homeostasis (or lack thereof) and culture shock

otherwise known as "a cold." I read online that culture shock can affect sleeping habits, but when I proposed this theory to Mom, she laughed at me and said I think you have a cold. Which actually does make sense... I have a runny nose and all that. But still, homeostasis and culture shock just sound cooler. Anyways, on to life:

For some reason I've been having the hardest time sleeping and last night (sunday night), whenever I woke up, all I could think of was "homeostasis" because each time I woke up I was either uncomfortably hot or cold. And i don't think the temperature in my room has changed at all. So maybe I had a minor fever? or something... but hopefully that's done now because waking up all night long is miserable and totally ruined all the ambitious plans I had for today (waking up early, swimming, going to mass, etc) sooo yeah, my sunday was basically shot, but I did start typing up my notes from class, and finished my presentation for Culture and Society so that's good. Oh and I did start watching a movie with Nicolas, its called the Ship that Rocked I think and its about Radio Rock on a boat in the middle of the ocean. It was really funny, but then I had to go over the presentation with Rebecca and Caitlin, so I didn't get to finish it. But I will soon I hope...

Monday I slept in as much as possible (still trying to get good sleep) and then had my Alsace history class. I really like that class - its a different way of looking at history (seeing how historical events affected wine. like wine quality and production are the most important aspects of history). Then I had Culture and Society, and Rebecca, Caitlin and I gave our presentation. I think our prof was impressed with our presentation too, because she seemed surprised we had a powerpoint and discussion questions planned (even though she told us we should) so that's really good, I think I'll get a good grade in that class. Then I went to the library and got a library card! I reserved a book so I can go back and pick it up tomorrow. Then I went home for a few min to drop off my things and then headed over to Rebecca and Caitlin's for a surprise birthday dinner for Rebecca. It was a Monday so we didn't go out (we all have class at 9 or 10 the next morning). All the IIEF girls were there and Luis (Aussie girl) and I and she was genuinely surprised - it was fun! Marie-Madeleine, the woman who runs the house they live in (its like a boarding house) made us all dinner : salad with raisins and clementines, vegetable lasagna and spice cake. It was all sooo good, especially the lasagna - we all went back for seconds. Then I went back home and crashed.

Tuesday: oh man what a day... woke up late, rolled out of bed and rode my bike so fast to class (got there in time, but I was sweating and a mess and that's just not what you do in France lol) Then tried to go to the bank, but obviously it closed 20 minutes before we got there and wasn't open for another hour. So, again, there goes my plans for swimming. I went home instead and showered and changed, then went back to the bank, and got my card (finally). Then I went to the library and picked up the book I reserved on Monday, the book chronicling the history of wine in Alsace (basically, I'm going to summarize this book for my 15 page paper). I explored the library a little bit and the upstairs is where the "reading rooms" are, and they're kind of like Bapst at BC. Sort of, at least: theres big wooden tables with chairs and it's completely silent. But its a good place to go and do work for class. Then I went to school to get my student card (finally). Then I went to Econ and my BC class. Econ was good, my prof talked a lot quicker and repeated himself less, but it was still ok. the BC class, though, was interminable! We talked about exposés, because we all need to do one, but it was like Presenting 101: Definition of a Presentation. She told us different categories (chronological, thematic, etc), described each category and told us how we should write our outlines. Then went through the do's and don't's of presenting: make eye contact, have a plan, don't read straight off your paper, etc. All the things we learned in 6th grade. The one thing I found interesting was the similarity of French exposés to 6th grade essays. Remember those 5 paragraph essays we had to write where in the introduction "you tell them what you're going to tell them," then in the body "you tell them," then in the conclusion, "you tell them what you just told them" ? Yeah, that's exactly the formula we use for our exposés. Literally, we're supposed to say (in our intro): "Hello, I'm going to talk about X Subject. First I will talk about the advantages, then I will talk about the disadvantages, then I will sum up with my thoughts and opinions on the issue." But oh well, at least its a straightforward way of presenting I guess. Then I went home and ate dinner. Then off to bed I think. Or maybe I skyped, I don't really remember lol :)

Wednesday... was yesterday... I woke up and was actually productive - it was awesome! I did laundry, then hung it up, then went to the pool. When I went to put on my cap, though, it ripped basically all the way, so I swam without a cap, and that's hard! It was more of a workout than I thought it would be! But at least I got a good workout! Then I went home, ate some leftovers and scurried to my BC class. This one was better, but it was still really boring because we kept listening to a radio broadcast over and over to answer questions about it. After that I went home and had a package waiting! Filled with goodies and Japanese foodstuffs from Grandma and Grandpa - that made my whole week! I couldn't help it, when I opened the box I dug into the Reese's... oh how I've missed peanut butter! Then I had dinner and it was good, but I didn't eat much (due to my late lunch and the Reese's) I showed Nicolas and Marie-Claude some of the things I got and they'd never seen it before, so I'm pretty sure I couldn't have found it here. I showed them peanut butter and Marie-Claude had seen it before, but Nicolas never had, and thought it was interesting. I also gave him Reese's to try because I have so many now :) and he'd never seen those either. I can't wait to make myself lunch of miso soup and rice... oh how I love and miss good Japanese food (I'm going to go out and hunt for stir fry ingredients sometime after break, I'd like to make the Bachtarzi's dinner sometime, but I'm not sure where to find Asian food... mostly ginger and oyster sauce, the other things I can find... I'll keep you posted on that front). And then after dinner, I had a good talk with Marie-Claude, mostly about the school systems in France and the US, that was nice, to just try to talk and I can tell I'm getting better.

This morning, Thursday, I meant to get up and go to the pool before class, but that didn't happen.. I have all day free tomorrow, though, so I'll go tomorrow and probably Saturday.

And with that, I'm caught up! hope you're all liking these long, random posts, because I think that's how its going to work, especially once I start traveling and I can't take my comp (that'll be weird, but I'll survive I guess). K well, better go get ready for class!

peace out!

some things never change...

1. making lists will always be an OCD tendency of mine (my walls are currently covered in lists for various things: flight prices, homework due dates, my ever-present "to-do" list, etc)

2. job hunting will always suck (have yet to find one - if anyone knows anyone who needs a nanny/secretary/intern in any field/intelligent rising college senior to work for them/trophy wife, let me know)

3. facebook will always be distracting (lol)

4. I will always love curling up with a cup of tea and good book :)

Which is probably what I'll be doing tonight. I was incredibly unmotivated today to do anything because I was really lethargic for some reason (I don't think I slept very well last night). And so I don't think I want to go out tonight, I had a great night both Thursday and Friday night and I'd like to wake up in the AM tomorrow lol

anyways, I should probably back up a few days since I've been slacking on my blogging lately...

sooo... I left off tuesday night.

