And so the final countdown begins.....

*gasp* it's Wednesday evening. Do you know what that means?? All the tests are done. The apartment is almost completely clean. The bags are almost completely packed. Just 2 more days in La Rochelle, one day on a train and at an airport hotel, and then *gasp again* a long plane ride home. We are in the final stretch people!





And I must say, as happy as I am to get home and see you all, I will really miss France. I love La Rochelle. I love being surrounded by history all the time. I love walking past the insanely old tower every day on my way into the city. I love crossing the bridge and looking out into the ocean. I love the food. The sandwiches, the coffee, the bread. I love hearing the language spoken all around me. And I love it when I need assistance at the Post Office/Grocery Store/whatever and without even thinking of what I need to say, I say it. Because my French is that much better.





I'm terrified of going home and forgetting everything I learned!





My French Avon lady, Sandrine, dropped off my Avon order. And I felt so awesome, because after I paid her, she stayed and we chit-chatted for a little while. And it felt SO great to be able to have a regular conversation with her! In French! Like I'm actually able to communicate now and I have to leave.





Don't get me wrong. I desperately want to come home. I just wish I could still be surrounded by the language. I will be listening to tons of French radio when I get home. And watching French movies. And reading French books. And I guess maybe I should get a membership for the Alliance Francaise de Buffalo, so I can talk to and interact with other French speakers in Buffalo. I seriously feel SO close to being completely fluent, and I'm SO scared that coming home and being once again surrounded by the English language will ruin all my hard work :( At least Francoise says she plans on calling every few months, so I have a reason to keep up with speaking/listening to French! I need to be able to understand her over the phone!





Yesterday was l'Examen Oral for the CUFLE program. Woo. I was so nervous, but it was like....nothing. We randomly picked a question (the lady had them all upside-down so we couldn't read them), and then we got 10 minutes to brainstorm and could even take notes. My question was pretty useless. "What did you bring with you for your stay in France?" Really?! Too easy. Maybe the nice teacher lady who graded me thought so too, because after like 3 minutes of me talking about what I brought, she started asking me random questions about what I liked about La Rochelle and if I thought I benefited from being here and stuff. And then before I knew it, my 10 minutes of "torture" were over! Seriously. I am never going to freak out so much over a speaking test ever again. What was also funny is that my CUFLE teacher had totally told us we'd be doing the test in front of a panel of teachers, and here we just talked with this really nice young woman. More like we had a conversation than anything.





Today I had my last exam, for Sources Antiques. Easy. We originally weren't supposed to use dictionaries, and then the other American girl must have said something to the teacher, because then the teacher asked if there were any other foreign kids, and I raised my hand, and she asked if I had my dictionary, and I said yes, in my bag, and then she announced that the foreign kids could use dictionaries as long as she approved them. So I got my dictionary and she just checked to make sure it was just a language dictionary, and then yay! We only had to answer one question, and it was "what were the 3 priniple locations for spectacles in ancient Rome? What are their architectural characteristics, what are their origins, and what sorts of spectacles went on there?" SO easy! That's the only material I studied for this exam too, because I had a feeling we would be tested on it. And just in case you are wondering: theatre, amphitheatre, and cirque.





Did my last bit of grocery shopping at Monoprix! I will have to try to get a photo of that store. It has been very helpful to me these past 3 and a half months! Didn't get anything to cook with though. I've decided to buy sandwiches for the rest of my meals here. They are so good and I will miss them terribly. Just so's you know.....when I get home, we will be spending hours and hours and hours trying to recreate them. Especially that chicken curry sandwich mmmm! I'm totally serious too.





I went Christmas shopping yesterday and have almost everything that I wanted to get :) I also today mailed home a big box of my clothes. Tomorrow I will buy another box to mail home my notebooks and books. They would probably fit in my suitcases, but I'm worried about being overweight. (not me, I mean the bags!)





See you all soon!!





And Marsha, look what I finished last week:
I LOVE them!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grosses Bises,
Kelly

One Week Left OMG!

C'est bizzarre!! I can't believe I'll be on my way home this time next week (and hopefully quickly going through Customs and security....). Besides all the excitement going on in Alex Band Land, not much else is happening besides exams and stuff.

Last Tuesday, one of the other Americans and I had our 20 minute presentation. It went surprisingly well. And I think we actually made it to the 20 minute mark!! Woo! The teacher didn't have anything to say about the content, which is good. That means we understood what we read and didn't say anything wrong! She really just told us that we need to not be so fidgety while presenting and stuff. But it was all constructive feedback. I could tell she was doing this more to help us improve in the future, and not so much to give us the grade.

