Malta: land of friendly people and stray cats

So, as most of you already know, I decided not to go home for Christmas this year.  When I started looking for tickets, they were over a thousand dollars… I kept my eye out and saw prices go down to 900 or so, but felt that it was still too much to spend, especially since I was lucky enough to have been home for a bit in October with med school interviews.  I also saw this break as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where I’m living in Europe and really have very little/nothing that I have to do during this time.  So… I decided to go for it and planned a whirlwind European tour: Marseille to Malta, Malta to Girona (Spain), Girona to Barcelona (still Spain), and Barcelona to Venice (Italy).  It’s been a bittersweet decision:  I’ve been both extremely excited to have the chance to take such an awesome trip, and also really sad to not be with my family.  “I’ll be home for Christmas” has come on several times on my itunes holiday playlist and has induced several bouts of tears.  Anyhoo, enough of the Debbie Downer business.  Malta! 

In case you don't know where Malta is...

Flying with Ryanair is great as far as your checkbook goes (my flight to Malta cost a grand total of… 24.99, in euros obviously.)  However, the glitch is that they charge you literally an arm and a leg to check a bag, which is great incentive to travel with only a carryon.  I’m packing all of my clothes, toiletries, technology, and other necessities into one small hiking backpack that just fits within the 55x40x20cm carryon travel restrictions.  How did I make it work?  I’ll fill you in on the secret later! 

Anyway, I had all of my things together early in the day, but my flight didn’t leave Marseille until 9:30pm.  The story is much longer, but in the interest of time/space, suffice it to say that when I arrived at the train station at 6:05, the trains had been cancelled (due to weather, I think) and my only option took a long detour and would get me to the aiport by 9:10... for a 9:30 flight.  I checked in with a cab driver just for kicks and giggles… He looked at me like I was crazy and told me, “plus de 100 km; plus de 200 euros” Eek!!  I didn’t know what to do, so I called my host family for advice.  Steve didn’t even hesitate and told me to wait there and that he was on his way to bring me to the airport himself :)  He and Renaud showed up about 35 minutes later and drove me straight to the airport.  I was plenty early and didn’t have any problems checking in.  Whew!  They’re angels for sure. 

Yes, it is December

Our flight took off half an hour late, but still arrived ten minutes early, which reminded me of a Ryanair trick.  They advertise that over 90% of their flights arrive on time or early, more than any other European airline… which I am convinced is due to the fact that they consistently overestimate how much time it will take to get there.  The passengers applauded when we landed, which also makes me laugh.  Since it was almost midnight, I took a taxi to get to my hostel, which at 20 euros cost almost as much as my entire flight :)  At the hostel, I met Lynnette and Michael, an Aussie girl and a Canadian guy who live and work at the hostel, and Cathy, an Irish girl on vacation. 

This is "snow" ;)

Stray cat haven

I really had nothing in mind for the following day, so I just started walking.  I used my awesome sense of direction and went completely the opposite way that I thought I was going, but my only real goal was to get to a beach and since I was on an island, if I walked long enough in any direction, I think I would have been able to succeed.  I ended up at a picnic area in Pembroke, where I took off my sundress and hopped in the water, reading a “smutty” (holla if you love the Music Man!) French book for a couple of hours.  The water was way warmer than I was expecting, so I actually was sitting in the water while I read. 

After that, I explored Paceville (which is pronounced more like Patch-a-ville) and St Julians and Sliema and Manoel Island, walking along the seashore and enjoying the 65 degree weather.  Several examples of the extremely friendly people; while I was eating a slice of pizza at the waterfront for lunch, not one but two guys came up to me- one of them told me that my pizza looked good and the other asked where I was from and how I liked Malta and talked a little bit about the lack of snow at Christmastime.  And I legitimately felt that neither one was hitting on me and they didn’t outstay their welcome… no awkward, “well… I’m going to go now” or “I hope you have a nice day!” to encourage them to get a move on.  One other extremely common phenomenon?  Stray cats EVERYWHERE.  I’ve never seen anything quite like it.  Cathy said that in Valletta there’s an area where people come to feed stray cats, kind of like the way that people will bring bread to throw to ducks in harbor areas.  Speaking of ducks… Manoel Island had quite the interesting display. 