Wednesday... what happened on Wednesday... Oh, right. I got up and went over to Caitlin and Rebecca's to work on our presentation and then I went to the pool (didn't feel as good today... oh well) then I went home, wasted time lol and then went to my BC class from 4-6. I like that teacher alot better, we read an article about renting bicycles (which I know all about haha) and listened to a song. Then I went home and had dinner... I don't remember what we had but I think it was pretty good.

Thursday I woke up and didn't have anything to do till 1, which is when I have my class on the War on Terror. So I got up, had breakfast, wasted more time and made myself lunch to take to class. That class is really interesting, we talked about the background of 9/11 and the immediate aftermath. Then we broke into groups and debated different questions. My group's question was what were the lessons learned and not learned from 9/11. And we had a good discussion because there were lots of different opinions (there was a STRONG Obama supporter, she was crazy, and the other Americans and I were pretty moderate and then the international students were pretty much really liberal). After that I went home and tried (and failed) to nap, had dinner with Nicolas and then Anna came over before we headed out to La Java. La Java is a club, mostly for students, and it was just a dance party in a basement. There wasn't a cover charge, which was awesome, and there weren't even mandatory drinks (like how some clubs don't have a cover but you have to buy 2 drinks, which usually comes out to like $10) There were some sketchy old men, but it seems like that's just everywhere and as long as you're smart and keep your wits, they're pretty harmless. Anyways, so Anna and I went out there and met up with the IIEF girls and we all danced for a few hours and it was really fun! They played alot of American dance music (including some Spice Girls and Michael Jackson and others like that) and they had a stage and bars that you could dance on, so we all got on the stage and danced together for a few songs :) We went home pretty early (by European standards anyways - around 2:30 ish)

Friday I woke up late and literally read all day, lounged in my sweats and pajamas and read Pillars of the Earth (I'm mildly obsessed right now) then I did my little pseudo workout since I didn't go to the pool (squats, lunges, abs, pushups, etc) and I'm not that sore today- yay! And then I went and met up with Anna and her program to go out to dinner. We went to a Brasserie where they served different varieties of tarte flambée. I got one with garlic and bacon on it (sounds weird, but it was really good!) and then Anna and I went and got hot chocolate before going back to her room and watching Narnia. I missed movie nights, it was fun to do that! Then home I went and off to bed :)

I didn't sleep that well, I think this week has been stressful for me in an almost subconscious way, I've just had a lot on my mind and its been a little overwhelming. At the same time, there's been so much that's happening, its hard to focus on organizing myself, so I get a little panicky sometimes at night I think (you know, right before you fall asleep when you think about what you have to do the next day, I've had a lot on my mind then, but not really during the day, so I think it messes with my sleep). Anyways, woke up late today, lounged again (but productively!) and finished my presentation and started typing my notes from classes - that's my task for tomorrow, to finish typing my notes. Today was good though, even though I was lethargic. Raphael, the Bachtarzi's daughter (in whose room I'm staying), came for lunch and Jean-Michel made sushi. It was sooo nice to have some Japanese food, since I'm used to having it like every other day. And it was really good! He made it all and it was impressive! We had sashimi with tuna, salmon and scallops and maki (rolls) with different combos of tuna, salmon, avocado and cucumber. Then when the sushi was done, we had bread and cheese (obvi haha), salad and clementines. Then we finished with tea and these little pieces of layered chocolate, caramel and graham cracker crust (I think those were the layers, either way, it was sweet and scrumptious lol). Then I spent the rest of the day not doing a lot.. typing notes, procrastinating, and figuring out which celebrity I look like. The result that Mom and I decided was Kristin Kreuk::

And now, I think I'm going to go snuggle up with some tea and the Pillars of the Earth... yes I'm a loser, but I know you all love me :) bisoux!

PS. I was kidding about the trophy wife, but serious about the other job positions

PPS. Yes, I am a nerd for doing that celebrity look-alike thing, but let me know what you think of it...

I'm a real person... what?

Sorry for the delay in posting, I've come to the realization that I'm not actually on a 5 month vacation here - I actually have to go to school and do homework. So, I have to be a real person. I mean, what?! haha but never fear, for I have returned! :)

K, so back a few days, on Monday I went for a swim again and it was better because there were less people and I felt pretty good, but I can tell I'm way out of shape (oops!). Then I came home, made myself lunch and went to class. Mondays I have regional history of Alsace (aka my wine class) and we found out that 1) Erasmus (=exchange) students don't have to do the oral presentation (yay!) 2) nor are they required to do the written final exam (yay!), 3) they are, however, expected to write a 15 page paper on the history of wine in the Alsace region in lieu of the oral and final (boo!). After that, I have Culture and Society in Europe since 1945 (aka C&S) and I signed up to do a presentation on Monday (2/1) to get it out the way (out requirements for that class are a group presentation, a 2 page response paper, class participation and a final oral exam). Then I came home, furiously looked up and decided on flights to spain (!) and had dinner with the family (good, not great: chicken cordon bleu from a box, pumpkin au gratin?, flan, bread and cheese) then looked up more stuff for traveling, and resigned myself to being broke upon return to the states lol

On Tuesday I got up, had breakfast, packed myself a million snacks (literally, I had a small grocery in my bag), and went to my literature class. It wasn't as bad as the first week - I zoned out less and understood more, but that class is still going to be a struggle for me. Then I went to the cafeteria and had a bunch of my snacks for lunch (I wasn't hungry enough for real food and didn't want to buy food). After that I went to Histoire des Relations Internationales for the first time (it was cancelled last week). I was thinking about taking that class and dropping Actualités Françaises, but I decided against it because the prof was going to have us write a 10 page paper instead of the final (but it would've been a hard 10 pages with research and sources, and all the stuff that I haven't done in years, oh yeah and in French).

