Christina revisits the first Friday

It's a bit crazy to see the changes that have happened for you two over the past year! I still have trouble believing we've actually been doing this for that long.

Having just reread my first post, I'm a bit surprised to see that I haven't really changed all that much. The things I said in my first post describing myself are still true. The thing that has changed, however, is the things I would choose to talk about in describing myself. Whereas I chose to talk about only-childom, my different social groups, realism, and some other things, these days I would focus on independence and adapting. The past year I have, I think, greatly developed the skill to adapt. This seems completely logical seeing as I've been living in a foreign country for five of the last (nearly!) twelve months. My view has shifted from the relatively narrow one of college classes and my thesis to a wider one of France, graduate programs, world travels, and how to support myself in the future.

I think I've also become better at meeting new people and developing relationships. I've carved out a little life for me in my French hometown. I have a regular cafe I go to and am friends with many of the workers there. I have acquaintances and friends who live in the town, as well as friends who are fellow assistants. I've enjoyed increasing my circle of friends and watching their web of different countries evolve to include more locations.

One final difference, I think I've become much better at living on my own, being smart with my money, etc. This is the first time I've really been on my own: buying my own groceries, paying my rent, buying a coat, things like that. It's certainly been a new experience, one that I'm still working at. I tend to use up all my money on travel and then end up skimping on groceries at the end of every month! But when am I next going to be able to do all this traveling in Europe, right?

Well, there you have it, how I've changed in the past year! As it turns out... not too much (at least not that I can notice)! I wrote my first post from my apartment in Michigan and I'm not writing this one from my friend Sarah's apartment in Paris- the last year seems to have gone pretty well!