Chapter 68: Rennes-ch in the Plans

nerd blog post #73

Being back in Rennes marks the first nights not sharing a room in over a month. This is longer than I have gone without my own room since I shared a room with little brother in 1995. Even when I had a roommate in first year, there was never a month that we were both there every night. If the company is good, I much prefer sharing a room. It means that I can be chatty until I fall asleep and as soon as I wake up! Much better.

I was not the only one to have anxieties and apprehensions about coming back here. After a month at home, both Cynthia and Merrill were a bit sad, too. We had coffee yesterday morning and made some plans for the week and the semester. We're planning a week-end in Dublin, have revised Tuesday Tradition, have made a weekly coffee hour at school, a yoga night, a new student hang out night.. I'm grateful to have those two good friends here, and I look forward to the time here.

I started teaching again, and that has been refreshingly wonderful. The new students are all great so far and it's nice to start a new semester with new faces and material. I'm teaching more than double the amount of hours as last semester, but they're compacted into three long days and two hours Monday evening. In those days, I always have a couple of hours off, which will make for great reading, writing and blogging time. I start at 8am, which is also good because it gets me into a healthy rhythm. It also means I'll look forward to the week-ends in a big way! Because of the long days and many more hours, I decided to decline the other work at the high school. It wasn't really fitting into my schedule, and I think it would wear me out.

Europe is experiencing its coldest Winter in over a decade. I definitely felt that in Paris and Amsterdam, and even in Spain. But here in Rennes, it's a Brittany bubble. I can get away with a light jacket and no Winter paraphernalia. The mornings are fresh and foggy and the sun doesn't rise until after 9am. The sun hides though, sometimes poking out out mid-afternoon for a bit, but mostly it's grey and misty. I'm happy it's not cold, though.

I've had to take the metro to work because my bike has a flat and I haven't had the chance to take a look at it yet. I rode Cynthia's on Monday, though, and that felt great.

Arriving back, the apartment stunk like cat. Alexandre got one. It smells bad and Cynthia and I want it out. Too many animals! Plus, Merrill's allergic, which means she can't even visit.

Last night, Tuesday Tradition recommenced for the semester. After two weeks on the Schadinger Regiment of healthy foods all of the time, I have decided to continue on that track. It feels good. I bought a ton of veggies and fruit and Tuesday Tradition is now a healthy snack evening. Last night we had hummus and carrots and cucumber and tomatoes instead of chippies. Merrill bought champagne to kick off the new season. Around 10pm, we went to the Irish bar, O'Connell's, to celebrate Emma's birthday. Emma is the Irish lecteur. I don't know her well, but I like her a lot. I hope we can hang with her more this term. Owen, my friend the bartender there, was off work and sat with us, too. It was fun.

Tonight is the theatre group. Tomorrow is the new student night, happening at O'Connell's. Friday is Brock's (friend from TO) bf's birthday, so we'll celebrate that. And on Saturday, Natalie (who used to live in my apt) and her husband are hosting a party. Next week-end I'll go to Paris. I still miss the guys, but things are picking up here, and I'm happy to be back in the swing of things.

I hope everyone is having a good week. Much love to Canada.

Signing off,
Hincks.