Recapitulation.

16/12/2010.

So. Exhausted.

Really. I totally haven’t updated in a serious manner in what seems like forever. It’s simply been go, go, go to finish the end of fall semester. Let’s talk academics for a hot second:

I had 6 exams: DEFI French, Persian, Arabic, Thème (French to English translation), Tandem conversation/interview and History of the English language. All are done, all have (hopefully) been passed..

Right, so, my last exam was yesterday morning at 8:30. It wasn’t awful, but I’ve been having trouble falling asleep, so it was terrible getting up to take it.

Immediately after, I found Clémence (she offered to give me a sleeping bag for when Katie visits!) and then Laura and Georgie. We came back to Triolo (their very first trip here!) and met Raashnie and Rosalind for a nice, homemade brunch. Rosalind had those pancakes down, Raashnie’s reheated canned Auchan brand corned beef (no hash) was sooo god, and my scrambled eggs were, of course, beyond the tastebud imagination of anyone. We chatted and laughed and someone may have been a bit teary with goodbyes… Overall, lovely. I went back to my room so I could finish doing my laundry and then pack up a box to send home for Christmas! After about an hour, I was out the door, to the post office, the metro to Marbrerie and then arriving Chez Georgie/Laura/Katie. Some more ‘goodbyes’ or at least ‘see you soons!’. Home several hours later, I began packing for my traveling adventure, but was soon distracted by skype with Rutvi and Hetal…

Shortly thereafter, Christine and Sarah stopped by ma chambre for saying goodbye as well. And, though very sad to see Christine go home and Sarah go to Jordan, as we reiterated several times: it’s not like we won’t talk to each other all the time via facebook/skype anyway… I eventually finished packing and fell asleep around 1.

BUT before I continue my first update from abroad (well, you know, abroad from my home abroad…) I’d like to throw some other happenings in here:

On December 7^th, Laura, Brian, and I went to the Orchestra National de Lille for an evening of Berlioz. Seriously amazing. It was honestly the first time I’d really opened myself back up to music/performance and the results were a bit emotional and painful. Its all okay, though, and hopefully I’ll soon be in the possession of a cheap €50 acoustic guitar to feed my need for the myoooozak.

I had a beyond enjoyable evening with Rosalind, Christiane, Raashnie, too much wine, and too many potato chips. Speaking of, there are some wild flavors of them here in France:

Bolognaise, barbecue, original, rotisserie chicken, salt and vinegar, three cheese, smoked ham, paprika, kebab… (I’m sure there are others as well, but these are the ones I made note of..)

I’ve recently watched a lot of movies instead of doing homework/studying. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkbana, Leap Year (trash), When Harry Met Sally (soooo good I watched it three times in about two weeks!)

Sarah FINALLY uploaded photos from our day trip to Calais, so I’ll make a post of them/update the old post when I return home. Maybe those backlogged videos about London too. But only when I’m home. Because I am gone. Woo!

Here’s the plan:

Dec. 16-19 Stockholm, Sweden

Dec. 19-21 Tallinn, Estonia

Dec. 21-24 Helsinki, Finland

Dec. 24-28 Manchester, England (with the Harmsworths!)

And so, as it is indeed 7:30pm on the 16^th, let us get to what I’ve done (and learned) thus far (about 14 hours into my adventure…)