So, I know that I'm kind of spamming you guys with posts right now, but I have so much to catch you all up on!!! It's been a few weeks since I got back from spring break and there hasn't been a whole lot that's really exciting but I feel like I owe you something extra since I had such a long dry spell! Besides, as I enter the single digits on the days-left-in-Normandy countdown, I feel myself needing to rant about everything to everyone because I just can't contain anything anymore.
When I got back from Madrid and after I had slept off my post-travel coma, the first thing I did was invite Mira over for dinner because
holy crap did I miss her!! I have no idea what I'm going to do when we can't see each other for a couple of
years... But anyways, I had already had three meals of pasta since arriving home and I was already sick of it, so I decided to make the taco salad that I had with Kirk and Sarah!! It turned out really well (mostly because all I had to do was cut up veggies and heat up some canned beans haha) and it was delicious and a really nice change. I also had a bottle of cidre to go with the meal, but when Mira tried to open it, the cork shot off and cidre went
everywhere! All I could do was stand back and laugh -- the only two bottles of cidre that I had ever bought both exploded. Just my luck, right? Mira and I still each got a couple good glasses out of the bottle, though. We ended up talking well into the night, trading stories and just chatting in general.
I had a few days to relax before we had to go back to class, but I think that might have made everything a little more difficult, because I got used to being home and being lazy haha. Suffice to say, the first week back in class was
tough!! It didn't really help that it was only a couple of weeks before finals so all the professors were cramming in last bits of information. I was better off than quite a few of the other people, though, because they passed their entire breaks in Portugal or Greece or Italy, not speaking one word of French, whereas I spent most of my time in Morocco, speaking French often. I don't, honestly, remember a whole lot about that week, though -- it all went by in kind of a haze...
One thing I remember very clearly, however, happened in about 15 seconds on that Tuesday morning. I was going to meet Mira in her building (which is across from mine) so that we could walk to class together. It was raining and so, of course, I had my umbrella- which is printed to resemble a giant sunflower- out. As I entered the building and was pulling my umbrella down, a woman walked past me on her way out and very quickly said "C'est jolie, votre paraplouie!" ("Your umbrella is pretty!") and I turned and said "Merci!" without thinking much of it. As soon as my mind processed what had happened, though, I felt absolutely fantastic, because that was the first time that I could legitimately tell how far my French had progressed since I got here. At the beginning of the semester I would have had to stop her and ask her to repeat what she said or would have just smiled at her and then spent the next ten minutes going over it in my head, trying to figure out what she had said... I didn't have to do any of that, though! My response was
fluid and it felt so good!!! I spent the rest of that day in a fantastic mood.
On Wednesday, we had a fin du semestre party in writing class. It was amazing!! Our professor, Mme Hubert, brought some gummy treats and home-made apple tartes and a couple bottles of cidre for us to celebrate a lovely semester together. We all talked and laughed and put on "spectacles" which was basically just a horrible form of karaoke and all of the Americans had fun making asses of ourselves haha. It was a good time!
That Saturday, I went out with Mira and Brittany and Elizabeth to a nice restaurant/bar called Tai Pan (I've mentioned it before) to have a few drinks and catch up with each other. We stayed there for a couple of hours and had a really nice time! Just as we were getting ready to pay at the bar, we decided to all take one shot. The bar had some specials that were only 2€ each and Brittany, Mira, and I ended up getting flaming shots!!! It was kind of freaky but they were really good! The liquor was mostly Bailey's so it was very smooth. We sat there talking for a few minutes and actually managed to all get free shots of the bartender's favorite whiskey! It was quite yummy. After that, we went to meet a couple of friends at one of the other bars and ended up gathering a pretty big group!! We didn't stay there long, but instead moved on to one of the clubs (the one called "Chez" for my readers who are previous Caen-ers) to dance off the alcohol we had consumed. We stayed a couple hours there, dancing our tails off. It was a fantastic time and we all left dripping sweat and grinning. Mira and I had just sat down in the lobby of her building for some quality girl-talk time, when my mum called with amazing news!!! I had a new baby brother!!! It's possible that I woke up the people on the floor above us with my squeals of happiness haha. Everything went fairly quickly and smoothly and he was a healthy, nine pound baby!! His name is Jackson David Pudas and I'm so excited to meet him!! He's already making lots of funny faces and being generally adorable.
Isn't he just the cutest thing?? I love him already!
Alright, now that you've had your daily dose of
cute, I'll go back to the boring stories of Caen. We only had two weeks of actual class after break, then we had one week of "rattrapage," which means that any classes we missed during the semester because of holidays or the teacher being sick had to be made up that week. None of this silly "free day off" for the French! Thankfully, we only had a couple of classes to make up, so we had most of the week off to do whatever we liked. Many people used that to do some extra traveling, but I didn't feel quite confident enough in my bank account, so I hung out in Caen and fell back into horrible laziness until the weekend, when I started studying for my finals, of which I had NINE.
