Sunday, February 19, 2012

Friends and warm weather make me happy.

Well, I was doing well on posting regularly! I’ll try and get back on track with frequent posts again, but for now I’ll hit the highlights from the past few weeks, because there seem to be plenty to tell about!

Starting with where I left off, most of the people from the program went to the engineering party a few Thursdays ago, the “American frat” themed one. We started out at a few of the girls’ apartment before trekking to the building, which I’m fairly certain was a school. It seems France has taken Australia’s idea of having a bar on campus one step further and hosts full-out parties, complete with coat check. We arrived at a reasonable time, around 1:00am, and the party was decent with a bit of good music, but I have to say the highlight for me was the chance to wear the new heels I bought. I got called Dorothy more than once, but these little heels are my new best friend.


Despite my three-hour class that starts at 9am on Friday morning, the weekend went well, though it was fairly quiet as most everyone recovered from Thursday night’s festivities. This suited me just fine, because I was able to rest before my Monday night adventure to Paris! I took the train from Aix to Paris where I finally settled into my hostel after walking from the train station and making not one, not two, but three wrong turns before arriving and checking in after midnight. Still, I was riding a high having navigated the Paris train system and streets (mostly) successfully on my own. I woke up in the morning and explored the area around my hostel before Ole and Leelou arrived and we began our mini tour of Paris. We began our walking tour and did this: the Panthéon, Notre Dame, coffee (because it was below freezing the entire time we were walking – there was feeling in my feet for maybe twenty minutes over the course of the day), the Louvre (where we met up with Max and his girlfriend), Jardin de Tuileries, la Place de la Concorde, the Champs Élysées, l’Arc de Triomphe, and coffee.




After this short rest, we hopped on the Métro to the Eiffel Tower. On the way, we happened to pass the Australian Embassy with their poster of Australia and the Australian flag perfectly placed in front of the Eiffel Tower. A beautiful summary of my year abroad! Once we had our fill of pictures with the Australia/France business, we went to the Eiffel Tower where we waited just a few minutes until the lights came on. If it was a breathtaking landmark in the day time, I don’t have words to explain what it looked like all lit up with the backdrop of the night sky. Unfortunately, my camera had died by this point, so I’ll have to get pictures of this lit up, sparkling business posted later.



The following day, Ole and I were back at the hostel for breakfast and some perusing the streets before finding Leelou to go to Montmartre! We first trekked up the hill to the highest point in Paris, the Sacré Coeur. No pictures were allowed inside, but it must be one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen, and it’s enormous! We warmed our souls and our feet inside before going back down the hill to take the Métro to meet Max again and go to the Moulin Rouge! We were able to go inside the lobby, but the signs I saw for shows were all around 200 Euro, so over $250. Maybe someday, but for now it’s incredible to see the posters and make mental comparisons between the real Moulin Rouge and the Nicole Kidman/Ewan McGregor version. We made our way back toward the Sacré Coeur to see the Artists’ Square, where there were a few artists – though not as many as usual because of the cold – with their paintings all set up for purchase. What incredible work! Sketches and drawings, all different kinds of painting styles, and even a stand for caricatures.




Once we’d had our fill of the art and culture at Montmartre, we made our way to get coffee and regroup. As we sat, we figured out the distance we’d walked the previous day. About 10km in freezing weather. All of a sudden, I didn’t feel so bad for being so tired. We explored the area a bit more before making our way back to the Métro where Ole and I split off to see Les Invalides at the Eiffel Tower once more, this time from the Champs de Mars side, before I had to leave to catch my train home to Aix. All in all, a wonderful whirlwind trip of Paris. Next time, I’ll hopefully have the chance to take it a bit more slowly and go into some of the amazing places I was able to gawk at from the outside!



Once back in Aix, it was back to classes for Thursday and Friday, then Ole arrived here for the weekend. We had a quiet Friday making dinner, and Ole showed me a show, Dexpedition, which I think I’m obsessed with now – it’s basically two guys running around Europe finding the coolest parties and beaches. They had an episode in the French Riviera, which is where I am, and they explored Nice, St Tropez, and Monaco. Everywhere they’ve been, I want to add to my list of places to go while I’m here, because they seem to have an outrageous and fun time every episode as they make their way around the continent.

