safe & sound (finally!) in lannion.

as most of you reading this have already heard, after many hours awake & exhausted, lugging my luggage around everywhere, and squeezing in a pique-nique at jardin luxembourg in paris, i arrived safely in lannion. despite my lack of adequate planning (partly due to the fact that i have had absoltuely no contact with my school, and partly due to my procrastination), i just plain old got lucky when my roommate jacqueline (whom i had never met in person) was waiting for me at the train station to help me get situated & move me into the apartement. so no, mom, i didn't sleep on a park bench like i told you i might, and i didn't have to run into any overbooked hostels, or even shell out 60-plus euros for a dumpy hotel room. the accomodation was a little dodgy at first, we finally have heat, wi-fi, sheets & comforters, warm-ish water, and most importantly, an amazing neighbor (who invited us for a ride to the coast... perros guirec, ploumanac'h... after only our second day here). we were also greeted by lovely, sunny weather, which we've heard is pretty rare for brittany (and now that it's blustery & rainy & cold, i am starting to believe it's true). catherine, an assistant from mexico, moved in shortly after i did, and seems to be adjusting to life here as well. we've heard rumors of other assistants joining us, but no one knows for sure.

speaking of no one knowing for sure, that has been the theme of the administrative stuff (connerie) that pretty much sums up working in france. it has been more than a bunch of running around, filling out random papers, backtracking, tying to find people who then don't know why you've been searching for them in the first place, more filling out random papers, and more running around. it seems like i've been doing circles around the prefecture, and not really getting anywhere. despite my frustration (though it's small, because qu'est-ce qu'on fait?), most everyone has been overly warm, generous, and has made the most of an effort to be as helpful as possible. it seems like even they don't know why we're forced to run circles either. oh well. the teaching is supposed to commence tomorrow (october first), but my profs have all decided that it'd be better if i wait until next week, so i guess i have the week off (oh, shucks). at least i was given the chance to observe a class (though not one i will be actually teaching) and meet with some of my profs.

well, i think that's it for now... more to come, plus tard.