Just a normal weekend..

Well, not a lot new to report. Just been a normal kinda weekend around here.


There was an erasmus soiree on thursday night, so it was just basically a gathering of all the international students. The trouble was that there were these 3 Moroccan guys creeping on me, Mel, and Cassie pretty hard. So the night was ish.

On friday we hit up the Soldes. They're the after Christmas sales that every shop in France does from mid-January until mid-February. And each week of the Soldes, they mark down a little bit more. The good stuff is already pretty much gone, but by the middle of February, they're practically giving stuff away. Not gonna lie, we're pretty excited about that. I didn't buy much though. I'm running low on funds, so I'm trying not to spend too much until I get my stipend.

Didn't do too much the rest of the weekend. Guillaume's house had an Open House this weekend though, so I went. I'm not normally allowed to see it, except the main dining room. Anyways, its in Old Town, so its pretty nifty. The house is old inside, but very nicely restored, as they are all carpenters, painters, roofers... It has a lot of character though, and its definitely a neat house. I've always wanted to see inside one of the house in old town. To him its no big deal, but I really like it.


Then today, Cassie and I visited the Sunday market and did some exploring around town. Actually stumbled on to a couple of spots I'd never seen before. Took some more pictures as usual. And now its on to a new week. 3 days of busy followed by 4 days of lazy :)

GOOD DAY!

I love those. Those are the best kind. SO MANY REASONS TOO!

1. The weather was nice today! I love days when the weather is nice and so life is just better.

2. Went to my new translation class today. Awesome. Taught by this CRAZY OLD BRITISH MAN. He is hysterical. So I'm a big fan. And I'm going to stick with that class for sure. He reminded me a lot of the old guy in the movie UP. Its like his lips kinda fold over his teeth and he has like that face and jaw and everything. And he just makes these great facial expressions but he is really funny and keeps the class' attention really well. I enjoyed it. So yay!

3. Meeting with the English coordinator. All is good with my schedule finally.

4. Went to one of my other classes for the first time. I was worried that it was going to be an analysis class like the other one turned out to be, but it was exactly what I wanted. It was just french grammar broken down into really simple terms. So now my schedule is really really finalized.

5. Talked to the women in international relations, and in the next 2 to 3 weeks I should be getting my stipend in full. In which case I will soon be RICH!

6. Miguel picked up the keys to the classroom I'll be teaching in tomorrow. One less thing to worry about. Yay for getting paid to speak in English!

7. I think I'm finished with my awkward french medical exams. I have another appointment next week, but I'm pretty sure that its just to put together the paperwork.

That is all I can think of for now. But YAY for a good day! I'm happy :)

P.S. - Guillaume is coming over in a few minutes. Another happy thing about my day :D

French Medical Exams

Welp, had my first one this morning. It was just at the Clinic down the road. I had to go to the radiology center. It was a little strange though. So they called me into this room where the woman said Ok take off everything on top. And then she just watched me take off everything on top. Just stood there, while I took off my layers, down to my tank top, and finally, my bra. It was just a little odd. But then she did the X-Ray and I was finished. But then, I had to wait for my results which took forever. And it was the normal kind of waiting room where usually you don't sit next to anyone else unless you have to. Well this woman and her son came in. He went and sat at this group of chairs over there, then she looked at him and sat down between me and this asian kid that was there for the same reason I was. And it was awkward and uncomfortable to have a stranger sit that close when it was entirely unnecessary. And there were other open seats across the way. Well anyways, she reeked of smoke and it just wasn't that pleasant to have our shoulders touching. So then, after that, the time until they called my name again went even slower.

I've got my real medical exam type appointment this afternoon. Not so sure how that will go in French. Its not like they teach you those words. Here is how you go to the doctor.. No. So not so sure how its gonna go. We'll see. Hopefully not too bad.

First Week

Ugh. What a mess with my schedule and my visa and my teaching thing.

Well my schedule was all set, but then 2 of my classes were pretty much out of my level of ability to pass in a foreign language, so I've been trying to change my schedule around. Then, that sort of stemmed me to change a lot of my classes, so now I'm a little worried that I will be going into 3 or 4 classes late. Then, to make matters worse, I won't even be able to go to 2 of my classes this week, and one next week because of my medical appointments for my visa.

