La Sainte Bible

John 3:16 - "Oui, Dieu a tant aime le monde qu'il a donne son Fils, son unique, pour que tous ceux qui placent leur confiance en lui echappent a la perdition et qu'ils aient la vie eternelle."

Went to the same church again today. I'm still not good about timing the trams so I was about ten minutes late to church, so I sat by myself next to this woman with the cutest little kid ever. Since the church is absolutly freezing, everyone keeps their coats on throughout the service. So this little kid with his huge glasses, was toddling around in this enormous coat and he kept running into the kids that were playing in the seats in front of us. So cute. Also very distracting as I still have no idea what happens in the service, so I was entertained mostly by this seemingly confused ball of puff. The mom was very nice though and kept apologizing. I think. One can never be certain. I saw my Irish friend Kevin after the service and he told me that in the Catholic church they have memorial services for people that have died in the past, and they dedicate the service to them. I'm not sure I think that's right. So we went and lit a candle for his grandpa as it was his memorial service back at his home church. I'm learning all these new things about the Catholic church I never knew before. Some people are going bowling today but I think I will stay in and do homework, plus it is extremely cold outside and I don't feel like waiting for the tram.Yesterday was an interesting day with the host family. Leah is kinda sick so she stayed in bed all day, but she asked me to tell the host family she would come to eat after we were all done so she wouldn't get the rest of us sick. Anne didn't like hearing me say that, however, and told me that she wasn't running a restaurant. After a long and confusing rant, it became clear to me that she wasn't planning on feeding Leah. I tried to tell her that she was probably hungry, but that led to some short comments and muttering. She then proceeded to tell me that she was going out later and that we couldn't eat at her house. So poor Leah got up and showered and ate a banana and a piece of bread until we both went out for dinner that night. We did go to a very cute restaurant. It was called something like "The Butcher" and it had cute cows everywhere. Thankfully our waiter spoke English, and we found out later he originally is from Ireland. He's in an Irish band or something and is traveling around but ran out of money so he took up this job as a waiter. He invited Leah and I to an Irish pub on Tuesday night to watch him play, but I don't know if we'll go. To be determined. After that we had to walk home because we were too cheap to buy a tram ticket. Forty-five minutes later we were numb all over but we made it home safely. Other than that the only other semi-interesting tidbit is that we met a couple of guys from Indiana on the tram the other day. They've been here on a mission trip for the past 2 years. They invited us to their church and told us they could probably set us up with a French tutor etc. It was really awesome..until they told us they were with the Mormon church. Yep. Safe to say I probably won't look them up anytime soon.

Just Chop it Off

Tonight we were supposed to go to the residence and hang out with our Swedish friends to play some cards, real low key, but Leah's throat hurts and my head is killing me. I took a nap this afternoon in hopes of getting rid of my headache, but it just stayed the same. So I'm in my below freezing room and Leah is resting too. We are a real exciting bunch. But I am currently under two huge blankets because my heater stopped working last night. Not fun as the temperature outside dropped to misrable degrees, hence my room decided to follow suit. Anne did however, make us both hot milk with honey. Oh my mess it was so delicious. Gonna have to make that all the time when I get back home and don't feel bad making myself a drink. All that really happened today was my negotiation class. The school split us up so the foreign students came to class today and the French students will go on Monday. I really don't like that they did that because part of studying in France is to..study with the French. Go figure. After school, Leah and I went to the post office (that the bank told us to go to) to get a paper so we can finally get our bank account. The post office then told us that we were at the wrong location and gave us directions. We then got on a tram and attempted to find the new location. After a half hour of walking around in the freezing wind, we found it. They then told us that it was in fact, not the correct location, and gave us directions to another post office. At that point we gave up, as it was scheduled to close in 15 min. Defeat. Hopefully Anne will take us if we ask her nicely. So now I think I will send some emails and maybe watch a movie. Shopping tomorrow :)

