3 Month Mark & a lot of Nostalgia

Week 13: 12/08-12/15

Welcome to /miel/, a written account of my life and what my days hold here in Noyon, France. Thank you for coming to read today.

Today marks 3 months here, to the day. 3 whole months. 90 days. ¼ of a year. And I’m feeling nostalgic today.

It’s been getting colder here, and with it comes some gloominess. The skies are consistently grey, with a few sunny afternoons in the mix, the air is frigid and the wind is sharp. It’s making me miss Montana during the winter. I am missing the days so cold your nose and fingers are on the verge of frostbite, with snow all around, and then the sun bursts out of the clouds and feels like the warmest sun you’ve ever felt on your skin. I could sit outside all day on Montana days like these.

I’ve also been missing the simple warmth of the Bozeman people. I miss walking down main street (as you know, one of my favorite places in Bozeman), and seeing a few people you know and saying hello’s, and finally finding refuge in a warm coffee shop, being greeted kindly by some college kid, and drinking a hot drink to warm you from within.

My mom told me the other day that she and my grandma went to the Nutcracker ballet the other weekend. This was one of my favorite traditions as a kid, as us three would maybe go out to dinner beforehand, see the show, and eat big sugar cookie at intermission. I remember receiving a wooden Nutcracker from my Grandma Carol at my first show I saw, and this Nutcracker makes an appearance every Christmas at our house on our fireplace.

I’ve been explaining a lot of United States Christmas traditions to the students this last week. Some are traditions my family celebrates, like stockings and decorating our tree, and having a Christmas meal on Christmas day. Others I have never heard of include something about a pickle in the tree, and the eggnog I’ve never cared to drink.

But, what I don’t get to tell the students is how my stocking that hangs on my mantle, that was made by my great grandma. How each person in my family has their ornaments that they put on the tree, because they’re their favorites. How we always receive an orange and a toothbrush in our stocking every year, and I don’t really know why, but I am always excited to receive them. How at Christmas dinner with my grandparents, my Grandma plays the piano and we all sit around and sing Christmas carols (yes, we really do). And how everything about Christmas traditions in my family feel like I live in a movie every year, and this year I feel like I am watching the movie instead of living it.

With a new place comes new traditions, and I have really enjoyed visiting the Christmas markets around different towns. I have loved drinking mulled wine while walking through the booths, sharing chocolate with friends, and adoring the arts that are presented. I hope there will be more opportunities to experience other traditions and French ways in the next few weeks.

I feel nostalgic and I find myself reminiscing frequently during this season, but I believe that nostalgia can be one of the most wonderful feelings one can experience. Nostalgia brings you back to the memory, to the moment, and you feel the feelings that you had in that memory. Nostalgia allows you to relive that memory not just in your mind’s eye, but in your heart and feelings as well. So while some of the feelings are more melancholy and longing, I remind myself that I am most thankful for the nostalgia of these memories and moments, many of which I have made with you.

So. This week in Noyon.

I went to Compiegne on Friday with some friends. We ate dinner ate an Italian place, where I had the BEST risotto I have ever had in my life, with chicken, spices, and cheese. Basic and AMAZING. We then went to a very small bar that was packed to the walls so we could watch the soccer game, which Argentina won, and I then was able to witness French karaoke… where basically the bar just plays Youtube lyrics videos, and there’s one microphone that gets passed around and you sing if you want, but everyone sings anyway. It was an interesting sight! Finally around 1 am, we ventured off to a club, and it was wild! There were so many people, it was difficult to walk through the bar. We danced, we sang, and we stayed out until 5 am when the bar closed.

Given that Friday night was quite late… I spent the rest of the weekend doing absolutely nothing and was completely content with this. It was a good weekend that I was happy to use to rest.

This week was our last week of classes before vacation!!! I worked another full week, and talked about Christmas a lot. It’s an interesting dynamic because there is a concept called laïcité in schools, which means that you cannot represent your religion in any way. So, you cannot wear (or show) religious symbols like crosses or stars of David, you cannot wear head dressings, and you cannot talk openly about religion. It’s a very complicated topic, but I was curious why Christmas could be celebrated, talked about, taught about, when it was traditionally a Christian holiday. The answer I received was that a lot of Christmas traditions aren’t Christian based and it’s more commercialized now rather than having a religious aspect, so if the teachers don’t teach about the Christian history of it, then it’s okay. It’s… interesting and I’m still wrapping my head around it, but there you go. There are a lot of forums and discussions on this concept of laïcité if you care to read more about it.

I went bowling in Noyon with some colleagues from Louis Pasteur and I showed them up! It was a fun time, and I was happy to have good discussions and to work on building those relationships as well. On that note, I had a Secret Santa party with my other colleagues from Paul Eluard last night, and it was a good event! Again, we had good discussions and I even tried fish eggs on toast (which I would NOT eat again). It was a late night, and for the last hour or so, my brain was fried from the French. I was tired, my brain was tired, and I could hardly make a sentence. But, so it goes and I am learning more and more every day!

This weekend I’ll be around the house, and I leave for my first part of vacation to Aix-en-Provence on Sunday night. I’ll give you all the details of how it went when I come back next week!

TL:DR

High: Winning in bowling!

High #2: Working on making relationships outside of work with some rad colleagues.

Low: Feeling some homesickness this week.

Low #2: Lack of motivation to be diligent in my coursework.

New French Word:

Petite caisse – literally means “little box”, but actually means “lightweight” (with drinking)

Lesson(s) Learned:

1. Nostalgia can be amazing and hard simultaneously.

2. French clubs are WILD.

3. Bowling is the same in France as in the US – yay, consistency!

4. Fish eggs are definitely overrated.

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Until next week, I wish you all well. I miss you all incredibly much. Please send me a message, an email, some snail mail, whatever suits you best.

All the best,

Abigail

Below: a shot that we did at the bar (with karaoke), and yes it was on FIRE!