Whew! First of all, I'm very sorry for not having updated in the last month or so. At first, I was very busy, then not very busy and I felt like an update would have been a little boring, then I got too busy again! Now, I'm procrastinating. Which is always great for blog productivity!
A month ago, the program took a field trip to see Roman/Greek/Gallic ruins, which were very cool. I'll post pictures. Then we went to Arles, where van Gogh (which is pronounced by the French as "van goh-g") painted many of his masterpieces. Arles is also home to many other cool vestiges of Roman history--there is a Coliseum, a theatre, and other cool places to visit. Then we finished the day with another trip to the Pont du Gard, which is one of my favorite places we've visited; it has water, trails, nature, beauty, and it's quiet. You don't know how much I miss silence here sometimes.
Last week, I took a trip home to see my family, and it was a great time. Not much to report--most of it was personal time and therefore not very interesting to the public. My flights to and from the US went smoothly, despite hearing about a shooting in the Frankfort airport that had happened only a couple days before I got there.
I had a midterm yesterday, and it went okay. It was one of those tests that I felt like I had studied for, but then I realized how much I had missed about a half hour before class started, so I had to cram. Not the best feeling, but I've definitely done worse.
This weekend marks the beginning of a ca-razy semester for me. I suppose I should say that last weekend did because I was traveling, but it didn't feel like it counted because I went home. Traveling schedule for the semester (at least, what I have planned so far):
March 13: Skiing day in the Alps!
March 17-19: Dusseldorf, Germany
March 24-27: Strasbourg, France
April 6-10: Istanbul, Turkey
April 14-17: Paris
April 21-27: London and Oxford, England
then hopefully May 15-21: Corsica!
sometime in June: Rome with my parents!
Tomorrow starts the beginning of Lent, which will finish while I am in England, so we'll see how the Brits celebrate Easter!
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Escaping to the Alps
I decided early on that this semester would be full of traveling and seeing Europe. And now, here I am, having been back in France a full two weeks now, and I've already left Aix twice!
Last weekend, a few of my friends and I decided that we would be going skiing this past weekend (the 22nd and 23rd) and that to do so, we would need to be wearing appropriate winter clothing. Which none of us had. So off we went to Marseille to a thrift store that was selling full ski suits (that looked like they were from the 80s) for only 10€! In American money, that's like $12-13. So, it was a really good deal! I got boots, gloves, and a full (absolutely ridiculous-looking) snowsuit all for under 20€. You'll see the pictures and understand. If anyone in the pictures doesn't look like a marker box exploded on them, they were lucky enough to have their French families loan them ski clothes. Needless to say, we looked amazing.
Having completely outfitted ourselves in a vibrant array of colors, our little family proceeded to plan meals and buy groceries and necessities for the weekend. Having spent the majority of Thursday buying food, most of us spent Friday actually getting ourselves packed and ready to go for the weekend. Our bus left at about 6:30pm on Friday and was scheduled to arrive at the ski station at about 10.
We got to the ski station a little after 10, and by then we were all starving because we hadn't really had dinner yet. We had planned to have sausage and potatoes for dinner that night, so we got to work on that as soon as we could and scarfed that food down while we watched a movie in one of our cozy apartments. (There were 8 of us, so they split us up into two groups.)
The next morning when we all woke up at about 8, we ate breakfast and then headed over to the ski rental place to get our snowboards and skis. Only three of us had
ever skied or snowboarded before, so the majority of us were beginners. We all headed over to the bunny hill to figure out how to handle ourselves. And I made it down without falling! So I hopped back on the ski lift (which was a sort of weird pole system with mini seats on the end that kind of looked like plungers. You put the pole between your legs and it pulled you to the top of the hill while you stood on your skis.) Anyway, halfway up the hill, I was enjoying the ease of the ski lift when all of a sudden, I was falling and I couldn't move my legs in the direction I wanted. My only focus was not losing my grip on the pole that was slipping out of my hand. Finally, after being dragged on my knees without any control, I decided that I should just let go and figure out what went wrong. So I let go of the pole--and promptly faceplanted. I rolled out of the way of my laughing friends who were coming up the lift behind me only to see that the reason I had fallen so suddenly was because one of my skis had popped off of my foot. So I didn't fall at all while I was going down the bunny slope--just up.