Comatose

Today is my three week anniversary of coming to France. I actually can't believe it's been so long, but at the same time, I feel like I've been here forever. Monday I had my first final exam. It wasn't too bad at all, mostly just annoying because it's just fill in the blank or list managerial qualities sort of thing. So it wasn't hard, but if you knew it you knew it, and if you didn't you got it wrong. Soo I may have made up a few answers, but all I have to do here is pass because these classes don't count towards my GPA. :) Tuesday I had a negotiation class all day. I actually found it really interesting, and my professor was this really bubbly, cutie young woman who made me want to care about what she was saying...and she's not even a professor at Audencia. She's a guest lecturer. qualityy. Wednesday I had a class about brands all day. My professor is from the UK, and he has the most amazing accent. Kristina and Avery, I was freaking out haha. It was an alright class. Then I had my first French class! I am so excited and am planning on doing work outside of class as we only meet once a week for two hours. Hopefully if I can communicate with my host family things will look up. Last night was the first school sponsored party. Audencia throws parties for the entire school every other Wednesday at this club downtown. It was..interesting. I had tons of fun dancing and such with friends, but I will have to pass on consistent attendance. So I went to bed at 6:30 am. Mistake number 1. I woke up before noon. Mistake number 2. I didn't have much of a choice though as Leah and I had to make it to the school for our volleyball game. They play best of 5, and we won the first 3! Check. Then I met with my group to work on a project. Now, I am waiting in anticipation for dinner and thinking that volleyball still makes me way too tired. And looking for tickets to Berlin for my February brake!

Blurry and Beautiful

Starting with yesterday, it was such a good day. I got up and went to church. Poor Leah was going to go with me, but she had been throwing up all night. Stomach flu perhaps as we spent all Saturday night walking around beautiful Nantes and buying take out Chinese food. ..or perhaps French Chinese don't favor Americans either? Something to contemplate. Anyways, church. I rode the tram to Commerce and then discovered the next tram I needed wouldn't be arriving for another half hour. Thus, I had to walk the rest of the way. It was long but wonderful. Good time to have right before church. I met my friends Kevin and Maria (Irish) and we walked to Notre Dame de Nantes. It was breathtaking. It consisted of high stone walls, large archways and intricate paintings on the ceiling. A huge dome filled with stained glass depictions, paintings and stone carvings drew your eye up when you entered the sanctuary. It was absolutely freezing, however, as heating a place like that would have required the church's income to triple. Nevertheless, it was wonderful to be in a place with other believers. It may sound small, but simply knowing the people around me know and love our Creator was peaceful and refreshing. Granted, the majority of them were over 50, but I will definitely take whatever I am handed. One of my favorite parts was the organ and choir in the back of the sanctuary in a loft. They were the most beautiful sounding choir and I liked it because it didn't feel like a concert.  I read along with them when they read from the Bible in my own English version (I can only hope it was the right passage) and attempted to sing along, though I made up most of the words I was saying. So while I didn't really know what was going on due to the fact I'm not Catholic or French, I still loved going and grew to appreciate the priest's well groomed mustache.

Now for another important topic..Green Bay Packers! I spent foreverrrr trying to find out how to watch the game online live. After a while of fruitless searching, my parents took pity on me and skyped me. Thus, I watched the game on a chair in my parents living room from my dad's laptop. Yay parents! What a good game and I'm so glad I got to watch it, blurry and all. I think I will start researching potential, nonsketchy sports bars. Otherwise, me myself and potentially Leah will be watching it from the comforts of my room. Like I said, I'll take what I can get. For instance, I really had to use the bathroom today after my final (which went well considering I opted out of studying for it as a very important football game was on). So I went in the direction I was pointed for the bathroom. I will spare you the details, but at one point I remember thinking, "That doesn't sound like a female's voice..." Shoooooot. The guy's bathrooms here look remarkably similar to the girls, that's all I'm gonna say. Other than that, I went for a run today which felt amazing, and now I think I will go stealthily down to the kitchen and borrow a tangerine to tide me over until dinner. If I was going to guess what we were eating based on the past three dinners, I'd say we're going to have..pasta.

Auf Deutsch

I officially want to start my French classes asap. I was reading my French book today and I heard some words that I had just learned out and about and it makes me so excited. However, I heard a rumor that they might be on Wednesday nights, which would make me extremely unhappy as that is when volleyball practice is. Booo. But we shall see. Not much has gone on these past couple days. Went to a coffee shop for a couple hours with my Swedish friends and Leah. This was after a two hour long fiasco at the bank and I still have to go back Monday to sign more things. Also, for my bank account they required my host mom to sign something, so naturally she absolutly refused to sign it and even called the bank to yell at the nice man who had just helped us. Oh Anne. She's just lookin out. But anyways, now we must go through a longer process and it's just a little annoying. Other than that last night I got to catch up with some friends from home and relax. I also got to skype my parents this morning. I miss everyone a lot. Tonight Leah and I were tired of being cooped up all day and went to Commerce and just walked around. She got some take out Chinese food (actually was pretty good) and I bought a bag of chips to stash in my room as they have absolutly no snack foods here at all. I miss vegetables. Going to a catholic church tomorrow that I won't understand anything at, but I'm just excited to go. We shall see, we shall see. Gute nacht meine lieblings.