After that class, Rebecca and I had a 2 hour break before our BC Course so we went to the cafeteria in IEP to chill for a bit. There, I ran into Anna, the girl from Princeton that I met in my Econ class, and we got to talking about February break and she might go with me to Spain! We were sitting there and then decided that we were hungry and wanted food before our 6-8pm BC Course. So, we all went together for dinner and got donor kabobs and fries (healthy I know - but so delicious! and I only had carrots and yogurt for lunch) then went to IIEF (where our BC class is, its the building for the intermediate french students). The 10 BC students in the IEP/UdS/EMS track (aka, the more advanced track, we're taking classes with french students as opposed to taking classes with students who's second language is French, its kind of hard to expain...) all have IIEF classes together, so we all went to this class and introduced ourselves to the prof, told her our goals for the semester, took a little written evaluation thingy and then left. The ride home was FRIGID - my hands were red and hurt so badly when I got home and I even had gloves on! Sooo... I'm not sure about my plan to swim in the morning... Anyways, I got home, and immediately made myself a cup of hot tea (mostly so I could hold the warm mug lol) and then got some apple crumble that I missed at dinner (which was amazing!)

okkkk well I know I'm still a day behind, but today wasn't all that special, so I'll wait till I have something exciting to write (slash when I have more energy lol all that being a real person thing is tiring!). Oh! I updated (finally) my photobucket album - the link is in the sidebar on the right of my blog. bisoux à tous!

weekend :)

Alright, now the actual weekend: Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday I woke up late again, had breakfast and then went to the farmer's market that's just around the corner from my house (Monday-Saturday there's a farmer's market in a square somewhere in Strasbourg and Sat its by my place). It was really little and closing up when I got there (around 1) so I didn't stay very long, but it was pretty cool, there were stalls for fruits, vegetables, meats, jams, breads and pastries and a random chinese lady selling egg rolls (lol). Anyways, so I walked from there to Place Kléber, picked up a few books for my classes and then went home again. Had lunch and then read and chilled for awhile. And by chill I mean I snacked all afternoon lol, not good since I was going out to dinner with 7 other girls (but our dinner reservations weren't till 8 so I did need to hold myself over till then... that's what I'm telling myself anyways). But then we all met up and went to dinner (Rebecca, Caitlin, Louise, the IIEF girls and I) to a restaurant right by the cathedral. It was wonderful. And a really fun experience! Because the atmosphere at French restaurants are so different than American restaurants. We were there for 3 hours and never felt rushed or like the restaurant needed us out to turn over the table. The waiter also left us alone a lot. So if we needed something, it was a little difficult to get his attention, but it was nice not being bothered all the time too. We all ordered from the Menu, which is like a deal type thing (I'm not sure how to describe it.. but it includes a salad or appetizer, entrée and a dessert, its sort of like the 2 for $20 deal at Applebee's, except that its only for one person and its a LOT better) anyways, sorry if that description didn't help. I got a salad, steak au poivre vert and tarte aux pommes. and it was all sooo good. The plates weren't very big but they were amazing and I actually liked not feeling stuffed to bursting at the end of the meal. We also got 2 bottles of wine for the table and it still only came out to 17euros each. Which, for a three course French meal and glass of wine, I think is a really good deal. Then we decided to just go home again, since it was already after 11 and we were tired.
So I got home and Nicolas had just gotten home also. I was freezing so I made myself a cup of tea and he made himself one also and then we started talking about music and we ended up talking about music, movies, comedians and random other things for almost 2 hours! I'm getting to really like talking to him, probably because he speaks in french and he's closer to my age than my "parents." Then I decided it was time for me to go to bed and that's when his parents walked in (around 1:30am)! They usually go out on Saturday nights and they stay out really late sometimes (I guess that's just how it is in France though, dinners take longer, bars and clubs are open later and it feels like everything is a little bit slower and later.) Anyways, then I went to bed and read more (obvi haha).

Then this morning, Sunday, I had the best intentions of biking to the pool to swim then going to mass at the Cathedral. Well... I didn't make it to the pool, but I did make it to mass. And it was awesome because it was in the Cathedral, but it was freezing!! I don't think there's heat in there (or if there is, it's gotta be hard to heat a building as massive and open as that). So we basically went to church in the same weather as outside. But oh well, I don't think I'll go back to the Cathedral until it warms up a bit, but I guess Kelly (one of the IIEF girls) found another neighborhood parish that has heat, so next week I'll try there. And then afterwards I decided since I didn't swim I'd bike to Germany, which is about 3.5 ish miles away (so not a far ride, but a nice short one), except then when I was going home from mass on my bike, I absolutely froze. It was soo cold. So now my new plan is to do lunges, squats etc again because I haven't been able to warm up all day and I'm not about to go out again in the frigid cold. I'll let you know if that actually happens since right now I'm just trying to keep warm (I'm not sure why I'm so cold today... everyone here is getting sick, so I hope I'm not getting anything...) oh well. Now I'm all caught up! yay! :) hope all is good with you- love you, miss you, talk to you later!

settling in to life here :)

So, last you heard, I was still rather shocked at how long it's been since I last rode a bike. Thus, for the rest of wednesday night I avoided my bike and just chilled at home :)

On Thursday, though, I figured I should ride my bike a little before I try to take it to school with me. So I rode it in the morning to the Council of Europe and back, and it wasn't bad- I only ran into one trashcan! lol and I took some more pics, those will be going up soon. I came home and showered, then decided that the bike ride felt good so I should do more physical activity. So, I did squats, lunges, sit ups, push ups and stretched. Yeah... that was the first time I've done any type to exercise while here... you can probably guess how I felt the next day haha.

Then I rode my bike to school and went to my class, War and Terror, which looks good (its mostly about the American War on Terror and its implications, roots, consequences, etc). I rode home, went to grocery store and got some lunch stuff, and ate said lunch stuff. Then had dinner with my family, it was delicious as usual: beef stew with carrots and salad and bread and cheese and oranges with sugar for dessert. Tonight I went out with caitlin and louise (a girl from australia in my history class) to Club Seven where we met up with IEP girls: Kelly, Christie, Erica and Lauren. It was an awesome club and was basically a dance party from 11-4am, but hot with sketchy old men who wear sweater vests. We avoided those men as best we could though (obviously.) and just had fun dancing together. They played mostly American music (Kesha, Lady Gaga, Kanye, etc) and some Euro house music so it was really fun to jump around and dance (although my legs were killing me from my random workout earlier). I ended up leaving fairly early, but I think it might take me another weekend to get used to going out like I used to (especially since last semester I barely went out due to the gross amount of work I had).

Alright... now its Sunday and I'm finishing this post... sorry for the delay lol

So on Friday, I woke up late, and had breakfast, and then rode my bike to the pool (without any incidents! even though it was a 3 mile ride both ways), and swam! Swimming was so nice again... it was kind of hard because I was swimming with a bunch of older men and kept running them over so I felt bad, but it was just so nice to get in and workout again! So I'm definitely going back soon. It was interesting too because (like everything here) it was really similar but there were little things that were different. The locker rooms, for instance: they have someone there who has hangers and will hang up your coat and check your bag for you (for free!) while you swim. And the locker rooms themselves aren't just big rooms with benches like most locker rooms; they have tons of little cubicle type things where you can change and each one has a bench and a mirror, its like a changing room in a mall. The pool itself was nice too (50m and pretty deep), ut was just difficult sharing lanes with lots of different abilities. Anyways, after I swam I rode home (and only got a little lost when I made a wrong turn!) had lunch then chilled and skyped with people :) I had dinner with the whole family tonight (Jean-Michel, my "dad" usually isn't home), and it was good, we had basically the same as yesterday but with quinoa or some kind of grain in addition and for dessert had mille feuilles (yummy!!). I was planning on going to an Italian party with Rebecca and some other girls, but we lost motivation around 930 and decided to just chill and have a night in. I read Pillars of the Earth (I'm getting really into it!) and went to bed early (sorry to disappoint everyone who thinks I should be discotheque-ing it up! but I promise to make up for it with my [hopefully] awesome travels!)

