A Week Filled With Goodbyes

Well the weekend of the 16^th to the 19^th I am going to be in Strasbourg so this past week I had to say goodbye to a lot of the people in the program because they were leaving the 19^th or before that.  It was really strange saying goodbye to people because I don’t know if I will ever see them again and we just spent a semester together.  I mean one always says, “yeah well have a reunion and get together,” but when does that ever actually happen?  Nonetheless it was still strange because they were all getting ready to go home and spend the holidays with their family and friends and part of me was jealous and wished that I could go home and spend Christmas and New Years with my family and friends.  But alas, I am here and now that I think about it I am glad that I stayed (not that I could’ve gone home anyways because it is so expensive!) because I will get to go to Strasbourg and my roommate’s house for Christmas. 

Lundi le 12 décembre:

Well today Jaynellen and I were supposed to go to the Rodin Museum and it was a gorgeous day out for it to.  We got there and it is closed on Mondays.  Typical France.  But that is ok because les Invalides where Napoleon is buried (well according to rumors all of him except for one part) is like practically across the street so we walked over and could get in for free with our student ids.  I am so thankful I am a student at the Catho.  It was filled with a lot of big tombs and was interesting.

Les Invalides, where Napoleon and the other Napoleons are buried

Such a large tomb for such a small man

“St. Peter’s-esque” if you ask me but that is just my opinion

After wandering around for a little while we then headed over to Bld. St. Michel so Jaynellen could do some last minute shopping since she is leaving at the beginning of next week for the States.  We also picked up some lunch and then headed over to Shelley’s class, not too exciting but we got to eat some bûche de Noël (which is a typical Christmas dessert here in France).  I then went over to La Vigie with Jaynellen and Carly and we hung out for a bit and then I headed back to my foyer and just did stuff.

Mardi le 13 décembre:

Went to school got a yummy crumble aux pommes with Jaynellen after lunch and then went to my afternoon class.  In the evening we had a little Christmas party at the Central office and our professors were invited and people from our bénévolats and that was a nice time.  We pretty much had an aperitif which includes food and it was all very good.  I had a nice time hanging out with people from the program and talking with the guy from my bénévolat.  Afterwards I went home and studied and worked on homework.  When I got home I got a card from Germaine and that was so sweet of her!  She sent a picture of us at Le Jules Verne in the Eiffel Tower, which was too sweet!

Mercredi le 14 décembre:

Today I had two tests!  Ugh, that wasn’t super fun.  But it is done and now I am done with those classes for the semester.  I went to lunch with Kacey at the CROUs and I ran into the guy that I randomly ate lunch with and he joined us.  He is an interesting character and is very cool.  Anyways, while I was waiting for the bus to go home after school I ran into Dmitri (I have no idea how to spell his name) but he is in my language class and is from the Ukraine and is rather cool.  We talked the whole ride home, I got off before he did.  When I got home I got a package from the Medinas and got a very nice card and scarf.  It was so nice of them to send me something!  Later that evening I went out to fondue with Amanda, Carly, Jaynellen, Kacey, and Meredith.  We had a really nice time.  We shared three different fondues, one was a cheese fondue, another was a cheese and beer fondue and the last was a meat fondue.  I was the lucky “designated” talker for the group even though everyone else was capable of speaking in French.  But that is fine.  We had a nice time and had an interesting little experience.  After we were done with our dinner we wanted a chocolate fondue for dessert and so I asked the waiter and he said he would go check.  He comes back out with this plate that has a chocolate cake thing on it with melted chocolate on it.  That is not what we wanted and so I had to explain in my very frazzled French that we did not order this and he got super upset with me.  I was very frazzled to say the least.  When he gave us the bill he threw it on the table and stormed off.  It was quite the show to say the least.  After that we walked over to Shakespeare and Company which is an English bookstore and were going to check it out but it was closed because the guy who opened it passed away.  That was really sad.  We then headed over to Ile St. Louis to get some Berthillons which was really good and the waiter was super nice.

Amanda, Kacey and Jaynellen at fondue

Carly, Meredith and me at fondue

The Chocolate and Raspberry ice cream that I got, it was so good!

