Meltdowns happen on Day 3

Pretty picture to distract you

Apparently, it only takes three days of living in a new France to have a full-blown meltdown.

I decided to walk to Parc de la Tête d'Or today—it seems to be the only place that isn’t at least an hour’s walk away. I have no food at my place, so I needed to find a market. Copper has been a handful the past couple of days—pulling nonstop during our walks. Today she was at a level 10. I found a market on Google Maps, but when I got there, it didn’t exist. Meanwhile, Copper was still yanking on the leash, and I just started crying—right there, in the middle of wherever I was. And to top it off, the park entrance wasn’t where it was supposed to be.

I was supposed to get a cell phone yesterday, but you can’t get one without a bank account. I called a bank to make an appointment today. The first bank told me I couldn’t open an account because I don’t speak French. The second one said I’d have to come in to see if I have the required documents, they could not tell me that on the phone. After these calls, and my little breakdown, I decided these were problems for another day.

Thankfully my new friend Kathleen has come to my rescue and is taking Copper off my hands tomorrow so I can run some errands. So today, I came back to my place, started organizing my life and will get some work done, which I think my co-workers might greatly appreciate.

Not crazy eyes staring in the window. That cat has already tried to get in once.

I want to make sure I share both the good and the bad about this experience. I have been quiet for such a long time. It is time for me to find my voice. I know what I am going through is temporary and 100% part of the gig of moving to another country. I want to be able to look back and see how far I’ve come. I know that some people just want my posts to be the perfect dream of living in France, but I don’t think that is real life. I do however think something special happens every day and I will try to share those things. Today my something special is my new friend Kathleen, WHO I HAVE NOT MET, but who has been an amazing support since I moved here all of three days ago. She is from California as well and comes to Lyon every summer. She’s probably going to be the something special tomorrow as she is giving me a break from Copper, but since I’ll be out in Lyon exploring, I think she will share the limelight with the market, the scenery of the 6th arrondissement, and my friend Jen, who arrives tomorrow. There will be lots of something special tomorrow! Stay tuned.