Well, I'll add saturday and sunday in a bit, sorry for taking awhile :)

bike riding is a lot harder than I remembered...

And bushes are good things to avoid, as are elderly couples, kids, lamp posts and brick buildings. Luckily I avoided all... except for the bush... Guess I'd better start over, well I should probably start from yesterday because I think that's where I left off.

Tuesday!
Today I had 3 classes planned: 10-12 literature francais (subsection about anthropology and ethnology), 2-4 Histoire des Relations Internationales, 4-6 Economie de la Transition. I woke up late (as usual) and ran out the door, late (as usual) but made it to the lit class early. That one is going to be difficult... the prof seems really nice, but its just going to be hard. 5 of the BC students are in that class, so we'll have eachothers' notes, but we need a french friend to survive - they write down EVERYTHING. in different colors, usually. So, we need to make friends lol. Then Caitlin, Rebecca and I got lunch in a Greek cafe place- I got a chicken sandwich and it was absolutely delicious! There's a lot of Greek and Indian places here (like our Mexican and Chinese I think) which, upon further reflection, actually does make sense since Greece is fairly close and India is closer to Europe than it is to the States. Anyways, lunch was good. Then Rebecca and I set off for International Relations. It turned out to be cancelled... so she went home and I chilled in the IEP cafeteria till my 4:00 class. Economie de la Transition is about, you guessed it, Transition Economics! haha, and the prof made a point about explaining how Transition Econ is different from Development Econ; the countries we're studying are already developed- most of them are part of the former USSR, so they were Communist. Others we'll look at were formerly Socialist (I think) and we're looking at how they transitioned from communism and socialism to capitalism or other political and economic systems. In short, it sounds awesome to me and I'm really excited! The nerd in me comes out lol, but the prof was really excited about it and made it really easy to follow (he spoke slowly and clearly and repeated himself a lot) and the material really interests me. We started by outlining communism and then we'll move on to what prompted the transition, the consequences, and modern economy.

Sooo I'm a dork and so psyched about my econ class! lol :) then I came home and had dinner with my family. We had salad (yay) and moussaka (not yay). And bread, cheese and mousse au chocolat. Then I skyped with Caitlin and Katie (yay). Then I went to bed.

Today, Wednesday was a pretty good day, but not as good as yesterday. I had another 10-12 class and that was it. My class was Actualités Francais, which is about French politics and current events. Which is pretty interesting but I didn't really like the first day, so I'm not sure I'm going to stay with it. It'll depend on my classes tomorrow probably. My prof is really cool, and teaches in a more American style (aka, homework and a midterm and final) but still pretty french (the homework is due in a month and is only a paragraph). But, we'll have tests on saturday... Ugh desicions desicions. I should probably stay in it and just take it pass/fail. But I'm really not sure, and I don't have to decide until next week so that's good.

Then after my class I went to go check on my student ID card (not ready yet ugh) and then went on an adventure to rent a bike. Succeeded in renting the bike, but riding it is a whole different story... I almost ran people over and then ran into a bush trying to avoid running over an old lady (I figure I probably made the right choice about that, but it was humiliating and kind of hurt.) Then again, I was an idiot and decided to ride home through the busiest part of town where there are only sidewalks (no roads or bike paths). So, maybe I deserved it a little. Feeling so off-kilter on a bike though did make me rethink my plans to immediately jet off for the pool (I think I'll save that for tomorrow or friday, even though I CANNOT wait to swim, I don't want to die just yet- I need some practice on my bike). Tomorrow morning I'm going to ride it around near my house I think before heading to class (class at 1 and 4 tomorrow). And then, hopefully, hopefully I'll be comfortable enough on the bike to try the 4.5 km ride to the pool (I know 4.5 km isn't that long, but its about 4.5 km's farther than I've ridden in like 5 years, so I'm easing into it lol) And that brings us up to now: I'm blogging and avoiding my bike for the rest of today haha.

Goals for tomorrow: get lunch stuff from the grocery store, ride my bike around and not crash into/run over/injure anything or anyone (including myself), get my student card and get to class on time! make if i'm especially motivated i'll go to Monoprix and get some paper and the bookstore for a english-french pocket dictionary... but that may be too ambitious ;)

so, till later, tu me manques et je t'aime!

Defying gravity and taking chances.

2 things about the title for today: 1. if you haven't seen the show Glee, that is a travesty and needs to be remedied ASAP. 2. I've been listening to the music basically non stop for a few days and I feel like these songs are so inspiring for me right now! I was also listening to them before I left to try and get excited about studying abroad and not be as worried about being on my own in a foreign country. Now I've been listening to them because I'm loving it here and the message is so great for me right now - I need to just go and do the things that I want to and make sure I don't let anything get in the way. Really, I should do that with life in general, but I'm trying really hard to make sure I do what I want to while I'm here and not let others dictate what I do. I still have trouble coming out of my shell with strangers (aka people in my classes who are french that intimidate me lol) but my goal for this week is to be better about talking to them at least a little bit.

With that big blurb out of the way... lol I don't even remember when I left off...

