Sorry guys... It's been a long time since I've posted, I know. Robyn G. kindly pointed out that it was time for me to post again. So here is a new post, albeit it a bit random and a bit scatterbrained.
Classes have been going really well. A couple of weeks ago my teacher asked me if I would like to move up to level 5, but I told him that I would rather stay where I was. Level 5 doesn't have very much grammar or speaking, its mostly just electives, which would be nice in one way, but I'm not sure that it would be entirely beneficial to my French here. It's been a lot of homework lately and just trying to keep up with all of that. Which is a change from last year... last year wasn't very intense homework wise, and the classes were easy. This year the classes aren't that intense either, but at least some of the concepts that we're covering are challenging. In my Friday grammar/language class with Madame Richard we've all adopted characters who live in a village together. Its really cool. I'm the elementary school teacher.
I'm suppose to help my landlady/friend Cecile's daughter(s) with their English soon. She wants them to be able to speak English really well and have a good grasp of it, but apparently they aren't getting along with their teacher very well. I was thinking we could do all sorts of field trips. Like do the grocery shopping together or go grab a coffee together and have to talk the entire time in English. I think if I had gone to the grocery store with my French teacher when I was learning vegetables and fruits and other food stuffs, that it would have been a lot easier to remember things by actually having seen them and being able to make the connection between the word and the object.
This past week our friend Jamie, who is getting married in June, came to visit and stayed. It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with him. Chaz bought a bookcase, and he let me help him put it together. Which ended in lots of bickering and laughing (for everyone else).
Saturday (yesterday) was really nice. Chaz and I had breakfast together and then went to the flower market and did some other shopping. The flower market is one of my favorite parts of the week. All of these different florists come and set up tables and tables of flowers in Place Hotel de Ville each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning. I walk through it every Tuesday and Thursday on the way to class, but by the time my class is over, all the florists have left. Yesterday was the first Saturday that I made it out there to buy some flowers. They're really pretty. I picked out some Gerber Daisies to put in a bouquet and Chaz picked some tulips, and then the lady combined them into this massive and gorgeous bouquet. I'll try and post a picture soon (if I remember to take one).
I just had a holiday a week and a half ago. Chaz and I went to England for the week and saw his family and friends. We went to Oxford for a couple of days and stayed with Jamie and Emily in Abingdon. Chaz had an interview in Oxford for a masters program in software engineering, at which he succeeded. :) Then we spent a night with his parents at a hotel in Oxford, where we had dinner as well for their 31st wedding anniversary. The hotel was really posh, but the dinner was really really slow. Good, but slow.
After that we went back to Bristol by car and spent a couple of days there at his parent's house. We visited lots of friends and things like that. One mornign we drove out to Hereford and had lunch with Chaz's aunt and grandmother. They were very nice.
I'll post some pictures soon. Miss you guys!!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
First Week of Classes
I just finished my first week of classes, and i think that they went really well. I have 10 hours of language and grammar classes a week and then 10 hours of electives per week. Each elective class is only 2 hours, so I'm taking 5 electives: Mythology, Media, Translation, The 5th Republic, and Business French/Economy. I actually haven't been to the Mythology class yet, so I actually don't know what that's like yet. My Media class is really cool, we listen to the news or read it or something and then talk about it in-depth during class. Translation is going to be really hard. It's translating English works into French, so my homework for this week is translating an excerpt from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone into French. The 5th Republic is a class on the 5th Republic of France, so it's a bit like a government class. The teacher is really awesome. Business French/Economy seems like its going to be really difficult to follow because its more like an Econ class that just happens to be taught in French than a class on the French economy. All of my teachers seem really cool.
On Wednesday Chaz and I took the bus out to this HUGE grocery store that's a lot cheaper than the ones that are closer by. Then on Thursday night I went to dinner at Alison and Brittany's flat, which was really adorable. And the food was amazing. Since then I've just been cooking and hanging out. I made Mexican last night and the salsa turned out a bit spicier than I originally planned, but the meat and the other burrito stuffings turned out really well. Tonight I'm making Poor Man's Beef Stroganoff, from my very own recipe. Thursday night I'm going to have several people over for dinner, and I'm going to make Beef Lasagna from scratch. I'm learning how to cook all sorts of things.