Anyway, most of us decided to move on to the next level hill once we'd gotten the gist of the bunny hill down, so we headed over to the other lift and hopped on. But what we thought was a little hill turned out to have a curve in it that you couldn't see from the bottom--the hill was at least twice as high as we had originally thought. But I did well on my first try; I only fell four times on that descent! By the end of the first day, I only managed to get down that hill once without falling, and the rest of the group hadn't had much luck either. We were all exhausted by the time the slopes closed at 4:30, so we went inside, took turns showering, and started cooking dinner.
The next day was much better. I figured out how to get down the intermediate hill without falling, so I decided to step it up a notch and went up the mountain on the
real ski lift with Alexa, Kevin, and Josh (the three snowboarders). It turns out that I should never assume I know how tall a slope is just because I can only see so far up. The mountain was, well, a mountain. I was terrified. I had a camera in my pocket, but I was too scared to let go of the ski lift to take pictures. We made it up to the first stop on the mountain trails and got off. Quick side note: French people are all ridiculously good at skiing. What seemed terrifying and dangerous to me was only a beginner level for them. Anyway, we all made it up the mountain and off the ski lift without incident, and then we started our descent. If I had thought the second hill was scary, that was nothing compared to the mountain. There were so many times when I would be approaching a hill/curve with only a cliff on the other side that I would just fall in order to stop myself instead of risking getting killed. The very last hill on the mountain was actually probably steeper than the others, but it was also less scary because I knew that once I got to the bottom of it, I was done. To give you an idea of how steep it was, I couldn't see the bottom from where I was at the top of it. The only way I knew where to go was by watching where the person's head in front of me had disappeared. So I started down the hill, braking the entire way to avoid hurting myself, but I couldn't keep it up forever, so I just tucked into the speed skiing pose--and it was awesome! I was flying down that hill!! The only scary part was that the snow wasn't very powdery, and I was going so fast that any time there was a slight bump, I was worried I would lose control and go crashing into the packed snow. But we all made it down the mountain safely--and I've decided I love skiing. Basically, winter and I should spend some more time together because we get along really well.
On the way home from the trip, the sun started setting on the mountains, and we made it to this beautiful area with a really big lake. It was probably the most beautiful area I have ever seen in my life. You'll have to see the pictures I took from the bus. They should be uploaded soon.
Edit: Pictures are FINALLY available!
Last weekend, a few of my friends and I decided that we would be going skiing this past weekend (the 22nd and 23rd) and that to do so, we would need to be wearing appropriate winter clothing. Which none of us had. So off we went to Marseille to a thrift store that was selling full ski suits (that looked like they were from the 80s) for only 10€! In American money, that's like $12-13. So, it was a really good deal! I got boots, gloves, and a full (absolutely ridiculous-looking) snowsuit all for under 20€. You'll see the pictures and understand. If anyone in the pictures doesn't look like a marker box exploded on them, they were lucky enough to have their French families loan them ski clothes. Needless to say, we looked amazing.Having completely outfitted ourselves in a vibrant array of colors, our little family proceeded to plan meals and buy groceries and necessities for the weekend. Having spent the majority of Thursday buying food, most of us spent Friday actually getting ourselves packed and ready to go for the weekend. Our bus left at about 6:30pm on Friday and was scheduled to arrive at the ski station at about 10.
We got to the ski station a little after 10, and by then we were all starving because we hadn't really had dinner yet. We had planned to have sausage and potatoes for dinner that night, so we got to work on that as soon as we could and scarfed that food down while we watched a movie in one of our cozy apartments. (There were 8 of us, so they split us up into two groups.)
The next morning when we all woke up at about 8, we ate breakfast and then headed over to the ski rental place to get our snowboards and skis. Only three of us had
ever skied or snowboarded before, so the majority of us were beginners. We all headed over to the bunny hill to figure out how to handle ourselves. And I made it down without falling! So I hopped back on the ski lift (which was a sort of weird pole system with mini seats on the end that kind of looked like plungers. You put the pole between your legs and it pulled you to the top of the hill while you stood on your skis.) Anyway, halfway up the hill, I was enjoying the ease of the ski lift when all of a sudden, I was falling and I couldn't move my legs in the direction I wanted. My only focus was not losing my grip on the pole that was slipping out of my hand. Finally, after being dragged on my knees without any control, I decided that I should just let go and figure out what went wrong. So I let go of the pole--and promptly faceplanted. I rolled out of the way of my laughing friends who were coming up the lift behind me only to see that the reason I had fallen so suddenly was because one of my skis had popped off of my foot. So I didn't fall at all while I was going down the bunny slope--just up.