Last Tuesday also marked a very happy day for Kelly. THE LAST DAY OF CUFLE!!!!!!!!! Woooooo!! Needless to say, I was VERY happy walking out of that classroom at 7:30. Very very very very very happy.

Wednesday, I had my Histoire des Litteratures exam. It's the medieval French lit class. That exam was SO easy!! We were given 4 questions and had to answer 3. I could have done all 4. The teacher also said the minimum for the first 2 questions was at least 10 sentences. And 20 for the 3rd question. I wrote like....a page for each. So that made me very happy. I'm not trying to brag. I'm just happy because the fact that I could write so much means that I understood the teacher and the class and yay!!!! Happy dance!!

Thursday I had my Histoire de l'Art exam. I wasn't worried about writing the critique of a painting. I was more worried about the part where we would have to answer questions about the different movements and painters. Not that I don't know the material. It just sometimes gets jumbled in my brain because there's SO much info!! But the exam was way easy. WAY easy. I could have done better on the critique (of Edouard Manet's Olympia) but whatever. I was actually really sick all last week and am just now recovering. I had a TERRIBLE cough. Last weekend I pretty much just laid in bed all day and night. I was afraid to buy cough medecine because I'm allergic to a certain brand back home. I've already had 2 allergic reactions to meds this year......I don't want another one! But I was also scared of getting bronchitis or pneumonia just in time for that 9 hour flight home! Luckily, my cough is almost gone as of today! Woooo!

Saturday (YES! SATURDAY!!) was my CUFLE final. WTF?! Now seriously people. Who is the dumbass who scheduled that?! And at NINE in the MORNING no less!! I bet it was my teacher. I bet. He would stoop to that level! But all complaining about that ungodly day/hour for a test, the exam was actually quite easy. The only section where I was unsure of anything was the grammar section. Subjonctif. yay. But even that wasn't bad and I'm sure I got a good grade. The listening I knew the answer to every question but one. Woooo! That means I've improved :) Oh yeah! Did I mention that on Tuesday when someone in my CUFLE class asked the teacher what we should study, he told us not to bother. He was like, "If you know the material, you know it. If you don't, you don't." What the heck?? So yeah. He didn't even tell us what sort of things might be on the exam like most teachers would. Loser.

On Friday I did a wee bit of Christmas shopping :) I also shopped a bit for myself. I went to the bookstore and bought 2 books for the flight home. One is Les Jumelles de Highgate. It's the French translation of Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry. I've been wanting to read it since I first saw a great review of it a few months back at The Book Lady's Blog. Now mind you, Mommy also wants to read it and told me months ago that she was going to buy a copy for the house. But seriously. Sounds like a great and entertaining story for a 9 hour plane ride!! Plus, I figure I can read it in French first, and then reread it in English to see how well I comprehended everything the first time! I also bought a book called Je suis le dernier Juif. It's a real journal of a Polish man who was sent to Treblinka during the Second World War. Oh yeah-for all you non-French speakers, the translation in English would be I Am the Last Jew. It looks REALLY good. The back says that this man is one of only 57 people who survived Treblinka and lived to tell about it. As far as I know, it hasn't been translated into English yet. I was trying to add it to my "to read" list at librarything.com, and amazon.com couldn't find it. Maybe soon?? So I have my light reading and my heavy depressing reading for the trip home!

OMG MAJOR news!!!!!!!!!! Sarah and I got lunch today (it's a Sunday, and we always get lunch together on Sundays). Now I'm sure you've all heard me going on and on about how the stores (especially that grocery store!) are all closed on Sundays. WELL! The grocery store (AND MANY OTHERS!!) were open today!!!!! Special holiday hours since Christmas is coming!! We purposely made a point to walk through the grocery store. Just because we could! And it felt GREAT!! Seriously. You have no idea how great Sunday shopping is until you've been without it!

Oh yeah, Sarah's also jealous because we have Wegman's in Buffalo ;)

Yesterday was my last Saturday with the sweet French lady :'( I was quite sad. But I'm meeting her on Friday for lunch, so I will see her again before I leave!

