columbus coffee co. (aka my new haven)

I'm sitting in a coffee shop- like a real coffee shop with chairs and outlets and sugary drinks.

Cafes are the norm here, and while I admire the sophistication of reading a book at a tiny outdoor table with a café au lait or an espresso shot, sometimes the American in me wants to hibernate in a coffee shop with a journal, a couple of hours to kill, and a VERY large drink with all the trimmings. I finally found a place here that fulfills that craving, and after two consecutive visits the barista gave me a loyalty card. I think he sensed I felt comfy here and would be returning many more times.

I bought a little journal today, just a small yellow buddy to carry around with me. I wanted something portable, to write down musings and new language concepts in while I travel. I broke it in today while in this coffee shop, with some ideas I was mulling over for my upcoming honors capstone project, when an interaction in the coffee shop caught my attention. A girl had gone up to the counter, in a big 90's style sweatshirt and bomber jacket. She walked up to the counter and the barista said something that made her laugh, a BIG hearty laugh. I'm not talking a chuckle here people this girl was ROLLIN. He smiled and turned around to make her drink, and she stole a second to check her reflection in the stainless steel of the espresso machine. She jumped back to the register right as he was turning, slightly flipping her hair. He said he'd bring her the drink, she could go ahead and sit down, and when she walked away he smiled after her. I think I just witnessed a real life coffee shop meet cute- does that mean I'm invited to the eventual wedding? I feel like it does, I witnessed the first sparks. I saw it all.

And as I was sitting here thinking about what to wear to barista guy and 90's sweatshirt girl's wedding I heard someone say my name. Looked up and bam there's Marta and two french guys in tow (atta girl), she explained to them that we're friends and I'm from America and the one guy starts screwing with me- "Ohhhh no! Terrible!!! Not American!!!" we joked back and forth for a bit about Ohio french being terrible and I assured him Donald didn't get my vote, truly a moment of cultural connection. His name's Gabriel, and he said that him and a few of his friends organize events for exchange students to practice their French and French students to practice their English, and that if I was interested they were making plans for tomorrow night. I'm pretty excited honestly, I haven't truly gotten to interact with a lot of French people outside of class since all my friends are exchange students. I'm especially grateful since the university sponsored conversational program didn't end up working out- somewhere between the coordinator being on strike and my emails not getting to the right person I missed the registration deadline and can't participate, which really bummed me out. But there's always next semester, and now I'm feeling that whole when one door closes another one opens vibe. Anyways, it's been a pretty good Wednesday.

I'm starting to really feel like a student here, had my first exam this morning. Not the worst experience ever but definitely wouldn't do it for fun. It's nice to start feeling more capable in my classes though. I have German tomorrow, and I'm REALLY confident in there. I think it's because we're all beginners as opposed to me being at the disadvantage of having a different native language and educational experience than my peers. In German no one knows German so I'm bolder in there, I raise my hand more. Hoping to bring that confidences to my other classes in the next few weeks. EXCITING THINGS COMING UP TOO!

Tonight we're celebrating Maggie's birthday, she's been such a ray of sunshine in my life here, I'm happy to get to show her some appreciation tonight.

This weekend a group of exchange students is taking a trip to Nantes, I've never been in that region of France so I'm SUPER pumped to see it. Think there's a few more chateaus and cities in my near future (For sure Chenonceau and Amsterdam, we'll see where else I end up!) and I'm excited for all of it.

There's also an improv performance coming up soon that I'm gonna drag some friends to, I'm really missing the BG comedy community lately. Especially the gals of Lady Parts. If any of you are reading this, send jokes. France is lacking our vein of humor (dick jokes!!!!). oops this got way longer than I thought it would. oh well.

Hope your day went well, until next time.