Anyway, most of us decided to move on to the next level hill once we'd gotten the gist of the bunny hill down, so we headed over to the other lift and hopped on. But what we thought was a little hill turned out to have a curve in it that you couldn't see from the bottom--the hill was at least twice as high as we had originally thought. But I did well on my first try; I only fell four times on that descent! By the end of the first day, I only managed to get down that hill once without falling, and the rest of the group hadn't had much luck either. We were all exhausted by the time the slopes closed at 4:30, so we went inside, took turns showering, and started cooking dinner.The next day was much better. I figured out how to get down the intermediate hill without falling, so I decided to step it up a notch and went up the mountain on the
real ski lift with Alexa, Kevin, and Josh (the three snowboarders). It turns out that I should never assume I know how tall a slope is just because I can only see so far up. The mountain was, well, a mountain. I was terrified. I had a camera in my pocket, but I was too scared to let go of the ski lift to take pictures. We made it up to the first stop on the mountain trails and got off. Quick side note: French people are all ridiculously good at skiing. What seemed terrifying and dangerous to me was only a beginner level for them. Anyway, we all made it up the mountain and off the ski lift without incident, and then we started our descent. If I had thought the second hill was scary, that was nothing compared to the mountain. There were so many times when I would be approaching a hill/curve with only a cliff on the other side that I would just fall in order to stop myself instead of risking getting killed. The very last hill on the mountain was actually probably steeper than the others, but it was also less scary because I knew that once I got to the bottom of it, I was done. To give you an idea of how steep it was, I couldn't see the bottom from where I was at the top of it. The only way I knew where to go was by watching where the person's head in front of me had disappeared. So I started down the hill, braking the entire way to avoid hurting myself, but I couldn't keep it up forever, so I just tucked into the speed skiing pose--and it was awesome! I was flying down that hill!! The only scary part was that the snow wasn't very powdery, and I was going so fast that any time there was a slight bump, I was worried I would lose control and go crashing into the packed snow. But we all made it down the mountain safely--and I've decided I love skiing. Basically, winter and I should spend some more time together because we get along really well.On the way home from the trip, the sun started setting on the mountains, and we made it to this beautiful area with a really big lake. It was probably the most beautiful area I have ever seen in my life. You'll have to see the pictures I took from the bus. They should be uploaded soon.
Edit: Pictures are FINALLY available!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Back in France!
Hello, everyone! I'm back in France after having spent probably one of the loveliest Christmas breaks ever at home. My cousin got married--and I got to be there as a bridesmaid (!!!), I got my haircut for the first time in a year, and now I'm back in my beloved France speaking French and making travel plans. (I'll get to that in a bit.)
My two exams were last week, and they went fairly well. I'm not sure when I'll actually find out how I did, but I feel fairly confident I won't fail them. Not only have exams finished, but new classes already started, too. I'm already done with my first week because I only have class Monday-Wednesday, so I'm hoping my schedule will facilitate weekend traveling.
I'm really excited for this semester because I really like all of my classes so far. Last semester, all of my classes followed the exact same format: three-hour lectures once a week. And when I say "lecture", I mean lecture. It was all dictation of our notes without pausing for questions. However! This semester, I have three classes that seem like they will be more interactive. I learn best in an interactive environment, so I'm excited to actually get to speak up in the classroom. (I know, I sound like a nerd. Get used to it.)
Anyway! This weekend, I'm going skiing in the Alps! I'm going with seven of my friends from the program to a little village called Pelvoux that has a population of about 454. I'm so excited! We're leaving tomorrow (Friday) night and coming back Sunday night, so we should have about two days to spend in the snow! I'm not even sure how much I want to go skiing--I've never done it before, so I have a feeling I'll just end up sledding to avoid getting hurt and embarrassed, but my friends and I all have plans to build forts and make snow angels and have a snowball fight. It's going to be great!!
My two exams were last week, and they went fairly well. I'm not sure when I'll actually find out how I did, but I feel fairly confident I won't fail them. Not only have exams finished, but new classes already started, too. I'm already done with my first week because I only have class Monday-Wednesday, so I'm hoping my schedule will facilitate weekend traveling.
I'm really excited for this semester because I really like all of my classes so far. Last semester, all of my classes followed the exact same format: three-hour lectures once a week. And when I say "lecture", I mean lecture. It was all dictation of our notes without pausing for questions. However! This semester, I have three classes that seem like they will be more interactive. I learn best in an interactive environment, so I'm excited to actually get to speak up in the classroom. (I know, I sound like a nerd. Get used to it.)