AND my visa. Stupid stupid visa. Well my visa is meant to expire the 1st of February, as I was originally only going to stay for a semester abroad. Well I had an appointment with the Prefecture in France to extend my visa for friday the 21st of January, yesterday. I went. Waited and did the whole thing, then when I got to the desk, with my folder and all my super organized paperwork, he told me I'd have to come back to do it. Apparently they prefer to wait til the visa has expired to do it. But no one told me that before. NO ONE! jerks. So now I have another appointment in 2 weeks. This time, though, Guillaume can't come. So if there is another strange circumstance, I'll have no one to help me understand it.

Then, along with the visa paperwork is the OFII paperwork. Who knows what that stands for. But anyways, for the OFII stuff, you have to get a medical visit if you are staying in France more than 3 months. Well I came back to a letter in my mailbox that I have my medical appointments next week and the week after. There are 3 in all. There is a notice on the bottom of the letter that says the times and dates of the appointments cannot be changed. Well they all have to land right during classes. So there is actually at least one class that I will miss the first 2 weeks of. Grrrr.

Also, I was hired at the end of last semester to teach some english classes. Well actually, last semester it was just to be a conversation partner, but this semester it is to teach them. So, we had our meeting for that last week, and it was decided that I would teach the wednesday morning classes and the other American doing this would teach the afternoon classes. Easy enough. But then, the reason I had so much trouble changing my schedule was that classes kept landing on wednesday morning. Oh it was a mess. Well thats all worked out, but everything was still resting on me getting my visa. Which was supposed to happen yesterday, but didn't. And I'm even more confused, because the other American had all the same stuff with his visa, but had no trouble getting it extended before it had expired. Harumph. :(

Classes have begun again

Well hello there!

So its a new semester and so new classes. I have most of the same classes as last semester, so life hasn't really changed too much. Its just all French classes, like grammar, linguistics, and so on.. I'm hoping this semester won't be too bad though. The only class that will make more of a difference is my French class for non-native speakers where I moved up to the advanced class with one of the British girls. We'll see how it goes. It seems to be better than the other class so far though. The professor is Canadian. Kinda random, but she has a slightly different accent. The class is a lot smaller than upper intermediate was, and people seem to have more of a desire to learn, so I think it should be good.

Also, Guillaume and I's mini-Christmas was lovely. He gave me a hand made bowl that is super pretty, and also a really nice silver necklace with a pearl and small diamond thing. It was really sweet. So everything is good on that front :)

The new group of anglophones (plus Rachael and I) are going out to Mexican tomorrow. Yummm. I'm excited. Welp, I've not got too much to say, at least nothing too interesting to say. But love you all.. Thanks for reading!

Back in France

Welp.. Made it just fine. Flying isn't fun, but all is well. I knew I was back in France though when I got glares on the tram in Le Mans for having a suitcase. But still, I'm hoping this semester is as good as the last one was.

Right now I'm just really looking forward to celebrating my mini-Christmas with Guillaume :)

Coming Back to France...

Well I have a goal for this semester.. UPDATE THIS THING!

Last semester I was pretty bad about actually updating my blog, and so most people have probably forgotten about it by now, but I plan to do it this semester. I mean it’s a nice idea. Online journal that everyone can read about what you are doing with your life abroad, but I just get lazy. Oh and put pictures on this thing is a royal hassle. Not a fan of that part. So its not likely that it’ll have much by the way of pictures throughout the semester, but hopefully it’ll actually have entries of some kind.

SO! I’ve decided to come back to France. I think anyone that reads this thing would know that by now, but I thought I’d put it out there.

I’m on my way back now. I’m just sitting in the Minneapolis airport killing time. I have a six and a half hour layover. YAY! What fun.. well I’m surviving. Not a lot can be worse than the bad weather and delays of getting home before Christmas.

I just took a little nap though, and I’m sitting at some cushy chairs by the moving sidewalk, kinda watching people go by, but mostly just working on crocheting a scarf. Well a woman with her husband and baby just walked by, looked at me and said “We didn’t make it.” Like I’m supposed to have a clue what in the world she is talking about and why she is telling me. Well I’m assuming she didn’t make her plane, but I just woke up. Huh?

People watching is definitely better in other airports. There aren’t too many people going by, and they are all pretty normal. Blah. Stupid Minnesota with normal looking people. I NEED ENTERTAINMENT.

I’ve not got a lot to say for the time being, so I think I’ll leave you be. There is a good chance the only person reading this is my grandma. So HI GRANDMA! Hope all is well :)