Afterwards when we were leaving we were all saying goodbye and it was just really strange to be saying goodbye to all these girls especially since I feel like we just started hanging out.  But it was really fun and I am glad that I went out with them because we all had a great time.

Jeudi le 15 décembre:

Just another day, I had class and printed stuff off to go to Strasbourg on Friday and the semester is officially over for me!  I technically have classes in January but they had to turn in my grades today because Central wanted them so yeah even though finals are in January if I don’t do wonderfully on them it won’t affect my grades.  Now don’t get me wrong I still want to learn but there won’t be the pressure of getting good grades along with the learning which is how learning should be anyways.

Well it is December

Well it is now Decembre and that means that this semester is coming to an end and a majority of the students from the Central program will be going back home for the holidays and to attend their respective universities in the spring.  There are only a handful of us who are staying for the year and I am very glad that I am one of these lucky few because I still have so much to learn and discover and a semester is not a sufficient amount of time to do such things.  I came into this with certain expectations and well let’s just say that studying abroad is a lot different than what I dreamed it up to be.  I still love it though and am so thankful for such an opportunity and for a family that understands that this is what I need to do for well me.  I know of a person on the program whose family just couldn’t understand why anyone would ever want to go abroad and study.  Studying abroad is a lot different than vacationing abroad but it is an amazing experience in and of itself.  Well now that I have gotten that sentimental stuff out of the way I guess I can move onto more interesting things that include pictures.  So here is some of the stuff that I did in the beginning of Decembre.

Lundi le 5 décembre:

I got up and worked on my project for Tuesday.  I went to the CROUs for lunch like usual and sat with two random people, this French guy and a Chinese girl.  We started up a conversation and they were really cool.  I went to Shelley’s class like usual and she had us fill out a worksheet (it was mostly for the students that would be returning to the States but us year longers filled it out too).  It was questions like “how have you changed?” and my response was “that is a very good question, I have no clue.”  To say the least I guess I need to stay another semester. Lol.  I then went home and worked on my project for tomorrow and then met up Meredith later in the evening at La Grande Epicerie for getting food to share with the class for our presentation.  We then headed over to La Vigie, where Amanda lives, and worked on some stuff.  Then Meredith and I headed to our respective foyers and well I worked on the presentation some more and went to bed rather late.  Let’s just say I didn’t get much sleep that night.

Mardi le 6 décembre:

Despite the fact that I went to bed rather late I got up super early and worked on the project some more.  I then ran off to the Catho and went to class and got the presentation done and over with!  The professor said we did a good job and got an 18 out of 20!  That is an awesome grade and nearly impossible to get!  Some other groups presented and I got to try horse sausage, no joke.  It wasn’t that bad but not something I would ever be craving or wanting to eat ever again.  I can now say I have tried horse sausage and yeah, that is about all I can say about it.  So that night our program went to the ballet and saw Céndrillon (which is Cinderella) and I thought it would be a “normal” Cinderella and boy was I wrong!  There was King Kong in it and burlesque dancers and I don’t know, it was weird, and then Prince Charming was searching for her in China and Spain and I don’t know it was not a normal Cinderella.  I can now say I’ve seen “Cinderella” in Paris but not a normal one.

Mercredi le 7 décembre:

Today there was a Christmas apéritif at the foyer and it was really good and fun.  There was so much food so I was glad that I didn’t eat dinner beforehand.  I also met some really cool people.  I met this guy from Ireland that lives in the foyer and I had never seen him before.  He was really nice.  Also Irish accents are really cool, (don’t worry we spoke in French but he did speak a bit in English and that is how I know that Irish accents are cool).  I also met a new girl who just moved into the foyer that day, she was really nice.  Other than that it was a rather normal day.

Jeudi le 8 décembre:

Well today the most exciting thing was getting a Christmas present from my family and from my Grandma and Grandpa!  It was so nice of them and I got some much needed stuff!  I also got to skype with my friend Shawn back at Central; it was so fun talking with her!  Other than that nothing too exciting today happened.

