The saying “home is where the heart is” resonates in my head a lot
when walking down the streets of Angers. I have yet to find my home here. It
has only been a few weeks, so hopefully that will arise soon. Yet what would
classify as the heart in this situation, creating a home? For me, it is a
feeling of comfort or the acceptance of uncomfortable circumstances in what
would be the home. I currently have been tackling some small issues with my
host family, which has made it harder to feel at home in what is supposed to be
my home away from home. I hope to have happier news on the living situation
soon, but that doesn’t keep me from falling in love with the city of Angers.
Angers is a
beautiful city filled with so much life. I am, for the most part, pleased
beyond all belief to be in this city. There is only really one thing that
bothers me though, all the smoke. Unfortunately, it seems that no matter where,
so long as I am in France, I am in a smoking zone. In movies and on TV, even in
books, the French character always has
a cigarette in hand. In the US, the view upon smoking and those who smoke are a
bit different than here. As a non-smoker, I feel as though I am the minority.
As much as one has control of their own body and what they out into it, the
secondhand smoke agitates my asthma, making it much more difficult to breathe.
This is the norm though; smoking is still okay for those who want to smoke. It
is a social activity of French culture.
I have not been
asked a lot about American culture besides the questions from my professors.
When people ask if I am American they are either thrilled and ask me twenty million
questions about the upcoming elections (which I learned that I actually know a
lot more about politics than I let myself believe) or give me a look like I
just vomited on them. I know that the US
has done some things in the past that are unfavorable to any country, but I
still am proud to be American. It is not a label to be ashamed of. The United
States is and forever will be my home. I am not someone that runs around waving
the biggest American flag with a beer in hand and screaming ‘Murica or anything,
but I love my home. Answering questions about the US is satisfying because I am
able to share that there is more than just Donald Trump and fast food
restaurants.
The only real
conversation I was able to get out of my host mother was that on the subject of
same sex marriage. During dinner, when it is just the two of us, we listen to
the radio and we eat. Something about the difficulty of marriage came up and I
asked her if she knew of any married same sex couples. She said something along
the lines of that she had friends who were “roommates” or “neighbors who
decided it would be more economically beneficial to live together” (which was
actually what she said) and anything else that would cover the fact that they
were indeed a couple. It still bothers me that, no matter where in the world I
am, there are still issues concerning same sex
marriage. This hits close to
home to me because, as I explained to her, my best friend and his boyfriend
were picking out engagement rings and were asking my opinion (yay!). She seemed
shocked that it could just easily be done like that “in the open”. She then
asked me if I knew any couples that were already married, and I realized that
this is an issue in France more so than in my life in the states. I explained
how in high school, one of my friends had two moms, but weren’t as open about
their relationship. My best friend in college has two moms. I have friends who
are completely open about their life and how they live it. That’s how it should
be; it’s normal. My host mother thought it was great that things seemed so
easy, and I tried to explain to her that there are still things that the US
needs to work on.
On a different note, I want
France to be my home away from home. There will always be things that I will
want from home (right now its Chipotle) but I know that when I go home, all I
will want is French bread and cheese. Sometimes it is hard to adjust to a new
way of life, luckily I’m in a beautiful, welcoming city with so much more to
learn about their, and other surrounding cultures.
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