Catching up

All of a sudden life got busy and it's been impossible to have time to post anything. It certainly doesn't help that I no longer have a computer of my own. For the past 3 weeks my classes at the University of Paris 7 have been cancelled (except for my small section for my psychology class that occurs very far away). EDUCO is getting tutors for us to make up for the classes that we've missed, even though the University might decide to add extra classes on to the end of the year, in which case we will have had more classes than normal. Ugh...it's all a big mess really. Other than that I've just had classes here at EDUCO and plays to go to from my theater class. Not too many good stories, but here's a couple:

Last Friday I went with a group to Reims for the day. When I woke up I realized I was starting to come down with a cold, but I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. Well, by the time the train arrived in Reims (Champagne country), it was a big deal. It was much worse than a normal cold and I felt terrible the entire day. It really ruined the nice lunch and all the tours: tour of the city, the tour of the Champagne cave (accompanied by a champagne tasting), and the tour of the Cathedral. I was at least able to get some pictures in between wanting to die and episodes of crying for no apparent reason (really, no idea why I was crying), so I'll post those later. We went to a great patisserie at the end and I think all the chocolate made things better, at least for a little while. I tried, in vain, to sleep on the train ride back while also trying to ignore the creepy drunk guy in the seat behind me that kept staring at all of us and occasionally walking by to try to grab our attention. I was really sick the entire weekend and I'm still not quite better.

Wednesday night I went to a cooking lesson organized by EDUCO. The lady in charge had made little folders with our names on it and written out the recipes along with some helpful translations of cooking terms, it was adorable. The six of us didn't actually get to do the cooking, but she showed us how to do it (I plan to make the meal again for family and friends once back in the U.S.) and we of course got to participate in eating it - avocado paté (like guacamole basically), curry chicken with fruit, and the best chocolate cake EVAR.

There have been more and more protests lately, each one being larger and larger. Even CNN had a story on the one yesterday, which (don't read this Mom) I did go to. They estimate that they were 300,000 in the streets yesterday, and I believe it, the crowd was insane. I was at the home point which was relatively calm though there were students climbing on every surface they could find - lamp poles, bus stop covers, even traffic lights. Apparently the finishing point was not nearly so calm, but I never followed it that far. Honestly the part I saw was the equivalent of a slightly out of control parade, but I'm glad I got to experience it.