Vendredi le 9 décembre:

Did some much needed laundry, today.  That took like all morning so I just hung out in the foyer and then headed over to les marchés de Noël on the Champs-Élysées.

 

At les marchés

Place de la Concorde with the Ferris Wheel for Christmas

Place de la Concorde all lit up, it was magical

I then headed back to the foyer and had some dinner and hung out before going to the Louvre that night.  I was going to go see my friend, Amanda, present on a painting at the Louvre for her art class.  I knew which wing to find her in but the Louvre is HUGE!  I was wandering around for a really long time trying to find her.  I saw a lot of other people presenting but nowhere to be found was Amanda.  I did listen to a girl from my phonetics class present on an artwork.  Right when I was about to give up on looking for Amanda I ran into her!  She was at that moment by someone else’s painting listening to them present and so she then took me over to her painting and told me about it in French of course.  She did a really good job.

Amanda (on the right) presenting to some people that came up to her painting.

The Louvre at night is beautiful

We left the Louvre around 9pm and then headed over to the Champs-Élysées since she was done for that evening and we walked around les marchés.  We got some delicious vin chaud that turned to vin lukewarm quickly but it was still good nonetheless.  We found a bench and drank our vin chaud and just chatted and it was so much fun to just hang out and have some fun.  We eventually headed back to our foyers and I then went to bed because I was tired.

Samedi le 10 décembre:

That evening I went to the French church and they had Christmas Carols it was fun, they were in French and English.  I quite enjoyed it.  I then met up with Stephanie a girl that I met at ACP and we hung out on the Champs-Élysées and then headed over to Pont Alma.  It was super crowded at les marchés on the Champs-Élysées but fun nonetheless.

On the Champs-Élysées (L’Arc de Triomphe in background)

A view of La Tour Eiffel at night from Pont Alma

Me and Stephanie on Pont Alma

La Tour Eiffel at night

We had a really nice time walking around Paris at night because we walked from the Champs-Élysées to Pont Alma and it was just fun getting to hang out.  We then went back to where we live because we were both tired.

And Life Goes Back to Normal

Well, I guess how “normal” can life be when one lives in Paris?  No matter how “dull” a regular day is there is always something to be thankful about when one lives in one of the prettiest cities.  But life did go back to rather normal for living in Paris which consisted of going to class, doing homework, roaming around this awesome city that has so much to offer.  Anyways here are some highlights of what happened during the week after going to Nice.

Lundi le 28 novembre:

I bought my train tickets to go to Strasbourg in a few weeks!  I am super excited to check out these Christmas markets and just explore a new area.  I have already been to Strasbourg with my family and the Medinas but that was during summer so checking it out in the winter should be a lot of fun.  I got a letter from a good friend back at Central, Britt.  It was very sweet of her and getting even just a simple letter saying hello brightens up my day.  I had lunch at the CROUs and went to Shelley’s class, we watched a movie and it was interesting.  I then went home and just worked on stuff nothing too exciting.

Mardi le 29 novembre:

Well today I had class and that went fine.  I then ran into Amanda, a girl from the program and we have our afternoon class together and today we were going on a field trip so we hung out before jumping on the metro and meeting up the rest of the class at the museum.  We went to the chocolate museum called Choco Story Museum.  It was really cool getting to learn about the history of chocolate and then get to taste some chocolate of course!  I am definitely taking Maissie here when she comes in February because she will just love it!  Anyways, after class I went home and hung out until I had to go to bénévolat.  After that it was a rather normal night.

Mercredi le 30 novembre:

Test today in phonetics.  Ugh, thought it went alright but since this is a while after it happened and I know the results and they are not as good as I wanted them to be.  But whatever, it is a good thing I am staying here the year so I can practice even more!