I had to book a hotel for this coming Friday. I need to be out of my room (and the room as to be clean and completely empty!) by 9 in the MORNING!! WHAT?! This is effing stupid. Like, what if I didn't have the money for a hotel room?? I'd be homeless!! I will stop ranting though because I've decided to live it up in luxury for my last night in La Rochelle. I booked a room at this hotel. It's like right near the uni and right near the train station. So I'm all set! And it's also right near the harbor :) The other gal from Buffalo and I bought our train tickets the other day. On Saturday around 2ish, we are taking a train to Poitiers. And then from Poitiers to Charles de Gaulle Airport. How'd we do it, you ask?? Well. There's a trick. You can't get tickets directly from La Rochelle to CDG, so if you ask for one, they will say you can't get one. BUT if you ask to go to Poitiers, and from Poitiers to the airport, no problemo!! From the airport, we will take a taxi to a hotel nearby and share a room for the night. Then we will take another taxi back to the airport in the morning. Yeah. We decided to be really easy on ourselves. We did NOT want to have to lug out heavy suitcases (2 for each of us, plus 2 bags for carry-on) through the Montparnasse train station, then wait for the airport bus, then pay the airport bus fee, then put our luggage in the luggage compartment, then sit on the bus for 50 minutes, then find the right terminal, while lugging our huge heavy suitcases. So we took the easy route :) I'm glad we are too because I was NOT looking forward to that voyage to CDG!!

To those of you who love Christmas music, Alex Band just released his own version of "Silent Night". It is beautiful. He changed the lyrics so they are not religious, and his voice goes SO deep and is just sooooo gorgeous! You can download it for 99 cents at itunes, or for 89 cents at Amazon. If you do, please make sure to rate the song and leave a review!

I am going to try to write another blog towards the end of the week before coming home. So be on the lookout for that! And I'm also going to post another blog after returning, talking all about the airport drama, the flights, and the welcoming in Buffalo!

I love you all and I can't wait to hug you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PS-prayers go out to Gramma because she's in hospital. (Marsha! Do you realize that since you brought it to my attention that in UK they don't say "the" hospital, I've been leaving out the "the"?!)

*mwahs* and *hugs* to you all!!!!!
kk

My Phone Call with ALEX BAND!!!!!!

More on my regular daily life coming either later today or tomorrow ;)


So what's been going on in the life of Kelly lately…..hmmm……nothing too interesting. Just the usual. You know, exams, studying, internet not working, phone call from Alex Band, great foo-----WAIT! A PHONE CALL from Mr. ALEX BAND himself?! WHAT?!

Yes Yes it's true!!!!!!!!!!! I am in Alex Band Land Heaven at the moment :) He called me last night just before midnight! It was so surreal! I knew I'd be getting the phone call because I bought all 12 Black Star Bracelets, and I got an email saying I'd probably be getting my call yesterday. But seriously….when my phone started ringing and I saw that it was an "unknown number" I KNEW it was him!!!!! I'm sure you can all picture my excitement! And my extreme nervousness! I HATE talking on the phone to people I don't know! I mean, I've met Alex before….but a phone call is just SO much more personal!! I answered and was like, "Hello?" And he was like, "Hi, is this Kelly?" And I recognized his voice right away :) And I was like "Yes it is" and he was like "This is Alex Band" and I was like "I know!" And then we talked for like 4 minutes!! He thanked me for buying all 12 bracelets and asked if I like the album (Of course I love it!!) and asked me my favorite song :) And asked me if I like the bracelets, and I told him they are actually waiting for me back home in Buffalo because I'm studying in France right now. And he thought that was really cool! And he asked me how I am LOL he was like, "how old are you, if you don't mind me asking?" Of course I don't mind!!!! And he asked me how long I've been a fan and stuff and thanked me for sticking with him through the many many years of struggling to get the solo album out. And he asked if I had any questions for him. I didn't. Of course now that the phone call is over with I've thought of a few, LOL! But I told him that I just wanted to tell him how much his music means to me, and that's it's like my reason for waking up every morning and blah blah blah. And he seemed SO touched by it! And said that "that really means a lot to me". And he said that no matter where I am next year, I will get to see him on tour!!!!!!!!! And I told him that I hope his album does really well because it's amazing and the whole world needs to hear it and it deserves it to be a success. And he seems really happy to hear that :) And he wished me a safe trip home and a happy holiday with my family! He is SOOOOOOO incredibly sweet!! I just can't even express it! He really WANTED to talk to me, and get to know me! He didn't rush me off the phone. He kept asking questions and stuff and was just SO sweet!!!! He is seriously like THE nicest person in the entire world!! I heart him SO much!! I love his album even more now because of how amazingly nice he is!! I wanted to listen to it all night, but decided I'd better get some sleep, Lol.