Other than that, there's not much new going on. I made some new friends in my classes and stuff like that. I went shopping with one the other day and found a really cute jacket. Chaz and I are planning to go to England for my break in February. We're going to be in Oxford for a couple of days, where we are meeting up with his parents for their anniversary. It'll be the first time that I've met his dad. Then we're going to spend a couple of days at his mom's house in Bristol.
Sunday's are my cleaning day. Today I've already cleaned up all sorts of things. I went for breakfast this morning and got pain au chocolat from the bakery just around the corner. It was so good. Right now I'm just waiting on the laundry to finish so I can switch it over and then take the towels and the sheets to the laundry mat so I can dry them in time to sleep in and use tonight.
Think that's all that new with me, hope things are well with everyone!!
On Wednesday Chaz and I took the bus out to this HUGE grocery store that's a lot cheaper than the ones that are closer by. Then on Thursday night I went to dinner at Alison and Brittany's flat, which was really adorable. And the food was amazing. Since then I've just been cooking and hanging out. I made Mexican last night and the salsa turned out a bit spicier than I originally planned, but the meat and the other burrito stuffings turned out really well. Tonight I'm making Poor Man's Beef Stroganoff, from my very own recipe. Thursday night I'm going to have several people over for dinner, and I'm going to make Beef Lasagna from scratch. I'm learning how to cook all sorts of things.
Other than that, there's not much new going on. I made some new friends in my classes and stuff like that. I went shopping with one the other day and found a really cute jacket. Chaz and I are planning to go to England for my break in February. We're going to be in Oxford for a couple of days, where we are meeting up with his parents for their anniversary. It'll be the first time that I've met his dad. Then we're going to spend a couple of days at his mom's house in Bristol.
Sunday's are my cleaning day. Today I've already cleaned up all sorts of things. I went for breakfast this morning and got pain au chocolat from the bakery just around the corner. It was so good. Right now I'm just waiting on the laundry to finish so I can switch it over and then take the towels and the sheets to the laundry mat so I can dry them in time to sleep in and use tonight.
Think that's all that new with me, hope things are well with everyone!!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Placement Results
So I got back the results of my placement exam and I did really well! I placed in group 4:CC, which is between groups 4:C and 4:D. There are 5 levels, with levels 1-4 having sublevels of A-D/E.
When I first got there they hadn't finished posting all of the lists, so I waited around, and then I went and checked and my name wasn't on any of them!! It was really scary. It turns out that they hadn't posted the list for group 4:CC because the teacher had a problem with the hours or something so they weren't sure the teacher would be teaching that group or what the hours were going to be, so I'm actually not sure that I'll stay in group 4:CC. I may turn out to be placed in either 4:C, 4:D, or level 5 depending on what happens with the teacher. I'm suppose to find out on Monday, so I'll keep y'all posted.
In other news, I'm all settled in and comfy in the apartment and things are going really well. Tomorrow is mine and Chaz's 10 months which is really hard to believe!!
Wednesday night I cooked a lamb lasagna, a tomato and basil salad, and garlic bread for Chaz and a couple of our friends. It was the first time that I had really tried to cook anything in France, and probably still one of the first times I even tried to do anything anyway, and it turned out really well. I made it completely from scratch. It was sooooo yummy. I was really sad that there weren't any leftovers for my lunch the next day.. :(
Last night, our friend Mint, who is Thai, had a bunch of people over to Antony's for dinner. She made really really yummy Thai food. Chaz wrote down the recipes so he can make it next time. I'm excited about him trying! :)
A la prochaine!
When I first got there they hadn't finished posting all of the lists, so I waited around, and then I went and checked and my name wasn't on any of them!! It was really scary. It turns out that they hadn't posted the list for group 4:CC because the teacher had a problem with the hours or something so they weren't sure the teacher would be teaching that group or what the hours were going to be, so I'm actually not sure that I'll stay in group 4:CC. I may turn out to be placed in either 4:C, 4:D, or level 5 depending on what happens with the teacher. I'm suppose to find out on Monday, so I'll keep y'all posted.