...get me some oxygen

This whole working out thing is killing me. Didn't realize I was actually out of shape until I had to run three laps around a gym and was looking for an oxygen mask by the end. Had volleyball for two hours again today and my whole body is rebelling against any kind of movement. I am sitting here immobile, and the sheer fact my fingers are moving is making the rest of me want sleep even more. So we will see how long I endure as I cover some events that happened last night after I wrote my blog. One detail I forgot to mention yesterday is that the French guy that sat next to me in my class all day yesterday, asked if I had a phone. I told him I did. He then proceeded to ask for my number. I was pretty taken aback, but told him I didn't know my number (which, by the way, is the truth). He looked at me like..yeaa..sure you don't know it, and then walked away. Haha. I felt pretty bad because he definitely thought I was avoiding him by saying I didn't know it. Ah the price we pay for honesty. Then yesterday night our group got together at the ice skating rink at around 9. When we discovered that it was closed, we all headed to Commerce (the downtown area-ish of Nantes). Half of us went to McDonalds to get McFlurries..yes it's my third day in a row. I have never eaten McDonalds so much in my life; but the ice cream is like a bit of heaven in your mouth. Sooo Leah and I made a promise that we would spend no more money on McDonalds the rest of our trip. Then we met up with the other half of our group at an Irish pub..go figure :) Well, this pub was really small and our table was right next to these 3 pretty drunk guys. They immediately started offering to buy us drinks before we could even sit down. One guy was pretty aggressive about getting me one, so my Irish friend, Bryan, said he was my boyfriend and to back off. They guy then offered to buy him a drink as well. ha So anyways, he did end up buying me a drink, which was a solid pint of beer for the record. I took about 4 sips then passed it around the table. Actually wasn't bad. Then Leah and I went to wait at the tram stop, but it wasn't coming for another 20 min and there were some sketch guys hanging around, so we went across the street to this darling little "kebab" restaurant. It's pretty much fast food, but they have  this huge thing of meat on roticery (wow..sp?) and it's basically a sandwich shop. So we got a small thing of fries with this delicious dill-ranch sauce thing. Soo..between my ice cream and fries, perhaps working out was a good idea? Might watch a movie tonight as I don't think I'm good for much else. Say a prayer for me and my pathetic self!

Yogurt for Dessert

Not too much to report today, so a short blog it shall be. Had leadership class today for another thrilling 6 hours. Copied passport and visa info so I can get a French social security number..what a sham. Oh! And found out today that in the entire university, there is not one fax machine or scanner available to students. Whatttt. An international school with no fax machine. Mmhm makes perfect sense to me. Took a quick nap after dinner because my stomach is hurting. I am supposed to go ice skating in about an hour but don't actually know if that will happen. Anne actually is ignoring me as when I entered the kitchen for dinner I said, "Bonjour, ca va?" Don't know if I spelled that right but it means hello, how are you in French. Anyways, she glanced at me and then kept working so I sat down at the table. Leah then walks in directly behind me, says the same thing, and they then exchange how both their days went. Sighh. Trudge on soldier, kill them all with kindness. I might be going to Ireland over Easter with some of my Irish friends! So keep your fingers crossed for that. Otherwise my friend Katie is coming to visit me in Feb. as she is studying abroad this semester in Berlin. Yay! Class tomorrow doesn't start until 2, so looking forward to sleeping in. Maybe tomorrow I will buy out a chocolate shop.

