Blogs from Centre, France, Europe - page 25

Starting Monday, my schedule becomes more normal for the rest of the semester. And by more normal I mean, it rocks. This week is the worst week ever because we have our intense language classes at the Institut, and our real university classes are starting. Thank you Bucknell, for making them overlap. NOT. Yesterday I had class from 9-12, 1-6. Today, 9-11, 1-5. In all our free time (there was so much) Allison and I worked on our paper that’s due tomorrow—after slightly widening the margins, changing the font, and bolding the periods, we have four pages. (Single spaced…ish. Technically we put two spaces between each paragraph…haha.) I’m not normally a fan of lengthening essays this way, but in this case it was completely necessary, especially since the main point of the paper was to work ... read more

The French don’t work…they have kids. Today we had class like any other day—it started at nine at the institute, with each of us presenting some sort of French article that we found (for homework). Today, Carl’s article was about how the French had “lost its reputation” as the place where the least amount of work was done. (Although it was still up there—only Germany and Holland beat France.) My article that I found was about how International Living magazine just announced that France is the number one country for quality of life. This spurred a discussion and our teacher telling us a lot more about French culture. Before you read this, make sure you’re ready to pack up and move to France RIGHT NOW. First of all, there is a MANDANTORY five weeks of vacation ... read more

Salut mes amis! The last three days have seemed like three weeks. It’s hard to believe that I haven’t even been here one week yet! Although my sleep schedule is just barely adjusted—this morning was the first day my alarm woke me up at 7:15. Sunday and Monday I woke up around 4 again (but stayed in my room away from the creaky stairs) and yesterday I only woke up maybe a half hour before my alarm—now I just need to work on actually being able to stay up past 10… Sunday I went to Catholic mass with the family, in a huge Cathedral that was beautiful! The service was held downstairs, in the crypt for St. Martin (of Tours). I guess the service is held in the crypt because it’s slightly smaller (and while there ... read more

Hello friends! I survived my first day and it is absolutely FABULOUS here. I sadly didn’t get to sleep on the plane from Newark to Paris, but the Bucknell professor here (Professor Westbook) picked us up from the airport in a large bus and I slept for the entirety of the three hour drive to Tours. Tours is beautiful, although for a European it probably looks like any other town. There is a trace of snow on the ground from some crazy weather they’ve had over the past week. (It’s usually Oregon weather here—lots of rain, but not usually cold enough for snow.) The bus pulled off to the side of the road next to La Loire river, and we waited for our French families to come pick us up. It was a Friday, so just ... read more

Bonjour a tous!! I hope you are all healthy and happy as always. Things have been crazy around here the past few weeks. I can honestly say, that since my move, I have been the happiest I have ever been throughout my stay here in france. I walk around with a smile on my face all the time and have completely adapted to life and everyone here. I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving. I confess that I was sort of dreading the holiday. It was my first time away from home and the fact that Thanksgiving doesn’t exist over here made it even worse. Well, let me tell you…I have never been so surprised or touched. The morning of Thanksgiving was just as normal as every other Thursday has been. I woke up, ... read more