Well Im being terrible at writing these blogs but I vow to get better! Over this past month a lot has happened. Firstly I still do not have my residency permit and I haven't even seen a glimpse of getting it anywhere in the near future! We went through the first step of the process over a month ago and were told that we would recieve the next step of what to do by the end of november, but alas nothing has come. Even when we do get the next step, we have to schedule a doctors appointment and then go through another step! Oh well, it's really interesting going through the process of a sort of immigration into another country. It is no piece of cake, but I have to stop and think that getting into the US would probably be just as hard and even harder.
On a brighter note school has been going well, it is still hard though to get through those 3 hour non stop classes. At UC it's sometomes hard to concentrate for 50 minutes! The teachers are pretty tough but I definitely feel my level of french getting higher. I can watch french tv now without getting anxious trying to understand every word. I even bought some french novels that I am going to try and read. We have winter break in two weeks and we're going down to Cannes to enjoy the sea. It wont be extremely warm but it will be a lot warmer than here, and hopefully less rainy. But we will be back in time for christmas, to spend it with my cousins. It will be my first christmas away from home, so that is kind of wierd for me, but if I look at it in a different perspective, it is my first Christmas in France! There is definitely a big christmas feel in the city here, everything is decorated and lit up. However, that was more for December 6, which is St. Nicholas day, a very big deal here in this region of France. All of last weekend there were celebrations and people came from all parts of france to see it! We went to the parade Sunday night, which was exciting and very different yet also similar to parades in the US. I'll put up some pictures of it to give everyone an idea.
I also completely forgot to mention Thanksgiving! I am one of the lucky study abroad people who got to have a family member there on Thanksgiving! My dad was doing work in Spain so he took a few days off to come visit me here in France! It was so amazing getting to see my dad after all these months and being able to show him what I have been doing and where I have been living. He came just around Thanksgiving so he spent it with us. My mom sent over a ton of food items with him so we were able to recreate a little thanksgiving for ourselves! I even made a pumpkin pie, which my family here in France were not too keen on, but we loved it! On the actual day of thanksgiving though my dad bought us dinner at a couscous restaurant! It was really good, yet the strangest thanksgiving meal I've ever had! Sadly my dad had to leave only after a few days, but it was so great to see him and spend time with him, right when I was getting a little homesick.
Now im ready for winter break and ready to see Cannes! Ill let everyone know soon how things are going and also I'll upload those St. Nick parade photos!
à bientôt!
Bizarre Christmasy tree in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Arc de Triomphe, Paris
Me at the top of the Eiffel Tower (on the freezing and windy side)
The most foggy night I have ever seen (while we were "In Bruges")
The main market In Bruges
Eric eating a giant "french fry" while in the Fry museum In Bruges
In Bruges
Me at a very Venetian looking bridge In Bruges
Vineyard in Alsace
One of the towns we stopped in in Alsace
Alsace
