J'ai de la chance!

I've found a new favorite word, what is it you ask? Why, it's "Chanceuse"--it means lucky. I overheard it the other day when someone was talking about future travel plans, their friend responded quite appropriately with "Ah, chanceuse!" Since then I've been hooked, It has quite literally been stuck in my head. What initially caught my attention is just how nice it sounds, but I like to think the meaning of it has a lot to do with my new love affair as well.

Now, the concept of luck is certainly complicated and I have no intentions of discussing them here.  However, I would like to discuss the abundance of things I have to be thankful for right now, making me a very lucky person. I've been lucky to get the opportunity to come to France, and to have extremely generous people here to help me get oriented, who remind me that it's human to get homesick every once in a while.  I'm lucky that my most difficult class is taught by a professor who realizes how tough it is to take a class outside of your mother-tongue, so he periodically stops to check if the other American and I are understanding. I'm lucky to have been introduced to buying icky plain yogurt and jazzing it up with strawberry jam, and that the nutella jar, once empty is a great glass, or in my last jars case a wonderful toothbrush holder. I'm lucky that my room is small enough to quickly turn into a sauna when it's 27 degrees outside. I'm lucky to have been introduced to the french version of hulu so I can watch tonight's episode of Gossip Girl. And most importantly, I think I'm lucky because I've come across a new favorite word that forced me to stop and realize how fortunate I am.

...And for the days that I'm feeling a little less "chanceuse" I have pictures like these to bring me right back.