Classes, Amsterdam, and my birthday!

Wow, so much has happened in the last week and a half! School started, and having class all day really makes the time go by fast! I have five different classes. I’m taking a French language course 10 hours a week. I have two different teachers, Monsieur Tissot and Madame Richard. I like them both a lot. The first day of class I sat up front, and M. Tissot told me it was my job to shake my head and say no every time he called himself old. It’s now my official job of the class, and it means I have to pay attention the whole time! Besides that I am taking 4 electives. There’s English Translation, the 5th Republic, Photos and Literature, and History of Art. In my translation class we’re currently working on translating Harry Potter into French, which is pretty fun. The 5th Republic is a politics class, and the teacher in that one is hilarious. Her name is Mme Lamouroux, and she loves going off on crazy tangents. Photos and Literature is at 8:00am, which is pretty brutal, but I think it’s going to be interesting. We’ll be comparing photos with literature (such as Camus and Sartre) from the same time period and see how their messages vary. Finally there’s Art History, which just seemed like a must while I’m here. I’m going to come back feeling so cultured!


Other than class, things have been pretty relaxing. It’s weird that now that we all have different schedules I don’t see everyone in my program all the time, but I’m also meeting new people that are in my classes with me. I’m definitely settling into a routine, and I really love it.
So this last weekend Clare and I went to Amsterdam. We had a really great time! We were there Saturday evening, all day Sunday, and came back Monday afternoon. I was so taken with how beautiful of a town it is. I loved all the houses. We did a TON of site seeing. We started with Anne Frank House, which was very moving. Then we did the Van Gogh museum, the Rijksmuseum, Madame Tussauds, The Ice Bar, and a canal cruise. Let me tell you, we had some pretty sore feet by the end of the weekend, but it was definitely worth it. It’s also nice to have the whole travelling thing figured out. It was a little challenging, but we were able to handle it!
After coming back on Monday, I got to celebrate my birthday all day Tuesday! It was so great! Although it started with 6 hours of class, it was really fun. Thank you everyone for all of the birthday wishes! I felt very loved! On our way back from class Clare bought me a delicious strawberry tart for my birthday cake. I got to talk to my family, Julie and Megan, which was really special and made my day. That evening the two of us and the girls in our program that live downstairs, Katie, Emily R and Emily N, went out to a really cute little restaurant and had a nice dinner. After that we met up with some of the other people in our program and some of the girls in my language class and we all went to O’Sullivans for the night. It was really fun and a very special night.

Now we’re just gearing up for the next weekend. We’re going to Avingnon on Saturday and then to a Marseille soccer game on Sunday. It should be a really great weekend. We’re also starting to plan our trip for the February break. It’s going to be about 8 of us, and we’re going to go to The Rhine Valley in Germany, Luxembourg, Brussels, and Bruges. It should be a lot of fun! Thanks for reading. Miss you all!

Bisous!!
Amy