La Fin du Semestre

I'm writing this blog from the Kebab restaurant because the internet in my dorm has decided to die today.

Today, we had our big Diplôme Universitaire exams.   *Sigh of reief*  First part was "La Compréhension Ecrite"  (Written Comprehension)....It was an hour and a half, and we were given two documents to read and answer questions over.   Second part was "L'Expression Ecrite" in which we were given the choice of doing a compte rendu (which is basically a summary) or doing an argumentative paper over a quote.  I chose to write over the quote, "Rien ne developpe l'intelligence comme les voyages."  I think it went well, but you never really know.  This exam lasted for 2 hours, and my hand was dying afterwards... I don't think I've written that much by hand that quickly in a long time.  My typing skills, however, are impeccable. haha.

The third and final exam was "La Compréhension Orale" (I think you can figure that one out without a translation, right? haha.).  For this exam, we had to listen to an interview over "solidarity" and answer questions.  Boo, politics.   But, what could I really expect being in France?

What a long day it was!  And did I mention that we had to be at the school at the ungodly hour of 8am.  If you know me even in the slightest, you know that mornings are not my friend.  Also, did you know that it's still dark at 8am?  I sure didn't...until I was walking to school this morning at 7:50, that is.

Now, all that remains is the daunting "L'Expression Orale" tomorrow morning.  I am terrified.  The class that was meant to prepare us for this exam was basically completely pointless all semester long, soooo I'm not too sure how this is going to go.  We will be given a political cartoon and a text (we get to choose one), and we have to present it.  My problem is that I'm not a fan of discussing politics...I'm in the wrong country, I know.   Anyway,  at least it will be over tomorrow at 10h30ish.

In other news, my first theater experience has come to a close.  We performed the play, "La Visite de la Vieille Dame" 3 times...Twice on Friday, and once Monday morning.  I think that for a bunch of amateur actors, we did a pretty awesome job.  I'm so so so glad that I chose to take Théâtre as an atelier. I don't think I could have handled two other lecture classes.

I honestly can't believe this semester has gone by so quickly.  I now understand why everytime I told someone that I was only staying one semester, they would always comment on how little time it is.  Meanwhile, back in September, I was looking at my countdown of 110 days and thinking that December would never arrive.  This may be a bit weird, but I know that before I left, I counted the number of vitamins I had and commented about how I would be about 10 days short...Mom said, "You'll probably forget to take them that many times anyway."  Well, guess what, Mom!  I didn't!  Haha...It doesn't seem like very long ago that I was in Costa Rica....then spending my month home babysitting Caleb and Maddie and trying to brush up on my French since I was in full blown Spanish mode at the time.  And now, my time in France is quickly coming to a close.

It's such a bittersweet moment.  I feel like I'm just getting comfortable, and now I'm going to have to go through reverse culture shock when I get to the US.   It's so surreal to imagine what it will be like to be home...to hear ENGLISH...to see signs in English... to be in the same time zone as my family... to be able to use my phone (By the way, it may take a few weeks for me to get back in the habit of actually using it.) To drive my car again....to go to WALMART!...   to hear those deep southern accents you only hear in southern Tennessee...to greet people with a hug instead of a kiss...To only see Kraft cheese in the fridge (sad face)... To listen to all the songs that became popular while I was away... To see how my friends have changed....To see how I've changed.  The list is never ending.

I already know that one habit I'm going to have to kick really quickly is saying "Ok" with a French accent.   For the sake of myself and everyone around me,  it's going to have to go.  Also, I'm going to have to get re accustomed to speaking English.  Even though I do hang out with Americans often, I find myself inserting French words without even thinking about it.  Since none of my friends share my love for the French language, I think I'll probably have to stop that as well.  My friends and I here joke that we speak English at about the same level as a 4th grader while in France.  I can't tell you how many times I've not been able to remember the word in English, but I can tell you what it is in French.  C'est un problème. Good thing I don't have any classes in English next semester, huh?

Another problem I foresee upon my return to the US will be writing the date.  You see, in France you write it day/month/year.   Writing the date this way is not even a thought to me anymore.  I'm going to confuse people....I just know it.