In other news, I'm all settled in and comfy in the apartment and things are going really well. Tomorrow is mine and Chaz's 10 months which is really hard to believe!!
Wednesday night I cooked a lamb lasagna, a tomato and basil salad, and garlic bread for Chaz and a couple of our friends. It was the first time that I had really tried to cook anything in France, and probably still one of the first times I even tried to do anything anyway, and it turned out really well. I made it completely from scratch. It was sooooo yummy. I was really sad that there weren't any leftovers for my lunch the next day.. :(
Last night, our friend Mint, who is Thai, had a bunch of people over to Antony's for dinner. She made really really yummy Thai food. Chaz wrote down the recipes so he can make it next time. I'm excited about him trying! :)
A la prochaine!
Monday, January 18, 2010
J'arrivait en France!
So, although it has been several days that I've been in France, this update might be a small one, as the majority of what I have been doing is combating jet lag. Which isn't as easy as it sounds, believe it or not!
Wednesday afternoon my best friend Stefanie from high school picked me up at my house and, being the best best friend a girl could ask for, helped me put my super heavy luggage in her car and drove me to the airport. I had a few minor problems checking in for my flight, but nothing major. Certainly nothing enough to delay me and make me miss my flight. (If you've been to the Birmingham airport, you're probably very aware of how absolutely tiny it is. If you get there an hour before your flight, it's almost impossible to miss your flight. And I got there two hours in advance. Just in case, you know). I said a very sad goodbye to Stefanie and then scooted my butt on through the security check point with my backpack and carry on suitcase, which was in the carry on size guidelines, but still seemed to be extremely massive to me. I waited a long time at my gate, and then I boarded my tiny flight to Chicago O'Hare International Airport where I was to catch my connecting flight to Munich, Germany. The plane to Chicago was tiny-- the kind where you have to plane side check your carry on bag and where if you sit in row A you have a window seat and an aisle seat to yourself, because there is only row A on that side of the plane!
Once I was in Chicago I found where my next flight was going to be and decided to get some food. I stopped at Johnny Rockets in the airport and got the last hamburger I'll probably have for a long time! It was yummy. :) Then I had a short wait at the gate, and I boarded my Lufthansa flight to Munich. Which, for the record, Lufthansa planes are really nice. I mean, for a plane that is. And the food is still airplane food. But the plane itself was much newer than the two planes I took over the Atlantic with United. The seat was more comfortable, the video displays all worked. The movie selection was really good. And they didn't just play the movies on a continuous loop, each on a certain channel, like I was used to. There was a movie menu and you could pause and fast forward and rewind! I was excited. So I watched (500) Days of Summer and Fame and part of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Then I decided to stretch out and take a nap. I was sitting in the middle of the middle, the 2nd out of 4 seats, but luckily, no one else was in my row! So I was able to stretch out and sleep. Which was nice. I only slept for like 2 or 3 hours though because I wanted to be throughly tired when I got to France so I could sleep that night and adjust to the schedule as much as I possibly could.
We landed in Munich and I got somewhat lost and confused in the airport, but I figured it out and got through Border Control and to the correct gate for my next flight. Where I waited for what seemed like ages, but realistically was only like an hour and a half. Then I took a Lufthansa Regional jet, again small, to Marseille, France where I was met at the airport by lovely boyfriend who had been thoughtful enough to bring me a danish and some really gorgeous pink tulips. :) He even took care of my big bag for me! We waited outside in the cold for a while for the bus, then we took the bus for 30ish minutes to Aix en Provence. Then we went to the apartment and I unpacked and got all settled in and everything. It was quite nice.
Friday evening I went over to our friends Topher and Ameilie's house where a bunch of us met up and Roberto cooked us some good Mexican food. None of which was very spicy. Roberto and I lamented the fact that the French don't do spice well, and that the English aren't much better at it! (They are considerably better at eating spices than the French, but in comparison with Mexican and Cajun food, they handle it abysmally). It was a lot of fun getting to see so many of our friends and catching up with them, albeit a bit overwhelming all at once. Especially speaking with them in French. All of their French has improved a whole lot while I was away while mine deteriorated! The disparity between our two levels was really intimidating. But it ended up okay.