We woke up the next morning prepared to tackle Mont St Victoire! Ole and I met Roz, Michelle, and Kate to catch the bus up into the mountains and we set off to find a trail. It proved harder than we expected. Literally two hours after catching the bus and three false starts up what we thought were paths but weren’t, we found a real trail. Having gone through the one street town of Vauvenargues and asking directions, we set off on the trail Sentier des Plaideurs, which was luckily clearly marked (mostly…we still got lost once on the trail). It started out as a mild hike, though the trail was covered with snow and called for caution at about every step. We all had some close encounters with the flat, frozen ground, but the snow-capped scenery was so pristinely white and beautiful, the slipping and sliding was worth it.



Once through the valley, we began our ascent which started as a steady incline, but quickly became an arduous climb. I hadn’t worked out in so long that it was a real task, but after so long, we finally made it to the top! We’d been peaking at the view as we went up, taking breaks and such, but the view at the top put all of them to shame. From the peak we were on, we could see the higher mountains behind us (maybe we’ll upgrade to those by the end of the semester!), the range sprawling out on either side of us, the valley through which we trekked, as well as the range facing us from the opposite side of the valley. Though it’d been cloudy most of the way up, the sun came out to greet us as we sat eating our sandwiches on baguettes, passing around the bottle of wine that Roz was wise enough to bring along. I can’t say it gets much better than sipping and munching with friends on the top of a mountain in southern France.


Then we remembered that there was the steep perilous climb down. It had given us slippery fits on the way up, and it was even worse on the way down. Good grief. Working a whole different set of muscles on the way down, I still managed to tire out fairly quickly, which is a very bad thing when going precariously down a mountain covered in snow and ice. Highlight of the way down would have had to be the 90degree one or two foot step down where every last one of us slipped and had to grab the tree and swing around it in order to stop ourselves from tumbling down the mountain. That, or when I walked into a small branch face first (I was looking down and didn’t see it), and it surprised me so much that I didn’t have the time to warn Ole behind me before it whipped back and smacked him in the face. The same thing happened to Ole that happened to me with the being surprised, so it hit Roz – same thing happened – so then it hit Kate and then Michelle. Instead of hearing warnings about the branch, all we heard were the steady succession oh “oh”s and “ugh”s and “ow”s. I doubled over laughing, but luckily did not fall down the mountain. I believe it was about five or six hours after we initially met and around ten kilometers later, we were back on the bus and going back to Aix. What an incredible hike!



Once back in Aix, we dispersed and Ole and I chilled with coffee in front of more episodes of Dexpedition before Roz and Caitlin came back over for the night. We mustached it up as we hung around my apartment, and then left for WooHo, the international bar where we danced for a bit. Caitlin and I split off to go to the bathroom (because you have to go in pairs, of course), and we met a few Irish girls while waiting in line. We got talking and decided to all go to Le Scat, but unfortunately weren’t able to get in since it was so crowded. Instead, Ole, Roz, and I came back to my apartment where I made an omelet since we were twenty minutes too late to get a kebab. All in all, a wonderful night out!


Ole and I woke up on Sunday and Roz came over to spend a lazy morning chatting until it was time to walk Ole to the bus station to catch his train back to Paris before leaving for Australia. Best of luck this session, Ole, and thanks for coming to visit! Roz and I trekked back to mine and Caitlin came over again, and we spent the afternoon watching YouTube videos, mostly reaction videos of people being scared (check out Ellen Degeneres’ scare montage, or at least where she scares Taylor Swift – it’s hilarious). Then we watched a scary link my roommate from last year, Matthew, posted to me and taped our reaction for him. I’d tried watching the video once before, but I’d been too scared to finish it, but I found courage with a few companions. It was an awful, hilarious idea as it scared all of us out of our wits but it provided us with endless entertainment for the afternoon since we kept watching the video.

The week was fairly ordinary with my reading assignments piling up on me, but there were a few highlights worth mentioning. Roz and I finished planning our winter break trip to Italy! We will fly to Tripani in Siciliy, stay for the night then take the bus to Palermo where we’ll stay for a night. Then we’ll take a ferry to Naples where we’ll pick up the car we hired and drive to Rome where we’ll spend a few days, then on to Milan where we’ll wrap up our trip and fly home to Marseille. I am SO excited. Neither of us speaks a lick of Italian, nor have we ever driven in Europe, but we’re hoping for the best! Caitlin may even be getting in on the adventure, so I’m looking forward to the week off of school wandering around Italy!

