Snapshots

Salut ! I know I've been MIA, but for une bonne raison--I had to give an exposé (oral presentation) yesterday. In French. In front of a class of French people. On a 5 page (1.5 spaced really wide margins) paper that I had to write on a book that I had to read. In French. Soooo that took up most of the time the last week.

But actually I can't complain, because it was "facultatif"--optional. You may think I'm folle (crazy) for doing that, but I thought it would be a good experience. Only 5 people out of my class of 25 did it, so the professor was really nice and encouraging, and it actually went pretty well. I presented for 10 whole minutes, and man I was nervous--I wore a charcoal gray romper and a blue and black checkered flannel shirt to offset the glowing crimson of my skin. Ended up not being the best choice ever--charcoal gray really shows sweat!! But anyways, c'est fini and I did it, so phew!

So many fantastique and fun things have been happening. J'ai pas le temps to tell you guys all of them, so I'm just going to do a few snapshots of my life to give you une idée. Here we go--

I'm at a huge protest with my Mexican friend, Flavia. We're at the Eiffel tower, surrounded by groups carrying signs and instruments and pamphlets. March 8th is Le Jour des Femmes (a day celebrating women) and we're here showing solidarity for the struggle for women's rights in the Middle East and North Africa. We lose ourselves in the crowd, chanting in Arabic and yelling in French. Flavia and I dance to a marching band, photograph women wearing colorful headscarves, converse in French. We arrive at the Egyptian Embassy and the speeches begin.

I'm sitting in le Jardin de Luxembourg on a beautiful sunny day. We were going to go to a café but it was too nice out to stay inside, so we got tea and brought it in to the garden. Next to me is Joanna, a Catalan from Barcelona, and across from me is Gabor, a Hungarian exchange student. The conversation flows from French to Spanish, Spanish to Catalan, Catalan to Hungarian, Hungarian to English as we teach each other words and phrases. We agree to meet at the Louvre the next day.

I'm squeezed at a tiny table with 8 other people, in a crowded reggae bar in the 19th arrondissement. Diane, a 24 year-old from my music class, has invited me to go out with her and her friends, and we're all laughing and talking over the sound of the reggae band playing on stage. They're all older than me and speaking very fast, so it's a little intimidating, but they're all super nice and after a few minutes my nervousness disappears and I'm talking and laughing with everyone else. Diane and I get up to go dance.

There are a billion more moments, but that's all I have time for right now. I'll leave you with an extremely flattering picture of me before I saw a spectacle de danse at Trocadéro the other night--

Well that's about that pour maintenant. Oh, I'm going to Belgium tomorrow! I'll be in Brussels for 2 days and Bruges for a day, so I'll try to keep you guys posted about that. Hope you're all well and enjoying everything you're doing. À la prochaine fois, mes amis !