Saturday Chaz and I cooked a roast beef with potatoes and carrots and something that supposedly vaguely resembled a Yorkshire pudding. It was really yummy though. Then I went out and met Maman (my host mom from last year) for a crepe and an Orangina (basically carbonated, processed, pulpless orange juice). It was a lot of fun catching up with her! Then Chaz and I met up with our friends Tyge, Roberto, and Mint for a pint at the Brigand. On Sunday I just cleaned the apartment up some and did some laundry.
Today I got up early and got ready, then I went out to the school to finish my registration and student file and to pay the rest of my tuition fee and everything. So I go up there and do all the paperwork, but apparently to pay I have to go to exact opposite end of town to pay. The lady in the office gave me a map, an office number, and a name, telling me to come back with a receipt. So I follow the map and go down to the area of town where the office is supposed to be in and I got completely confused as to where the office was. I walked up and down this one street like three times looking for Avenue Richard Schumel because the building was on that road, and I just couldn't find the turn off anywhere. Eventually I realized that I was already on Schumel. Agh! Then I finally found the house number, which turned out to be the house number for an entire small campus! I read the signs, which were particularly unhelpful, and eventually figured out by guess work which building this lady that I had to pay worked in. Finally I made it up there and I paid her and got the receipt and then went back to my school on the other side of town, where I have the lady the receipt and then I had MORE paperwork to fill out! But it all worked out in the end. I had a nice conversation with her about how I had lived with my host mom last year and that my host mom had asked me to pick up her second boarding student and take her to the house if she showed up this afternoon as Maman has to be out of town. So the lady, Annie, decided to call Maman just to make sure I wasn't some crazy person trying to kidnap some poor little study abroad student. After she talked to Maman and realized that I was telling the truth, she asked for my phone number. Which is like 10 numbers. I have trouble remembering it in English and saying it, let alone in French! So that was embarrassing. Alls well that ends well, I guess.
So other than that there isn't much news. It appears this post is much longer than I originally thought it would be! Hope all is well with you guys back home!!
Wednesday afternoon my best friend Stefanie from high school picked me up at my house and, being the best best friend a girl could ask for, helped me put my super heavy luggage in her car and drove me to the airport. I had a few minor problems checking in for my flight, but nothing major. Certainly nothing enough to delay me and make me miss my flight. (If you've been to the Birmingham airport, you're probably very aware of how absolutely tiny it is. If you get there an hour before your flight, it's almost impossible to miss your flight. And I got there two hours in advance. Just in case, you know). I said a very sad goodbye to Stefanie and then scooted my butt on through the security check point with my backpack and carry on suitcase, which was in the carry on size guidelines, but still seemed to be extremely massive to me. I waited a long time at my gate, and then I boarded my tiny flight to Chicago O'Hare International Airport where I was to catch my connecting flight to Munich, Germany. The plane to Chicago was tiny-- the kind where you have to plane side check your carry on bag and where if you sit in row A you have a window seat and an aisle seat to yourself, because there is only row A on that side of the plane!
Once I was in Chicago I found where my next flight was going to be and decided to get some food. I stopped at Johnny Rockets in the airport and got the last hamburger I'll probably have for a long time! It was yummy. :) Then I had a short wait at the gate, and I boarded my Lufthansa flight to Munich. Which, for the record, Lufthansa planes are really nice. I mean, for a plane that is. And the food is still airplane food. But the plane itself was much newer than the two planes I took over the Atlantic with United. The seat was more comfortable, the video displays all worked. The movie selection was really good. And they didn't just play the movies on a continuous loop, each on a certain channel, like I was used to. There was a movie menu and you could pause and fast forward and rewind! I was excited. So I watched (500) Days of Summer and Fame and part of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Then I decided to stretch out and take a nap. I was sitting in the middle of the middle, the 2nd out of 4 seats, but luckily, no one else was in my row! So I was able to stretch out and sleep. Which was nice. I only slept for like 2 or 3 hours though because I wanted to be throughly tired when I got to France so I could sleep that night and adjust to the schedule as much as I possibly could.