Duck gardens at Manoel Island

In case you couldn't read that sign... hahaha

Cathy and I grabbed dinner in Paceville at a cute little pasta place- it was a good example of the difference in cost of living.  I think that things in France are generally fairly expensive… you’ll rarely find a restaurant where you can get something for less than 8 euros, and 10-14 is probably more common.  However, here, we were able to get HUGE pasta portions AND a drink for less than 7 euros!  We tried to check out a place where we had seen advertisements for salsa dancing, but it didn’t look like much was going on-maybe because it was a Tuesday night.  Cathy and Lynnette and Mike and I chatted for a while and then watched Mamma Mia- it was so nice to have such awesome people at the hostel.  More to come from the rest of my Malta excursion!  

Track-Tripping en Suisse

Mary and I were too busy having fun for me to stop and blog about it, so it’s taken me a bit to chronicle all of our adventures :)  Once this post’s up about Switzerland, more European adventure stories will be soon to come! 

Joelle captured Mary and me having a little picture fun!

Unfortunately, I still had to work a little bit when Mary was here- Tuesday when I was in class all day, she headed to Avignon and toured with Hannah.  On Wednesday, the Patris family took the two of us to Fountaines de Vaucluse, which is a nearby city with a famous spring.  Apparently, even though they’ve sent divers way way down, they haven’t been able to locate the source of the water yet… *cue the creepy music* but in all seriousness, it was a really neat place!  They also had a paper-making factory, and there were several water wheels which helped to power the factory.  So cool!  

Breaking out my inner child

After I finished work on Thursday, the two of us took off and caught the train to Grenoble.  We couldn’t see much because we arrived late at night, but in the morning, we realized just what a spectacular place we were visiting!!  One of the best things in Grenoble is la Bastille, a fortress finished in 1592 up at the top of a mountain that overlooks the city.  It bears the same name at the famous prison that was overtaken in Paris during the French Revolution (and the French national holiday, Bastille Day, on July 14) but that’s just because the word bastille means fortress in French.  There are cable cars that go up to the top, but we decided that the hike was probably prettier and man, was it ever gorgeous!  We started things off playing in an adorable playground and the two of us climbed on one of those pyramid structures that Hannah and I saw in Nice (the one you don’t let your kids on if you value their lives!)  All along the way we had awesome views of the surrounding city and it was an absolutely beautiful day… zero regrets.  When we arrived at the top, we were rewarded with five things:

Obviously had to have a lil' fun

     1.   Paintings of men in strange, somewhat provocative poses on random walls/surfaces

     2.   Plaques explaining the history of the fortress and also pointing out different places in the city, including sites that were used when Grenoble hosted the Olympics in 1968

      3.  A giant replica of Schuss, the first Olympic mascot, and hence Mukmuk’s ancestor (If you don’t know who Mukmuk is… shame.  He was very important in the Vancouver Olympic Games this past winter and my roommate Kara and her man, David, are both obsessed!)

4.  An Alpine Soldiers museum.  It was 100% free and one of the coolest museums that I have ever visited.  We didn’t take pictures, but if you ever end up in Grenoble, I highly encourage you to check it out! 

5.  Last but absolutely not even close to least… Breathtaking views of mountains all around us.

Not bad, eh?

We had to head out to Geneva, Switzerland later in the day (rough life, I know) so the Bastille was our main attraction for the day.  We breezed through customs (literally… they didn’t even bat an eye as we walked by, let alone check/stamp passports or make us declare goods) and set off to explore the city by night.  The Christmas lights were sweet!  Rather than normal lights along the streets, they had Pac-Man images set up all over… so the lights were the “dots” that Pac-Man has to eat and there were ghosts interspersed trying to catch him.  Love it.  We hit up a French Chinese restaurant for dinner- so good! 

We joined in on the celebration, of course!

