Fall Break and Back to Class - November Blog 1/2

 Okay, wow are we already almost halfway through November? What is going on?! Where is the time going? Fall break came and went WAY too fast. I traveled in the United Kingdom over the better part of a week. I started out visiting a friend from my college who is also studying abroad this year, but at the University of Roehampton in London, England. After a day of two with her, my best friend and I met up in Glasgow, Scotland to meet up with her older brother (also a dear friend of mine) for a day or two. It was so good to see my friends from home, but admittedly it made me a little homesick to have to leave them again. And seeing the other countries was really cool too. But the biggest relief of Fall Break wasn’t not having classes or seeing my friends, it was speaking English with everyone! That part was amazing. Sadly, I continually caught myself wanting to say my “favorite phrases” in French. (“Non, merci.” “Pardon.” Etc).

But sadly, that’s all over and it’s back to classes for me. We had midterms right before break and I’m happy to announce that I’m very satisfied with my grades. There was a LOT of stress beforehand because we didn’t know exactly what we were getting ourselves into. I think for our final exams I will be less stressed (I mean, I will still be stressed, they’re exams!) because I know the format and the style for each professor. I’m also done with all my exposés! Praise! I still have an essay or some other kind of project, but all in all, I’m not too worried about those. The big monster projects are out of the way, and I got great grades on all of them. I can finally breathe! At least academically.

It’s finally becoming fall and soon will be winter here. Once again, the cold has caught me by surprise with a sucker punch to the face. I’m sure I’ll adjust before too long, but until then I’m going to be a shivering marshmallow in all my layers. Having come from the Midwest of the US, I’m not too worried about it being more than I can handle. I’m also thrilled because as we get closer to Thanksgiving time (though Thanksgiving is not something the French celebrate), we get closer to my parent’s visiting me! I am so excited. I have missed them a lot and I want to show them to my favorite places in the city. They will be here for just about a week, so we have a lot of time to explore and spend time together.

For now I’m trying to get back into the swing of getting up out of my warm bed and going to class. I’m sure it will be time to leave before I know it. And I have so much I want to do before that. I will keep mental tabs of everything and relay the stuff that’s interesting for you all. Allons-y!