SOOOOO happy!!

<~ Bonus Pick from Richmond last year

Another Blog Finally!

I know I know. It's been ages! But I have barely had internet for like a week. It'll be up for a few hours, and then it'll die again. Not very amusing, especially when I need my daily Alex Band Loft fix. But I digress...

I wrote some of this on Microsoft word while I had no internet. I think I started it last Thursday or Friday..


Ah the joys of study abroad! Walking the 20 minutes home from the grocery store through the Old Port in the middle of a violent rain storm, with no umbrella, and a hood that only covers half my head. Being so wet that I can't see through my glasses and walk the last 10 minutes home without them on. Sneakers so wet they will probably still be damped when I fly home in just over two weeks.

Yes, such is life abroad. Always filled with adventure.

Like right now-my internet isn't working for the hundredth time this week. So I'm typing this blog in Microsoft OneNote (which is a GREAT program, by the way!) Okay-not much of an adventure….but it is for me because it's fun typing this in a different program!

I'm pretty sure the rain storms here are so violent because of the ocean. There is so much wind that the rain hurts when it hits you. Very nice.

So let's see…..I left you all about 2 weeks ago, just after I got Alex's amazing solo album! Much has happened! Including a Thanksgiving Feast, many last classes, and a lot of work on a 20 minute presentation. I will explain it all to you starting from the furthest back, and ending with the most recent. With probably a mix of what's gone on today in the middle, lol. But I'd better pull out my diary from Marsha just to make sure I get my days straight ;)

If you want adventure/downright creepiness, this is for you. Tuesday, the 24th of November, I got up and went to take my morning shower. Laying out my clothes, getting my towel, removing the underwear I had hang-drying on my white shower head. …..WAIT!!!!!! My shower head is NOT white!! It's METAL!! I stood there for probably 15 minutes, in shock, contemplating what much have gone down in my poor bathroom sometime between Monday morning and Tuesday morning. Did some creeper come in and pull a practical joke?! Should I shower, or was there acid in the shower head?! I finally decided it must have been the custodial staff for Ville en Bois. And I was (and still am!) aghast!!!!!! Ok-Some plumber/custodian dude must have come into my room sometime on Monday while I was in class. And changed my shower head. And also must have done something to all my faucets because the water pressure is definitely different. Though he didn't change the stoppers….because the water still turns itself on if I don't turn it off tight enough (thank you Ghost Hunters for teaching me valuable plumbing information!!). And I notice also a boot print by my heater……I think they must have come in to inspect my appliances. Which would NOT bother me one bit had they waited until I was home, or even LEFT A NOTE!!!!! Seriously people! If you had left a note saying you had stopped by, I wouldn't care. But the whole thing just creeps me out!!!!!!! I mean, these people have a key to my room. My room does not have a deadbolt. They come in and make a MAJOR change in my opinion (come on, who ISN'T gonna notice a new shower head?!) and don't even give notice. WTF. Something is wrong with this picture people. I am a poor little FOREIGN student! Maybe it is normal to the French kids to deal with this. But not normal for me!!!!! I have a laptop in my room, my passport, traveler's cheques, an expensive doll!! I leave it in my room because I assumeD they were all safe!! *And yes, I DID lock my door when I went to class on Monday!* And I could even see this happening if I lived in a residence hall. But I don't! I live in a student apartment!! I thought I'd have privacy!! What is really creepy is that they must have seen my underwear. It was drying right next to the effing showerhead!! Not to mention, all my womanly items and stuff. Am I wrong to be pissed off to high Heaven?!?! I was ready to run my ass over to the place I pay my rent, but decided I like the little woman who works there too much. I've been keeping close tabs on everything. If this happens again and I am not informed, I am going straight to the Ville en Bois office and leaving a note AND saying I want to speak to someone of importance. Or I'll talk to the nice American teacher. Because this is just fucking uncalled for. I was seriously not sure if I'd be showering anymore while here, lol! It is just CREEPY!!!!!!!!!!

Not a whole lot happened until Thanksgiving. But the Saturday before Thanksgiving, I was telling the old French lady I go to see all about my goodies from Marsha! She knows I don't have an oven, and was curious about this whole Thanksgiving thing. So she invited us Americans to spend Thanksgiving with her! So I prepared everything that Marsha sent me, and then went over to Francoise's for dinner with another American student (the 3rd girl could not make it). Our lovely hostess had made us a main dish!!!!!!!! Chicken in a curry sauce, with white rice! Very yummy! It was fun having a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal with a really untraditional main dish! We had such an enjoyable evening, and we didn't leave until 9 in the evening! I had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving! It will be a great memory and I'll never forget it :) Thank you Marsha for all the goodies!! It really made the day extra special!