Ok, so Saturday night I was lame lol and just read my book, which is actually pretty good! Went to bed relatively early (~1ish) and woke up relatively late (~11ish) ate breakfast and then got ready to meet up with the BC group at the movies (a BC sponsered trip, so we paid for... nothing - I even made 3 euros off the trip lol) We went and saw Le Siffleur, which was kind of a french version of Oceans 11. We think. It was pretty funny, but I really only followed some of it and at points I had no idea what was going on or who was on which side or who betrayed whom lol but it was fun nonetheless. Then after that, we all met up at a cafe for pastries and coffee. I got a chocolate mousse type thing and a cappaucino. The chocolate mousse was ridiculous. I don't even know how to describe it lol, it was like a ball of chocolate covered mousse, but the mousse was firmer and richer than mousse... like a truffle kind of (not the fluffy kind of truffle tho, like the ones that you eat one and have to lick the roof of your mouth afterwards... does that make any sense at all?) and the chocolate on the outside was dark, really really rich chocolate. Oh and it was almost the size of my fist. I barely finished it, but it was so good I couldn't stop. (Although I probably should've since I later had a chocolate overdose induced headache and stomachache lol). BC paid for that too :)

After that, I didn't eat again till like 8:20, because dinner was kind of here's food, eat whenever you want kind of deal and I was absolutely stuffed from that gigantic ball of richness. Thennnn I don't remember what I did... probably nothing haha maybe watched some Glee (I downloaded it and have been watching it all the time since then) then picked up my new book - Pillars of the Earth (because Mom told me to read it since I'm going to be visiting cathedrals and stuff all over the place.) Oh, now I remember! I did laundry last night! which was good because I was running out of underwear and socks... TMI sorry :) but yeah, yay clean clothes! And they have a washer but no dryer, so all my clothes had to hang dry, so its a good thing I did it yesterday and not tomorrow haha so I did my laundry, waited till it came out and then hung it up and then went to bed.

So then this morning, I woke up, had bfast, checked my laundry, put away the dry clothes and then got dressed and ready for my first day of school! I had 2 classes today: Regional History of Alsace: Wines, Vines and Vineworkers (rough translation lol) from 1:30-4 and Culture and Society in Europe after 1945 from 4-6. I had to meet with Susan (our program coordinator) before 12, though, so Caitlin and I left around 11:20 this morning. And it was a BEAUTIFUL day, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and it was [relatively] warm! It was glorious! (Pics coming soon).

So we met with Susan, turned in some paperwork and then set out to find out where our classes are- they don't post that stuff online (that would be too simple, obviously). It took a bit of navigating and asking questions and locating hidden stairwells, but we figured it out eventually :) Then she and I went to our first class, we're taking Regional History together and it went really well! The professor was really nice, one of the first questions he asked was "Who are Erasmus students?" (Erasmus=exchange) and my hand shot up. He then went on to say that we wouldn't have to do the oral presentation that the rest of the class has to do (phew! I was freaking out when he was talking about that). And then the class went through introductions and then we started talking about the basics of a vineyard! About how grapes grow and what makes good or bad harvests, grapes and wine, etc. It was difficult to follow, but really interesting and I really liked it!

After that, we had to book it to our next class that's about a 7 min jog away but we ended up making it before the professor walked in. Culture and Society is taught in English, so it'll be my safety class in a way - it has more homework than most classes I think, but its all in English, so I and other native English speakers have a distinct advantage. It sounds interesting too, we'll study how people's identities and cultures have changed post WWII- topics will include the Cold War, immigration, decolonization, globalization, americanization, all those "zation" words. But the focus is on the people and culture, not politics or governments, which I think will make it really cool. So all in all, a good first day of school :)

Then, Rebecca, Caitlin and I walked home (Rebecca, Caitlin, Cammie, Kelsey and I are all taking C&S together) and I scarfed down some random food (yogurt, nutella sandwich, carrot, more nutella) before heading off to a surprise bday party for a BC girl (that I actually didn't know, but she's really nice!) where I ended up gorging myself on absolutely delicious pastries and cake- I feel like a million pounds at the moment lol. I can't wait to rent my bike and ride it to the pool and swim and feel like a real person again (this not working out thing is absolutely driving me INSANE! because I eat so much good, but rich, food and don't work it off so I've been feeling really heavy and gross lately).

But, that brings me to now- just sitting at my comp, typing this and thinking about my feb break (tentative plans to go to Spain with Sonia, one of my suitemates from last year). And listening to Glee, obviously ;)

Wow, that was a long post! Props if you actually read it all the way through! lol next time I'll try to break it up more.

I'll stop here :) love you all! bisoux à tous!

PS. I'm so glad people actually read these posts- I actually never felt like people would read these, but I'm glad they [as in, you] do! It makes me feel a little less silly to be documenting my life in such detail to know that someone appreciates it! Let me know what you think and maybe I'll bring you back a present! ;) Or, at least let me know your address and I'll work on sending postcards! Ok, now I'm really stopping haha - bon soir!

bon soir à tous!

Well last night ended up being a bit of a bust. We went to Flams and its an all you can eat tarte flambée place. so, naturally, I stuffed myself to the point of bursting. I need to learn to not do that... oh well, and there was also all you can drink Alsacian beer! So, we gorged on French pizza and beer. wonderful :) except for the fact that I felt so full I was unable to even think about dancing or going out afterwards. Oh well, c'est la vie lol. A few other BC students and I actually went to a bar because we were planning on going to a party later, but once we sat down, we all realized that we didn't want to drink and would rather go home. Then again, we did have a long week. So, I went home and watched Across the Universe on my computer and then fell asleep. And then I slept forever- it was glorious!

I woke up today full of all sorts of ambitious plans - go scope out where my classes will be, walk to the pool thats three miles away, swim in said pool, walk back, not eat my weight in carbs, etc etc. Needless to say, those dreams died lol. In my defense, though, I did map out online and in a map where my classes will be and its very do-able. Then, I totally tried to walk to the pool (still probably walked almost a mile of the journey) then realized that I was supposed to walk on the side of a major highway. Let me re-phrase, the shoulder of a major highway since the sidewalk didn't run there. So, I saw that, decided I would like to live, then decided I'd better go check out the mall I stumbled upon. That may not have been the brightest idea since all it did was make me salivate over adorable suede boots that are ridiculously cheap by French standards, but still out of my student price range. sad face. oh well, then I walked some more and found myself back in Place Kléber. I'm not quite sure how I keep ending up there, but I feel like whenever I don't know where I am, I find my way back there. Maybe I'm finally getting my bearings - awesome! And while I was there, I noticed a store that I'd missed the past few times I'd wandered in PK: an international bookstore. A truly dangerous store for me to find, almost half the store is English books. They have everything: Janet Evanovitch, Dan Brown, Artemis Fowl, and tons of other books I would love to read. Unfortunately, most of them are around 10 euros. Which is more expensive than the French books I found. So it looks like I'll be reading my family's few English books and then attempting French novels. wish me luck.

Well, after that, I decided it was finally time for me to head home (even though I basically accomplished nothing on my outing except to find that I can't walk to the pool). And then I decided that I'm going to look into bike rentals, because I think I could bike to the pool and that would be safer and quicker than walking. I could probably also find a better way to go than on a highway... that will take some work though. Anyways, I looked into bike rentals, and they're really cheap! only 10-20 euros a month for students, which is cheaper than a tram pass.