When we first arrived, we saw a couple of random children wearing costumes, but didn’t think much of it… but then the following morning, the whole city was dressed up!  And there were sections that seemed almost like a Renaissance festival- grownups and children alike in costume, roasting animals on spits and firing off cannons.  Apparently we lucked out and had stumbled upon L’Escalade, which is a festival that celebrates Geneva’s defeat of a surprise attack in 1602.  Traditions include the making of giant chocolate cauldrons (which cost an arm and a leg, so I’m not sure how they taste), the drinking of hot wine, and general ridiculousness.  We also heard that children go around trick-or-treating and that instead of being given candy, they get money.  Not sure if it’s true or not, but it sounds like a good tradition to me!

Mary and I also took advantage of a super-size chess set to play a game.  I was about to make a move that probably would have lost me the game when two old Swiss men sprang to my rescue and insisted vehemently that I should not move my king there!  Haha :)  Several other things we visited in the city were the United Nations Grounds (although we couldn’t visit, since we were there on a weekend), the Broken Chair exhibit which represents opposition to land mines and cluster bombs, and the Jet d’Eau aka Water Jet, which shoots water 140 meters into the air!!  We also went to the Red Cross International Museum, which had awesome potential, but was a total bust.  Especially after visiting such a cool museum the day before, we were thoroughly unimpressed by the exhibit.  It’s a bit sad, because there are so many cool things the Red Cross does and it had so much potential! 

One thing I haven’t mentioned in all of this is the absurd amount of Swiss chocolate we consumed.  In case you’re wondering, yes, it absolutely is that good.  I may have gained a good 10 pounds just due to chocolate, but it was totally worth it!  We figured, when in Switzerland… :)  All in all, one of the best weekend trips I've ever taken, in no small part due to such fabulous company!

La vie à Carpentras

Just one little example of a stand at the market

The weekend after Thanksgiving was also la fête de Saint Siffrein, the patron saint of Carpentras.  What does that mean?  A huge market taking over the entire city!  This was on a much larger scale than the Friday markets which take place every week.  I don’t really know why, but the street that my school was filled with all sorts of horses.  Other than that, however, it was really just a very very large market.  Fun to walk around, but not a whole heck of a lot to do if you didn’t need to buy something :)

Some of the BTS boys at the play- they're such sweethearts :)

I went to a play with the BTS boys during the week: “Ne te promene pas tout nue” which means “Don’t walk around naked.”  It was a really interesting experience- the play was about a man who was trying to get promoted and his wife was just wearing lingerie in every scene and then some sort of bug bit her on the butt, so she kept walking up to the other characters and bending over and sticking her butt (no worries- she had on a thong, so she wasn’t actually naked) in their faces to try to ask them to take out the stinger that she was convinced the bug had left.  Yeah, I thought it was strange too :)  I joined David, Sébastien, Guillaume, and Benjamin for dinner afterward and ate my first ever double cheeseburger!  Seems strange that it was in France and not in the US…

The crew at wine tasting/appetizers

Atop the tower

I briefly left Carpentras to pick up MARY KOLARS who had come all the way to France to visit me.  Hannah, Mary, and I headed up to Notre Dame de la Garde and ate some fabulous food for dinner.  Mary and I stayed in a hostel right next to the train station, so that we had an easy exit in the morning.  We caught the bus in Avignon because we had to get to Carpentras for a full day of events with the France-Etats Unis (US) association.  My host dad, Steve, is the president of the organization, and Joelle is really involved in all of the operations too, which is why I had been invited.  There were four students from the IAU (Institutes for American Universities) in Avignon who came along with us.  We first went to Moulin à Huile in Saint Hippolyte le Graveyron, where we saw olive oil being made!  Then Steve drove us over to Chateaux de Barroux so that we could take some pictures of the region.  We went from there back to Beaumes de Venise for appetizers and wine tasting.  The wine was delish and so were all of the little treats.  Michel, a French man that I had met at the Thanksgiving dinner, was there and invited us to go olive-picking the next day.  (Remember this detail!)  We spent several hours enjoying French wine (tough life, right?) and then went to the town hall in Carpentras, where we had some more pastries, more drinks, and had a photo shoot in the mayor’s office.  A nice girl took us on a walking tour of Carpentras from there.  We were able to go up into the Porte d’Orange, which is normally not open to visitors.  It was a really great view of the city and the region!  It was pretty chilly, so we went to get some hot chocolate and to warm up before attending the inaugural lighting of the Carpentras “Christmas tree.” 