12 Cups a Day

Not sure where to begin today. It's about 8 pm right now and I just came up from dinner. I don't really know if I did anything specific or if Anne (my host mom) just doesn't like me, but I'm definitely getting that vibe. Last week I spilled a little coffee in my room and she freaked out and then lectured on how there was no food or drinks in the bedrooms and how American families may do it differently but this is a French family, etc. I have absolutly no problem with that and that's why I'm living with a French family, but I just didn't know and it was an accident. But I think it's just stressful for her because I can't communicate in her native language. So I'm just scared to set her off again because it has happened a couple times that I've done or said something that she just really doesn't like. So maybe say a prayer that I won't trip over the dog at night and drop things so that she wakes up..because she will..and she will yell..in French. Alllllright. Moving on to bigger and better things. Food! Lots of thoughts about food today. The French eat very simple dishes, but they are amazingg! They are also more creative I feel like. Anne and I were eating breakfast together the other morning (in silence) and I just poured myself a bowl of Rice Krispies to eat. Meanwhile, she got out a pan and started heating up some milk, then poured some Rice Krispies in a bowl, sprinkled some sugar on top, then poured her hot milk on top and ate it. Looked good so might have to try it at some point. Also, ate at McDonalds yesterday because for about 3 days I could think of nothing but chocolate. Well, when we finally got around to go out to buy some, only McDonalds was open. So Leah and I went in and got a mcflurry. Holy stinkin mess. The ice cream was like silk and I'm pretty sure they crushed up peanut M&Ms and hot fudge and I almost died. Other little random thought, I have seen so many old women in high heels. For instance, I've seen a few women so old they can't even stand up straight all the way and they have a little heel on still. Inspiring. So other than that, I did nothing really yesterday besides write a paper about leadership and skype some of my wonderful friends and family back home. I tried to return my $50 piece of crap phone today and they wouldn't take it so kl;jvnh;aodfads. Sunk cost. Trying to move on lol. Hm. Almost bought an adorable coat today and then decided against it. Wow. Getting into really pointless details on my day. I shall stop for your sanity's sake.

Oh! And just to explain the title. Last night Leah and I went over to Clodagh's room to paint nails and hang out with the other Irish girls. Sheena was talking about how she has about 12 cups of tea a day on average. Whattt. I thought I had a bad coffee problem (which I do actually. didn't have any today and almost fell asleep on the tram). So yes, Irish people may like their beer and whiskey, but it's mostly just a tough cover for their obsession of tea.

Kisses

Everyone here kisses. I have never been kissed so much in one week and I don't mind at all! :) Instead of hugs or handshakes, everyone gives one kiss on each cheek to greet one another. With the guys it's less common, but I just love it because it's so friendly and I think everyone in the world should follow suit. Along with that though, public displays of affection are apparently not minded at all here. I was sitting on a seat thta was raised up a bit on the tram, and there was a couple next to me. Their faces were literally less than a foot away from mine and they were just making out on the tram. Threw me off. But it happens everywhere, so I guess I'll get used to it. So anyways, yesterday I had class all day again. Real boring as all we're learning about is how to be a good leader. I better be an awesome leader after having to sit through 7 hours a day on the topic. After school we went to the bank to set up an apointment to get an account, came back for dinner, and then got ready to go out. So I was pretty nervous about last night as the plan as I heard it was, pregame at some Irish guys apartment and then go to a nightclub. Yeaa. Didn't really know how that was gonna go as it's not really my typical scene. So Leah and I ran to the liquor store before heading over to student housing to meet everyone who was going to the apartment. I got this bottle of Cider Doux, which is like a sweet, sparkling apple juice with 2% alcohol. So yea, basically apple juice. We went to student housing and hung out for a while in our Swedish friends room until a group of about 15 of us walked over to the apartment. We stayed there until around midnight when everyone decided it was club time. I was actually having a really good time as everyone was drinking, but no one was drunk. It was just nice because we all got to talk and take pictures and be goofy etc. So we then walked to the club that was nice but had real sketch people in it. We all just got in a circle though and danced for a couple hours. So much fun, especially because the guys in our group would pull us away if a creep came up behind any of the girls. So yea, big change of pace from my normal Friday night, but it was nice. I stayed over in my friends room because the tram had stopped running by the time we left and then got up around 9 and rode back to Ann's where I went back to sleep for another hour or so. The only interesting thing that really happened today was Leah and I got our cell phones. 34 euros for a phone that won't call anyone and can only send/receive 50 texts unless I buy more. I was pretty ticked actually but I won't go into that. Besides the cute salesman it was incredibly difficult to find a phone and get it set up and everything else a new phone entails. Now I think I must begin my homework as I have effectively put it off for a while now. Meanwhile, everyone start kissing. We have a trend to set.