So I did all that, made a list of things I need to do Monday. Speaking of, I should add laundry... that could be interesting... anyways, back to reality. I had random food for dinner (but, I had been snacking basically all day- it's bad... lol) and now I'm sitting here, blogging, debating about whether to head out by myself to meet people or just snuggle up with my book (A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth- I'm borrowing it from the Bachtarzi's, any opinions on it?) for the night. Knowing me and my lack of motivation when I don't have someone to go out with, I'll probably call it a night in ooh... 20 minutes or so. haha. Too bad they don't get the food channel here- I would love to watch some Iron Chef America... wow random thought. Alright, well with that I'd better sign off. Love you all, hope everything is going wonderfully!

PS. sorry if this post was absurdly random or discombobulated :)

All you need is love!

The title is because I've been listening to Beatles covers (Across the Universe soundtrack) for awhile :) I find that while here, I've been listening to oldies and country the most, there's probably some psychological reason behind that but who knows.

Anyways, everything has been good here. Yesterday we went to the Council of Europe and that was really cool. The only problem was that the guy who presented wasn't very interesting, so I had trouble paying attention. Add to that the fact that obviously, it was all in french, and you had a room of nearly snoozing foreign exchange students. Its too bad too, because I think if I had been better able to understand it, it probably would've been much more interesting. I guess I'll just have to go back lol.

And then after that, I went home and had planned to go to the bookstore and read and eat in a cafe in Place Kleber, but Marie-Claude invited me to eat with her and Nicolas, so I did and that was fun.

Then I went to the bookstore (and discovered I love foreign bookstores just as much as English ones) and got a fairly easy read in French (so, its automatically not an easy read for me anymore lol). I had some time left so I wandered around (probably not a great idea since I forgot my map at home, but I kept my bearings surprisingly well) and stumbled onto the Cathedral. Well, ok, more like spotted its massive size from a few streets over, but still basically walked into it when I was just wandering. It's hard to miss, though, since it is one of the tallest buildings ever. It was the tallest building in the world till 1874 and its the 6th tallest church in the world (thank you, wikipedia). Its awesome because it spans like 4 different building styles and is one of the oldest churches in Europe (it was started in 1176 and is still in excellent condition). Right now there's some scaffolding on one side to repair some stained glass, but for the most part it is just old and gorgeous and breathtaking. Whoever comes to visit me is going there with me. Non-negotiable (ok thats a lie, but it really would be a shame to miss it). There's pictures on both my Facebook and photobucket account (the link is below).

There's also pictures that reminded me of certain people (I think I put them up...) Mom: Villeroy and Bach and I didn't take a pic, but a huge Mephisto store. Joanie: Swarovski. There's HUGE sales right now, so if you need anything, let me know! haha ;)

Then I went home and had dinner with Marie-Claude and Nicolas. We had quinoa, chicken in a cream sauce and steamed veggies. It was wonderful!! I think partly because its similar to what I'm used to eating, but I loved it! Followed by bread and cheese, obvi lol and mousse au chocolat (heaven in a bowl). Watched the news: can't believe about Haiti... keep them in your prayers please. Went to bed early since I was randomly exhausted again.

Today, Friday (my second Friday here - crazy! and still missing working out... but oh well, hopefully I can soon!) I woke up late and had to hustle to get to school on time since we were learning how to sign up for classes. Everything here moves much slower than in the States, it seems. We turn in some papers next Monday (the day classes start) to be entered into the system (so, yeah, we're starting classes without even being registered in the school lol) and then we may not get our student ID for a few days after that (which is killing me because I'm going crazy not being able to work out and there's still snow on the ground so running is pretty much out [which may be a good thing for me since I'm not supposed to run anyways...] oh, clarification: we can't use the school gym without a student ID lol). So we learned how to fill out the paperwork and then that was it, basically. A little later today we're going to sign up for French bank accounts and then we're going to have dinner with other international students at a Tarte Flambée place called Flams. After that, the night is open, but we'll definitely be going out somewhere, hopefully to a fun club or pub or something!

Hope everything is going well with all of you! some Beatles to sign off: while I'm away, I'll write home everyday and I'll send all my loving to you!

bisoux :)

PS. still getting the hang of this blogging thing, but I added the link to my photobucket album on the left :)

pictures and such

Hey all, just letting you know that I posted some pictures online (the link is at the bottom). It was a really foggy day yesterday, but there's still some good ones of the Cathedral, etc. and there's more to come shortly lol :)

http://s750.photobucket.com/albums/xx141/crispv/?action=view&current=100_0025.jpg

Ps. it may say something weird at the top, like the media doesn't exist, don't worry, it does, just scroll down! <3

Q: what's the french word for struggle?

warning for this post: just woke up from a nap = a little disoriented lol so sorry if I ramble or don't make sense ;)

A: "lutte" (f) exemple: hier, ma vie était une grande lutte.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed that tidbit. Yesterday was so hard. I think because Monday night I decorated my room - pictures to come - and didn't go to bed till late then had another full day of being inundated with random French facts. I still don't know the point of the Stage, but its over now so I guess it doesn't matter all that much lol. We talked about how the US runs the world, Belgium isn't really a country, something about Polanski getting set free and how the EU only exists because America wants it to (well, I think that's what we talked about anyways...)

I did have a good gyro at lunchtime though :) it was huge! but yummy.

Dinner and evening weren't very eventful because I was so tired, but the news is all about the weather here, schools are closed, people can't get out and lots of businesses are losing lots of money (airports, crops, etc).

Mercredi 13/1/10

Morning started the same: wake up early, eat quickly, get out the door to get to IEP by 9. We only had Stage in the morning, though, so it ended by 12. So afterwards, Rebecca, Caitlin and I grabbed lunch and went to Auchan, which is like the French equivalent of Walmart. It was GIGANTIC!! and messy. We went to go get notebooks for class and socks and rainboots (because its supposed to rain this weekend and none of have rainboots!). I ended up getting notebooks, socks and chocolate (obviously lol). But this place was like Walmart on a bad day - its the sale season, so people were everywhere and things where just thrown all over the place and it was almost stressful being there. Then again, I'm not a "hunter" when it comes to shopping - I don't enjoy sorting through piles and messes to find that one perfect item. I like my stores neat and clean and orderly with everything hanging on its hanger just so. So, maybe if someone else had visited and doesn't mind stores like that this one wouldn't seem so bad. I was also exhausted, so that may have also affected the excursion. Oh well, nbd.

After that, we went home (rainbootless, uh oh) and I passed out. It was an epic nap - one of those ones where you lay down and are instantly asleep and like 20 seconds later the alarm is already going off. And it was glorious. And very necessary at this point.

Well, that's my life right now lol on the agenda for tonight is din din with the fam (can I say that if its not my real family? meh oh well.) then sangria with les étudiants internationaux.