We landed in Munich and I got somewhat lost and confused in the airport, but I figured it out and got through Border Control and to the correct gate for my next flight. Where I waited for what seemed like ages, but realistically was only like an hour and a half. Then I took a Lufthansa Regional jet, again small, to Marseille, France where I was met at the airport by lovely boyfriend who had been thoughtful enough to bring me a danish and some really gorgeous pink tulips. :) He even took care of my big bag for me! We waited outside in the cold for a while for the bus, then we took the bus for 30ish minutes to Aix en Provence. Then we went to the apartment and I unpacked and got all settled in and everything. It was quite nice.
Friday evening I went over to our friends Topher and Ameilie's house where a bunch of us met up and Roberto cooked us some good Mexican food. None of which was very spicy. Roberto and I lamented the fact that the French don't do spice well, and that the English aren't much better at it! (They are considerably better at eating spices than the French, but in comparison with Mexican and Cajun food, they handle it abysmally). It was a lot of fun getting to see so many of our friends and catching up with them, albeit a bit overwhelming all at once. Especially speaking with them in French. All of their French has improved a whole lot while I was away while mine deteriorated! The disparity between our two levels was really intimidating. But it ended up okay.
Saturday Chaz and I cooked a roast beef with potatoes and carrots and something that supposedly vaguely resembled a Yorkshire pudding. It was really yummy though. Then I went out and met Maman (my host mom from last year) for a crepe and an Orangina (basically carbonated, processed, pulpless orange juice). It was a lot of fun catching up with her! Then Chaz and I met up with our friends Tyge, Roberto, and Mint for a pint at the Brigand. On Sunday I just cleaned the apartment up some and did some laundry.
Today I got up early and got ready, then I went out to the school to finish my registration and student file and to pay the rest of my tuition fee and everything. So I go up there and do all the paperwork, but apparently to pay I have to go to exact opposite end of town to pay. The lady in the office gave me a map, an office number, and a name, telling me to come back with a receipt. So I follow the map and go down to the area of town where the office is supposed to be in and I got completely confused as to where the office was. I walked up and down this one street like three times looking for Avenue Richard Schumel because the building was on that road, and I just couldn't find the turn off anywhere. Eventually I realized that I was already on Schumel. Agh! Then I finally found the house number, which turned out to be the house number for an entire small campus! I read the signs, which were particularly unhelpful, and eventually figured out by guess work which building this lady that I had to pay worked in. Finally I made it up there and I paid her and got the receipt and then went back to my school on the other side of town, where I have the lady the receipt and then I had MORE paperwork to fill out! But it all worked out in the end. I had a nice conversation with her about how I had lived with my host mom last year and that my host mom had asked me to pick up her second boarding student and take her to the house if she showed up this afternoon as Maman has to be out of town. So the lady, Annie, decided to call Maman just to make sure I wasn't some crazy person trying to kidnap some poor little study abroad student. After she talked to Maman and realized that I was telling the truth, she asked for my phone number. Which is like 10 numbers. I have trouble remembering it in English and saying it, let alone in French! So that was embarrassing. Alls well that ends well, I guess.
So other than that there isn't much news. It appears this post is much longer than I originally thought it would be! Hope all is well with you guys back home!!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Last Night in Alabama
So the excitement wasn't here for a while. I talked to Chaz for a while today while he reorganized and rearranged the apartment and the thought that I would be there in approximately two days seemed so surreal, almost like I was dreaming and that it wouldn't happen. But the excitement hit tonight when my mom was asking me what I wanted for my last dinner in the states. We went to Guthries. Gotta get me some of that good deep fried chicken and super sweet sweet tea before I leave! It was yummy. :)
After dinner I did a last minute check over of my bags, including checking to make sure I had all the chargers and adapters I needed. I also reweighed my bag to make sure it was okay still. :) I don't believe that I've forgotten anything... but then, if I've forgotten it I would hardly remember it, now would I?