Food Baby in Grandma Jess

Random thoughts are in my head right now. The current thought is how it is hard to type because of setting in volleyball for around 2 hours. It is sad to say that the mediocre workout that I volunteered for yesterday has now resulted in stiffness and pain in most movements..especially the two flights of stairs I have to climb to get to my room. However, my brain doesn't linger too long on how my fingers hurt as it is distracted by the four helpings of mac and cheese I had for dinner tonight. This wasn't just Kraft though. No, it was homemade mac and cheese with ham and olives in it. I avoided the olives but they still added something really unique to the whole thing and it was just pretty much incredible. But now I am a fat cow that peobably won't move the rest of the night. However, I shall move on past my bodily ailments that you probably don't want to hear about. My apologies. Today was the third day of class. This seven hours of the same topic everyday will probably be the death of me..or that 4th helping at dinner tonight..it's hard to distinguish. Todays class was about leadership and team work. Fun fun. The class itself wasn't that bad, but now we have tons of pointless homework and a group project that requires an 8ish page paper that I will probably end up rewriting. Oh well, that's what I'm here for..riiiight. Tomorrow Leah and I are going shopping so everyone say a little prayer that my life savings doesn't go to the darling botiques found around Nantes. I think at this point only God Himself could stop me from buying everything I see. Speaking of which, God has been so good to me on this trip. Everything has just run so smoothly and I have felt Him help me in so many situations. My little Bible next to my bed is keeping me going as I have yet to find another Christian here that views the world as I do. However a couple of my Irish friends were talking about mass today, so I might go with them though I'm not Catholic / won't understand a word of the service. There are worst things :) Might get ahead on my homework tonight..although not likely. Excited tomorrow is Friday!

Smoke and Cheap Beer

I literally can't remember the last time my feet have been this tired. I don't know that I'll be able to stand tomorrow, let alone walk anywhere. Just a quick recap of yesterday, it was the first real day of classes. We went to class from 9:00-12:30 and then 2-5:30. Same class, same teacher both times. It was awful. The class itself isn't bad, but it's on ethics, which I had an extensive course on last semester. Plus we go pretty slowly because it's an English class and all the French students need a little more time to read through things, etc. I commend them though, because all of them speak wonderful English and are very helpful with my broken French. During lunch, we met some people from Sweden who have been here first semester and are staying until the end of the year. Basically all and every foreign student is beyond amazing. So, anyways, last night we went to a crepe restaurant. By 'we' I mean all the IC team, and all foreign students, from both semesters. It was an insane amount of people and it took forever to get our food. Of course, I received my food last because out of everyone, my order was forgotten. However, the Columbian students thought it was hilarious and laughed about it all night. So on to today..super crazy. Class for 7 hours, volleyball practice for 2 hours (Leah and I are now officially on the team :), and then we ran back to the house, stuffed our faces, and ran to the tram stop. Tonight was the Rally des Apparts. Basically all the organizations in Audencia set up a mini party in someone's flat, and groups of students go around to the flats and find out about the organization and drink. It was so much fun because no one was really crazy but it was all very chill and lots of fun to walk around the city to different rooms. However, now it's 1:30 and I have lots of school to sit through tomorrow. However, between all the walking and working out today, I'm not sure if I'll actually make it to the classroom.

All I do is Sleep

Today was rather uneventful. So instead of describing how I went to an hour long meeting that was all in French so I understood about 5 words total, or how I almost fell asleep in my one class, I think I will talk about the people here. First, they are all skinny. And fashionable. I love my sweats. I love to wear my sweats. No one here wears them. At least not the women. They all wear high heeled boots or laced up shoes and cute, black coats and everyone, males and females, wear scarves. They are all adorable. However, they like to keep to themselves. They don't really go out of their way to be super friendly, unless they are on a welcome team where it's their job. Not to say that everyone is mean. Quite the opposite. Everyone I have met here has been wonderful and I have been so surprised at how many people say they are in love with America. Nevertheless, I miss being able to understand what is going on around me, slash all of us foreign students are always looked at as we walk down the halls while talking in English. Not sure if I'll get used to that one. Anyways, yesterday night was amazing. Our 5 Irish friends, Anne, Leah, and I went to an Italian restaurant and literally stayed there for 4 hours. We made friends with the waiter (who told me he liked my accent) and all got huge pizzas and desserts. It was really cheap for Leah and me because we split everything. Gotta cheat the system because I can't afford this place. The food here is to die for though. I can't tell if I'm going to gain weight because I'm eating double here what I normally eat or if I'll lose it due to the amount of walking I do each day. Hopefully the latter but we'll see. If I come home looking like I was inflated, you now know why.

I'm Irish..and ye?