I haven’t spoken much about classes, because there hasn’t been much to discuss. I have three-hour (and one four-hour) lectures that consist of the professor dictating while we copy down what he says. I have four mid-terms, one this week, and the rest just after the week break, which will be essays on one question pertaining to what we’ve discussed so far. Aside from Methodology, the course that’s required for the program, there are no weekly assignments, only reading, and my anthropology class doesn’t even have required reading. It’s a much different system, and I’m finding it increasingly difficult to not just put everything off, even though I know that just means more work for me at the end of the term when the weather will be even more beautiful and all I’ll want to do is go to the beach. I don’t know if it’s the school system or my American senioritis that’s followed me across the ocean, but I very much don’t feel like finishing the rest of my reading today! God knows there’s still plenty of it, though. It’s a good thing I do find the subjects I’m taking interesting, or I’d be afraid that my lack of motivation in my final semester would get the better of me!

The academic highlight so far has certainly been the Expression Orale class, where we more or less do improv, which is even more difficult in French but just as entertaining. Even bigger plus? There’s no work outside of class! Our instructor is so entertaining, too. “Qui est disponible?” is heard a dozen times a class, basically asking who is ready to go or who will volunteer. This week, we were to volunteer to go up against the rest of the class, acting as the president of France and field the most ridiculous questions from the class. I’m usually pretty intimidated by being in front of a group, but I’ve found this class to be really forgiving and fun to work with, and I’m glad because it’s such a great opportunity to speak. I volunteered to be president for a round, and my favorite questions were probably why I was destroying the Mona Lisa (I said there were conspiracy threats that Da Vinci enchanted it, or something along those lines) with the follow up of why I was also destroying the Eiffel Tower (similar threats were made, since this conspiracy group also thinks Gustave Eiffel was the reincarnation of Da Vinci), what my thoughts were on the zoo animals that escaped during a children’s festival/fieldtrip (we accidentally hired people from an animal freedom organization who set them free, and yes I was very sorry about the two children that died), and why I mandated that beer pong be taught in high schools (something about how embracing alternative educational methods so that it’s not taboo, I’m not sure how I went with that one). It was such a fun exercise, and everyone was pretty creative and did really well.


I had a number of wonderfully refreshing Skype dates since my last post, including BRoy, Matthew, Turner, Kathleen, Jenn (where we started planning her visit to come see me!), Celli, and Allie, so it’s been great staying in touch with everyone. Keep the Skype dates coming! Thanks to Jackie and BRoy for the letters, too; it's so exciting to get mail, but it's even more exciting to hear about your acceptances to grad school! Super happy for the good news for both of you!! Your response letters and my first letter to Shata are in the mail now.

I’ve made it away from the computer and spent the last few days hanging in the parks with some of the girls, just basking in the sunlight and wonderfully warm weather that’s finally come around. I’ve been taking my school books, but I confess I haven’t gotten much reading done this weekend. Carly, Caitlin, Allison, and Emily and a few of her international friends were over last night for movies which turned into just chatting and munching on delicious junk food, which was perfectly alright by me. This week, I’ll be buckling down to read everything so I can have a homework/worry-free week-long break, so I probably won’t be getting up to any shenanigans or adventures. Hopefully, I’ll continue working out, too. After the mountain, I’ve been running once, and am finding an online workout video for today. I was meant to go skiing today and was really looking forward to it, but I couldn’t get gear together in time and with all the reading I have to do, I opted not to go. Hopefully there will be another outing!

Hope you all are well and enjoying your February, wherever you may be! Love and miss you all :)

Here and there,
Kiley

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Attitude is Everything

It’s good to be in a better mood! (I didn’t post a link or email about my last post, but my miserable, culture shock of a funk is all there, if you’d like to read it…it does get happier at the end.) The past week has gone exceedingly well, and I’m happy to share what’s happened as I listen to the new playlist I made recently called “ILY” (short for “I love you,” heard often among the halls of I-House last session) with all my Australian favorites. Yes, I am dancing as I type.

So last Wednesday, I pretty much sat in the apartment sulking and catching up on email, which was when I resolved to pull myself out of the culture shock and general funk I’d been experiencing for the few days beforehand, because I realized that I really had no reason to be grouchy in the least. I resolved that night to let go of my bad mood and find the same attitude I had in Australia last semester, because this session will be just as good as the last, in a different way, if I can quit being mopey that it’s not Australia. I decided my new immediate goals were then to try and meet people and keep myself busier.