Anyway! This weekend, I'm going skiing in the Alps! I'm going with seven of my friends from the program to a little village called Pelvoux that has a population of about 454. I'm so excited! We're leaving tomorrow (Friday) night and coming back Sunday night, so we should have about two days to spend in the snow! I'm not even sure how much I want to go skiing--I've never done it before, so I have a feeling I'll just end up sledding to avoid getting hurt and embarrassed, but my friends and I all have plans to build forts and make snow angels and have a snowball fight. It's going to be great!!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
All of my favorite things
I love my life. Seriously, it's not even fair how many good things have happened to me--not only in the past year, but in my entire life. And I've got another one to add to the list: I'm coming home for Christmas--and my cousin's wedding! For a long time I thought that the only possible way for me to go to Kelly's wedding would be to come home for the weekend between my two finals weeks here. Not so! God loves me: I will be home for a solid two weeks. I can't wait!
Okay, so that's pretty awesome, but I'm also going to tell you about how I spent my favorite holiday whilst abroad (Thanksgiving, in case you didn't know). It was a pretty normal day: I woke up, got ready for the day, and then headed over to my friend Bri's apartment to have a baking/studying day. We made a pumpkin pie, but--alas--the evaporated milk I had bought was not evaporated milk. Instead, it was extra thick cream. We made do my halving it with normal milk, and then acting like nothing had happened. It turned out pretty well! It tastes a little different than my usual pumpkin pies, but it could have definitely been worse.
Then I headed over to theater class, which I love, laughed a lot, and then walked home in the pouring rain without a single umbrella among my class. It was fun. I changed really quickly, and walked with my neighbors to the restaurant where our program was going to have a Thanksgiving meal. It took forever to find due to a recent name change, but we found it eventually and ended up having an amazing meal. The turkey was delicious, and the stuffing was the best I've ever had. The cranberry sauce was more like warmed pie filling, but it was good nonetheless. The downer was the mashed potatoes: they were definitely instant, which I don't understand in a refined French restaurant. But oh well.
I saw Harry Potter in French on Wednesday, and it was really, really good! Then Friday, I celebrated my birthday with some of my friends by going bowling and then karaokeing afterward. Bowling was... interesting. Definitely the smallest bowling alley I've ever been in, and half of the balls make a thunk-thunk-thunk sound as they "rolled" down the lane, but we all made it out alive in the end.
Then Saturday, I went with my friends to Marseille to see another professional soccer game, and while we were waiting for the bus, it started snowing!! Which is my favorite thing, and it's only supposed to do that once a year here. But so far, the weather has pretty much mimicked the weather in Indiana, so I'm not sure how much I should believe. Anyway, it made me really happy, and then when we got to Marseille, we went to Starbucks to warm ourselves up. Then after we all got soaked during the game, I came back and watched a Disney movie--another thing I'm convinced I will never outgrow.
I just can't believe how lucky I am. So thanks to everyone in my life for being in my life. You're all great!
Oh! And today, I'm 21!
Okay, so that's pretty awesome, but I'm also going to tell you about how I spent my favorite holiday whilst abroad (Thanksgiving, in case you didn't know). It was a pretty normal day: I woke up, got ready for the day, and then headed over to my friend Bri's apartment to have a baking/studying day. We made a pumpkin pie, but--alas--the evaporated milk I had bought was not evaporated milk. Instead, it was extra thick cream. We made do my halving it with normal milk, and then acting like nothing had happened. It turned out pretty well! It tastes a little different than my usual pumpkin pies, but it could have definitely been worse.
Then I headed over to theater class, which I love, laughed a lot, and then walked home in the pouring rain without a single umbrella among my class. It was fun. I changed really quickly, and walked with my neighbors to the restaurant where our program was going to have a Thanksgiving meal. It took forever to find due to a recent name change, but we found it eventually and ended up having an amazing meal. The turkey was delicious, and the stuffing was the best I've ever had. The cranberry sauce was more like warmed pie filling, but it was good nonetheless. The downer was the mashed potatoes: they were definitely instant, which I don't understand in a refined French restaurant. But oh well.
I saw Harry Potter in French on Wednesday, and it was really, really good! Then Friday, I celebrated my birthday with some of my friends by going bowling and then karaokeing afterward. Bowling was... interesting. Definitely the smallest bowling alley I've ever been in, and half of the balls make a thunk-thunk-thunk sound as they "rolled" down the lane, but we all made it out alive in the end.