Vendredi le 2 décembre:

Well got up kind of late but that is ok I guess.  I had lunch at the CROUs like usual but afterwards I walked down Bld. St. Michel all the way to Notre Dame to check out the Christmas tree and actually go inside since I haven’t been inside since I arrived in Paris in September.  I walked around that area and ended up on Ile St. Louis and stopped at Berthillon’s the best ice cream shop in all of Paris and got a scoop of hazelnut ice cream.  It was so good!  I then was just roaming around this little island and happened upon La Vigie.  I was super excited about that!  It was where my mom used to live when she studied in Paris for a year.  I really wanted to live there and asked if I could but nope they put me elsewhere.  Here are some pictures from my adventures around Notre Dame and whatnot:

Me heading over to Notre Dame (in the background)

I just love this picture it is of la Rive Gauche and there is the St. Michel Fontaine in the middle but you can’t really see it in this picture.

Notre Dame with the Sapin de Noel, it was a beautiful day out

A rose window at Notre Dame

Inside Notre Dame de Paris

Behind Notre Dame de Paris

Over at Berthillons, it was all decorated for Christmas

Samedi le 3 décembre:

Today I hung out with Fabrice before he leaves for the holidays.  We went to an Indian restaurant and it was rather good.  We were taking pictures of the food and got yelled at about it.  It was kind of funny.  After lunch we went over to Les Halles which is a big mall like place and walked around for a bit but then I went home.

Dimanche le 4 décembre:

Today I went to a French church that I heard about and it was nice.  But don’t worry there is a story to go with this adventure.  Well it is called l’Église des Ternes and is a very tiny church in the 17^th.  Let me tell you, it is so hard to find!  I was already running late and then I was searching and searching for this church which is really really well hidden.  I was 15 minutes late and thought I could just sneak in and find a seat in the back.  Well how wrong was I.  When I opened the front door it was really noisy and when I stepped in I was right in the sanctuary.  It was chilly outside and warm inside so my glasses started fogging up and I couldn’t see anything.  Of course everyone was staring at me.  I then was looking and looking for a spot in the back and of course the only spots that were open were in the very front of this church.  Then the pastor said hello to me and told me to come on in and sit down as he was standing up front.  So if people weren’t staring at me before they sure as were then!  I was so embarrassed.  I couldn’t even look up at the pastor in the beginning.  It was an interesting experience.  It is a teeny tiny church.  It was cool though because it was in French and I understood most of what they said and after the service people were very friendly and I actually ran into a girl who lives in my foyer!  I then went back to my foyer and am now super torn as to whether I should go to this little French church or the American Church in Paris.  They both have their good things and draw backs.  I then later in the day met up with Meredith and Amanda to work on our project on Bourgogne for Tourisme et Gastronomie. 

Nice is nice

So for starters Nice is pronounced like niece.  Now moving on, the weekend of the 25^th to the 27^th of November I went to Nice, France with my program.  It is in the south of France and just a short ride from the country Monaco and just a little bit longer on the bus and you have made it to Italy.  However, this weekend I just stayed in Nice and it was super nice!  We were blessed with awesome awesome weather!  It could not get much better than this.  It was warm and sunny the entire weekend and well Nice is on the Mediterranean Sea and so a lot of time was spent at the beach.  I had so much getting to know people in my program and wished that it had been earlier in the program because the end is drawing near for a lot of people.  However, it was still a great weekend filled with lots of adventures and hanging out with some really awesome people.

Vendredi le 25 novembre:

Well today I got up and got ready for going to Nice!  I had an early lunch and then met up with Kacey to go to the airport and meet up with Shelley and everyone else in the program.  We got to Orly Ouest in plenty of time and hung out in the airport until we boarded our plane.  It was a quick flight.  We made it to Nice and the warm weather was a breath of fresh air compared to the cold weather Paris is now subjected to since winter is drawing near.  Anyways we took a bus to the city and then walked to our auberge (hostel) and dropped off our stuff to go check out the beach and sunset.

The amazing sunset at the beach in Nice, it was stunning.

Shelley then took us over to Vieux Nice (which means old Nice, so it is the old part of town) and said goodbye and she left us to do our own thing.  I hung out with Amanda, Kacey, Clayton, Heather, and Lily.  Lily left and did her own thing which was fine.  The rest of us found a pizza place and got some really cheap yummy pizza for dinner.  We then decided it would be a good idea to go and eat our pizza on the beach.  It was fun but chilly.