Last night was crazy crazy crazy. Leah and I left the house around 9:30 to go meet up with our 4 Irish friends, Kevin, Bryan, Sheena, and Maria, and  German friend, Anne, in their "apartment" or small prison cell, to hang out. Well, Leah and I must exude American vibes, because this was the third time in 3 days that a man has come up to us for some reason. (Mom, this is where you stop reading). So it was raining outside because it always rains in Nantes, and he asked to stand under my umbrella with me. Granted, there is a pavilion right behind me. So I didn't say anything or really look at him either, but under it he came. So he started talking in French to us so we were relieved because we thought we could pull the "I don't know French" card. That ended up not working though because he spoke English. Shoot. So he talked for a while and asked our names, which we made up, and if we were going home, etc. We mostly just ignored him but French men are not easily swayed. The tram finally came and we got on through a different door than him but then he just called our names and walked over to us. He got right up in my face and told me he can see everything through the eyes and mine tell a story...not really sure what that means but I almost pooped my pants. Thank you Jesus Leah was with me. But our stop was only a few away so we got off and met our friends and got out of there as soon as possible. But the adventures don't stop. The security guard came up to the apartment twice because we were being too loud so we ended up walking around Nantes. At one point a guy was following our group around so we slowed down a lot and he passed us. Then a minute later he 'paused to read a sign' and ended up behind us again. So funny because the Irish guys were talking about how they were to going to hit him with the umbrellas. Everything is funnier when said in an Irish accent. At that point, Leah and I had missed our 2:00 am tram. Which meant that we had to wait until 4:30 until the trams started again. So we just walk around and talk etc until 4:30. Well..the tram never came. So at 5 we started walking. Thankfully Kevin wouldn't take no for an answer and insisted on walking with us. It took us about an hour to get back to Anne's. So I got to bed at 6:30 am. I feel like my sleep cycle is so confused right now. Woke up this morning, took a shower, and then had a 2 1/2 hour lunch..and I left the table early. Anne's parents came and we had some authentic French cusine. Best food of my life. Now for a nap. Dinner with the Irish tonight :)

Tour de Nantes

I am going to try and post a little something each day. Let me know if it gets boring and I will make up some stories. :) Today I slept in until 12:30, had lunch with the host family (pork loin? made with prunes and green beans..sounds weird but it was awesome), then Leah and i took the tram to the Center and met up with some people from the IC team and the other foreign exchange students. We split into 3 groups and went on a tour of the city. It is beyond words how beautiful this city is. After the 2 hour tour the whole group met up again in a really chic bar. We all got "cafe" or hot chocolate. I got cafe because I am going through serious caffeine withdrawl. We then had to answer questions about facts that we learned on the tour. Our group answered the most correctly so we got a free hot chocolate! I was sitting next to the two people from Canada and a couple French students. They all talk so quickly. American teenage girls don't hold a candle to how fast these people talk in French. So we stayed there about 2 hours and then took the tram back for dinner at Anne's house. We had pizza. I am never eating American food again. Oh, and funny thing. There is a French student living in the house Leah and I are at, but no one knows her name! She is here so rarely that the family doesn't even know her name. Cracks me up, but we saw her today, apparently it's the first time the family has seen her in a while. Anyway, everyone here is so nice and all the students are wonderful. And, against all stereotypes,  French people (on average) smell very pleasant.

Orientation

Today was a 9-5 day. I went to bed at 8 last night and woke up at 6 this morning. Leah and I left the house at 8:30 and walked the ten minutes to Audencia. This city is amazing. Moss and ivy covered stone walls, old buildings, and a large park are just some of the beautiful aspects of this city that we passed on our way to school. We had lots of meetings today just to learn about the school and how it works. It's a huge building with 4 stories, a library, a cafe, and a gym. We then meet the IC team, or International Connection team. They are a group of Audencia students that are there to coordinate events, trips, and meetings for all the foreign exchange students. Which, by the way, is incredibly weird being known as "The American". Lean and I are the only Americans attending this semester. Other students are from Germany, China, Columbia, Ireland (most amazing accent), just to name a few. They were all super nice and friendly. It is hard to communicate sometimes/most the time. Everyone speaks English, but sometimes you can't understand them because of the accent and sometimes because they don't know the word. I'm not criticizing at all and in fact think our education system needs to pick up slack in the foreign language department, but I can't wait to become better at French. I digress. But the IC team is taking all the foreign students to a pub tonight so I will be taking a nap then going to the town center, which is where all the students that go to Audencia live. Tomorrow we tour the city and hopefully I can get some pictures up..if I can figure out how!

Take One

Hello Everyone! (...?) I'm not actually sure who is going to read this. I wouldn't. But hello to all my friends who have decided to pity me with their time. If I don't know you, welcome to my life. I think I will use this one as a test to see if this actually works. This website I created this blog on is in French. Thus, I have no idea what I'm doing. Therefore, feedback on here? or on facebook would be great and then I can actually start. Ok, yay.