Une Fille Francaise!

I've been here for about six weeks and I my goal has been to do as the Strasbourgians do, if there is such a word. I'm going to school here like most of the people here my age and I've started to attend a local church. I plan on riding my bike to school on Wednesday and today I bought a pair of roller blades. Many of the students here have decided to go to other European countries but I feel that traveling all of Europe in one weekend is a little much, so...I've just been trying my best to enjoy Strasbourg. On one day last week, I decided to get on my bike and just ride. There are a couple of paths near the chateau so I just chose one of them. I rode all the way to end of it and a little further. My music was blasting in my ear and the wind was blowing in my hair, but there was a point when my seat started to irritate me. All of sudden, I heard a french gentleman on a horse asking me, in French, if I needed help. After trying to follow his instructions unsuccessfully, he finally got off of the horse to help me. The catch, I had to hold the reigns of his horse while he was fixing my seat. The horse made it very clear that he didn't know me and that he didn't want me holding him, but I remained calm and looked him into his eyes as if to tell him that he needed to calm down. Now I don't know if you're supposed to do that, but I think it worked because he actually calmed down. After that I mounted my bike once more and went along the path.
Today, I bought my first pair of roller blades and I felt like a baby taking her first steps. It was nerve racking! I was standing at about 6'2" and I was on wheels! I had no control. I took Caroline along with me and she was laughing and picking at me. Thank God she missed my fall. I'm going to keep working at it and make sure that I'm controlling the blades and the blades aren't controlling me.
Macy C. James