I had a minor freak out when I tried to check in for my flight and United wouldn't let me. That wasn't what caused the freak out. Because that part makes sense. They have to make sure my passport and visa are valid before they can let me check in since I don't have a return flight. The freak out kicked in when I started thinking about airports and how I was flying into Germany before I flew into France. There's this weird thing called an airport transit visa, and no matter how much I researched it I couldn't find anything official saying that I didn't need one. Which causes major freaking out the night before I leave!!! Luckily, I realized that one of my really good friends Sandra, who is such an amazing person, flew to Marseille last year and I thought I remembered her flying through Germany. So I called her in a panic asking her if she had flown through Germany and if she had needed an airport transit visa. She reassured me that I'd be fine and that she hadn't needed one for the same flight situation (albeit through Frankfurt instead of Munich). Then I got to catch up with her, which was awesome. I'm horrible at keeping in touch with people, as most of my friends can attest to, so I hadn't really heard from her since I went to visit her in Boston over Fall Break save for a brief conversation at the end of the semester. Yay for awesome friends that you meet through study abroad!!!
Today is my sister Emilie's 30th birthday, so I talked to her a bit today and realized how much I'm going to miss how easy it will be to talk to all of my friends and family. On Monday I went to Tuscaloosa and had lunch with one of my friends Robyn at Fresh Foods and my friend Agi and her boyfriend Riri came as well! As I was walking to meet her my friend Carly who I studied abroad with last Spring semester came up from behind and scared me half to death! But I got to briefly see her which was good as I was a complete fail friend this past semester in hanging out with her and seeing her. Props on wearing the Maman shirt, by the way!! Then I got to see Betsy the Bestest Bestie! Wahoo! (Despite the fact that I forgot to give her a hug after lunch and say a final goodbye). Then yays for good lunches! I met up with Jackson and Megan and we went and got dinner at Chipotle for a farewell dinner. Farewell to them, and farewell to semi-mexican food! :(
Now I'm just sitting here thinking about how I really should clean my room and straighten things up and finish charging all my electronics. But I'm honestly too bouncy and excited to really think about it! (I did do some cleaning earlier today and it looks much better now... although it does still leave something to be desired). Maybe if I changed my Pandora station to something different from Ingrid Michaelson I'd get in more of a mood to clean!! Hmm... There's a possibility.
Everyone keep your fingers crossed that my flights all go okay and that there's no bad weather, delays, or cancellations!
After dinner I did a last minute check over of my bags, including checking to make sure I had all the chargers and adapters I needed. I also reweighed my bag to make sure it was okay still. :) I don't believe that I've forgotten anything... but then, if I've forgotten it I would hardly remember it, now would I?
I had a minor freak out when I tried to check in for my flight and United wouldn't let me. That wasn't what caused the freak out. Because that part makes sense. They have to make sure my passport and visa are valid before they can let me check in since I don't have a return flight. The freak out kicked in when I started thinking about airports and how I was flying into Germany before I flew into France. There's this weird thing called an airport transit visa, and no matter how much I researched it I couldn't find anything official saying that I didn't need one. Which causes major freaking out the night before I leave!!! Luckily, I realized that one of my really good friends Sandra, who is such an amazing person, flew to Marseille last year and I thought I remembered her flying through Germany. So I called her in a panic asking her if she had flown through Germany and if she had needed an airport transit visa. She reassured me that I'd be fine and that she hadn't needed one for the same flight situation (albeit through Frankfurt instead of Munich). Then I got to catch up with her, which was awesome. I'm horrible at keeping in touch with people, as most of my friends can attest to, so I hadn't really heard from her since I went to visit her in Boston over Fall Break save for a brief conversation at the end of the semester. Yay for awesome friends that you meet through study abroad!!!
