On Thursday morning I left for Golinhac (a village of about 300 inhabitants close to Rodez, which is in the vicinity of Toulouse) with John, Sophie, Julie, Elisabeth, Mathieu and a friend of theirs named Vincent. I took the train up to Orleans and they drove down from Paris to meet me at the station, and then we continued on together all the way to Golinhac. It was about a six-hour drive and I finished up my reading for French (earlier than the rest of the class, it seems: my fear of being the last to read actually ensured that I was one of the first to finish. Since most people waited to get the book during the break, whereas I got it the day it was assigned, by the time they went to the bookstore there were no copies left and they were thus unable to finish the assignment. So I'm ahead, for once). I also started Cormac McCarthy's All The Pretty Horses. We got into Golinhac around eight-ish and had dinner with John and Sophie's friends, Lionel and Rhadija, that we had come to visit, and then went to bed.
Friday was spent in reading and taking walks and cooking. In the evening, we celebrated Lionel's fortieth birthday, with much food and alcohol and bad dancing (by the end). I spent most of the time hanging out with another girl my age who also happened to be in Premiere Litteraire. Unfortunately, she was also there with her boyfriend, so she mostly wanted to talk to him since I had slightly more difficulty understanding what people were saying over the music (as a consequence, I think most people thought I didn't speak French very well). In any case, a good time was had by all; the hall was a mess by the end and I was duly made fun of for starting to clean up in the midst of the party (it's just something I do. When I see plates/cups/etc out of order, I have to arrange them. I just have to, or it bothers me). I think we went to bed around two in the morning and slept in until nearly noon, despite the fact that the churchbells across the street rang the hour quite loudly and insistently.
Saturday was another reading/walking/cooking day. We had another mini-party in the evening and Rhadija made couscous, which was delicious. We did slightly better and got to bed around one in the morning, if I remember correctly. We woke up the next day slightly earlier (I was the first up at eight-thirty, and then people sort of filed in during the next hour). I finished my book, started another one, we prepared ourselves for departure and then set out for the six hours back to Paris.
We started too late and so I missed my train for Orleans, so we stopped in Bourges (the city we arrived in just about when my train in Orleans was leaving), exchanged my ticket and spent the next hour walking around the center of town, visiting the cathedral, etc. I said goodbye and spent an uneventful train ride reading.
Monday was the first back from vacation and passed relatively painlessly. Not much else to be said than that.
Today was alright. In History we had a test that I'm not exactly sure how I did on; I feel less anxious about it than the last one, but all the same on the last question I started rushing because I spent too much time figuring out how to phrase things, and the second question I think I didn't detail enough, but we'll see in a few weeks. (It was over the Great Depression in Europe and the rise of totalitarianism directly before WWII, by the way). French was cancelled because the teacher was absent for reasons unknown to the general population, so we spent the time practicing our lines for Drama and playing Uno instead. After lunch we took the bus out to the performance center where we'll be performing on the eighteenth for a rehearsal, which went fairly smoothly. We worked out the major blocking for the longest piece and got a start on the two smaller ones. I'm honestly quite nervous for the performance: this will be my first time acting in front of an audience in a foreign language, and also the first time I'll have performed in a stage production since middle school. So we'll see how that goes.
Tomorrow is the last real day of school for the week: Thursday we have a movie canceling the morning classes and during the afternoon the faculty are discussing the proposed school reforms, so class is cancelled then, too. Friday is the anniversary of the end of WWII and is a holiday in France, so there's no school then, either. All in all, not a bad way to start back. After this, one more week and we're headed to London, which I'm looking forward to. And then three more weeks for me once we get back, and I'm done. Since I'm not taking the Bacs, I miss the last two weeks of school: classes are finished on the 12th of June, and the last two weeks are for revision and exams, respectively. Since I'm not doing the exams, revision is rather pointless, so I get out earlier than I thought. Hard to believe that my time at Vaucanson is nearly over-- it feels like I only just got here. Time flies...
I'm almost positive I should be able to update Sunday, so until then!
No comments:
Post a Comment