Semester's End

Bonjour!

Another week has come and gone. I only have two more days of class this semester and I am so ready to be finished with this last class. I had class last Thursday and Friday and again Monday and Tuesday. Today is my day off this week. Tomorrow I have a presentation to make and Friday a test to take.

Tests here are kind of odd. I hadn't taken any the whole semester and then these last two weeks I've had to take three. In two of them, they gave us a list of questions and told us to pick 5 to answer and write about. So they're really not very hard at all. If you pay attention is class, which I do (most of the time), you can pretty well write a satisfactory answer. The other test I took was our French Exam. I was a little nervous about this one. We learned quite a few irregular verbs with irregular conjugations, so I was worried about remembering them all, but I think I did really well.

Basically, not a lot is going on here. Ah, but we did go bowling! Alois, Lizette, Joe, and I went Saturday evening to the bowling alley here in Poitiers. It's way outside of city center, but it was worth it. We had a good time. That was the last time we were going to be able to hang out with Alois before he moves back to Germany. He's leaving this weekend after classes are over.

Lizette has been working on our travel plans. We're going to Germany!! We'll spend Christmas in Frankfurt and New Years in Munich. We're renting a car so that we can drive the countryside to see all of the castles and landscapes. Roadtrip!! I have missed cars so badly. There is nothing more therapeutic for me than taking a long drive. I'm especially excited just that we get to have a car.

I'm also excited for the concentration camp we get to go to! The Holocaust is my favorite part of history, so I've always wanted to go to Germany. I'm hoping I'll be able to go to Poland to see Auschwitz while I'm in Europe. I'm currently reading two books about the war to prepare myself for this trip. I am beyond ecstatic for Germany!

It's almost counter intuitive that we're going to a cold and snowy place for Christmas when we could be going to Spain or Portugal where it will be warm. Even with the snow, I am incredibly happy to spend this season in Germany. Come to think of it, we probably should have saved the warm places for the winter... oh well. Too late now!

You want to hear something sad? I have done a very minimal amount of Christmas shopping this year. I've bought 3 things so far. Haven't even started on my family. They're definitely not getting anything in time for Christmas or even New Years. (Their presents might make it to them by Valentine's Day.) That's so sad because I love buying Christmas presents! I've really done a terrible job this year. (I have bought wayyy too many Christmas chocolates, though. Those Ferrero Rocher balls are just too darn good.)

Sorry these have been short and boring the last few weeks. It's crazy, but when I actually have classes I don't get to do anything exciting. Imagine that. Things will pick up again. Next semester, I'll be busy in the second half of January and first half of February, then I have a crazy long break, then I'll be super busy in May before I come home!!

On Christmas Day, we will have been in France for 4 months. This semester went by so fast. I'm not complaining though; I got to do some incredible things the past 4 months. I'm glad it's not dragging on forever. I need the days to keep passing because every day I know I'm that much closer to being in the states again. I will enjoy every day here and look forward to making it back home.

Je t'embrasse,
Sarah