Vac de Pacques

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So these past few weeks of vacation and school have been passing by terribly fast. I've had so much work to do because all of the professors know that we have to get in one or two more tests and then we have the final. I now have less than five weeks... I'm rather ready to go home, but at the same time I don't want to leave.

Vacances de Paques

If you ever decide to travel for a week or two in Europe I find it rather easy and cheap to purchase a Euro-rail pass. This is what I did for my two week spring break. I travelled to visit a friend in Germany, and then I met another friend in Barcelona, Spain. Irene is my friend that I met in Germany, and she was a foreign exchange student in my high-school. When I was in France last summer, she came to visit me, and she told me to visit her if I had a chance. I stayed in her "student housing" building in a guest room. We really didn't do much because a. I was only there for about three days, and b. there isn't much to do in her town. It was really nice to just hang out and catch up though.

So after that I go down to Barcelona and meet my friend Chris there who also goes to the CIDEF. Barcelona is an extremely clean city, and their metro system is awesome! It was Chris's goal to make me de-stress so he guided me all over the city, and I didn't have to worry about anything. The best two hours of my life were spent lying on the lawn of the Arch de Triumph (Spanish style) having lunch and getting a suntan. I am also rather happy to say that I went to Easter mass in Sagrada Familia (a church that has been under construction for over 100 years and is the most visited church in Spain). In most regions of Spain they speak a. Spanish and b. a local language. The local language of the region of Barcelona is Catalan, and mass happened to be spoken in this language. It was such an amazing experience! Also, random fact, Catalan is spoken in some of the more southern parts of France next to the Spanish boarder of the Mediterranean.

In my weeks of vacation/traveling... I took 15 trains in five days. To get from Germany to Barcelona, I left at 2PM and got there the next day at 11PM. Woot for trains!

Updates

With vacation and recuperation from vacation, I haven't been able to do much culturally in France. I've just been so tired especially with all of my school work. However, I did have the chance to go to some wine tastings with my house father and some of my house parent’s family at the actual wineries. My house parent’s grandson is getting married, and it is very important to choose the best of wine for those types of occasions. Soon they will take me to the Cointreau museum that is close to here. I have been somewhat homesick... it was the worst last Monday, but I'm feeling better. It comes and goes. I think that now I'm getting closer to the end I want to try to absorb as much as possible... so I'm not letting it get to me.

Mots/Expressions

1. nouilles (nfpl) - pates Souvent ma famille d'accueil dites ca pour dire on va manger de la pâte pour diner.
2. manger ses mots - C'est une expression pour dire que quelqu’un parle trop bas et pas exactement bien.
3. braguette (nf) - Une braguette est le parti des pantalons juste au dessous du bouton.
4. dégueulasse (adj) (familière/vulgaire) - Souvent j'entendais ce mot, et finalement je le lit dans le livre d'Anna Gavalda et ca va dire dégoûtant.
5. cochon(ne) (nm/f) - Oui, tous le monde sait ce qui est un cochon, mais faites attention avec ce mot. Il est aussi vulgaire est son signification est plutôt quelqu’un(e) qui est obscène (sexuelle).

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