The gang waiting for our pizzas.

On the beach at night, where we ate dinner

We then walked around and headed back to the auberge and played some card games.  Then Clayton had the brilliant idea that we go and get some gelato.  So we ventured out and got ourselves some delicious gelato.

Me enjoying a vanilla and strawberry gelato.  The couple that runs the shop were so cute and nice.

We then walked around town and got really really lost.  We ended up on the other side of town and got really confused as how to get back to the auberge.  It was getting kind of late and so I asked this couple directions and when I first started talking to the lady she gave me this look of like “why are you talking to me and I don’t want to give you money.”  It was kind of amusing because all I wanted was directions; the husband chimed in and told us how to get where we needed to be.  We made it back to the auberge and talked for quite some time and then went to bed.

Samedi le 26 novembre:

So today I got up early despite the fact that I didn’t sleep that well the night before.  I took a shower and the water was FREEZING!! No joke, it was jumping into a bucket of ice water and yes it was warm in Nice but not that warm that one would appreciate a freezing cold shower.  Let me just say I think that was the fastest shower I ever took.  I had breakfast downstairs in the kitchen area and then headed off to the beach with Kacey, Ang, Emily, and Lauren.  The beaches in Nice are all rocks there is no sand but I don’t mind that much. 

The beach at Nice, it was nice and rocky but gorgeous.

Nice and the beach, I could get used to this.

Me at the beach, yes I did put my feet in the Mediterranean Sea

Clayton showed up at the beach and said hello and hung out with us.  We then made our way back to the auberge to meet up with the rest of the group to go to our 3 course lunch.  We went to that and it was delicious!  I really liked the food and it was super filling.  We then went on a walking tower and went up to the château, which isn’t really a château anymore it is just ruins but there are amazing views from this huge hill that you can take an elevator up.

Walking to the château, the elevator is straight ahead

Well we took the elevator up and now I show you through pictures the view because trying to describe it won’t give it justice.  These pictures won’t give the breathtaking views justice but this the best I can do without bringing you here.

Looking onto Nice and the beach and mountains in the background

I just really like this picture with the sun shining through the trees and the water and mountains in the distance

Looking at the Port of Nice

More of the Port of Nice and the mountains in the background

The “château” which is just ruins now

Nice and the mountains in the background

We then walked down instead of taking the elevator down and stopped at a church and then the tour guide left and we were left to do whatever we wanted so I did some shopping with Jaynellen and Kacey and we had a really nice time.

Walking around Vieux Nice, I love the colors of the buildings

Well night time rolled around and Jaynellen, Kacey and I ended up on the beach and went over to the big rocks and hung out there for a while chatting and we decided to head back to the auberge since it was chilly.

Looking at the city from the beach at night

We stopped at the Monoprix and picked up some stuff to snack on since we weren’t that hungry from our huge lunch and then just hung out in the auberge chatting until well, late at night.

Dimanche le 27 novembre:

Today was my last day in Nice.  It was sad to be leaving because I loved going to the beach and the amazing weather that we had!  It was just so much fun!  But vacations have to end.  However I still had time to do some fun stuff and go to the beach one last time.  I got up and was warned that the shower was still freezing so I went to Clayton and Perry’s room and knocked on their door with towel and soap in hand and asked if I could take a shower in their bathroom since well theirs was warmer.  They didn’t mind, and it was a lot warmer than in the girls’ room!  I then had breakfast and waited to meet up with the rest of the group to go to the markets.  I got some really pretty watercolor paintings.  I then walked around Nice with Jaynellen and Kacey and we got some food.  I got a delicious ham panini.  We then ended up at the beach for one last hurray. 

The beach, the water is just so blue!

The beach is just stunning in Nice

Me at the beach, it was just wonderful there

Even saw some sail boats out on the water that is just so amazing blue

Well we had a late afternoon flight, it left at about 5pm and so we got to see a gorgeous sunset from the airplane and it was just so breathtaking.  Then when we were about to land in Paris it was night time and we got to see the city all lit up from above and the Eiffel Tower all lit up too from the airplane which was really cool.  I then took the RER home and didn’t get a ton of work done but oh well.  It was an amazing weekend and was nice to get to see somewhere I’ve never visited.