The "Christmas tree" with the Carpentras mayor!

Mary and I and our olive man

Chestnuts!

The following day, Michel came to pick Mary and me up to go olive-picking.  I should note that at this point, we thought that we were going to learn about the olive harvesting process and that we might be helping out a little bit.  As it turns out, Michel dropped us off and said, “I have to go… I have family things today” and left us with his friend, who led us to where the 4 IAU students were already hard at work.  Apparently they only harvest olives two days a year and it was one of those days… and we were the slave labor to do all of the picking!  We spent the next two and a half hours using rakes and our fingers and pulling olives down from trees onto a net down below.  When the tree was sufficiently bare (we always left a couple of olives for the birds), we pulled together the net and dumped the olives into a bin.  As far as slave labor goes, it wasn’t all that bad- we had a lot of fun just chatting and it was really low key.  After we finished, our host brought us in and gave us châtaignes/marrons aka chestnuts and we roasted them over an open fire.  (Literally!)  Mmm- very tasty.  Michel showed up after that to pick us up in an ENORMOUS pickup truck that must be some sort of delivery vehicle.  He insisted on bringing us to see something in the region, so we ended up driving to Orange and taking pictures by the Arc de Triomphe.  Then we went to Avignon to drop the others off, and Michel drove me and Mary back.  He took a ton of roundabout back roads and I think it took us more than an hour to get back, instead of the normal half an hour trip.  The most comical part was that even though Mary must have told Michel a half a dozen times that she didn’t speak any French, he kept forgetting and ended up chattering on and on and on in French.  We talked about everything from the dance club he offered to show us around to how he used to use a dog as a chick magnet.  He was a hoot and a holler for sure.  Hopefully I’ll see him and his wife, Mireille, more often this year- they were both so nice!

Skary Jack-in-the-boxes

Other Carpentras news?  Santons, little figurines, are extremely famous in Carpentras and there’s a huge display… and the city was actually really lively for Christmas!  Caitlin came to visit me last weekend (December 17^th).  Notable events included visiting the Christmas market, seeing several of the roving displays (“spectacles”), taking pictures with Pere Noel, ice skating, visiting the market in Isles sur Sorgues, and going to a Christmas concert with 100 guitars.  The spectacles were absolutely frightening- especially this one that involved life-size jack in the boxes.  There was a little baby in front of the display and I have no idea how he was keeping from bawling his eyes out.  I would have been so scared!  We helped some adorable little children that were having trouble with their skates at the patinoire.  One of my favorite parts of the day was that they were blasting music over loudspeakers in the whole city.  They also have gorgeous lights that decorate the entire city.  Beautiful! 

Pere Noel :)

All in all, it’s been really interesting to see how France celebrates Christmas- it’s somewhat different and somewhat the same as our celebrations in the states.  I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that I won’t be in Provence for Christmas because the tradition is to make 13 desserts!  And obviously you have to eat all 13… you wouldn’t want to be rude ;)  I’m posting from Barcelona Spain, so Bon Nadal (Catalan) and Joyeux Noel (French) to you all!  I hope that you are able to celebrate with family and friends- I stayed up late to skype with mine :)

Teaching, Training, Terrible Teams, Thanksgiving, and Terminales

The week after I went to Nice was my very first “normal” week of class with my complete schedule.  I’ve already said this, but I can see that teaching is going to be a definite challenge!  I’m quite sure that I don’t want to be a French (or English) teacher as a career, but I’m looking forward to learning as I go.  Some highlights from the time: teaching the RLHS fight song to groups of students and some interesting discussions about our Homecoming customs.  It brings back fond memories to hear so many people singing the “Blue and Go-o-old, Hey!” but also creates new memories… I don’t recall my peers ever having a problem remembering if it was “march ON to victory” or “march AND to victory” or turning “quite a sight” into a tongue twister J  Everyone enjoyed the Powderpuff tradition and there were quite a few students intrigued by the ideas of car smashing, which I understand is not necessarily a universal tradition.  I had a ton of fun preparing for lessons and finding pictures of my class members and I decked out for class colors.  Our French 5 class was particularly intimidating!  I wonder what ever happened to Coco, the Belgian foreign exchange student… Anyone with info, feel free to contact me J 