Thursday morning, I tried a different theater class that focuses on Molière and his comedies. I chose to try this one instead of the 1950s one because it started at 10am instead of 9am, and because the four hours is divided into two two-hour segments with a one hour break in between for lunch. (Gotta love the French!) I walked up to the classroom knowing there was one year-long student who I would know, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that two of the other girls from the semester are also in the class. When the professor turned up, I found I had a mixed reaction: it’s the same professor from my Monday course who had absolutely terrified me during Monday’s class when he went off on two separate tirades, flat out SCREAMING at students for being late and then for talking. Luckily, he was in a much better mood on Thursday, and though I was unprepared for the lecture since I hadn’t read the material, it was an interesting lecture, and I’m looking forward to getting into the swing of the class.

I came home with enough time to eat before going back out for my oral expression course, but forgot to double check the directions. So I got a bit lost. By lost I mean I found a new part of the city that I didn’t know existed, but that spit me out into the main square, and I have absolutely no idea how the two connected. It was like going through Narnia. Either way, I got to class with a minute to spare and had another really fun session, basically doing improv in French.

I walked from class immediately to grab dinner, inhaled it, and marched straight to the ballet where I found out I was the only one from our program going. I was disappointed by this momentarily, until I figured that I might as well practice doing things on my own – one of my goals for this semester is to plan a solo trip: traveling, staying in a hostel, sight-seeing, the whole bit. It’s fun to travel with a group, but I really want to conquer someplace on my own. So I looked at this as a mini project for traveling alone. It helped that I was seeing Swan Lake, too. Aside from what I saw in the movie Black Swan, I knew nothing about the show, except that it’s a classic ballet, and since I love ballet and classical music, particularly Tchaikovsky, that was enough for me.

During the first intermission, the woman next to me, who I found out is a French student here in Aix, commented on the ballet and we talked for a few minutes, realizing we had both come to the show alone. Then she invited me out for a drink with her friends! I accepted, of course, and we talked about the ballet, classes, and traveling during the intermissions and on the way to the bar with her friends, who are also students here. We met up with them at a new bar I’d never been to, and they were so friendly. A few were very eager to speak English with me, and I was so tired that I didn’t mind speaking a bit of English. When we moved to the next bar, Caesar’s, we ran into a bunch of the girls from the program, including Carly, my roommate. Since the French group wasn’t interested in staying, I decided to hang with the American girls I’d found, glad for a reasonable excuse to go home and sleep before my 9am class on Friday.

Class on Friday went as well as a course on the methods of the French university system can go, and I was more than happy to start my weekend when it finished! Roz and I went straight for lunch after class. We went to Crêpes à Go-go (I think that’s how it’s written…), since we’d heard their crêpes are some of the best and cheapest around the city. Wow, were they right! We also ran into another group of girls from the program, also ordering crêpes. They had every option, salé (salty) and sucré (sugary), with all kinds of fillings: all kinds of cheeses, mushrooms, tomato, spinach, ratatouille, or Nutella, chocolate, bananas, sugar, rum, and more! I went with ratatouille and cheese, which is probably the messiest choice I could have made, but it was well worth it for the melty, gooey goodness. I mean seriously, so good!


Next, Roz and I went to the train station to buy our train tickets to Paris so we could catch our flight to Italy, since prices seemed expensive online and we wanted to make sure our student discount was being applied. It was. Train tickets are just that expensive. Though slightly put down, we got over the money spent, since we’ve found pretty reasonable deals on most everything else so far. We did a bit of shopping for the afternoon, including getting postcards and exploring the paper store on the Cours Mirabeau. After getting gelato, of course. (Sorry to anyone receiving slightly gelato-smudged postcards, but I think that’s just going to be you, Abby!) Upstairs in the craft section, we found all kinds of cool craft projects and tools and gadgets, including colle de lapin = rabbit glue. Roz and I weren’t sure what that meant, how it would be made, or what craft could possibly require it, but we had a good laugh over it. Unfortunately, I don’t think that the saleswoman was as amused as we were.

