Hey fellow webbies!

I'm new to this whole blogging thing, but I'm hoping to utilize this great tool to help me share my experiences and research during the upcoming year.  And hopefully even beyond that!  Anywho, here's my story and the reason I created this blog.  Starting in October, I'm going to be living in Rennes, France teaching English at a local school.  I'm still not sure which school I'll be teaching at or the age group I'll be working with, but I'll be there for at least 7 months.  I'm super excited and nervous and anxious all at once!  I don't know anybody in Rennes and only a few people in all of France, so I'm sure it'll be both a challenge and a life-changing experience.  Concurrently, I'll be working on my bachelors of Socio-Cultural Anthropology from Brigham Young University.  This program requires that all undergraduate students complete a field study, which means I will be studying some aspect of culture in Rennes, France for several months, analyzing my data, then writing an ethnography (fancy anthropology-talk for research paper).  It was a struggle to try to come up with a research topic--there are so many different fascinating aspects of French culture!  But I finally came up with something I think I will enjoy the most.

I've been in school non-stop since I was 5 years old.  Throughout my high-school and college career, I've set rigorous academic standards for myself.  I earned straight A's in high school and was even named Valedictorian.  While going to Brigham Young University I consistently earned A's and B's and was a member of the Freshman Honor Society.  These achievements were not easy, nor did they come without consequence.  You see, along the way I somehow forgot how to have fun.  No one was more surprised at this than I.  I'm a 21 year old single female who has tragically forgotten how to hang out with friends, go to parties, date, or just let go and have fun.  This is why I'm determined to study how young people of Rennes, France spend their leisure time.  This way I will force myself to re-learn how to have fun!

The purpose of this blog is to document my journey, get feedback from those future friends in Rennes, and set up a safety net for my 'data' in case my laptop suffers from untimely death or theft (though I hope and pray that this doesn't happen).  I plan to post my fieldnotes (anthropology-talk for detailed journal of your observations during your research) from my participant-observations (this one is exactly how it sounds) and ask my French friends to post their versions of events, their reactions, their musings, their--whatever!  I hope to make this an open forum for whatever it is my French friends feel is important--whether it relates to my research or life in general.

I pledge to make this blog as interesting, fun, and insightful as I possibly can.  Anyone is welcome to post comments, criticisms, wittisisms, or even the occasional sonnet as they see fit.

THANKS!