The week leading up to my departure from the US I was definitely excited and could not wait to get to France. But, as the day got closer to leave, the more I got nervous, especially since it was my first time leaving the country. May 20th has finally arrived and I was off to France. 12 hours and 3 flights later I arrived in Nantes, France. Nantes is on the west coast of France, about a 2 and a half to 3 hour drive to Paris. After I got settled into my apartment I went and got groceries and right off the bat this was definitely different than an American grocery store. Picking out what to eat I guessed what the food was since it was all obviously in French and hoped for the best. I go to check out and see the customers in front of me bagging their own groceries into a big bag that they brought with them. So, I had to buy this bag and bag my own groceries. Ugh, such a struggle. Later on saturday night and sunday I went and ventured around Nantes and checked out the city. Going around the city I was a little nervous since I just arrived in a new continent all alone. Europeans can spot an American from a mile away, so I got a few stares, which definitely made me feel out of place. My first two days in France I thought there would obviously be a language barrier, but every person I talked to, I would first ask if they spoke english and about 90% of them said yes. I did have some people that automatically starting speaking to me in english, I don’t know how they knew, I guess the way I said bonjour. After a week and a half here I have ran into a few problems with the language, but I’ll just stare at them for a little bit or shake my head no and they finally realize I have no clue what they’re talking about.