Well I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to write a post on our blog, but life here in France has kept me quite busy. I guess I should start from the beginning and give you all a brief history.

Well Sean left me on July 3rd to head back to the States. It was very hard to go from spending every day with my honey to not seeing him at all. But I made it to Jenny’s house in Zurich on July 3rd with no problems. She and I spent a lot of time catching up and shopping. I even had to buy something. It was cold and I didn’t bring a sweater or coat, so I HAD to buy a sweater.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. On the 4th we celebrated in style with good food and mixed drinks, very American. I was fortunate to meet a lot of Jenny and Chauncey’s friends while I was visiting. I think they have a pretty awesome life in Zurich and I’m quite jealous of them both. But I will get to have a little bit of Switzerland at home with me because Jenny and Chauncey bought Sean and I an authentic fondue pot with edelweiss on it. How awesome is that!

Well I had to leave the very nice Jenny and Chauncey Bed and Breakfast Friday July 6th and head for Paris. I caught a “bullet” train and if there hadn’t been a train stopped in front of us when we arrived in Strasbourg Germany I might have made it to Charles de Gaulle Airport in time to meet my group. As it was I was about forty minutes late and then the metro from the north train station to the airport was packed. I got to Charles de Gaulle just in time to see the bus drive off.

I then had to go make arrangements to get to Amines, France which is where we’re studying. It took a while to work that out and catch the train here. But I did finally arrive late that Friday afternoon. I met all the others I would be going to class with and my roommate Allyson. There are people from Hungary, Latvia, Serbia and the US. There are 12 from my school (Texas State University) and 5 from the University of Colorado, Denver. Everyone seems really nice and thus far we’ve had a good time together.

Though the Saturday after I arrived I was walking with some friends and proceeded to twist my right ankle. I felt pretty dumb since I had twisted my left not one week earlier walking by a river with Sean in the south of France. I went to the Pharmacy here and got some medication and a brace for my ankle. It was a very interesting experience going to the pharmacy. I will have to share more of that when I see you all in person.

Then school started on Monday July 9th. I love my French teacher in the morning. He’s a really smart, intelligent and funny man. I’ll get some photos of class up soon. I did end up in the advanced group, so no easy vacation for me. Though, I will admit it has been fun even though it’s been a lot of work. In the afternoon we have a two hour Art de la Table class which has been more basic then anticipated. It’s a French cuisine class but we have thus far only gone over cheese and wine. I was hoping for a more hands on class. Oh well. Then we have theater in the evening for two hours. The teacher is very nice but I’m not really into the material. Oh well, I can’t have it all.

Though, I did for my birthday. Thank you to everyone for the emails and e-cards. It was awesome to celebrate my birthday and then get up the next day to all of those emails (next day because of the 7 hour time delay). For my birthday I got me and some fellow classmates out of class to go watch the Tour de France. Can you say awesome! We were there for most of the afternoon and got to see them all ride in around 6:30pm and then we had to run to catch our train to get back to Amiens. It was super! We all then went out for an awesome dinner at a local crepe restaurant. Everyone pitched in (especially Jennifer and Edwin) and I didn’t have to pay for my meal or drinks. How cool are they!

Well for a few days after my birthday things got quiet… then Friday came. I went to a local store after class by myself to buy a few things. I was looking at merchandise and had seen a basement door nearby that was open. I felt I was quite far from it so I didn’t worry about it. A few minutes later I was tumbling down an entire flight of concrete stairs. As much as I can laugh about it now at the time I was terrified. There was blood everywhere, I had a man yelling in French for firefighters, and I was having a brain laps in how to talk back in French (he spoke no English). Once I sat up and moved around a bit I realized nothing was broke and when I realized that I had just put my tooth through my lip I felt an ambulance was a bit much. I had them call my professor here in Amiens and he came to pick me up.

I was hoping they would take me to the doctor but they kept telling me I was fine and not to worry. But when my head didn’t stop hurting I decided it would be better if I at least went to see the doctor and get my head checked out. So I got a reference from the pharmacists for the closest doctor and walked. I say walk but it was more like limp as I had turned my ankle and had a bruise from by butt to my knee. Anyway he checked me out and stitched up my lip. Yea I had to have stitches for my lip, I had literally put my tooth through it. Crazy, huh?Unfortunately after all that excitement I decided it was best I not go to Normandy. So I stayed in Amiens and relaxed. Sean and I will have to make a trip back to see that and some other parts of Europe.

Since then my trip has been pretty calm. I’ve gotten a lot of practice in on the language and met some really cool people. After I get home I’ll put up some photos of them and I post the video of the 600 year old organ I, with a few classmates, got a personal tour and recital of.

Well I’m off to do a little acting this evening. We’re having a talent show tonight and I’ve got a little part. I can’t wait to see everyone. I’ll be leaving Amiens tomorrow and will be home soon there after. I’m excited to be heading home to my honey. I’ve missed him a lot. And I think he’s right, I’m not going to ever go out of the country with out him. He tends to keep me from being too accident prone.

Well I love you all. Hope you’re all doing well and I can’t wait to see everyone!

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 26th, 2007 at 6:20 am.