The only thing that sucked about Thanksgiving was getting up for an 8am class….and then going to another class at 1:30. I really felt like they had no right to make me go to class, lol. I even could barely get myself to take any notes. Next year, I am totally SNOOZING until like 10am!!!!!!

I've been rapping up a of my classes. Exams coming up so I've been trying to study (lol). And I've been working on a presentation with the girl from Watertown. It's supposed to be 20 minutes long. Just a long essay we read out loud. Probably will be just under 20 minutes. I also started getting stuff packed away (like things I won't be using anymore that are just taking up space) and I also made a pile of stuff that I will be shipping home as soon as I feel like buying a box at La Poste.

I feel like I might be coming down with something. But it could just be from all the rain and all the stress over exams.

One thing is for sure. I LOVE my electricity :) <3

Oh and I got the sweetest letter from Jacob the other day!! I heart it! But I promised him I wouldn't let anyone else read it because he doesn't think he's good at writing letters, aww ;)

Nothing else exciting going on. Oh except yeah the electricity thing that I didn't explain yet. I woke up at 7 this morning because I thought they'd be calling me early and I'd have to go to the Ville en Bois office. Good thing I was up and dressed. Because at 7:30 exactly, my obnoxiously loud doorbell rang! It was the Ville en Bois secretary/housekeeper. She was very sweet and all I had to do was sign a sheet of paper so I could start getting electric bills, lol! I still can't believe they forgot to do that 3 months ago….and then never realized it. Yes. Studying abroad can be VERY interesting. Let me tell ya.

And um....in the week since getting caught in that rainstorm, I've gotten sick. I seriously slept all day Sunday. My voice is almost nonexistant and I'm coughing all the time. Not good. I have my 20 minute presentation in like 2 hours!! LOL maybe the teacher will see I'm sick and take pity on me. Thankfully I have a pharmacy right across the street. Since this thing hasn't yet cleared up, I think I'll be stopping by and picking up some meds. I have 3 exams this week (besides the presentation) and I need to be able to focus!

Ta Ta for Now!


HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO PAPA AND GRAMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Dec. 5th!)

Just a quick update..

I'll post a real blog with all my usual goings on tomorrow. Right now I'm pissed. Here is why:

I love it here. I adore France. I love my teachers, I love the city I'm in, I love my classes. But the university has been messing up so much lately and this is the last straw for me.

It's almost 9pm here, and I just got a phone call from the English woman who picked me up from the train station 3 months ago when I first arrived. Apparently, the secretary for my university apartment complex had called her all in a dither because the electric company was going to shut off my electricity tonight. What?! I had been under the impression since arriving that my electricity was included in my monthly rent, because I pay at the end of the month. Not the case. They asked me if I had been receiving electric bills. I have not gotten any kind of bill! So, the wonderful English woman called the school back and told them that I hadn't been getting bills. Turns out now that the school was SUPPOSED to set up an account for me with the electric company the day I arrived and signed my papers for my room. But they didn't. So I haven't paid any electric bills since I arrived....3 months ago. Now I have to get up super early tomorrow, run to the office, and sign a lot of paper work before the electric company turns off my electricity tomorrow (since the school realised it was their fault, the electric company decided to be nice..) I've been crying because the school was making it out over the phone with the English woman like I was purposely not paying or something. But THEY were supposed to take care of this. I go to the office of my building all the time to get mail and stuff and the secretary has never said a thing to me.

And this isn't the only thing that has happened recently to upset me. I went to take a shower last week and my metal shower head had magically been replaced with a white plastic one. No note. No nothing. Someone came into my apartment while I was in class and walked through my apartment I have a laptop, an expensive doll, my passport, and traveler's cheques in here. Not to mention it just creeped me out!! I'm in a foreign country and I'm not quite fluent in the language and I just thought it was wayyyyy not cool.

I think given the circumstances I have every right to be upset. I love France, but I honestly can't wait now to get home for Christmas and not have to deal with this!

Oh yeah, I also found out 2 weeks ago that I wasn't even registered for any of the classes I'd been taking for almost 3 months! The school "forgot" to register me. Not cool.

So I'm sorry for the long rant...just really upset and stressed out. I feel better now that I've been able to get this off my chest.

*hugs*