French 5- Fall of 2005

Cirino in fine form :)

We had one more day of “formation” (aka training) in Avignon on the 17^th.  To be honest, I don’t think it was that helpful for us, but it was  nice to see the other assistants in the area again.  I got to meet Gavin for the first time- a Canadian girl never showed up to take her position in Orange/Bollene and Gavin came in from Ireland to fill the spot.  On the 20^th, I joined Caitlin, Laura, Catia, Belina, and Gavin in Orange to watch Cirino (my Sicilian friend) perform in a play.  I didn’t understand every single word of the play, but it was made up of a bunch of different short little skits and they were pretty hilarious for the most part.  We especially loved watching the parts that Cirino was in.  He did a great job!  It’s so much fun to spend time with such a diverse group of people- Italian, Sicilian, Spanish, British, Irish, German, and American cultures all blended together.  It’s my opinion that you can learn so much from others if you just keep an open mind! 

Smoke on the field

I had to keep an open mind the following day when I went to my first every European soccer game.  Arles-Avignon, “our” local team, is pretty terrible.  I’m not sure if they’ve won a single game yet this year.  They were playing Bordeaux, and there weren’t many Bordeaux fans, but the ones that were there were hard-core!  I have no idea how they did it, but every time they were excited, they lit fires and had fireworks.  At one point, I couldn’t even see the field because there was so much smoke from the fires the fans had set up.  It’s also a very different feel than sporting events in the US.  Rivalry is one thing, and wanting to literally rip out the other team’s throat is another.  At one point, about 30 security guards had to physically restrain Arles-Avignon fans who were trying to cross a section of seats (purposely left empty to prevent fights) to physically assault the Bordeaux fans.  My host dad told me that the people who come to soccer games are people who love to shout and get in fights- hence why the three other girls and I were definitely the minority in a crowd that was approximately 90% male.  In case you’re wondering, Arles-Avignon lost.  Big surprise!  But quite the cultural experience. 

Speaking of cultures… I know few festivities that remind me of the good ol’ US of A than Thanksgiving.  So… Thanksgiving in France.  I thought that since I’m living in Europe, my Thanksgiving experience would be less than exciting.  Guess that goes to show what I know!!  (Not much, in case that wasn’t clear…) I actually ended up fully celebrating the holiday not one, not two, but THREE times!  Wednesday night I was in Avignon with American, British, and Spanish assistants and a scattering of ‘real’ French friends that people have made, Thursday I was with the Patris family and the IAU students in Avignon, and Saturday, I was in Orange with friends from all over- mostly the same crew that was at Cirino’s play the week before.  It was a challenge to find all of the necessary ingredients, but I think we were pretty successful!  I had brought back a can of pumpkin from the states, which I used to make pumpkin bread- yum J

I taught Thanksgiving lessons in all of my classes, varying the difficulty and vocabulary based on the level of the students.  There are a lot of things that can be done with Thanksgiving lessons and a lot more complexity than the original “Pilgrims and Indians” version that we learned when we were little, but I stuck with just the basics, showing students short clips from “The Mayflower Voyagers” which features Charlie Brown and company in the roles of the Pilgrims.  It was so fascinating for me to see what students thought Thanksgiving was!  I heard everything from “it’s celebrated in America in fall and you give thanks with family and friends and eat turkey” (pretty good!) to “it’s celebrated in the UK after December 25 and you give each other more gifts” which is not exactly the holiday that I was thinking of…  Overall, students thought that they would like to taste all of the different types of food that we eat for the holiday.  Can’t say I blame them! 

