first time, which at first felt really awkward, but now it feels like no big deal--I guess those are the cons to living in someone else's house.

When I was walking home from the metro today I was thinking about how I could actually see myself living here later on. I forget how we got on the subject, but last night all of a sudden Julia and I realized that we're graduating next year. Only one more year of school and then it's the real world. I'm refusing to let myself actually realize this fact (instead of just numbly thinking about it), but it might make it a nicer reality if I imagine myself living here...