Once you go black, you can't go back

France has ruined me. I came to France as a bright color-wearing, café au lait drinking, English speaking girl but no more. I walked into the school offices today wearing turquoise tights with a black dress. Upon seeing my colored tights (as opposed to my normal black ones) the director cried out, "Laura, what happened to your French color palette?" I have been in Rouen for almost a month now and the one day that I added a bright color it was a shock to people. Now obviously self-concious, I d
In terms of coffee, I have been drinking either espresso or strong black drip coffee. No cream, no sugar. I never thought I would see the day when I was drinking espresso on a regular basis but here we are. When my friend Ashley offered me a drink of her cappucino last week I almost spit it out because it tasted like sugary milk. I am already planning on investing in an espresso machine when I get home.
Today when I was taking the bus into town for some previously mentioned coffee, I was talking with one of my friends. I was talking about the key to the office however what came out was not French nor English. I said, "I need the cley for tomorrow." Clé and key combined to form a new word. I would like to pretend that this isn't normal but this actually happens a lot. My English is slowly being replaced with French. I don't meet my friends at the train station, we meet at the gare. We don't talk about the student and teacher strikes, we talk about le grève et la manifestation. We are starting to have entire conversations in French amongst one another which is beginning so seem more normal as time goes on. I am starting to wonder what my conversations will sound like when I get home.