The spread at Wednesday night's potluck Thanksgiving

As far as teaching goes, I feel like I’m finally starting to get into some sort of rhythm- just in time for the Christmas vacation… ah well.  Better late than never?  I’ve almost met all of my students at this point!  Teaching during the week before Christmas break wasn’t too stressful- I ended up going to the movies with one of the Terminale classes and with other groups, we talked about Christmas traditions, what gifts students hope to receive, and where/how they’re going to celebrate the holiday, It’s tough that I see some of my students so infrequently.  I really do think that the extra practice in talking with a native speaker is helpful, but it’s hard for me to see much of a difference when I only see some of the students about once every 8 weeks.  I think that January is kind of a turning point in many of the classes, so hopefully I’ll have more direction from both the students and the teachers as far as what they want from me so that I can best prepare them for the bac or any other exams that they may have to take. 

A plus! 

Nice was... nice ;) Sorry- couldn't help myself!

Sketchy much?  

On Friday of the same week (this is waaaay back in the 2^nd week of November!) I hopped onto the train to Marseille to meet up with my dear friend Hannah.  We hung out at her place on Friday night with Becca and then took off bright and early Saturday morning to go to Nice!  I’d been to Nice once for a couple of days, five years ago when I was in France with the RLHS French trip and it was Hannah’s first time track-tripping (like road-tripping, but using only trains- hope you approve of my new term!) in France other than a brief daytrip to Aix-en-Provence.  We arrived in Nice without any problems, but realized after looking at the map that we had quite the trek to our hostel.  La Villa Saint-Exupery has been rated France’s top hostel several times, so we had high hopes.  We trekked out into the middle of what seemed like nowhere, turning down streets in hopes that they were the correct ones because we had forgotten to note the number for the free shuttle pickup from the tram stop.  We finally found the hostel- not the front door, but the sketchy back door, which- let’s face it- is way more fun anyway.  One interesting note:  our general experience has been that people working in French businesses prefer dealing with you in French and speak English as little as possible, but the girl at the check-in was definitely a native English speaker and preferred to speak as little French as possible.  We dropped off our bags and… hit up the beach!  The comical contrast: at home, the first snowstorms of the year was hitting, while Hannah and I couldn’t resist taking off shoes and socks/leggings and wading into the Mediterranean. 

I love the water :)

In typical France fashion, we left the beach to hike up a hill to a chateau.  No big deal or anything!  We took some pictures looking down on the gorgeous views (the color of the water was unreal) and were surprised to find a large park at the top of the hill, complete with French guys playing football (no, not soccer, FOOTBALL).  It was a little bit painful to watch, but A for effort!  Hannah and had two thoughts:  Option A= Go show ‘em how it’s done in ‘merica or Option B=Reinforce the football player/ “pom-pom girl” stereotype and improvise some stellar cheers to play the role of cheerleader.  We ended up choosing Option C, pretend to take pictures of something else while actually documenting the action.  We also watched children playing on a large pyramidal rope structure and feared for the lives of all of the kids climbing up high.  Hannah decided that it was the type of thing that you would absolutely forbid with your firstborn, but that by the third or fourth time around, you might let your kids try it out.  We hiked all around the park, witnessing everything from little boys practicing (and succeeding, I should add) the luge on skateboards to the grave of Mercedes (of Mercedes-Benz). 

The view from atop the hill

Back at the hostel, we were surprised to see several other assistants from Marseille!  Apparently great minds think alike, and they wanted to get out of town for the long weekend as well.  We took advantage of the 1 euro beers, 3 euro cocktails, and 2 euro brownies and spent the evening chatting in common room in the hostel.  There were two really nice New Zealand newlyweds that had taken three months off for their honeymoon, which consisted of traveling all over the world, as well as a Dutch? Girl that filled us in on some of the deals of socialized healthcare.  We loved the free wifi and awesome continental breakfast, with unlimited cereal and tasty bread! 

Appetizer?  I think not.