Today is my sister Emilie's 30th birthday, so I talked to her a bit today and realized how much I'm going to miss how easy it will be to talk to all of my friends and family. On Monday I went to Tuscaloosa and had lunch with one of my friends Robyn at Fresh Foods and my friend Agi and her boyfriend Riri came as well! As I was walking to meet her my friend Carly who I studied abroad with last Spring semester came up from behind and scared me half to death! But I got to briefly see her which was good as I was a complete fail friend this past semester in hanging out with her and seeing her. Props on wearing the Maman shirt, by the way!! Then I got to see Betsy the Bestest Bestie! Wahoo! (Despite the fact that I forgot to give her a hug after lunch and say a final goodbye). Then yays for good lunches! I met up with Jackson and Megan and we went and got dinner at Chipotle for a farewell dinner. Farewell to them, and farewell to semi-mexican food! :(
Now I'm just sitting here thinking about how I really should clean my room and straighten things up and finish charging all my electronics. But I'm honestly too bouncy and excited to really think about it! (I did do some cleaning earlier today and it looks much better now... although it does still leave something to be desired). Maybe if I changed my Pandora station to something different from Ingrid Michaelson I'd get in more of a mood to clean!! Hmm... There's a possibility.
Everyone keep your fingers crossed that my flights all go okay and that there's no bad weather, delays, or cancellations!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
The Countdown
Although it has been a while since I have last posted, not much has been going on. The holiday season came and passed with many visits to family. I spent about a week in Knoxville with my sister Emilie and her husband Gabe. I also got to see my brother Steve while I was there, which was a lot of fun. Then I came home for a couple of days to spend Christmas with my family. After that I went to visit my sister Mary and her husband Trevor in New Orleans for a little over a week, which was a lot of fun. I spent New Year's Eve there with two of my best friends Agi and Alison and we went down to the levy to watch the fireworks on the Mississippi, which has to be the muddiest river I've ever seen. The fireworks were gorgeous. They reminded me of the time when I was little and my parents and I (and probably a sister or two) went to Charleston for the 4th of July and we watched the fireworks there.
Other than that, not much has happened. Just been visiting with friends and the like to pass the time and make sure that I get to see almost everyone before I leave. The weather here has been abnormally frigid with iced roads and snow and everything! Brr..! Alabama won the National Championship... yay. Roll Tide.
I repacked my suitcase after I weighed it and it was 6 pounds overweight. :) Got everything I need (and probably more than that realistically) to fit into my suitcase and carry on. Yay! So that's all done. Now its just the waiting game before I leave. I leave on Wednesday, and I'm hoping by then that the horribly cold weather will have cleared up here, in Chicago, and in Europe. (Europe has been having lots of really horrible cold weather. Chaz has been stuck in England for like a week). So at the moment I'm just counting down the days and keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will clear up before I leave!!
Other than that, not much has happened. Just been visiting with friends and the like to pass the time and make sure that I get to see almost everyone before I leave. The weather here has been abnormally frigid with iced roads and snow and everything! Brr..! Alabama won the National Championship... yay. Roll Tide.
I repacked my suitcase after I weighed it and it was 6 pounds overweight. :) Got everything I need (and probably more than that realistically) to fit into my suitcase and carry on. Yay! So that's all done. Now its just the waiting game before I leave. I leave on Wednesday, and I'm hoping by then that the horribly cold weather will have cleared up here, in Chicago, and in Europe. (Europe has been having lots of really horrible cold weather. Chaz has been stuck in England for like a week). So at the moment I'm just counting down the days and keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will clear up before I leave!!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
The Joys of Packing
So I'm sitting here on my bed with things flung all around me, listening to Pandora. I'm attempting to pack for 7 months in France into one very large suitcase and a one very small carry on. I'm a girlie girl and I have clothes and toiletries and just little things that need to be packed and of course they don't all fit. Which presents a challenge.