Also, it will be SO HARD to not say "Ça va?" every time I run into someone I know.  My point in including this in my blog is to ask for patience. haha.  It may take me a couple weeks to get readjusted.

So all semester, I've been unsure about where I would call home next semester.  I was hoping to get hired as an RA, but nothing was ever sure...UNTIL NOW!  I'm very excited to announce that I will be an RA in Laurel Hall next semester. :)  I'm so ready to get back into the RA world.  I'm sure that my friends here have gotten sick of all my RA related stories, but it has been my life for the past 2 years, and I've really missed it this semester.  I've realized how little free time I've actually had over the past 3 years, that having an insane amount of free time in France has been a definite change of pace.  I'm actually looking forward to getting back into real classes and actually having the need to keep a planner!

ALSO, BROOK BEASLEY WILL BE IN FRANCE IN 4 DAYS.  Then, our Nantes, Munich, Paris adventure begins!  So freaking excited.

Well, this blog came into existance only because I wanted to post like 6 different facebook statuses...so there ya go.  That probably explains the ridiculousness of this entry. Lots of words, but no pics.  Desolée!  

Au Revoir!  J'espère que la prochaine fois que j'ai envie d'ecrire un blog, l'internet dans ma chambre va marcher.  Je n'ai pas envie de venir tous les soirs au Kebab.  Oh la la.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Passage Pommeraye all dec'd out in Christmas decor

This past weekend, Nantes fully lived up to its rainy reputation.  Apparently, we've been lucky up to this point in having sunny days through most of November.   Oh well... the rain didn't stop us from exploring the Christmas market and going out to see all the lit up decorations in centreville on Saturday.

 Our first stop was the Passage Pommeraye, the first mall in Nantes, which was completely decorated with lights, trees, and tons of beautiful window displays.  There, we found a cute little sweets shop where there were tons of chocolate Santas and also a Christmas tree made of Macarons.

Macaron tree!

The marché de noël in Nantes began on December 3rd, and remains open up until Christmas.  There are all kinds of chocolates, cheeses, wines, and artisan type goods for sale.  It was fun to just walk around and look at all the stuff there is to buy. I'm sure I'll be back several times before I leave Nantes in just over a week!  

The Place Royale...where part of the marché is.

Fromages!

Vin chaud

Just an example of the street decorations throughout centreville

 This is completely unrelated to the Christmas season, but we also found Nantes version of the Occupy Wall St. movement ...It's basically a silent protest of the high unemployment rate.

Nantes' version of Occupy Wall St.

Sunday, we went to church at the Bossière as usual.  Every single time I go, I'm reminded of how many incredible people I've met here, and how much I'm going to miss them when I go back home.  At least I'll still be able to communicate via facebook and hopefully not lose touch.

After church, Andrew and Heather invited John, Nick, and I over for lunch chez eux.  As always, Heather fixed an amazing meal, and it was great to have real home cooked food.  I get way more excited about eating warm, cooked vegetables than is probably normal.  haha.   Our next stop was to the Jules Verne museum. In case you're not familiar with him, Jules Verne was the author who wrote 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, Around the World in 80 days, and Journey to the Center of the Earth.  AND, he was born and raised in Nantes!  Unfortunately, I was not too entirely impressed by the museum as a whole, and I think they could have done so much more with it.  All the same, I'm glad I went, as Jules Verne is probably the most famous Nantais.

Our last stop of the day was kind of impromptu...we left the museum at around 5:30, and we knew the mass at the Basilique Saint-Nicolas started at 6pm.  Since we'd never been to a mass service, we decided to go just to see what it was like.  It was a pretty cool feeling to be in the huge Basilique with the amazing acoustics...it was also decorated for Christmas. :)

Classes are officially finished!   Now, all I have standing between me and my Munich/ Paris excursion with Brook are these pesky exams.  Ah well... it will all be over on Friday!  I hope that all my UT friends aren't suffering too terribly during exam week.  I'm quite content not having to deal with that stress this year.

By the way, my mom made sure to Skype me tonight to make sure I would blog so that she could include it in her lesson plan for tomorrow. haha.  Silly mother.

À la prochaine!