November pre-Nice continued

Well here is a continuation of what I have been up to before Thanksgiving weekend when I went to Nice.  As usual I will give you the highlights from what happened during these few days. 

Lundi le 14 novembre:

Shelley’s class, homework, dinner, put up some blog entries and nothing much other than that.

Mardi le 15 novembre:

So when I woke up this morning the electricity was not working in my room or my side of the hallway!  It was a pleasant surprise when I got up this morning and tried to turn on the light in the bathroom and it wasn’t working.  (I’m being sarcastic if you can’t tell).  Anyways I got ready for school and left a note for Perrine, my roommate, asking her to tell the people at the front desk because I didn’t have time before going off to school.  I had my language class and got a test back and did rather well so that was exciting (I’m easily pleased lol!).  Anyways I was going to take the bus to the CROUs for lunch but it was going to take forever so I walked and it was freezing!  I thought I was going to turn into a human ice cube!  I thankfully got to take a bus back to school because the wait wasn’t a ridiculous amount.  I got to drink wine in my afternoon class because we were learning about different regions of France and it was fun.  Definitely not something that would ever happen in an American University.  I could very much get used to a class like this.  After class I then went to my bénévolat and helped out a student with his English homework.  We got out early so I went home to work on my presentation for Thursday.  When I got back the electricity was working!  That was awesome!  I ate dinner with Sophia and we chatted for quite some time so I didn’t get as much work done as I wanted but oh well.

Jeudi le 17 novembre:

Well today I had my presentation and that went fine.  It is done and over with so that is good.  After class I went and got some lunch and that was fine.  I had my old people conversation (as I like to call them) and that went well.  I also treated myself to a delicious crumble aux pommes and I was eating it while walking down the street and this random lady said “bonne appétite,” it was rather funny.  Normal people don’t eat while walking down the street but it was too tempting to not nibble on it while heading to the bus stop.  I got home and tried out this new program that I downloaded which allows me to watch French dvds and it worked which was super exciting!  So if you ever plan on going abroad and buying foreign films make sure to download VLC Media Player (the best part is it is free).  Well now that I have given my little promotion for them I guess I will move onto a new day in November.

Vendredi le 18 novembre:

So today I went shopping with Kacey and we went to H&M and I got a warm scarf.  We then walked around a bit and stopped at the fnac where I picked up a movie and then said goodbye because I had to get home to skype with the lovely Allison.  It was fun getting to skype with my friend from Central and just catching up.  I then talked with Maissie on facetime so that was fun.  I eventually had dinner because it was late and I was starving.

Samedi le 19 novembre:

Did grocery shopping today as most Saturday mornings are spent.  As usual, I was sitting on my bed and was working on something and fell asleep.  When I woke up from my nap I got up and decided to go to le Musée l’Orangerie where there are Monet’s waterlilies.  It was rather crowded with rich American tourists but the paintings were just breathtaking.  I could have easily sat there for hours and stared at them.  I then walked around by la Seine and saw a gorgeous sunset (sorry no pictures because I hadn’t received my new camera yet).  It reminded me of how beautiful Paris is.  I walked some more along the Seine and happened upon the Christmas markets on the Champs-Élysées.  I only looked at them briefly because there were so many people!  It was super crowded and I just wanted to go home at that point.  I made it home and ate dinner with Sophia and Alessandro.  Some really nice German girls shared their cake that they made with us.  I then just hung out.

Dimanche le 20 novembre:

Bon anniversaire Maissie!!  In honor of Maissie’s birthday I ate a pain au chocolat that was delicious.  I then went to church in the afternoon and ran into Clayton, a guy from my program, after church at the coffee area.  We talked for a while and then he had to head back to his foyer to work on homework.  I also ran into Stephanie and Mar from church and we walked to the metro together and then I went home and eventually worked on homework.

