The Epilogue

I’m back in the states.

While I know I will miss France, after so much travelling I have been enjoying the simple pleasures of being home- going to my hometown’s 4th of July parade, playing fetch with my dogs, letting my chickens outside, and catching up with my siblings (and my parents- hi Mom).

Nevertheless, it’s time to (finally) write a decent conclusion to this crazy blog.

Without further ado, I present to you Megan’s Time Abroad: The Epilogue.

First of all, thank you all for taking the time to read this blog, I’ve enjoyed having your virtual support throughout this whole experience.

Second of all, for those following my Thumb Saga (which you can read about here– or don’t, and just trust me when I say that it was a strange and unfortunate event that resulted in a severed right thumb tendon), rest assured thanks to daily thumb exercises, physical therapy sessions where my thumb learned to be a thumb and I learned random French expressions (“c’est pas le pied!”) my splint is off, and my right thumb is remembering how to hit the space bar as I type this (which makes blogging much more efficient!). I had a follow-up visit with my French Surgeon Who Talks Quickly About Complicated Thumb Mechanics (FSWTQACT), and though FSWTQACT and I have differing opinions about whether or not I’ll ever be able to bend my thumb again, I’m determined to do the equivalent of the Thumb Olympics to get as much mobility back as I can. So that’s that.

It is a corny and over-used phrase but the simplest way to sum up my 6 months in Europe is to say that it was “unforgettable”.

Here are a few of the reasons why:

My study abroad friends, a wonderful group of people from all over the U.S. who are willing to talk with you about things like how much you miss American pizza or how hard it is to remember how to order a pitcher of water at a restaurant (“une carafe d’eau, s’il vous plaît”)

My “modern art” class at the Université de Nantes, which (much to my surprise!) turned out to actually be focused on 16th century Italian art. This meant I learned a lot of new French vocabulary which lets me say things like “the exposed knee in this painting is clearly a reference to Michelangelo”, and “the sheer strangeness of this painting reflects the artistic anxiety of the period following Michelangelo’s death”, and other things that (thankfully) will not be found in any French/English phrasebook.

Making French/francophone friends. I’m so thankful for the “jeunes adultes” group at the local protestant church in Nantes… and for all the times we went out for Indian food.

La bise. In the U.S., we greet people with a “Hello” and maybe a handshake. In France, you do “la bise”, where you kiss the person on both cheeks*. The first time I did it, I was terrified. Truth is, I’m still terrified, now I just hide it better.

*actually more like “kiss the air near the person’s cheeks”, as I found out.

The thumb saga… I never thought I would see a French hospital from the inside, but now I have, and let me tell you, the food is AMAZING. I also have to hand it to the hand surgeons, they did a nice job.

Boulangeries. I fell in love at first sight, and even did a presentation on them for my IES French class. Fresh bread is a beautiful thing, as is going to the boulangerie early in the morning when the pain au chocolat is still warm…

A fresh baguette with camembert…heavenly.

My host family. Still not sure why a family with 5 kids already decided to accept one more, but I am so glad they did!

Sharing my name with the incredibly popular Renault “Mégane”. “Je m’appelle Mégane, comme la voiture!” My name is Megan, like the car! Interestingly, the French name “Mégane” was inspired by the car- before the invention of the Renault, the name was non-existent.

Interning at a dairy farm. After my semester in Nantes, I interned at a dairy farm in rural Normandy for 2 weeks, during which I learned a lot of cow-related vocabulary, learned how to milk cows, and even learned how to herd cows from one pasture to another (hint: it requires much shouting of “ALLEZ!” and acting like you are much bigger than you actually are).

At the farm, one of my homes away from home.

Gallivanting around Europe. After the dairy farm, I travelled alone through Europe, staying with friends in the Basque country, Germany, and the U.K., all of which I never could have imagined doing before studying abroad.

One of my favorite places I visited in London. Yes, I am a proud Hufflepuff!

