It's not a rivalry unless.... wait, it's not at all.

Obviously since I've graduated from and spent many years at UC Santa Barbara, my athletic loyalties lie with the GAUCHOS. However, this is somewhat difficult to manage working for another Big West Conference team in the University of the Pacific.

When I was first hired on board here in the athletics department, nearly everyone inquired as to where I spent my undergrad years because I am one of the few non-Pacific alumni to secure a job here. Apparently they like to keep it all in the family, especially with the grad assistants.

Anyways, most of the coaches shunned me, my boss almost didn't hire me and many other employees downright told me they were upset with me, solely because I used to be a Gaucho. (Once a Gaucho, always a Gaucho, right?)

After his resignation, the men's tennis coach even told me, "If that's your car with the UCSB sticker, I wouldn't be surprised to one day find a brick in the windshield. And you can't do anything about it because I'm moving back to Europe next week."

For a little bit of background, UCSB has won the Big West Conference championships for many sports over the years. Pacific, who historically has had a really good men's basketball program, only had a handful of teams finish above .500 last year. Not looking very good when measured against Santa Barbara's success last year.

So long story short, a bunch of coworkers have told me they don't like Santa Barbara because we're simply rivals.

However, as a fervent Gaucho supporter who attended/worked at many athletic events in my four years at UCSB, I never noticed such a rivalry. In fact, the only team we vehemently hated was Cal Poly because of the geographical location of the two schools. Last I checked, Stockton is five and a half hours north of Santa Barbara and less than an hour from UC Davis, another Big West team.

Did I miss something here?!

Green, schmeen.

Alright, I get that it's "Earth Week" and that I live in the Bay Area and Earth Day was a huge deal.

But have I really been out of the country THAT long?!

What is the deal with everything being Green these days? I'm totally about saving the environment and conserving, but this is going butt-crazy overboard. Like, ridiculously.

For example, my mom and I were watching t.v. and during a five-commercial-in-a-row stretch, I probably heard the word "green" about 36 times! Anything ranging from the HGTV "Green House Give-Away" to Sun Chips being made "a little greener with natural solar energy" and of course Macy's "Turn Over a New Leaf" event, which for a mere $3.99, you can buy your own tote bag made completely from recycled fibers and "shop a little greener."

Ok, fine, save the environment. That's good. Just don't brag about how green you are when you're driving to the grocery store with your hemp bag in your frickin' Hummer!

...Vent over. This was one "trend" I did not miss while living abroad.

More reasons why I like French people

This I don't get.

I'm on the bus like usual, in my gym clothes -- why am I the only person in this country who ever wears gym clothes?! -- when the following happened.

There were no more seats available, so I had to sit in the side-facing seats in the back. Instead of getting all car sick by watching the side-scenery, I turned my body towards the front of the bus and looked straight ahead. I noticed some woman in front of me, and I'll admit I'm frequently guilty of this, but I couldn't help but admire how well-dressed and fashionable she looked. It's not like I was rudely staring or anything like that, but you get the idea. At one point she turned back and looked right at me, like she knew I had been looking at the back of her head or something. However, when she snapped her head around, I was no longer looking at her. But because I was in the back, I was perpetually looking forward, beyond her and at the road. She kept turning back, why I'm not sure.

Then as she's getting off, she straightens out her clothes, stands up from her seat and looks back, right at me. I tried not to look at her, but kept staring straight ahead, minding my own business. Well this is kind of hard to ignore: she keeps looking at me and puts up the middle finger really aggressively with a crazed look on her face. And she held it there for a good minute.

I looked behind me to see if there was anyone outside she might have been gesturing to, but located no such person. And then the two Moroccan guys sitting in the seat adjacent to me, craned their necks to look over at me, in my direction, and started laughing silently.

Not sure why, but right then and there I felt extremely embarrassed, confused and offended. What the heck did I do to warrant this?! Well it took me the better part of the day to forget about it.

When the heck did I get so sensitive?!

And another note about French people: They have no shame whatsoever.

My roommate is having her boyfriend staying over for the week because he just started a new job in Antibes. Since he lives in Nice and doesn't have a car, it'd be kind of difficult for him to get to work on time. Her and I are actually getting along a little better again with him here because he's way more friendly and keeps her personable and accountable for all her messes. I kind of like living in a house of three for now. It's never felt too small for us.

Except for yesterday morning, when he walked in the kitchen in search of breakfast, still half asleep.

It would have been a normal morning scene, if he wasn't wearing his speedo-esque p.j.s showing off more than I'd ever like to see of what might possibly be the hairiest legs on Earth.

Forrest Gump was right

In a foreign land every day follows an up-and-down trajectory. "You never know what you're gonna get."

Some days, I can almost express myself in a satisfactory manner. Like the other night, when my roommate's "friend," who is a guy, but spent the night -- interesting story for another day, ask and I'll tell -- was basically hitting on me, saying I speak really good French. When I told him it's a constant struggle because I don't know a lot of really simple colloquial words and I choke them down with a truly American accent, he replied that it's part of my charm.

So I'm a cute foreigner?? I'll take that one.

Or yesterday, I was in the salle des maîtres (teachers' room) when one CE1 teacher asked me how my first few days have been going. I didn't want to complain too much, but I told her classes are very fun, yet simultaneously challenging because none of the younger kids understand my accent. Again, she said that's a good thing, because I'm a real Anglophone teaching them English and it's something they're going to have to appreciate. And then she told me I need to bring a French man home with me when I return back to the States, but again, that's a whole different story.

Or last week at the bank. I understood nearly every single word about the transaction. He only had to translate "transfer funds" to English for me, but other than that I ordered my FREE debit card and checks. He asked me if my family's French -- everyone over here recognizes my French last name and obvious first name -- and if that's the reason why my French is so good.

But then there are other times that make all those prior moments seem worthless and trivial.

Like when my phone was stolen. For two days I had no idea how to describe the incident other than making insane amounts of hand gestures. I guess it was a traumatic moment because I got too worked up to even slightly express myself.

Or when I'm in a class full of 25 French students and I tell them something in French only to have them all have to look at their teacher for clarification.

Or when my roommate makes me repeat words three times before she understands what I'm saying.

Or when the people at the phone store don't understand me, so they speak to me in English -- which I have a hard time understanding in their thick English accents. But I'm the one who's in their country and should be speaking their language clearly.

But then again, I do have exciting moments where I remember to correctly use the subjunctive tense. Like when I let slip a word that seems even shocking and advanced to me. And times when I can speak fairly quickly and not worry too much about minor grammatical errors.

All of this in time will come more naturally, but until then, I'm extremely self-conscious about my up and down intonation, horridly thick American accent, and child-like vocabulary.

As for the being in France part, a really big, exciting holiday vacation is coming up in nine days. And I'm only two decisions away (I still have to pick the train station and times of arrival) from booking both a hotel and a train ticket to Tours in the Loire Valley. My friend Oana and I really want to go and do some châteaux and wine-tasting tours the first weekend of November! I can't wait, it's going to be sooo much fun.