Thursday, March 27, 2008

Exciting Stuff :)

Hi, everyone!

Guess what happened last Monday! I opened my shutters in the morning, and IT HAD SNOWED!!!! We've had a few "flurry storms," but this was the first snow that stuck.

I didn't get to play in the snow, but I did spend the day in Lyon with Anna, a German exchange student who was at my school in the US last year. It was so great to see her and catch up on everything that she's been up to. Since it was Easter Monday (a holiday here in France), almost no stores were open, but we had fun anyway. We walked around the almost empty mall at Part-Dieu with her sister, then met her parents for lunch. Afterwards, we went to le Parc de la Tête d'Or, a zoo of sorts (much more parc than zoo, but there were elephants, monkeys, giraffs, lions, tigers, and bears -oh, my!) :) It started getting cold and drizzling, so we went to their hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon there. I laughed so much that my cheeks hurt at the end of the day!

Monday also marked an important chapter in my book of becoming more independant/self-confident; I took the train by myself - and didn't get lost! :) Good practice for May, when I'm going to Norway!

Back-track a little: Easter. Over the night, the Easter bells had brought chocolate for the family (the Easter Bunny exists mostly in Alsace, where there are a lot of people with German heritage). We went to church in the morning then went back to the house and ate. And ate. And ate... It was really yummy! That afternoon, we relaxed, watched a movie, and played Rummikub. Nice. :)

Otherwise, I'm getting ready for lots of travelling. This Saturday, I'm going to Lyon again, this time with the other 3 AFSers at my school, then I'm going down to Montelimar for the night, visiting an AFSer who had been at my school at the beginning of the year, but changed families right before Christmas. The weekend after, I'm going to le château d'Anjou for another AFS weekend. The week after, I have 2 days of school, then go to Paris with my class! We get back to Annonay just in time for April vacation, during which I'm going to Strasbourg with my host family. A week and a half after vacation, I'm heading to Norway for 5 days. Whew! Lots of travelling!!

That's pretty much it for now.

Hope everyon's doing well.

-Catherine

Monday, March 3, 2008

end of vacation

I just finished vacation... it's back to school! We should be getting 2nd trimester report cards soon.

Over vacation, I didn't do much. My only trip was to my host mom's parents' house, near Marseilles. I'm always astonished when I see them - her dad looks (and acts) just like my Pepere!!! Her mom isn't exactly like my Memere, but she does make amazing food, just like her!

Otherwise, I worked on the books that I have to read for school in the U.S. and got down to getting permission for the trips I want to take later this year (including Norway... FUN!!!).

Hope everyone's doing well.

-Cate