I also need to:

1. go look at the bookstore for a new book asap.

2. go to the cathedral

3. be a complete tourist for a day or two

4. WORKOUT. I am going insane without a workout.

5. I think that's all...

6. jk, figure out plans for visiting people/places in Europe (any suggestions, let me know)

6a. list on people/places/things to visit, coming soon! lol

7. find rainboots.

à bientôt!

ps. sorry about the pic up top and how the blurb is hard to read, I'll put up one of my own pics as soon as I actually take pictures...

Monday: almost a week since I left!

Lundi 11/1/10

I just realized that it's been almost a week since I left the US... its gone really quickly. And today was a good day :) I had to get up early (7:30) to leave by 8:20 to meet with Rebecca and Caitlin because we have our first day of Stage today. I'm still not entirely sure what the goal of the stage is, but I think it's just to immerse us more in french, with a French professor and give us a hint of how classes are run. Anyways, it runs from 9-12 and 2-5 (= my head hurts at the end) and its all in french but it has no real plan or schedule of discussion or anything. Basically we listen to a French professor talk to us about whatever he wants in French. He did give us some suggestions on where to travel and places to eat in Strasbourg, which was really cool. During our lunch break, we went to the cafeteria in the basement of the IEP building and got lunch for cheap! I got croque monsieur for 2 euros. I also realized it tasted good, but I'm actually not a fan of croque monsieur because its so heavy. Then again, I'd never had it before and it was pretty good. I also got a cappucino because caffeine was necessary to face 3 more hours of french and it was wonderful. It was strong, but chocolatey and good.

When we got out of class today, I realized that I keep thinking in French, which is good! Its funny though because sometimes when I'm speaking with the other BC students, I have to rethink what I want to say because I think about it in french! However, it worked out well at dinner tonight because I spoke more and I think I'm speaking better already. For dinner, we had soup then salmon, rice and spinach then cheese and bread, then galette. It finally struck me tonight how the french actually have different courses, even just for family dinners (even though I've had a few of them now) as opposed to when I eat at home or at school, everything is on the table or counter at the same time (unless I'm at school, in which case I'm terrible at timing things so I end up having courses when I don't mean to lol). We also talked about a few differences between the US school system and the French one. It's interesting how completely different they are. French high school students rarely participate in competitive sports because they spend all their time in school (They have school from 8-430 or 5 most of the time, but with a 2 hour lunch).

I should probably stop here considering I have to write a paragraph on the US government for tomorrow and I'm already exhausted...

a bientôt! bises~

salade ou boudin? def le salade...

My Sunday wasn't very interesting (but that's not to say it was boring, just uneventful)... I basically woke up late, ate, showered, watched Glee and talked about classes with a few other BC students.

After that, all of us went to dinner at le Jardin de l'Orangerie, which was a restaurant in a beautiful park! Not that we could see much since it was dark, but still :) I got a salad, because I've been missing vegetables in my life (les legumes me manque! lol) and it was delicious! It had bacon and egg and really good dressing. The menu was kind of hard to read, because we don't know the names of cuts of meat, or how they're prepared, but a lot of people got salads, steaks or chicken cordon bleu. One of the girls decided to branch out and try "boudin" no one knew what it was exactly, when I asked the waiter, he told me "comme pudding noir" so that's when I decided not to get it. She ordered it though, and it looked like a black omelette when it came out... not very appetizing. We all tasted it and it tasted alright... with a weird texture. At the end of the meal she asked the waiter what it was and he did not want to answer... he took a second and then came up with "blood of pork" yummmyyy... not lol so that was an experience... I'm definitely glad she ordered it and not me.

After that we all went home and went to bed early since we had Stage (an orientation type thing) at 9 am this morning.

coming soon: my family and monday :) a bientot!

recap encore!

So. Let's see... I left off at day 2 when I passed out...

Day 3: January 8

I woke up and went to Place Kléber and met some of the other BC students and we all got cell phones (very necessary - communication completely via facebook wasn't working out.) then we got lunch and then I went to be advised by Susan at the IEP. It actually didn't help that much, but its just going to be annoying to pick classes. Oh well.

Then I went home and had dinner with my family again. We had some kind of meat loaf thing with plums. Be proud of me, Mom, I ate the meatloaf. I even had mushroom soup! lol and then we had chocolate mousse, so it was worth it. Too much cream, though, I think, for my stomach right now. But its ok.

Then I went over to Caitlin and Rebecca's apartment and we had some wine and then we went over to Kelsey and Chelsea's apartment on the other side of town and had more wine and champagne. Their apartment is really nice - its a couples future retirement home, so its like a home, not a boarding room or a dorm. Then we went to this club type place but they were having Salsa night (we thought it was going to be like hip-hop night or something) but it was fun, I bought my first rum and coke from the bar and it was strong! then some French students came to hit on us lol and we all started speaking in franglais- it was so fun! They were freshmen studying geography in the university and wanted to know about American college parties - if they were like the ones in American Pie lol and I wanted to know if French buy boxed wine and 30 racks of beer like college students do in the US (they do, I was surprised). We also ended up going with them to another bar somewhere close by and it played all American 90s rock music - Guns n' Roses, Aerosmith, Creed, etc. and that was fun too. Apparently bars in Europe don't close until 4 or 6 am because I looked at my phone at one point and it was 3 am already! We decided to leave then, but we were definitely some of the first people going home, whereas in the US, that would be really late for a party. We got home around 4 and I was exhausted! I have no idea how people stay up that late then function the next day.

Day 4: January 9

Slept till 1 and had trouble getting up even then... not hungover or anything, but I think being out that late when I'm still kind of jet lagged was probably not the best idea. Had "breakfast" (I'm not sure if it qualifies as bfast at 1 pm, but it included coffee and yogurt so I'm counting it) then created my blog (lol) and then decided I should go outside finally and meet up with Rebecca, Caitlin and Doug (Caitlin's friend from BC who's studying in Paris). We met up in Place Kléber again and wandered, picked up some random essentials (tote bag, stapler, notebook, masking tape, you know, the usual lol). It was sooo hard to resist the sales though! It's like national sales month - EVERYTHING is on sale! and it's a problem because now is when I have money to spend... but I shouldn't because I want to save it for travelling. Oh dilemma... if only AJ (TJ) were here to help me shop for things haha.

