i know i've been m.i.a.

but that's a good thing, right? i suppose it means that i've been out and about, having fun, not having time to write blog posts. but i'm gonna take some precious time out of my french life to get you all caught up on my adventures. :)

not a lot has happened besides school. last weekend, though, all of the international students took a trip to to mont saint michel and saint malo. we left the school at 7h30 in the morning on saturday. it was toughhh to get up that early! and it was raining! i sat next to grace on the bus and we were both knocked out for the whole ride there, which took 3 hours. i listened to a bunch of "sparks" by coldplay and a lot of songs by explosions in the sky because they're sooo relaxing. we went to saint malo first, which was this huge fortress with a whole town inside! we walked around the fortress first, took a lot of pictures, and then descended into the town. the views were awesome, and even though it wasn't warm outside, the smell of salty ocean water was invigorating. the beach was really cool. the sand there wasn't mushy though, it was packed so tightly that it felt like i was walking on solid ground. we were pretty hungry by the time we finished walking around the outskirts of the town, so when we went inside, we wanted to eat right away. we went to a restaurant that i can't remember the name of, and we got galettes. i got an egg and ham galette with mushrooms. sounds good, right? i don't know, i think the more i eat them the less i like them. i think maybe it's because of the egg. they make it sunny-side-up, which normally i don't have a problem with, but there's something about their eggs that bothers my little taste buds. like it's a stronger, more bitter taste? i'm not sure, but i just tried to eat it quickly so i could get it all down and fill up my stomach at least. we had cider while we were there, too, and it was reallllly good. after that, we walked around trying to find a quick crêperie, and when we found one, i ordered a crêpe with caramel and sugar butter. i literally felt like melting it was SO DELICIOUS. i think a crêperie in lawrence would do pretty well. :) now that's an idea for a money-maker! i'll pay for my college in crêpes! after that godly experience, we walked around some more and went into a couple stores, like this nautical store with lots of typical french-style clothes with the horizontal stripes. but it was especially cool because the region that we were in, bretagne (brittany,) was where that style originated. nifty! i didn't buy a shirt though because i already bought one in angers. but i'm going to pretend like it's from bretagne. :)

after that, we went to mont saint michel, which is a really big, old abbey. and it was beauuutiful! i liked seeing all the different rooms and high ceilings, the crosses and sculptures, and the view of the land and water below! it's so cool to think that it was built so long ago. people. are. amazing. although i don't have as much to say about the abbey as i do saint malo, it was my favorite place of the day. it was just so indescribably majestic. i bought some postcards that some of you readers should be getting pretty soon. :) surprise! watch out i got tricks up mah sleeve! on the ride back home, i put my ipod on shuffle like i usually do, but it was being so good to me! i felt like it knew exactly what i wanted to hear! haha... here is an example of a few songs it played: "all i have to give" by the backstreet boys, "pour some sugar on me" by def leppard, "in da club" by 50 cent, "times" by tenth avenue north, "better luck next time, prince charming" by alesana, "gravel" by ani difranco, "all these things i hate (revolve around me)" by bullet for my valentine, "in one ear" by cage the elephant, "how great is our god" by chris tomlin... and lots more. and i was really happy because the last song that played before the bus got back to the school was "up up and away" by kid cudi, one of my faves! when i got home, i sat with colette in the living room for awhile and talked to her, but my eyes were really struggling to stay open. so i went upstairs, skyped for a bit, then went to bed. i was wiped.

the next day, sunday, my ku group had another thing planned. we went to the musée des beaux arts (museum of beautiful arts) in angers. it was mostly for our history class because we are learning about how the romans kind of colonized gaul (aka france) back then. something like that, i'm not totally sure. history is my least favorite subject. so we looked at all the old pots and vases, the mosaics, the old keys and hair pins and jewelry, old axes and swords... it was pretty interesting i guess. i'm not really interested so much in seeing old pottery as i am in seeing artwork or old buildings. not that it isn't cool and fascinating, it's just not my cup of tea. that sunday was beautiful, though; i wore a dress with only a cardigan to keep me warm because it was only a little chilly. but the sun was shining and i loved it!

as for school, the past week has been pretty good. i'm enjoying my classes, mostly language and phonetics. next best are oral comprehension and writing. least favorite are literature and history. bleh.

p.s. i just accidentally pressed the home button on here, and i FREAKED OUT because i thought i just lost everything that i have written thus far. thank god that this website saves drafts like every 2 minutes. WHEW!! let me go change my underwear now... hahaha :)

okay, anyway... i had a meeting with my language professor to check up on how i'm doing in the class and in other classes and how i'm doing in angers in general. and my teacher told me she thought i was doing very well in her class and that i was one of her top students. yay! that gave me some reassurance. we have a test in that class next week that i'm a little nervous for, and then a test in oral comprehension that i'm extremely nervous for, and then a test in phonetics the week after that. ahhhh! school is really putting me to the test right now! ;) i know, i'm so clever.

today i am going to paris to meet up with my cousin sarah for my birthday! my bday is on sunday but we're gonna make it a birthweekend! :) i'm very, very excited to see family. i need it! but i'll update about how that went on sunday or monday.as tigger says, "ttfn! ta-ta for now!"