The following day, we headed down to the Nice “flower market” which is made up of much more than flowers.  We were particularly impressed by the rows and rows of spices and teas!  We grabbed lunch at a cute little place right next to the market and I ordered a “pizza géante” (Giant pizza) that we figured had been misnamed, since it was on the entrée (appetizer) menu.  However, they weren’t kidding!  The pizza was HUGE and I didn’t even come close to finishing it.  Good to know for next time!  We caught the tail end of a marathon that took place in Nice and met someone that had raced in the marathon on our train ride back.  We also talked briefly to a guy from Marseille that had lived in New York for awhile and had definitely picked up a New York attitude and a Brooklyn accent!  The 2^nd class “social cars” which have four seats facing four seats seem like a cool way to meet new people.  Moral of the story?  We had a fabulous time and I’m definitely looking forward to more weekend (and maybe even mid-week) daytrips to other areas in France.  It’s so nice to have the trains that connect so many French cities! 

One final note: Nice brought back a ridiculous amount of memories from my previous trip.  Sometimes I wish that I could travel back in time… or at least bring the people from then to come visit the city with me now J  That’s all for now- xoxo

More vacation? Roasted Boar? Yes, please!

The Arch in St Louis!

Celebrating Halloween in Madison

So I’m sorely behind in my blogging and promise to attempt to be better from here on out!  The good news is that my lack of new posts is not due to a lack of excitement J  Rather, the past month has been full of some of the biggest news I’ve ever received!  My last posts were written while at home preparing for my first med school interview.  Over following two weeks, I pulled a road-trip blitz all across the country, logging over 3000 miles driving on my way from Rice Lake to Cedar Rapids to Iowa City to St Louis to Madison to Ann Arbor to Chicago to Madison to Eau Claire to Minneapolis to Rice Lake to Madison to Rice Lake to Minneapolis and then flights from Minneapolis to Chicago, Chicago to Paris, and a train from Paris back to the south.  It was wonderful to see some family and friends, but the trip went by extremely quickly.  Thanks especially to Melissa, Rob, Kaitlin, Mary, and Gramma/Grampa for hosting me during my travels! 

I won’t bore you with all of the details, but my interviews went really well at all of the schools.  I was really impressed with the effort the schools put in and it was interesting to see how each school put a little bit of a different spin on things!  As far as hearing back from schools about results, I was given everything between “you’ll know on November 12^th at 5pm” (Michigan, with the 12^th being 2 weeks to the day after my interview) to “don’t worry if you don’t hear from us until April.  No news is good news and means you’re still being considered” (Dartmouth) to a more typical response of “three weeks at the earliest, but more likely 5 or 6” (Wisconsin).  I found out that I was waitlisted at UVM while I was visiting my grandparents in Chicago, so I thought that Michigan would be the first chance at a full-out acceptance.  However, UVM didn’t wait long- I was only on the waitlist for a couple of days before being admitted on the 8^th!  Life’s continued to be exciting since- I was admitted at Michigan on the 11^th and Wisconsin a few days later.  I’m so happy to know that I will be going to medical school in the fall!  However, it’s going to be really difficult to choose because I know that I would be happy at any one of the schools.  We’ll see!

The boys tending to the boar

Laugh away :)

Anyway- life in France!  There are several notable things that I haven’t chronicled yet, so I’ll probably have a quick flurry of posts and then will develop a more normal rhythm.  I came back to France on Saturday (the 6^th), meaning I arrived in Paris on the 7^th, only to find out that Thursday was a national holiday (Armistice Day), which meant that I had 2 days of work before a five-day weekend.  Crazy!  I spent the day off with David, Guillaume, Sébastien, Benjamin, and Renaud, who had invited me to come join them for le sanglier roti (roasted wild boar).  David picked me up around 11 and brought me back around 6:30… so it was a full day of French culture for me!  I had an absolute blast- they really reminded me of some of my best guy friends in high school and even though it was a lot of time, it really flew by because I was having so much fun.  In case you’re wondering, the boar was delicious, though since it took 5+ hours to cook, I can understand why they don’t eat it all the time J  Guillaume said that maybe we’ll do something similar after winter break.  I hope that I’ll get to spend time with them throughout my time here- nothing forces you to speak French more than spending all day with native speakers!  

Guillaume, Sébastien, Benjamin, et David!