In an attempt to stave of the inevitable, Mira, Meagan, Karima, and I all decided to go to the fair that was in town for a couple of weeks! We walked because it was a beautiful day, but we weren't entirely sure where the fair was, so we stopped at a giant poster and pulled out a city map to look. When we did, a young French couple stopped and asked where we were trying to go. When we told them the park (where the fair was being held), they said we should
definitely take a bus because it was way too far away to walk. They were having a difficult time explaining which line to take so we told them they could switch to French, which surprised and relieved them haha. Then they asked if we were going to the fair. When we said yes, they went "OHHHHHHHHH well you can walk there!!!! (*mental eye-role and forehead slap*) just go this way and that way-" "-no no go this way then
that way-" "-no this way works-" ... That continued for about ten minutes and by the time we thanked them and they walked away, we were more confused than when they stopped.... Thankfully, we met up with Karima and she knew the way, so we just followed her haha. I was expecting the fair to be a lot smaller than it turned out to be. The place was actually pretty huge... We went on a few rides and played some claw games and Mira and I went into a horror house (and came out screaming bloody murder haha). We got ice cream and cotton candy and salted nuts and generally had a lovely time. Our last ride was the giant ferris wheel, which was visible all the way across town. Karima tried to stay at the bottom, because she's scared of heights, but we made her come along anyways and I think she ended up having fun haha. Afterwards, we walked back towards home singing the Spice Girls at the top of our lungs through the quiet streets - we got a couple guys in a car to sing along with us too!! We stopped over at Karima's apartment to warm up, drink a little juice, and chat and then went back to campus. It was an all around wonderful day.
I was very stressed over my finals, but they ended up being better than I expected. That's not to say that they were easy at all!! They were fricken hard, man!!! I left, for the most part, a little more confident than I went in, though, so that's good, I guess. I won't know how I did until at least June and I'm not even sure I'll know then. My grades might go straight to UND without coming to me first. Our grades for this semester are pass/fail though, so I won't actually get to know if I passed with a C or an A, just that I passed, which kind of sucks and is also absolutely fantastic at the same time!! Haha
On Thursday, we had a holiday (don't ask me why... the French just love their little holidays haha) so I went with my "French Mom," Marie-France (remember I told you guys I signed up to be paired with a French family way back when? Yeah.) to the Normandy D-day beaches!
*At the American Cemetery Memorial*
It was a really cool experience!! Even though it was windy and cloudy and a little cold, I got to speak French for 6 hour straight and I learned a lot about the D-day operations. It was very awe-inspiring. We went to three of the landing points- Arromanches, Port en Bessin, and Pointe du Hoc- all of which are on the American beach Omaha.
We also got to see a couple of really cool museums, the first of which was devoted mostly to the landings and the technical things like how they managed it as well as displaying all of the memorabilia like the different uniforms and gadgets and all the different kinds of medals from the war. The second museum was at the American cemetery and was devoted to the stories of the soldiers. This one I had a really hard time getting through without crying. I almost couldn't make it when we had to walk down a hallway with speakers down the whole length and a woman's voice listing all the names of the soldiers. It was all very quietly intense... We had a lovely lunch of veggie (after I picked out the chicken haha) salad that Marie had brought along and it was a really great way to spend the day. I'm so glad I met Marie and got to know her a little, though I wish I had been able to spend more time with her. Maybe when I come back to France ;P
We got a huge group together on Friday after everyone had finished finals and went out drinking and dancing to celebrate the end of hell week. It was really fun and we all had a great time, but this is when it really hit me just how much I'm going to miss everyone here. I'm so horribly torn between not being able to handle the homesickness, being so excited to go home that that's all I can think about and being absolutely depressed over the knowledge that I have to leave these beautiful people and these beautiful places. It could be years before I see any of my "france friends" again or it could be never and I don't know if I can handle that, but at the same time, it's been so long since I've seen my family and my best friends and I have a new member of my family to meet.
I-DON'T-KNOW-WHAT-TO-DO-OR-HOW-TO-FEEL. I only have nine days left before I leave and I'm trying to make the most of it, but my mind keeps flip-flopping so much that I'm getting motion sick!! I don't expect that this will go away...In fact, I'm pretty sure that it's only going to get exponentially worse as my flight time draws nearer and it might even persist after I've gotten home, but I guess that's a sign of time and love well-spent, right? Right.
This week, we have two DELF exams, which basically tell the University whether or not we gained the crucial skills to pass the semester rather, whereas the final exams showed if we had learned enough in each class. I just took the oral part of the DELF today and I
aced it!! My final exam for my oral class was with Mme Geslot, who is one of my favorite professors here, and my DELF oral exam was with Mme Levitoux (aka Blinky), who is my other favorite prof!! I monologued for about 10 minutes straight about the grading system in schools and its pros and cons and she nodded along, smiling, and only corrected me a couple of times, which is a big thing with her because she's our oral professor and she corrects EVERY LITTLE MISTAKE. I walked out of there with my head held high. The next part of our DELF is on Thursday and consists of listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and writing. It shouldn't be too difficult, but I don't like the anticipation of it all the same...
I have lots of fun things planned for this week, but you all will just have to wait until this weekend to hear about them!! Muahahaha >=] I promise to be better and actually post on time this week!!
À
bientôt mes amis!
Gros bisous!!
Morgan