My mom and I crossing a river on the sand flats near Mt St Michel. Intense but very fun!

Though it’s fair from perfect, I know my grasp of French can take me far. Just how far? I’m not sure yet…but I’m excited to find out. In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger…. France, I’ll be back!*

*OK, so he didn’t say “France”, but I did, so there.

So I suppose this is less of an epilogue, and more of a “To be continued”.

 

Truth is stranger than fiction (Part 2)

For the first time since my wisdom teeth were taken out, I was going to have surgery.

In France.

5,000 miles from home.

In French.

If you haven’t read my right-thumb-meets-wine-glass saga, you can read part 1 of this story here.

On Sunday morning, Anna (my IES program director) and I checked in at the Nantes Institut de la Main (Hand Institute). The surgeon swooped in, looked at my right thumb for a grand total of what felt like 30 seconds, and pronounced: 1 cut tendon and nerve (the nerve was news to me), 1 severed artery (this was discovered later during surgery), looking at a splint for 1 month and about 1.5 months of physical therapy.

Whoa.

What had, up until that point, been yesterday’s strangely surreal adventure had suddenly become more real. I hadn’t even thought about the physical therapy aspect. PT = “rééducation” in French, which made sense- my thumb would have to learn to be a thumb again.

“Do you think I could borrow a pen?” I asked in French.

Today, I decided, I would start to write with my left hand.

My first words. I decided that I wanted my first lefty words to be in French, because pourquoi pas?

It wasn’t easy, and though it wasn’t pretty, at least it was legible. One attempt down, many more to go.

What followed was frequently scary, at times strange, sometimes oddly beautiful, and undoubtably the most intense French immersion experience of my life.

Me being goofy, as usual.

Once I was dressed up in the typical operation garb (blue is the new black, people), I was led to the pre-operation room. I was set up on my own stretcher, and I was left to wait for the anesthetic in my right arm to kick in. There two younger girls there too who were both set up with iPads, but I guess I was too old for an iPad, so I was left alone with my thoughts.

Though the hours I spent in that room felt like an eternity, it was oddly peaceful. Nurses bustled around, the anesthesiologist went from patient to patient. For us patients, this moment was an irregular blip in our lives, while for the staff this was normal, another day at work. I found the dichotomy fascinating.

My daydreaming came to a halt when a no-nonsense nurse came in and asked me if I was “ready”. Ready as I’ll ever be, I thought, feeling strangely calm. This was already far beyond any of the challenges I had anticipated during my study abroad semester, so since I had already crossed that line, there was simply nothing left to do but keep calm and see what happened.

The operating room was full of masked French medical people. Everyone wanted to know who I was, why I was in France, and of course how I had hurt my hand.

As I had done countless times before, I explained that I was an American, that in the U.S. I study French, that I was only going to be in Nantes for the semester, and that I had tripped and cut my hand on a glass.

Then the blue curtain came down, a block was put on, and then I was left only to wonder what was going on with my right hand. I tried my hardest not to think about it, but anxiety started prickling the edges of my thoughts all the same.

“Yes, and all because this young lady cut herself with that stupid glass,” I heard the surgeon joke from the other side of the curtain.

“Désolée,” I retorted, almost without thinking, “sorry.”. My heart raced. Was this normal, to talk to your surgeon while lying on the operating table? Probably not, but I would do it anyway.

The surgeon laughed. We started talking about the differences between health care in France and in the U.S. Though the same surgery would have cost a fortune in the U.S., I learned that it’s free for a French citizen who has the “carte vitale” (national health insurance card). Then, as is typical of conversations with the French, my surgeon asked me the golden question: “What do you think of Trump?”

I had to laugh. Of all the possible applications of my French skills, I would never have ever been able to imagine this spontaneous operating table conversation- about American politics, of all things! Luckily, all those years of French classes kicked in, and I was able to express myself fairly well, given the stress of the situation. And if nothing else, it was a good distraction.