Lundi le 21 novembre:

Well today I was on cloud 9.  I got my package from my parents with my new camera!!  I was super nervous that I wouldn’t get it in time for Nice however I did and will now be able to take pictures again.  I went to lunch and then went to the Central office for Shelley’s class.  She told us that tomorrow we get to skip classes to go get our carte de séjour which lets us stay in France.  One needs this along with a visa.  I had to go out afterwards and buy a 55 euros stamp and take some wonderful id photos at a photomaton.  After I got all that done I worked on homework and booked my hotel for going to Strasbourg for the Christmas markets!  I was super stoked about that.

Mardi le 22 novembre:

Well today I went off to the immigration office to get my sticker in my passport saying that I can stay in the country and that I don’t have TB.  It was an interesting experience to say the least.  I got there in plenty of time even though I woke up late.  It was like being at the DMV.  I walk up the stairs and there is a HUGE line!  I had to talk to some people at the front desk and they said that I then would have to wait until they called my name.  Let me tell you I am so thankful that my parents named me Amelia because the French can pronounce it and I can understand them when they call my name!  I waited for quite a while and then they called my name and they took me to another room with a ton of people and I had to sit and wait there until a nurse called my name.  So today consisted of a lot of sitting and waiting.  I got weighed and did an eye exam thingy which was kind of funny because I am so used to doing it in English that I started saying some of the letters in English but had to remind myself to say them in French.  I then went back into the waiting room and waited some more.  I then had to get a chest x-ray for TB and that was the most awkward thing ever.  If you want more details you can ask me in person when you see me, it is too awkward to put on here.  Anyways I got my chest x-ray and then had to go and sit and wait some more to talk with a doctor and she asked a bunch of questions and gave me my x-ray.  I now have a souvenir, lol!  After I was done talking with her I had to sit and wait some more and the receptionist called my name and then I got to go back into the first waiting room and wait some more.  I finally got my sticker saying I can stay in France!  I then went home and had some lunch and went to my afternoon class.  I had wine in class again and ate a ton of different types of cakes.  It was delicious.  I then went to bénévolat and then went to Bible Study and was late but that is ok.  It was really good and afterwards they had pie for Thanksgiving!  I got to have pumpkin, apple, and chocolate!  It was all delicious!  When I went home I wasn’t hungry for dinner.

Mercredi le 23 novembre:

Today was a regular day and I went to school and whatnot and that wasn’t super exciting.  I was having major difficulties trying to stay awake in my afternoon class.  I went home on the bus and there were a lot of families.  There was one family with 6 little girls and they were very chatty but super cute!  I also got a Thanksgiving day card from my family and was super excited about that.

Jeudi le 24 novembre:

Happy Thanksgiving!  Or as it is in France, Happy Regular Day (no holiday to celebrate here).  Today I went to class and my old people conversations.  We talked about how we celebrate Christmas in our countries.  It was interesting though because the majority of the students in my group are Asian and don’t celebrate Christmas.  Afterwards I went home and worked on laundry and skyped with the Tobeys and my family who were all together for Thanksgiving.  It was nice.  I then went out to a Mexican restaurant with Ang and Kacey and that was fine, nothing special.  I then went home and went to bed since it was getting late.

So yeah the month of November came and went.

Seeing as I am so far behind I am going to do my best to catch you up on my life before 2012!  When I was first looking back on the month of November it looked like I didn’t do too much and as if my life just consisted of going to school, bénévolat, and other stuff.  But now when I really look at it there was some really cool stuff that I saw and did.  I guess what I am trying to say is that everyone has this idea that studying abroad is all fun all the time and I did too before I arrived here in France but it is still regular life just in a different country, culture, and language…so it is also filled with regular things like going to school, doing homework, going grocery shopping, etc.  So I am going to give you an overview of the month of November because telling every little thing that happened can get rather dull but here are the highlights before going off to Nice.

