Okay, don't panic, but...

[rebecca_in_blue]

Rebecca has had her first crisis in France. I'm all right now, so please don't overreact like the French people did. Here's what happened… I must still have been jetlagged, because I slept right through lunch yesterday. When I woke up, I went down to the principal's office to pay for a meal plan, and then I asked him if he knew where I could buy an electrical adapter (which allows American appliances to be plugged in European outlets), because I needed to charge my cell phone and the adapter Aunt Vickie had given me doesn't work for the outlets in my room.

The next thing I remember is thinking that someone had thrown something hard at my forehead. Then I realized that what had hit me in the head was the floor; I had fallen down. So I sat up, confused, and asked, "Qu'est qui se passe?" (What happened?) And then everybody panicked. It seemed that every teacher in the school was suddenly swarming around, asking if I was diabetic or epileptic, and my understanding of French had never felt so poor. I managed to tell them that I would be all right if I just drank some water and rested, but while they were helping me back to my room, lo and behold, I fainted again! I came to very quickly, but not before they had called an ambulance, and all too soon a lot of paramedics arrived big dark suits that made them look just like a SWAT team. They measured my blood pressure and pricked my finger to test my blood sugar. I'll spare you the rest of the details, suffice to say that it was extremely embarrassing and hardly how I had hoped to spend my time in France. Ever since then, the teachers have all been asking, "Do you feel all right? Have you eaten?" every single time they see me.

The good news is that today was infinitely better. I spent a solid two hours wandering around the town, figuring out where things are. The centre-ville is really lovely; there's a a fountain, a church that was built around the twelfth century, and big statue of Alexandre Dumas, who was born here. I also found a nice little bookstore with several copies of French Harry Potter books – although the store did not seem very organized; obviously becuase Sara didn't work there – and I spent some time playing with a sweet little kitten I met on a tennis court near the school. The cantine was closed, so for dinner I had a frozen pizza I bought from the supermarket. I have heard that there is a McDonald's somewhere in this town, but I have yet to find it.

Here's something to think about… The school where I'm staying is a high school. Its students are 15 to 18, and about half of them board at the school. Yesterday I found on the wall in a hallway accessible to anyone, a machine that dispenses condoms for one Euro. My mind was blown. Can you even imagine what would happen if they tried to put one of those in an American high school?

Comments

Re: You didn't include the Mosedale dream!

[rebecca-in-blue.livejournal.com]

For those of you who don't know what she's talking about, for the few seconds that I was unconscious the second time I passed out, I had a dream involving visiting Uncle Johnny and Aunt Betty Mosedale on Star Island. Very weird.