1 hour later and it was over. The tendon and the nerve were successfully repaired, and the next day I had my first session of physical therapy. Operation “Get Megan’s Right Hand Working Again” had begun, and I was about to become a (temporary) lefty, but something else had changed.

Since that hospital ordeal, I’ve had a new confidence in my French. As if somehow, after all that, I know my French can tackle pretty much anything.

Is it worth injuring a thumb? Probably not… but it is a pretty sweet bonus.

 

Truth is stranger than fiction (Part 1)

As I was sitting outside with my host family on April 8th, soaking in the sunshine and listening to the giggles of my host sisters, I thought, It can’t get any better than this.

Unfortunately, I was right.

It didn’t get better. In fact, it got a lot worse.

But we’ll get to that part later.

La plage à Quimiac

For the moment, everything was perfect. It was the first full day of Easter break, and I was at my host family’s vacation home in Quimiac, France, an hour away from Nantes. After a delicious appetizer outside, we all decided to go in and eat some lunch, so I grabbed my glass and a chair and made my way across the lawn. I stepped up onto the terrace, lifting the chair up beside me, glass in hand….

And then it happened.

I tripped.

But unlike 99% of the time, I didn’t catch myself, and went sprawling, landing hard.

What happened next is a series of moments in my memory. I was on the ground, and I looked up, embarrassed. “It’s nothing,” I thought, just a fall (I’m clumsy, so this happens sometimes). Then I saw the broken glass on the terrace, saw my host dad’s worried face from the doorway, then suddenly he was next to me.

“Are you hurt?” he asked in French.

It was only then that I looked at my right hand. It didn’t hurt, so I was confused when I saw blood, and a deep cut in my thumb.

“Un petit peu,” I said. “A little bit.” A beautiful understatement.

Luckily my host mom is a nurse, and it was her clear-headed action that saved me from totally emotionally losing it. Hold pressure, sit down, it’s going to be OK.  I was rushed inside. “It’s too deep, we’re going to have to call an ambulance,” I heard my host mom tell my host dad. My heart started pounding, Was this all really happening? 

“But they’ll be here soon, and then we’ll go straight to the hand clinic in Nantes. You’re going to be OK,” my host mom told me, her blue eyes meeting mine. I nodded, trying to take deep breaths while holding the wash cloth tightly against my thumb. While my host parents called IES (my study abroad center), I made faces at my 5-year-old host sisters, partly to reassure them I was OK, and partly to reassure myself.

4 volunteer firefighters showed up within 10 minutes, and I was literally carried away to the ambulance on a red  chair, giving my host sisters the princess wave as I went by, deciding to make the most of the moment. After all, it’s not every day that you’re treated like royalty.

Nantes is pretty far from Quimiac, so the 4 firefighters, my host mom and I were spirited away to the St. Nazaire ER so I could be evaluated. “Cut tendon,” the doctor pronounced, after I tried (and failed) to will my thumb into bending. Unfortunately sliced tendons can’t heal on their own, so my hand was bandaged, and I was scheduled for surgery at the Nantes Hand Clinic (Institut de la main) the next morning.

My host mom was my hero once again, making sure I followed my pre-operation instructions to the letter (“No eating or drinking anything after midnight. Don’t even brush your teeth!”), and the next day at way-too-early-in-the-morning, we made the surreal sunrise drive back to Nantes.

It was Palm Sunday, and even though it’s a bad pun I still think it’s a funny coincidence. My host mom brought me to the clinic, where I was greeted by Anna, my wonderful IES program director. My host mom had to go back to Quimiac to look after the kids, so Anna and I walked in and prepared ourselves for a long day ahead of us.

For the first time since my wisdom teeth were taken out, I was going to have surgery.

In France.

5,000 miles from home.

In French.

I grinned. “Who would’ve thought? At least this will make a wicked good blog post.”

I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Part 2 coming soon!

After a crazy day, I finally got to enjoy the evening sunset in Quimiac