We hit Monoprix for a few essentials, and then I peaced out to go home and work on my grad school applications, whose deadline was rapidly approaching. Though I puttered around for the first part of the evening, I actually did a significant amount of work on my applications, and even got to Skype Celli for a bit while I took a break from work. I didn’t think my internet would support Skype or be fast enough, and though it lags a little bit, the connection works well enough! Also on the agenda for the night was a list of SOS emails regarding the scholarship money I was told I wouldn’t be receiving since some of the credits I’m taking here don’t transfer to IPFW. For anyone looking to study abroad, question financial aid incessantly before stepping foot on a plane, because it’s a gut-wrenching feeling to be in another country and then finding out that you’re not able to receive a decent chunk of the money you had initially anticipated having. Between the grad school applications and the several email threads that were going back and forth, my eyeballs were ready to pop out of my head by the time I went to bed.

I did wake up on Saturday, ready and excited for the day. Carly invited me along on a day trip to les Baux-de-Provence with a few guys she’d met when we first gotten here, and from what we could research, it all looked gorgeous. But first, I had more grad school work to do (which wasn’t fun) and lunch with Roz (which was really fun). We’d walked by a few Asian-type restaurants while exploring the day before, so we decided to try our luck. I ordered a spicy chicken dish, but it came with a salad, a dumpling, a spring roll, fried rice, and a coffee. I couldn’t finish my food by a long shot, even though it was so good, so we had our food boxed up instead. On the walk back, we opened the single bag they’d given us with our food to split it up, only then realizing that they’d literally bagged up our food. We also found this particularly funny, and I had a time heating up this mess the next day, but now we know how leftovers are packaged, at least…


Then Carly and I went to the Rotonde where the guys picked us up. It was about an hour car-ride, and I was nervous about the weather since it was so grey in Aix. Once we were fifteen minutes out of Aix, the clouds started to break up, and by the time we were thirty minutes west, the sky was as blue as could be and absolutely gorgeous! I snapped pictures like the American tourist that I am during the ride and as we climbed through the mountains to get to the chateau. We walked a ways up the hills and mountains, then through the small village with various shops lining the streets. It was all absolutely adorable/breath-taking/quaint/medieval/beautiful, I found it hard to keep walking to our destination without just stopping to photograph everything.



Once at the chateau, we walked the grounds and saw the medieval weaponry, trebuchet included, before getting to the edge with a view of what laid below us. It was another of those “Oh my God, I live here, and I love my life moments” to say the least. The pictures don’t do it justice, but we had a great afternoon exploring the ruins of the chateau, and the view made me catch my breath every time I caught a glimpse of it.






Once we’d walked everywhere (I would say had my fill, but I don’t think I could ever spend enough time in a place like that), we took a quick look through the gift shop and ducked into a bar for a drink and snack. My coffee went perfectly with my crêpe-Nutella, and it was nice to warm up a bit. We sat talking about traveling and soccer (finally, people to talk soccer with!!) before climbing back in the car for the drive back to Aix. Once back, we went for dinner at a tapas place and had a few delicious cheeses, a platter of different meats, and the best mozzarella/some kind of cheese stick that I’ve ever had. I find I’ve been spending a lot of time raving about the food, but I really can’t help it. It’s all so delicious and worth mentioning that it’s almost all I want to talk about. Almost.

After dinner, Carly and I went back to our apartment to recoup before heading out for the night. I went back to work on my applications, then changed before Carly and I met Roz and hit O’Shannon’s, one of my favorite Irish-themed bars. The girls got drinks and we found a nice standing space, but I was just happy to have a view of the Barcelona game on the TVs. When we saw the guys we’d hung out with for the day, we joined them at their table and picked back up on our soccer conversation, and talked TV shows, movies, and entertainment before going to Le Skat, the jazz-ish club with live music where we spent the rest of the night dancing until, um, after 4am. What a fun day/night!

Unfortunately, the morning came around quite too soon. I’m not drinking this semester because of the arthritis medication I’m on, so there was no hangover to speak of, but I was utterly exhausted from the day before. Around 1:00 when Carly and I managed to be up and get out of the house, we picked up a big, greasy, delicious pizza from Pizza Capri that tasted exactly like spaghetti Bolognese, just like the name of the pizza. Roz came over and we demolished the pizza while watching episode after episode of Arrested Development. I passed out on the couch. When I came to, Roz and I looked into flights and trains back from Italy to save ourselves from driving through the Alps, but haven’t gotten to book anything because of card complications. It’s probably written somewhere in our bank information, but we could not find the additional password/code needed to use our French bank cards online. Gotta try that again this week!

