Travel bug? Maybe...

This last week was pretty low key, though I was fine with that--I have had tests and papers scattered all around the last few weeks, and have more in the coming weeks. I can't complain though because I only have 5 weeks of actual school left, and plenty of vacation time throughout, but the end is definitely in sight which is definitely more bitter than sweet for me. Next weekend I will be visiting Anduze, France with my exchange group, and I am pretty excited because with just a little bit of Googling I can already tell it's going to be a really gorgeous city. My final exchange group trip will be at the end of April when we go to Arles and Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer-- I'm excited for that trip because the description mentioned the possibility of horseback riding!

Trips, trips, and more trips. I love that I can fill my time with seeing new places and I have especially come to enjoy the smaller cities that have less of a tourist-vibe to them. That said, trip planning has really been the biggest stress for me at this point because I am doing a lot of it and it can take a bit of time. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining because I much prefer traveling than writing essays or studying for tests, but it definitely takes a lot of effort to plan a bigger trip thoroughly. I have definitely caught a bit of the travel bug, but depending on how complicated the trip is we have a love/hate relationship. Day trips are my favorite-- quick and simple and you don't really need much of a plan! I will be doing MANY more of these throughout these (last :'( ) 9 weeks! Planning my trip to Toulouse and Bordeaux was really simple and we really just needed to figure out a few small details and decide how much we were willing to spend on transportation and housing. A 6 day trip? No big deal.

13 Weeks Left-- What?!

Yet another week has just flown by! I recently counted my time left here, and it broke down like this: 13 weeks until I am home; 8 weeks left of being in school (2 of those weeks we have vacation though); 5 weeks until I turn 22; and about 4 weeks until my 2 week vacation in April. I am in disbelief, and the closer it comes, the more I wished I had come in the Fall and spent the whole year here! Don't get me wrong, I miss being home, but there's still so much I want to do while I am here. I just keep reminding myself that this will absolutely not be the last time I am in France, or Europe for that matter.

This last week I had most of my midterms, though I still have one next week, and I think things went well! One teacher in particular, who I am lucky enough to have for both phonetics and grammar, has made the classroom setting such an interesting place to be. She understands that grammar can be boring and difficult to grasp, so she often brings ways of integrating the outside world into our grammar class. After we read an article and analyze the verbs a bit, we often have discussions about the differences between American and French cultures. It gives us an opportunity to not only speak, and utilize the verbs, tenses, and vocab we have been learning, but it also allows us a better insight on French views.

La Vie en France

Can I just start this post by saying that I love my life in France? But really. Montpellier has been absolutely amazing, and it keeps getting better now that we are getting the gorgeous 60 degree weather. On top of that, I get to speak one of the most beautiful languages in the world on a daily basis! I don't know what I am going to do when I go back home and can no longer go back and forth between French and English regularly. There's even a part of me that is growing to love having to go to the grocery store every week or two, and I had already fallen in love with being able to get freshly baked baguettes whenever I want. Also, I finally found another Chi Omega in Montpellier-- I knew there had to be at least one! Funny enough, she was in one of my classes already and just so happened to wear her letters the one day a week we had class together. That's the other thing about France: school. I am going to have the most bizarre transition back to ISU because I am only in four classes, and I have SO much free time which is completely abnormal for me-- but it's been easy to get used to! But, just because I'm not in 18 credit hours worth of classes this semester doesn't mean I am slacking. I am truly in a constant state of learning-- and I love it!