7:15—First alarm goes off. Continue to sleep.
7:30—Second alarm goes off. Take my phone and scroll through Instagram and all the messages that happened after 11 p.m. last night, when I was officially asleep.
8:00—Enough of social media poisoning. Thinking about coffee makes me get out of the bed.
8:05—Make coffee, feeling satisfied.
8:10—Search for the morning playlist on Spotify, key word: coffee. Nothing looks attractive. Play Sylvan Esso “Coffee” (first habit acquired in the States thanks to my first-year roommate [bunnelle])
8:15—Start getting ready: make up, clothes, peanut butter jelly sandwich (since when do I like American food?!).
9:05—Ready, but too early to head to class. Waste some time reading Audrey Tautou interview on The Talks. Immediately after search for Vincent Cassel (at least I’m wasting my time on French actors).
9:30—Head to class. Choose music while running over the street. Hear annoying tram bell. Run faster.
9:50—Tram mafia walks in checking the tickets (they literally block the door while one of them checks the tickets and they all wear same black and white uniforms — more intimidating than police). Search for it in my bag for three minutes. Smile awkwardly and say: “Merci.”
9:55—Walk fast, thinking I’m late for class.
10:10—I’m five minutes early, so I pick up some instant cappuccino from the machine.
11:05—In Contemporary Literature class, I think about some fun ideas but I’m too scared to participate in class, thinking I will say something grammatically incorrect with a weird accent (not that I’m not used to that. My accent is strong, even in English, but still).
11:07—Someone else brings up the same fun idea. I just give them a look as if they robbed me of my own thoughts.
13:00—Play some ping pong in program’s office. Win some, lose some. Get overexcited and sweaty.
13:45—Ask people when our grammar class is. At 15:45. Beg people to play more ping pong with me.
15:00—Eat with friends in French D-Hall. Food options are actually exciting.
15:45—Run to class. We’re late again. Give people shit for that while running.
16:25—Participate too much in grammar class to show off my French in non-French student class (frustrations from lit class still hurt).
18:05—Come back home. Make coffee. Think about what to make for dinner.
18:40—Make grilled cheese sandwiches (but I thought I hated American food?!).
19:45—Start wondering what people are doing and why nobody’s messaging. Check GroupMe and realize my phone didn’t notify me about 50+ messages. Catch up.
20:00—Get a glass of wine just because I have some in the fridge (in France, you always have some in the fridge).
20:35—Knock on my friend’s door to see if she’s coming for the Babble Bar (American-French mingle made for people to socialize and practice speaking in their weaker language). She opens the door and greets me with “hey ho.” Makes my day. Every time.
21:05—Go to the bar. Realize that only two random people are there. Order some wine.
22:05—Too many people came. Ended up talking to Americans about where Grinnell is.
22:30—Realize I’m sleepy. Walk back home. Think about how I only drink coffee and wine and suddenly do all these American things I never did before.
22:55—In bed, hear my phone vibrating but too lazy to get up and read the messages. Will do it tomorrow morning.