Roz left shortly after, and I got to Skype with my family for the first time since leaving the states! It was so good to see them, and it’s always comforting to talk to Mom and Dad. I didn’t get to talk to Abby for long, since she had to run to play practice (congratulations on the ensemble role and, oh yeah – getting the LEAD in one of Princeton’s musicals! Anyone that’s in Cincinnati, go see it and tell me how it is since I can’t be there to cheer her on. It’s in March, so you have plenty of time to plan and go check out The Jungle Book with my sister, Mowgli!). After my parents, I had a Skype date with Kathleen, who I haven’t seen since well before I left the states. Happy 21st, my dear! I wish I could have celebrated with you!

I called it an early night after my Skype dates and woke up ready to go to class in the morning…until I realized how much I still had to do for my grad school applications. So I skipped my classes and kept a steady string of emails running to Mom for the day as I edited and re-edited my work. But at least they’re all done now! While I would much rather save the classes I get to skip for long travel weekends, this one was necessary. Keep your fingers crossed for me and my applications, pretty please! Monday night got even better when I got a surprise Skype call from Mitchel! I completely lost track of time as we were talking and didn’t make it to bed until almost 2am, but it was worth it to get to catch up, and I’m so glad the internet has been holding up.

Tuesday was productive again as I wrapped up the finishing touches for my applications and sent the last few pieces to Mom to print and mail in for me – Mom, you’ve been SO helpful with this; I didn’t foresee the lack of online-submission-ability, and I don’t know what I would have done without you. To my advisers who have been wonderful and accommodating with my letters, a huge thank you to you! It’s a weight off my shoulders to have everything submitted, even though it means playing the waiting game now.

During class on Tuesday, I took better notes than I feel like I have been, and Caitlin and I planned a study date to go over the material this weekend. It’s much needed, and I’m so excited to have a study partner, especially for this anthropology course that’s much different than anything I’ve ever taken. I also put together a massive to-do list, with sub-lists and lists of lists to get my act together this week, so I set to work on it for the rest of the night until my Skype date with Allie! As always, good talk, and I can’t wait until our next date when we both have real internet in our own houses!

On the internet fiasco – we’ve been stealing from our neighbors (as instructed by our landlord), but the connection is horrid. So we ordered a box to make the account, and it finally arrived on Thursday, but we didn’t see the slip until Friday, and since we couldn’t go to the post office on Saturday, we finally picked it up on Monday, but couldn’t get it installed. So I emailed the office to go over all the forms and emails that are all in French on Tuesday morning, and so today, Wednesday, I went in to find out that it may take up to 15 days to properly set up the line. Meh.

Along with the office errands I did this morning, I also caught up on more emails and found out more about the scholarship situation, and went to the market for the first time in a long time. It’s so good to have food! Chelsea came over for lunch, and she gave me the book we’re sharing for our Monday class, and we set up a date to go over the notes for the class I missed. Thanks, again, for helping fill me in to Chelsea and Aubrey, who I’m excited to get coffee and hit the books with! You’re so helpful!

I went shopping with Roz for part of this afternoon, then came back to Skype with Elana! It’s been such a good Skype week, and I’ve been so lucky to chat with so many people that I miss dearly. Keep the Skype calls coming, everyone. I love it, and it makes missing you all that much easier to bear. And that catches me up! Whew. Busy week with lots to tell, but being busy has made being home/I-House-sick so much easier to handle. It’s amazing how drastically and how quickly things have turned around, just by deciding to have a different mindset. I totally believe in mind over matter, but I couldn’t have hoped for a better week to prove it.

On top of that, my advisers have been working tirelessly to work out something with my scholarship. Dr. Cain, Dr. Corbin, you’re my heroes. I really can’t imagine having better, harder working advisers who would advocate more for me in my absence, and your help has made all the difference in my two semesters abroad. I doubt it would have even been possible without either of you, so THANK YOU! You’re instrumental to everything I’ve done here, so thank you again and again.

The weather has been just plain gross lately with snow and sleet yesterday and really cold and windy today, so that put a damper on the Marseille soccer game I really wanted to see tonight, and it’s gotten the program trip to Arle cancelled this weekend. Silver lining: it gave me time to Skype E tonight and write this, and this weekend, I’ll have more time to catch up on the studies I’ve been slightly putting off. Tomorrow night, the engineering department is hosting a party, and a lot of the people from the program are going, so that should be fun. Other than that, it’ll be interesting to see what I get up to this weekend!

Hope you all are doing well, and have fun moving back to Wollongong for all of you just starting back up in Australia! Love and miss you all.

Here and there,
Kiley