Then Saturday, I went with my friends to Marseille to see another professional soccer game, and while we were waiting for the bus, it started snowing!! Which is my favorite thing, and it's only supposed to do that once a year here. But so far, the weather has pretty much mimicked the weather in Indiana, so I'm not sure how much I should believe. Anyway, it made me really happy, and then when we got to Marseille, we went to Starbucks to warm ourselves up. Then after we all got soaked during the game, I came back and watched a Disney movie--another thing I'm convinced I will never outgrow.
I just can't believe how lucky I am. So thanks to everyone in my life for being in my life. You're all great!
Oh! And today, I'm 21!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
The End of the Busiest Week Ever
My Colts are coming on in five minutes, so I have to make this quick.
This week has been by far the busiest I have been since arriving in the country. I had something to do every night this week, what with the theater on Tuesday, my French language partner exchange on Wednesday night, then my family dinner on Thursday night. I couldn't understand why I felt so exhausted by the time Friday rolled around until I stopped to look at everything I had done during the week.
School should be settling down again this week. I'm done with all of my midterms now. I only have a project due next week, but I don't feel like that will be quite as stressful as my tests were.
I've got some big milestones coming up in my life:
-Over 1000 views to my blog (just passed this, actually)
-Three months in France
-The Harry Potter movie is coming out
-My 21st birthday
-The beginning of my first Christmas season in France
So obviously I'm very excited about all of this, and I will definitely try to take more pictures of everyday life here.
Also, MAJOR UPDATE: I FOUND CANNED PUMPKIN. So I WILL have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. I'm happy!!
This week has been by far the busiest I have been since arriving in the country. I had something to do every night this week, what with the theater on Tuesday, my French language partner exchange on Wednesday night, then my family dinner on Thursday night. I couldn't understand why I felt so exhausted by the time Friday rolled around until I stopped to look at everything I had done during the week.
School should be settling down again this week. I'm done with all of my midterms now. I only have a project due next week, but I don't feel like that will be quite as stressful as my tests were.
I've got some big milestones coming up in my life:
-Over 1000 views to my blog (just passed this, actually)
-Three months in France
-The Harry Potter movie is coming out
-My 21st birthday
-The beginning of my first Christmas season in France
So obviously I'm very excited about all of this, and I will definitely try to take more pictures of everyday life here.
Also, MAJOR UPDATE: I FOUND CANNED PUMPKIN. So I WILL have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. I'm happy!!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
French Theatre
Last night, I saw my first-ever French play in a real French theater. The play was fantastic and the theater was gorgeous! Unfortunately, I did not have the foresight to bring my camera, so I didn't get any pictures, but a couple of my classmates did, so I'll have to steal pictures from them. It was really neat; the theater was really old--like older-than-the-United States old. It wasn't huge, but it was gorgeous. (I know I keep saying gorgeous, but the only other word I can think of to describe it is "lovely", and that's a little too demure for this theater. So gorgeous it is.) It had the old-fashioned painted ceiling with cherubs and angels, and in the middle of the ceiling was a humongous chandelier.
The actual theater was pretty small. I think there were probably about 400 seats in total, but I couldn't really see the lower level from where I was sitting. There were four levels of balconies. The first balcony was pretty much how you would expect it, with about a third of the seats of the lower level. The other three balconies were box-seats only, and it looked like it would have been pretty fun to watch from up there.
The play was great! It was called La Serva Amorosa, and I was surprised by how much of it I was able to understand. It was written in the 1700s and it was originally a Venetian play. I think the fact that it's a translation helped my comprehension a lot because it put the dialogue in more modern-day terms instead of the more archaic (but lovely) and fast-paced verse. I laughed the entire time during the play, save the first ten minutes, so I definitely enjoyed it. Every character had funny lines, and the best part was that I was able to understand them!
But in other news, tomorrow is the anniversary of the Armistice of World War I. When I was walking to school today, I was a little surprised to see tanks and helicopters parked in Parc Jourdan, but then I realized what tomorrow is. Since it's a national holiday, we're supposed to have the day off. For me, however, my day is even busier than it usually would be. I have a program class in the afternoon, and then I'm having dinner with my French family right after that.
I also met a French-American girl in one of my classes today. She was born in the US, but moved to France about nine years ago, so she speaks perfect French and English. Not fair. But she's really nice, and she told me where I can find canned pumpkin here!!! So that's going on the agenda for this weekend.
The actual theater was pretty small. I think there were probably about 400 seats in total, but I couldn't really see the lower level from where I was sitting. There were four levels of balconies. The first balcony was pretty much how you would expect it, with about a third of the seats of the lower level. The other three balconies were box-seats only, and it looked like it would have been pretty fun to watch from up there.
