The Struggle

Bonjour!

I'd like to take this time to publicly admit that I took the entire month of October for granted. Now that classes have started back up for me again, I remember what it is like to be stressed and overworked and under-motivated.

Let's see... Last week was pretty good. Wednesday and Thursday I had my Global Leadership class, and I loved every second of it. The professor was passionate and he kept things interesting. I appreciate that, especially when I have to sit in his class for 6 hours a day. He gave a crazy group project assignment, but I think we'll do just fine. My group has already planned 3 meeting days, so we'll get stuff done. We don't meet with this class again until December 18, unfortunately.

Friday I had the final session to a class we started at the beginning of September. We had to present our findings of a survey we did. The presentation went really well. (Although, the survey wasn't so hot... let's just say we learned a lot about the importance of wording the questions correctly.) She said she was proud of us for realizing and admitting our mistakes, so +1 for my team!

Since we got back from Paris on Tuesday and I had class the rest of the week, Saturday was reserved for laundry and shopping. Can I just tell you something about the laundry situation? I have been behind on my laundry for at least two months. You see, I have to walk to the laundromat and I can only carry 2 loads comfortably. (Clothes are heavy.) Unfortunately, I've got about 4 loads worth of dirty clothes in my hamper at any given time. So I've been juggling which clothes I want to wear and which clothes can wait another week to be washed. (Some have been in there since mid-September. I know, I'm terrible.)

Anyway, there's a simple solution to this (first-world) problem. Make two trips to the laundromat. Seriously Sarah, you are an able-bodied young adult-- you should be entirely capable of handling this. And you know what? I had every intention of making a second trip on Sunday. However, intentions mean absolutely nothing when nothing gets done.

Sunday morning I was awoken by the wailing of an alarm clock from across the hall at 8:30am. No, that's not that early, but this was the first day I was allowing myself a little extra sleep in more than a week. (Quit judging me.) Sometimes the girl across the hall just leaves and forgets to turn off her alarm beforehand, so I get to listen to it until it stops wailing at around 10:30am. I was very unhappy about this development, so I turned on the Les Miserables soundtrack to drown out the alarm. At this point though, I was awake-- there was no going back to a dreamy slumber for me.

This sounds like the perfect setup for a very productive day! I could get out of bed, get dressed, and go finish my laundry. I could finally get caught up! That's not what I did. I opened Netflix and watched The Help. (Because I love that movie and it makes me cry every time and sometimes crying is a good thing.) I ended up staying in bed until around noon. (I'll admit, I was ashamed, but I do think I needed a lazy morning to myself.)

I didn't start this story expecting it to be this long, but it is what it is. The rest of Sunday was spent writing, working on travel plans, reading, and working my way through The Big Bang Theory. (You're asking why I didn't just go to the laundromat that afternoon? It was raining and I just wasn't emotionally/mentally prepared to face that.)

I had class again Monday and Tuesday. This one was Marketing Management. I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Global Leadership. Our professor is very nice-- she's a lovely woman, but her teaching style is the most frustrating thing. It's so hard to sit through her class. She teaches very slowly and she's hard to listen to. The information isn't all boring, but the way she presents it just isn't that great. Thankfully, we don't have to go back to that class until December 8.

I have some very exciting news this week! My dad and sisters are coming to France this Saturday to spend Thanksgiving week with me! I'm sooooooo excited to see them! They arrive in Paris Saturday morning, so I'm meeting them at the airport and we're going to spend two days in Paris before coming back to Poitiers.

I had no idea the amount of work that goes into planning a week long trip for four people in Europe. (Lizette has always been in charge and I let her tell me what to book when she needs it. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lizette, you do good work!) It's an incredible task to book hotels and train tickets and bus tickets. You really have to think through every leg of the journey to make sure all of your bases are covered. I started working on this several weeks ago and got really stressed about it. I finished planning the first four days they'll be here, but then I left for Italy and then Paris, and I never got around to planning the rest of the trip.

When I'm faced with something I'm worried or stressed about, I tend to try to put it off as long as I can. (It's a character flaw I'm trying to work on.) Last night, I sat down to work on this at 7:30pm and got so immersed in what I was doing, I didn't even look at the clock again until 10:00pm. When I finally saw the time, I realized I had been hunched over my laptop for who knows how long. I sat up straight and every muscle in my back protested at the movement. I went to get some water and decided that I deserved candy for all of my hard work, so I ran downstairs to the vending machine for a Kit-Kat.

I did get it all done though! Looking at train schedules and comparing hotels is exhausting. I was a nervous mess sitting there. (Leg bouncing, hands shaking, intermittently cursing at my computer, etc.) Now I only have a few details to work out, plus gathering all the directions so we can get to places without studying a map. I'll add that to today's to-do list!

The next few days will be mostly spent preparing for their arrival. I can't wait to tell you about how it went with them here. That'll be the topic for the blog two weeks from now. Thanks for reading my ramblings about inconsequential happenings in my life.

Je t'embrasse,

Sarah