So after that, we went home and M. and Mme Bachtarzi were going out to dinner, so Marie-Claude (my host mother) made Nicolas (my host brother) and I leftovers from last night. I ended up skyping with Mom, Dad and Rob so I ate after it was finished, but Nicolas waited for me to eat, which was really nice of him. We ended up talking, a lot about random differences between France and the US (everyone here is obsessed with Guinness and Heinekin and thinks that Americans have huge house parties all the time) but it was fun talking to him, we had a glass of wine together then he took off to hang out with his friends and Caitlin and Doug came over here before we took off to look for a bar. Finding a place for us to go on the weekends could take a few tries, I think, but it's been fun so far just because I don't go to the bars in the US so it's just a different experience. Nicolas told me a few places to go that I'm sure we'll try out sometime and each place we've been is so different I hope we find one that's fun and not creepy where we could go often.

Caitlin, Doug and I tried to go to Rue des Juifs, where apparently there's a bunch of clubs and bars that people our age frequent, but we ended up getting a little lost and just went to the first not completely sketchy bar we found because it was snowing and freezing (typical- it would be the coldest winter in Europe the winter we come, specifically the week we come lol). Kelsey, Chelsea and Sarah met up with us at the bar there and we just chatted for awhile then headed home at around 1:30.

I got home around 2ish and the Bachtarzis were just getting home also because they went to dinner in the country somewhere and apparently the roads were really bad because the snow is so slushy. I keep getting the impression Strasbourg doesn't get a ton of snow and usually isn't this cold, so I just keep hoping that a) maybe it won't rain too much and b) once this cold snap is over, maybe the worst of the weather is over. Those may be just wishful thinking, but hey until I'm proven wrong, I'm going with it lol

and I think that means I'm officially all caught up. I'll probably drop the "day #" part just because at this point, I don't know if it makes much difference (at least until I get closer to when I go home)

Well, I hope everyone who reads this is warmer than I am and has a wonderful day! :)

the beginning (recap)

Alright. Well, since I have some free time and all i'm doing is happily munching on pretzels and cookies (probably ruining my dinner, but oh well lol) I figured I would recap the beginning, mostly for myself I suppose, so I can look back on awkward memories fondly?

Day 0/1: January 5-6, departure day and arrival day

We left my house around 1 so we would have plenty of time to make it to DIA and go through security and check in and all that fun stuff. My flight was scheduled for 5:35 so we figured getting up there around 3 would be plenty of time. We ended up parking at 2:30 lol, so I definitely was way early (but better than late!) My bag was sadly 7 kg overweight (about 15 pounds) and there was a hefty fine and rather annoying Lufthansa lady who didn't help at all. Such is life I suppose. So, since I was checked in, DIA was dead (there were maybe 20 people in the security lines when they were busiest) and I don't know when the next time I'll get the chance to have mexican food will be, my family and I got burritos (yummy) to wait a bit. Then we said goodbye (that sucked - I hate saying goodbye.).

My flight from DIA to Frankfurt left at 5:50 and there really isn't much to tell about that aspect of the trip since I promptly passed out thanks to some Ambien from Dad. I fell asleep in the US and woke up somewhere over Scotland!

Then I took a bus from Frankfurt to Strasbourg where my "mother," Marie-Claude, picked me up. This was around 4:00 French time and I had to meet with the other BC exchange students at 7:00 for dinner. So I basically showered, threw on clean clothes and sort of unpacked then ran out to go on my first adventure: finding the restaurant by myself in the dark. I made it, though. I was late but still one of the first ones there and the food was delicious... after airplane food anything is, but I got pesto spaghetti and it was wonderful.

Then I went home and passed out.

Day 2: January 7

We had a meeting set up with Susan, our on-site coordinator, at 2:30, so I met up with Caitlin and Rebecca, the two BC girls who live near me for lunch. We got some delicious sandwiches at this cute weird little cafe. It was called BarToons and the walls were covered in Loony Tunes (sp?) but the guy there was really nice and helpful and it was fun.

Our meeting was sort of helpful... figuring out classes will be interesting though because the system for classes is different. Most of the classes at BC are 3 credit classes, so the majors and minors are set up to accept a certain number of 3 credit classes. However, in France, most of the classes only convert to 2 credits so not only do we have to take about 7 classes, but we also have to check and make sure that the ones we take will work even if they're only 2 credits. Ugh, complicated. But it'll get figured out. I hope.

Tonight I had dinner with my family for the first time. It was interesting but awkward because conversing is so difficult for me right now. I understand some of what they say, but it's also easy for me to zone out because I get so tired trying to think in French all the time! The food was really good though, we had soup, some kind of pizza type thing that's called Flammekueche (which I just found out is Tarte flambée). And then cheese and some gallette (because it's the epiphany season) and of course, bread :)

Their family habit is to watch the news every night at 8, so I did that with them and learned about a French politician dying from a heart attack and massive amounts of snow in the Normandie region. I was surprised at how much I understood, actually. I also looked over their whatchacallit... the thing that tells you when shows run. TV guide! that's it. I looked over their TV guide and over half the movies on TV are American movies and quite a few shows are American shows (mostly reruns, but still), so if i need my Monk or House fix, I can get it in French!

Then I went to bed and read a bit.

Then I passed out again. lol

day 3 and 4 to follow....

well I'm a little behind and running a little late..

Well, so much for starting a blog at the beginning of the adventure, that would've been oh... 2 months ago when I started thinking about how to prepare for my journey across the globe with only one (massive and overweight) suitcase. But oh well, such is life. As of now, it's my 4th official day in France and already I've had awkward encounters, a great night out and some AMAZING french food (oh the bread!) Since its only the 4th day I'm here, though, I figure that's not too late to be starting a blog.

Just a few quick words since I'm already late to meet up with some friends in Place Kléber (the big picture on my blog is an aerial view of the center of it). My host family is awesome, but dinner can be so awkward! Because they speak english (and very well, I might add) but they don't indulge me at all (unless its important or we have a miscommunication) so I have to speak French. Which, yeah ok, is why I came, but it makes me realize how different it is to actually hold a conversation and communicate than it is to raise my hand in class and say one perfectly crafted sentence. And my "brother" is nice also, he's 17, like Rob, my real brother, but he acts much older. Hopefully he and I can talk more in the future, he seems like a really nice kid.

The other BC kids in the program are cool also, we went out together last night and I had my first bar experience, which is funny since the french go out once they're 15 or 16. As long as you can see over the bar, you can order a drink and no one cards at all (even though its technically illegal to sell to kids under 18). We had a blast last night speaking in franglais (english and french) with some french students from the university that we met at a bar. They were trying to speak english to us and we tried to respond in french. Not exactly the most efficient way to communicate, but it was hilarious and so much fun!

Alright, well I'm supposed to be leaving in ten minutes and I'm still in my PJs so I guess I'd better sign off and put on some real clothes lol. I love you all and will probably post more tonight if I have some free time! bises~