The play was great! It was called La Serva Amorosa, and I was surprised by how much of it I was able to understand. It was written in the 1700s and it was originally a Venetian play. I think the fact that it's a translation helped my comprehension a lot because it put the dialogue in more modern-day terms instead of the more archaic (but lovely) and fast-paced verse. I laughed the entire time during the play, save the first ten minutes, so I definitely enjoyed it. Every character had funny lines, and the best part was that I was able to understand them!
But in other news, tomorrow is the anniversary of the Armistice of World War I. When I was walking to school today, I was a little surprised to see tanks and helicopters parked in Parc Jourdan, but then I realized what tomorrow is. Since it's a national holiday, we're supposed to have the day off. For me, however, my day is even busier than it usually would be. I have a program class in the afternoon, and then I'm having dinner with my French family right after that.
I also met a French-American girl in one of my classes today. She was born in the US, but moved to France about nine years ago, so she speaks perfect French and English. Not fair. But she's really nice, and she told me where I can find canned pumpkin here!!! So that's going on the agenda for this weekend.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Before Barcelona
I think this is the longest I've gone without updating--and I'm sorry for that, but this week was definitely the busiest school week I've had so far. I had a big presentation in my literature class on Tuesday, so I spent all of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday morning working on that. Then after that was over, I spent Tuesday night and Wednesday morning studying for my midterm in my Languages of the World class.
My presentation went pretty well, as far as I can tell. I know I made at least one mistake with gender agreements when I was speaking, which was really dumb because I had written in down the right way. But the professor kept referring to what I had said after I was done, and she kept using my examples as really good examples, so I'm hoping that means I got the equivalent of an American A. My midterm was so-so. I don't really have any idea on how well I did because it was a short essay test, and I don't really know exactly what my professor was expecting, so I'll just have to wait and see how I did.
Last weekend, I was playing soccer with my friends at our soccer court. We all take turns playing goalie because nobody likes being stuck in one place for very long, but it's also nice to take a break sometimes. Whenever I'm in goal, the other team usually scores a minimum of two goals. And usually the only reason it's not more than that is because someone switches positions with me before I can do any more damage. My turn didn't exactly end like that the last time, though.
See, I like soccer because I have terrible--and I mean terrible--hand-eye coordination. When I'm in goal, I'm supposed to use my hands to stop the ball, which I have already explained is definitely not my forte. So usually I try to do something involving my feet stopping the ball. I have more success with this than with my hands--usually. So when the ball came to my feet, I thought I had the save in the bag. No sweat. So I didn't exactly watch where I was putting my foot on the ball. Instead of stopping the ball, I stepped on the ball and swiftly wiped out in a weird side-ways, clunking, everyone-thought-I-broke-my-arm kind of way. It wasn't anything too impressive, just a scraped elbow for which I have to use three band-aids to cover the entire wound. It's a nice little badge of courage.
Tomorrow I'm leaving for Barcelona! Despite France being a "secular" country, they still take all of the major Catholic feast days off. So for All-Saints' Day (November 1st), we get a week off of school. I'm going with my friend Bri for the weekend. A few of the other students from our program are also going to be going, so we might meet up with them there. I don't speak any Spanish, so I'm hoping that Spain is like France in that most people are bilingual--with English being the second language. (I know, how terribly touristy of me!) But I suppose if French is the second language I'd be alright, too.
I'm going to be gong to IKEA again this afternoon and then Carrefour to do some shopping. Carrefour is France's equivalent of Wal-Mart--which I hate--but it's cheap, and they have everything you could wish for on the planet, so I suppose I'll take it. It's also my last hope for finding canned pumpkin here, otherwise I'm going to have to go straight for the whole pumpkin, if I can find one.
I'll take a lot of pictures for you this weekend, and I'll get them uploaded on Tuesday sometime once I'm back in Aix, so check back then!
My presentation went pretty well, as far as I can tell. I know I made at least one mistake with gender agreements when I was speaking, which was really dumb because I had written in down the right way. But the professor kept referring to what I had said after I was done, and she kept using my examples as really good examples, so I'm hoping that means I got the equivalent of an American A. My midterm was so-so. I don't really have any idea on how well I did because it was a short essay test, and I don't really know exactly what my professor was expecting, so I'll just have to wait and see how I did.
Last weekend, I was playing soccer with my friends at our soccer court. We all take turns playing goalie because nobody likes being stuck in one place for very long, but it's also nice to take a break sometimes. Whenever I'm in goal, the other team usually scores a minimum of two goals. And usually the only reason it's not more than that is because someone switches positions with me before I can do any more damage. My turn didn't exactly end like that the last time, though.