Vendredi le 4 novembre:

Today I walked around le Jardin de Luxembourg because I had some time to kill before my meeting with Shelley and I came across a pétanque court (which is bocce) and I watched these old men playing (well it was a majority of old men) for about an hour.  It was rather fun to watch because they were getting really serious about it and were pulling out a tape measure and whatnot!  I then had my meeting and afterwards I went to the Rodin Museum with some other people in the program.  It was interesting, unfortunately I didn’t get to go into the gardens because that part was already closed.

Samedi le 5 novembre:

Today I went to Musée Marmottan, which has a lot of Monet paintings and other artists.  It was really cool because they have some Monet paintings there that I think are less well known and so it was cool just seeing more of his artwork.  I went with Kacey and we had a nice time just wandering around the museum.  I also got to Facetime with my family and it was so good to see all their faces!  I miss them but am glad that I am here no matter how difficult it is.

Dimanche le 6 novembre:

Well today I went to the American Church in Paris and really enjoyed it!  It was really nice to feel at home there and I met some really nice girls that are also studying in Paris this semester.  I then went home and just hung out.

Lundi le 7 novembre:

So today I told Shelley that I don’t want to do an internship in the spring.  If I did do one I have no idea where I would want to do it and would then have to spend three days of the week in an office and the other two in classes.  I had decided long before coming to Paris that this year would be my “year of fun” since the past two years I took full loads at school so I could easily study here for the year and still graduate on time and well that doesn’t really sound like fun to me so yeah no internship.  I am not sure yet if I will regret my decision but what is done is done so there is no reason thinking about what could have been.  I also went to go see a play today with my program.  We went to la Comédie Française and saw Andromaque.  Well, I did not enjoy it one bit.  I had no clue what they were talking about because it was like the equivalent of Elizabethan in English but in French and it rhymed and there was no action it was all talking.  So it was really really hard to stay awake towards the end of the play.

Mardi le 8 novembre:

So today was a long day!  I had left my foyer at 8:30am and didn’t get home until 10:30pm.  I had school like usual.  I then went to my bénévolat, that went fine.  I then went to ACP (American Church in Paris) to go to the young adults Bible Study and I was super late because it starts when I am in my bénévolat and is on the other side of the city so it takes a while to get there.  I could not sneak in because there is this squeaky metal spiral stair case that one has to walk down to get into the room and so yeah.  I did enjoy it though even though I was late.  Afterwards I went out to a café with two girls that I had met at church previously.  There are really nice and we had a nice chat.  I finally went home and had a sandwich at like 10:30pm since I was starving and hadn’t eaten since noon.

Vendredi le 11 novembre:

Happy Armistice Day!  Today was a holiday in France so there were no classes but that didn’t affect me because I don’t have classes on Fridays anyways.  I did get to hang out with Fabrice though.  We went to the movie theater and saw “Intouchables.”  It was a really good movie and was a really big hit here in France.  It is kind of like “The Blind Side” but not really.  The only thing that is similar is in seeing the difference between the social classes.  But it was really good nonetheless!  I was also really glad that I had Fabrice there to explain to me the culture references in the movie that everyone else in the movie theater was laughing at.  Also there was a lot of slang that was difficult to understand at times but I could figure out what was going on when I couldn’t understand what they were saying.  We then went to a restaurant called Paradis du Fruit for lunch and I had a really good salad and orange juice.  We then headed over to BHV which is a big store with all kinds of stuff and that was fun to explore.  We then said goodbye and so I went home and did homework.

Samedi le 12 novembre:

Well today I did some shopping around Hôtel de Ville and that was nice.  I picked up some stuff.  It was also such a nice day and I did not want to go back to my foyer so I just explored around that area.  I came across this cool little park area and a paper store that Janine would just love.  I did go into a beautiful cathedral not too far from Centre Pompidou (which I have yet to go into to).  I eventually headed back to my foyer and just hung out around there.

Dimanche le 13 novembre:

I went to ACP and that was really nice.  I met a girl named Lena who is really cool.  I also ran into the two girls that I normally talk with and we decided to go for a walk after church since it was nice out and stopped at a Starbucks (which yes, they do exist here in France).  I got a muffin, it was alright.  We walked around some more and then I partially walked home but got tired so I jumped onto the metro.