Today was the day following the big Gala here at UTT. For other people, it was probably a rough day, although many people, including myself, seemed to have been very responsible the night before. As a quick overview, today we were going into downtown Troyes to first have lunch, they take a tour, and finish with dinner. After that, we were to head back to UTT to get ready for our big day at the lake on Monday. Our scheduled departure time for downtown was 12:00pm. I went to bed at 3am following the Gala, and due to the lack of an alarm in the morning, my roommate and I woke up at 11:55am the next day. Obviously this didn't give us a lot of time to get ready, so I just threw on some clothes ... read more

Well, after a hectic week getting prepared for this trip (i.e. buying new clothes, toiletries, shoes, converters, credit cards, etc.) I finally left. My departure date really snuck up on me, almost to the point where I'm not entirely sure I am mentally prepared for this experience yet. I mean, it's much longer than I've ever been gone before (to New Zealand in 6th grade and France/Italy in 12th grade), not to mention much more independent. I also found it MUCH harder ever before to part with the people I love back home (you know who you are; you're getting an email telling you I updated my blog). So far, this has all added up to a pretty rough start, but I'm hoping I will settle into my routine soon. On the morning of Thursday, May ... read more