See, I like soccer because I have terrible--and I mean terrible--hand-eye coordination. When I'm in goal, I'm supposed to use my hands to stop the ball, which I have already explained is definitely not my forte. So usually I try to do something involving my feet stopping the ball. I have more success with this than with my hands--usually. So when the ball came to my feet, I thought I had the save in the bag. No sweat. So I didn't exactly watch where I was putting my foot on the ball. Instead of stopping the ball, I stepped on the ball and swiftly wiped out in a weird side-ways, clunking, everyone-thought-I-broke-my-arm kind of way. It wasn't anything too impressive, just a scraped elbow for which I have to use three band-aids to cover the entire wound. It's a nice little badge of courage.
Tomorrow I'm leaving for Barcelona! Despite France being a "secular" country, they still take all of the major Catholic feast days off. So for All-Saints' Day (November 1st), we get a week off of school. I'm going with my friend Bri for the weekend. A few of the other students from our program are also going to be going, so we might meet up with them there. I don't speak any Spanish, so I'm hoping that Spain is like France in that most people are bilingual--with English being the second language. (I know, how terribly touristy of me!) But I suppose if French is the second language I'd be alright, too.
I'm going to be gong to IKEA again this afternoon and then Carrefour to do some shopping. Carrefour is France's equivalent of Wal-Mart--which I hate--but it's cheap, and they have everything you could wish for on the planet, so I suppose I'll take it. It's also my last hope for finding canned pumpkin here, otherwise I'm going to have to go straight for the whole pumpkin, if I can find one.
I'll take a lot of pictures for you this weekend, and I'll get them uploaded on Tuesday sometime once I'm back in Aix, so check back then!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Enjoying Being Alive
Every Tuesday night, my parish hosts this huge gathering of students (and "young professionals") for dinner called La Cave/The Cave. There is Mass beforehand for the Catholics, but everybody else can just show up at 8 for the meal. The meals consist of three courses: appetizer, main course, and dessert, and it's only 3,50€ for everything. Anyone can come, and it's a really, really great way to meet new people. This is the third week that I've gone (out of a possible three weeks, so I'm on a roll!), and I've loved it every time. They claim that there is a rule that forbids you to sit near anyone from your own country, but I don't think many people adhere to it.
The first week I met two other American girls who are really nice. One of them is from Minnesota and the other is from Colorado. They're both at the American school that's right across from the cathedral here, so I really only see them on Tuesday nights, but it's still really nice to meet other people!
Last week was interesting. I sat at a table with all French people (and one girl who has dual citizenship in the US and France), so I had to speak French the entire time. It was a little disheartening because everyone was speaking so quickly that I couldn't follow the entire conversation, so it was a little hard to contribute. Our table ended up "winning" the job of doing dishes after the meal. Doing dishes for a three-course meal for sixty people is not exactly what I would call fun. It took a long time to wash, rinse, dry, and put away all those dishes, so I didn't get home until about 11:30.
This week was really fun! I sat with one of the girls that I met the first week, and we talked with two guys she had already met last week. It was awesome! They were so funny--I actually left tonight with cheeks that hurt from so much laughing. They ended up inviting themselves over so that I can cook for them at some point, so we'll see if that happens.
But anyway. I had a really awesome day today, so I want to share it with you. Not because it was anything particularly special, just because I enjoyed life. I woke up without my alarm at about 8:30 and got up right away. I decided right off the bat that I felt like being productive today, so I started my book (Mon Faust by Paul Valéry) for my literature class this afternoon, and I got 50 pages into it, literally laughing out loud the entire way. Faust is supposed to be a depressing story about the damnation of a hopeless human soul, but this version is so witty that I can't help but enjoy it. That sounds terrible, I know.
So I went to class today and made friends with two other English-speakers: a girl from Austria and another girl from England. I was actually feeling so confident in my French abilities today that I signed up for a presentation next week over this same book. And then on my walk home from school, I listened to some really upbeat music, and I was in such a good mood that I'm pretty sure I had a few people stop and stare at me because I was practically skipping down the street.
Tomorrow is going to be a really busy day. I have class in the morning from 8:30-11:30, another class at 2 until 5, and then I have dinner with my French family starting at 6:30 until about 10. I'm going to have no free time!
The first week I met two other American girls who are really nice. One of them is from Minnesota and the other is from Colorado. They're both at the American school that's right across from the cathedral here, so I really only see them on Tuesday nights, but it's still really nice to meet other people!
