So the last time I wrote, it was right after Kelsey came! After that lovely week, it was back to reality. School is really hard and stressful. It's easy to get discouraged and flustered by the end of the week here, and I already have the tendency to do that as is. It was a hard two and a half weeks to get through, and I think that that had to do with the fact that I knew my parents were coming, so I got even more excited.
My parents arrived on the 21st and we had a great voyage to Swizterland, Amsterdam, and Paris. My Dad then had to leave us on the 1st, when my Mom and I continued on to London, Barcelona, then Compiègne and Paris again. A great time was had by all, but I would be lying if I said I felt like I when on vacation after all was done. I am still exhausted, and I bet my mom will tell you the same thing!
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| Luzern, Switzerland |
My Mom left on the 9th of May after spending Mother's Day in Paris. Such a dramatic exit, Mom. I left her at the airport and was in a very off mood for about two days after that. It was probably the fact that I was exhausted, sad, and still in shock that I had seen my family in the first place. It was really nice to see my family, and at that point when my Mom left me, we said "see you in 5 weeks" and that felt nice.
Then, I went back to reality, once again. This past week, I did so much work for my classes. A few conflicts arose, like uh, I don't know, the fact that my professor changed my final to the day after I leave. Note, he changed the date after three months of it being on the syllabus. Now, I am uncertain that I will be accommodated, but I have decided that I will not change my plane ticket. Whatsoever. I'm also getting anxiety about my upcoming presentations, but when those are done, I have a nice week left here in Compiègne to hang out with friends and get ready to go home.
This past weekend, I went to Lyon to visit Caitlin. She is currently living there doing an internship. I was weary about going at first, because I was still so tired, but I had such a great time. I went there Thursday night, and then spent the day in Starbucks doing my research project while Cait worked. I was there for 5.5 hours, wrote 10 pages, and was asked "parlez-vous anglais" 3 times by tourists during that time period. I don't know if there is a sign on my forehead that says "AMERICAN" or what, maybe it was the fact that I was sitting in a Starbucks, but I ended up having my own tourism desk where I helped people look up things on my computer. Haha. After that fun time (note: any time spent in Starbucks is a fun time), I walked around Lyon, did some shopping and then met up with Cait. Later that night, we went to drinks and dinner with her FRENCH boyfriend and his friend. It was a really nice time, and it was nice to see how nice of a life Cait has made for herself there. After dinner, we met up with the other URI chicka, Raena, and other French girls.
Saturday, we went to Geneva. It was definitely a good idea to do a day trip and see another city/country for 24E round trip. Only thing, it rained. So, we saw the sights, ate lunch, and passed some time in stores. Geneva is a very pretty city, I'm sure a lot prettier without rain, but definitely a one-dayer. Cait and I were glad that we didn't spend more than the day there.
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| Cait and I! |
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| Le jet d'eau à Genève |
After that, we went back to Lyon and had dinner, drinks and dancing with Raena and another girl from UTC that had come down to visit, Maria. The four of us had a great time, some laughs, and ended the night at a place called "Boston Club," modeled after a typical irish bar, very similar to Mulcahy's, which wasn't anything but amazing. So funny.
Today, I made my way back, slowly but surely. I missed my train from Paris to Compiègne by 3 minutes, so I had to wait for 2 hours. But, I got some more work done and planned some things, so it was productive.
Next weekend, I'm going to the Baie de Somme, on the beach on the northern coast with Esperanto (exchange student group). I missed the first one, so I'm excited to go to this one. It's a great way for everyone to get to travel together and it's really well planned. Plus, I'll be putting my feet in the sand, something I haven't done in a while! Well, I have to go get so much work done; I have a presentation on images of technology in cinema tomorrow, which I have yet to start. PLUS, I want to finish all of my work before the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed!
Hope all is well with you!
Love,
Amanda
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