I don't leave until January 13th, but I just got home from Tuscaloosa a couple of days ago and since then all the stuff from my apartment has been strewn all over my room, making me very claustrophobic. I decided that I would go ahead and start unpacking it and putting it away today and decide what I was going to take away with me for study abroad. (Robyn and I previously went through my clothes and made a take pile, so this task didn't seem too daunting). How wrong I was. This seems to just keep going on and on. I took the stack of clothes to take and put them in my large suitcase and then after I had put other things in there and zipped it all up I remember that I have clothes in the wash that I want to take with me. Like sweaters and stuff that I'll need because it's cold and that will take up too much space in my carry on. So I've been trying to get those through the wash and now I'm sitting here with them beside me and I'm looking at my suitcase, which is basically full, wondering how I'm going to make them fit. So instead of facing it and just going through all of the clothes and slimming the pile down AGAIN, I'm writing my first post for this blog. Procrastination is the key.
I'm really looking forward to going back to France. Last semester was amazing and I feel like there's so much left to see and to learn and to experience. I'll be studying in Aix-en-Provence (which is a beautiful, picturesque town in the south of France about 20 minutes from the Mediterranean) at an institute for foreign students learning French. It's the same school that I studied at last Spring semester, but I'm hoping to place in a much higher level this time and take the TCF (Teste de Connaisance de Francais-- basically the French version of the TOEFL test) and receive an official score for my resume (or CV as the Brits call it) and for job applications/qualifications.
Last year when I was getting ready to leave feels completely different than this year. For one, I've done it before so I know more of what to expect. For two, I'm not as nervous (which is probably in large part due to number one). I know exactly what to expect when I get off the plane. I know the wonderful boy who will be meeting me (and who I hope will be as excited to see me as I am to see him). I know which bus to take to get to the city. I know the city (well, knowish). And I know where I'm going to school and where I'm living and whom I'm living with. There's less room for surprises. Packing has been interesting because I know what to expect and what I'll need and what I won't. (Honestly girls... we really only need to take two purses with us: one biggish one, and one small one for going out). I can tell I've learned a lot since this time last year, and its a really nice feeling.
Well, I should get back to packing things up and cleaning my room up. Christmas is in two days and I have family staying in my room. I also have a TON of presents to rap!!!
I don't leave until January 13th, but I just got home from Tuscaloosa a couple of days ago and since then all the stuff from my apartment has been strewn all over my room, making me very claustrophobic. I decided that I would go ahead and start unpacking it and putting it away today and decide what I was going to take away with me for study abroad. (Robyn and I previously went through my clothes and made a take pile, so this task didn't seem too daunting). How wrong I was. This seems to just keep going on and on. I took the stack of clothes to take and put them in my large suitcase and then after I had put other things in there and zipped it all up I remember that I have clothes in the wash that I want to take with me. Like sweaters and stuff that I'll need because it's cold and that will take up too much space in my carry on. So I've been trying to get those through the wash and now I'm sitting here with them beside me and I'm looking at my suitcase, which is basically full, wondering how I'm going to make them fit. So instead of facing it and just going through all of the clothes and slimming the pile down AGAIN, I'm writing my first post for this blog. Procrastination is the key.
I'm really looking forward to going back to France. Last semester was amazing and I feel like there's so much left to see and to learn and to experience. I'll be studying in Aix-en-Provence (which is a beautiful, picturesque town in the south of France about 20 minutes from the Mediterranean) at an institute for foreign students learning French. It's the same school that I studied at last Spring semester, but I'm hoping to place in a much higher level this time and take the TCF (Teste de Connaisance de Francais-- basically the French version of the TOEFL test) and receive an official score for my resume (or CV as the Brits call it) and for job applications/qualifications.
Last year when I was getting ready to leave feels completely different than this year. For one, I've done it before so I know more of what to expect. For two, I'm not as nervous (which is probably in large part due to number one). I know exactly what to expect when I get off the plane. I know the wonderful boy who will be meeting me (and who I hope will be as excited to see me as I am to see him). I know which bus to take to get to the city. I know the city (well, knowish). And I know where I'm going to school and where I'm living and whom I'm living with. There's less room for surprises. Packing has been interesting because I know what to expect and what I'll need and what I won't. (Honestly girls... we really only need to take two purses with us: one biggish one, and one small one for going out). I can tell I've learned a lot since this time last year, and its a really nice feeling.
Well, I should get back to packing things up and cleaning my room up. Christmas is in two days and I have family staying in my room. I also have a TON of presents to rap!!!
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