Last week was interesting. I sat at a table with all French people (and one girl who has dual citizenship in the US and France), so I had to speak French the entire time. It was a little disheartening because everyone was speaking so quickly that I couldn't follow the entire conversation, so it was a little hard to contribute. Our table ended up "winning" the job of doing dishes after the meal. Doing dishes for a three-course meal for sixty people is not exactly what I would call fun. It took a long time to wash, rinse, dry, and put away all those dishes, so I didn't get home until about 11:30.
This week was really fun! I sat with one of the girls that I met the first week, and we talked with two guys she had already met last week. It was awesome! They were so funny--I actually left tonight with cheeks that hurt from so much laughing. They ended up inviting themselves over so that I can cook for them at some point, so we'll see if that happens.
But anyway. I had a really awesome day today, so I want to share it with you. Not because it was anything particularly special, just because I enjoyed life. I woke up without my alarm at about 8:30 and got up right away. I decided right off the bat that I felt like being productive today, so I started my book (Mon Faust by Paul Valéry) for my literature class this afternoon, and I got 50 pages into it, literally laughing out loud the entire way. Faust is supposed to be a depressing story about the damnation of a hopeless human soul, but this version is so witty that I can't help but enjoy it. That sounds terrible, I know.
So I went to class today and made friends with two other English-speakers: a girl from Austria and another girl from England. I was actually feeling so confident in my French abilities today that I signed up for a presentation next week over this same book. And then on my walk home from school, I listened to some really upbeat music, and I was in such a good mood that I'm pretty sure I had a few people stop and stare at me because I was practically skipping down the street.
Tomorrow is going to be a really busy day. I have class in the morning from 8:30-11:30, another class at 2 until 5, and then I have dinner with my French family starting at 6:30 until about 10. I'm going to have no free time!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Marseille, Take 3--and Homesickness
Yesterday, all the program students had to go to Marseille for our physicals to get our carte de séjour. And since I had found out about there being a Starbucks in Marseille (the next closest one is in Lyon--200 miles away), a bunch of the students decided to go get coffee while we could. It was a little disappointing because they didn't have the usual fall specialties like they have in the States, so no Pumpkin Spice Lattes for me. BUT I was able to get a Venti White Mocha--which led to a caffeine rush by the time I had finally finished it. And we all know how that goes with me.
So by the time we got back to Aix, I was still not settled down and was definitely ready to play some soccer. So I skipped home, changed into workout clothes, and bounced over to the soccer court. We got there and found out that there were already a bunch of guys getting ready to play a game, but we were too late and too many to join. So after a while, we started rotating into the game, but being a girl, naturally the guys wouldn't pass to me. So that was fun.
Today's been sort of the culminating point of a terrible week for me. I've had so many issues with my cell phone being cancelled after I had already paid for four months. Instead of honoring that, the company decided to say that unless I added more money on to my account, all of my 75 Euros would be gone. So I'm disputing that. And then there was the disappointment with Starbucks not having Pumpkin Spice Lattes. It all sounds sort of stupid and trivial, but some days it seems like a bigger deal than others. Today's one of those not-so-great days.
I don't know exactly what set me off today, but I know that I came back to my apartment and basically cried for a good two hours. I love it here, but there are so many things I miss from home--but it's mostly the people. I know it's all part of the experience--being independent in a foreign country--but I know I'm going to be ready to go home when this is all over.
So by the time we got back to Aix, I was still not settled down and was definitely ready to play some soccer. So I skipped home, changed into workout clothes, and bounced over to the soccer court. We got there and found out that there were already a bunch of guys getting ready to play a game, but we were too late and too many to join. So after a while, we started rotating into the game, but being a girl, naturally the guys wouldn't pass to me. So that was fun.
Today's been sort of the culminating point of a terrible week for me. I've had so many issues with my cell phone being cancelled after I had already paid for four months. Instead of honoring that, the company decided to say that unless I added more money on to my account, all of my 75 Euros would be gone. So I'm disputing that. And then there was the disappointment with Starbucks not having Pumpkin Spice Lattes. It all sounds sort of stupid and trivial, but some days it seems like a bigger deal than others. Today's one of those not-so-great days.
I don't know exactly what set me off today, but I know that I came back to my apartment and basically cried for a good two hours. I love it here, but there are so many things I miss from home--but it's mostly the people. I know it's all part of the experience--being independent in a foreign country--but I know I'm going to be ready to go home when this is all over.
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