The weekend

This update thing is going to happen, I swear. Even if I have to do it writing and making potato chip cookies at the same time. Ok, quick explanation-- when Leedara read that I was introducing the French to Rice Krispies and all the terrible things in American cuisine, she sent me a recipe for potato chip cookies, which is exactly what I'm going to introduce them to next. They're actually not bad; the way I messed them up made them more scone-like in texture, and it's not bad, the mix of salty and sweet...in any case, on to the weekend:

Saturday:

I got in at one in the morning from Normandy and slept until nine, which almost never happens. (Usually, even if I'm up until one, (which isn't unusual) I still get up at seven. You could set Swiss trains by my internal clock). I spent most of the morning working on my part of a presentation about Tours, ran to the butcher's to get something for Lea's lunch, and then set out for the house of one of the AFS volunteers in the area, who took me up to the reunion. 

Like most of the other AFS weekends, we did several activities about cultural tolerance and how small the world is, etc, etc, stuff that I've seen before presented not half as well. Mostly the weekend was nice because we all had the time to see each other in one place and talk about how the exchanges are going (or, in the other direction, to offer advice and answer questions from the French students preparing to leave). I spent most of the time hanging out with one of the "partants" (the French students getting ready to leave) named Benedicte. We honestly don't have that much in common but she's really sweet and fun to be around. I'm planning to go up and visit her in Blois the weekend before I leave, after she's finished up with the Bacs (she's in Terminale, so she really doesn't have the time beforehand).

Sunday was more or less similar, but with a barbecue for the parents. I had a long conversation with Benedicte's parents about the exchange process, life in France versus the States, and even the differences in the mentality towards war (I was really enjoying myself), and they said afterwards that they found it fun to talk to an American in French, since most of the time when Americans come to France, you have to speak to them in English. 

At around four in the afternoon we had some tearful goodbyes, and then coming back home was sort of an anticlimax. But then again, it almost always is.

Monday:

Drama was fun-- the Friday I was in Normandy, everyone split into groups and prepared the last two scenes from Dom Juan, with varying interpretations. In the best one, the girl playing Dom Juan (we only have two boys in our class, so there was one group that was entirely girls) spoke a modern, "cité" French, and the rest still used the language of Molière in the script (which is sort of like Skakespearean English as opposed to modern English)-- a brilliant effect, and really funny. It also made me appreciate how much my French has improved-- to get the comedy achieved by the different accents/styles of speaking requires a certain comprehension of the language. I finally feel like I'm speaking real French...which is a shame, since I'm leaving just as I'm getting good.

Apart from that, not much.

Tuesday:

Since so many people decided to skip drama (8/11), class was cancelled and I got out four hours early. I went into town for lunch and then spent the afternoon doing nothing while it rained, which is why I have no excuse for not doing the blog yesterday (or the cookies, for that matter. Which, by the way, I've had approved by Camille and Lea). Oh, and I had my last French class of the year. There's a lot less emphasis placed on the last class of the year than in the US...it was just like any other class, and then, "Okay, dismissed, have a good summer and good luck on the Bac." And that's it; no one makes anything of it. We're a lot more sentimental in the US. Or, at least, we are at Bosque.

Wednesday:

I had my last History and Science classes of the year, which were more or less the same. The science class was like any other, and then we had two hours free because French was cancelled (the teacher is helping out with giving the oral exam for the Terminales, I think). I played Uno with my friends and then we went to History, where we found that half the class had ditched because they didn't want to wait around for two hours. We ended up playing a cool logic game that I adored but seemed to drive everybody else crazy. After that, I had lunch in town again and came home to mess around on the internet some more and make my cookies for the class tomorrow.

And that's...it. I think it should be more interesting next week? I hope.