It’s hard to believe that three weeks have passed since the fateful day of my depart from Saint Etienne. It’s hard to believe that I still have not found employment after starting my job search back around March; but I don’t want to talk about that.
It was a great challenge for me to have to leave the place I love (France) and people that I have grown to love in order to come back to a place where I have very few connections (other than my family) and where there are few opportunities in my field (photography/writing/marketing, preferably non-profit). However, I am trying to make the best of it.
The beginning was strange. The reverse culture shock. The weirdest of all was not speaking English with people I know, but hearing English ALL THE TIME. In the coffee shop. At the gas station. At the mall. On television… You get the idea. It was the overheard conversations as well as the conversations with service people/strangers. See, when in France I was so accustomed to hearing French and having to pay only slightly more attention to hear the conversation, that my ears would perk up any time English was around. So it was weird, and still is a little, to have English be the main-liner again. I didn’t have to try to pay attention, but rather to not pay attention.
Since coming back to “upstate” NY (the Mid-Hudson Valley) I have been trying to stay as active as possible. I took a few trips down to “the city” and have been continuing my job search, as well as expanding my online presence/networking.
