My First Swiss Christmas

Hello everyone! I have a lot of exciting things I want to tell you about but I will start with my Christmas holiday. As you know, flights to and from the USA are very expensive so I stayed here in Europe for the holidays. I missed my family but I enjoyed experiencing the traditions here and also spending Christmas with my boyfriend and his family.

On December 23rd I dropped Auggie and Victoria off at daycare at 9am and then headed to Zurich, Switzerland. It takes about three hours to get there by car but there was a lot of holiday traffic so after fueling up my car and running a quick errand it took me about fives hours. I arrived around 2pm, settled into Toby's apartment and then at 4pm I met him at his office to have Glühwein with his coworkers. Glühwein is a hot mulled wine which I have had a few times here in France but we call it Vin Chaud which literally translates to "hot wine." A lot of people don't like it but I love it! If you read my previous post then you know about my love for Wassail and Vin Chaud/Glühwein is rather similar. Afterwards we went back to his apartment and made dinner with his roommates, played some games and went to bed. 

In the morning of the 24th, Christmas Eve for me but CHRISTMAS for them, we drove to his parents house in Besenburen. We had a nice lunch with them and then a coffee and Baileys. This is where the fun starts. I was already feeling "under the weather" when suddenly I felt an odd sensation in my mouth. I was suddenly crunching on what felt like large grains of sugar and I had just eaten a cookie so it made sense until my tongue started to scrape something really sharp on my front teeth. I got up and looked in the mirror and saw that one of my bottom front teeth had popped out of line and half of it was broken.... and I had just eaten it! I was so upset that I cried. I have a very long and complicated history with my teeth and I thought I finally done with dental issues. Apparently not. There are thousands and thousands of dollars, multiple surgeries, and years of braces in my teeth. You name the procedure and it's been done to me. I couldn't believe this happened! I am still pretty upset about it but this week I will see if I can find a dentist to look at it and tell me what can be done and how much it will cost. I don't have dental insurance in the States and I think it will be cheaper here so hopefully I can at least get a cap, but I am afraid if I want them straight again it will require bottom braces, which I will most likely not do. Apparently I cannot have good teeth no matter what I do so I am basically over it. I had braces twice and still wear my retainers so if my teeth are teeth on the move I am afraid I will just have to let them do what they want. haha.

Teeth: 1

 Allison: 0

After crying and moping around for a while I forced myself back into the "Christmas Spirit." It was hard work but I was't going to let this unfortunate incident ruin my holiday. Toby's sister, Patricia, and her boyfriend, Ivan arrived around 5pm and festivities began. We started with having a cocktail and then dinner. They decided to serve a Turkey, which they have never done before! 

It was most delicious! Toby's mom chose it from a farm months ago so it was definitely better quality than I ever had back in States. After dinner Toby's dad lit the candles on the Christmas tree. A real Christmas tree with REAL candles!

After the tree was lit we began to open presents, one at a time, very slowly. HA! I love opening gifts slowly but it was even slower than what I am used to. We each took turns taking a present from under the tree and giving it to someone. We all all got some really great stuff! Fun slippers were the theme it would seem, but we also exchanged some "nice" gifts. Toby's sister and boyfriend have me a beautiful set of Cashmere gloves and matching hat, and his parents gave me an Urban Decay "Naked" eyeshadow palette, lipstick, and an awesome travel mug! 

In Switzerland they exchange all of the gifts on Christmas Eve on none on the 25th so that was different for me but as an adult I didn't mind. I don't think I would have liked that as a child.  They do "St. Nicholas" on December 6th but Christmas has nothing to do with Santa Claus. I actually really like that they keep them separate, but I still like having festivities and gifts on the 25th. They don't do stockings in Switzerland and that was always a big tradition in my family so I surprised everyone with one on Christmas morning. I put their name on the top and filled them with chocolates, Chuppa Chups, and some small gifts such as bath bombs, chapstick, homemade cookies, and for Toby, a mini Lego set. I think they really liked them! I also painted christmas cards for each them with a personalized cartoon. Christmas day, the 25th, was a very laid back day with brunch, naps, and a walk into the village. 

Besenburen has a lot of adorable Sheep! 

A stork nest! They are everywhere! 

Scottish Highland Cattle

On the 26th Toby's paternal grandmother came for lunch and like his parents, she speaks no English but she was very sweet! Her mind is not very good but she remembered that I came from the USA! We had a yummy lunch and then Toby and I packed my car and headed back to France for our Ski vacation which I will tell you about in my next post! 

Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Bonjour mes amis! Today was my first day off (aside from going to French school) in about 11-ish days. Emilie went to the United States with Jean-Pierre, or "Papi," her godfather for a week so it has just been me, Guillaume, and the kids. She returned today around noon so things will go back to "normal." Its been a good week but I am happy to have my normal schedule back! Not only has Emilie returned with Jean-Pierre (who will leave for his home near Bordeaux tomorrow) but Guillaume and I  planned a special surprise for the Kowalski household! Do you want to know what it was? Do you?! Of course you do.

DISCLAIMER: If you couldn't tell by the title (ha....), this post is Christmas related. Yes, I know it is not even Thanksgiving yet, but this is France and we do not have Thanksgiving. So, if you have anything negative to say you can move along. :-)

So, this is Victoria's first Christmas and Auggie's first to truly comprehend what is going on, so we decided to go ahead and decorate for Christmas. Jean-Pierre is a very special person in Emilie's life and the children love him, so Guillaume wanted him to be part of the festivities. I think Emilie suspected something was going on because she found the Christmas cookies in the kitchen when she arrived. I didn't really hide them, but she doesn't eat a lot of sweets so it didn't occur to me that I might want to put them away. I made my Aunt Nell's traditional sugar cookies that my cousins and I would decorate every single year. She would make tons of cookies in multiple shapes and we would gather around the table for hours and decorate until either the cookies were all finished or we were exhausted and covered in frosting! Haha. We would listen to Christmas tunes and drink hot cocoa or coffee and we always tried to decorate the funniest or most creative cookies we could imagine. I made heart-shaped cookies into butts before it was cool.

Anyway, decorating the cookies with my cousins is a very special Christmas memory of mine so I wanted to share it with my Host Family. I actually baked all of the cookies on Tuesday night and yesterday afternoon I decorated them with Auggie. Of course, since he is only 2-years-old I did most of the work. HAH! Not that I minded... I mean, I turned on my spotify and made a cup of hot chocolate and imagined myself being back in Tiperlsville.

Regarde:

The little blue teddy bear was Auggie's specialty, and of course I roped Guillaume into decorating at least one cookie! 

This morning after I left for school and Guillaume took the children to Nounou's house he drove to a town near Geneva to pick up our Christmas tree... a real one! My family always had a fake one, which I have never minded, but I am very excited to have a real one. When everyone was finally home and settled this evening, Guillaume hauled in the tree, brought up the decorations, we served the cookies, and I made my Mum's wassail! What is wassail? I am glad you asked, because it is another special Christmas memory of mine.

Wassail (pronounced "vas heil") is a hot beverage that my Mum makes every year. My family loves it and we always anticipate that first delicious pot of the season. She makes it with apple juice, cranberry juice, a bit of orange juice, and a spice pack of red hots candy, cinnamon sticks, an orange slice, and whole cloves that are infused into the juice as it cooks. After is it brewed, adults can drink it with Spiced Rum (Sailor Jerry is the best choice, if you ask me) but kids drink it without. From what I have researched, the traditional Wassail dates back to medieval times and translates to, "for your health/to good health." While I think what we make is rather close to the original drink, the original had eggs in it which is SO not gonna happen with me. I am all about sticking with tradition but some things change for a good reason. Anyway, it was customary to go door-to-door offering a cup or drink of Wassail and sing:

"Here we come a wassailing among the leaves so green,

and here we come a wandering so fair to be seen!

Love and joy come to you,

and to you, your wassail too,

and God bless you and send you a happy new year,

and God send you a happy new year."

My family never went door-to-door and sang (hahahaha) but we listened to the song a lot so that counts, right? I do remember going caroling a time or two with our church when I was very young but we never offered anyone Wassail. Haha! The Rum would have been a big "no-no" in the Southern Baptist church anyway. Regardless, it was a dry county so it wouldn't have mattered whether it was to their approval or not. Not to get off topic, but I find it best to include details such as these because here in France there is no such thing as a "dry" area. You can drink anywhere except for in a vehicle, of course. French drivers already drive like they're drunk so I cannot imagine what they would be like if they were buzzed. Lord, help us all! You can even buy liquor in the grocery store here! When I moved to Florida I remember being surprised/excited that you could buy beer AND wine in grocery stores, but you still had to go to the Liquor store for the hard stuff. Not here. As I am sure you know, the Europeans have a very different view of alcohol than the Americans, so I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised to see the Vodka next the cereal, or 17-year-olds drinking beer while walking home from school. Anyway, enough about booze.

I made the Wassail and even though Guillaume does not like cinnamon I think he liked it best. Emilie liked it as well but she is not used to "hot alcohol," as she put it. Haha! For me, the instant the scent started wafting through the kitchen I had a brief surge of homesickness. Not in a bad way, but Christmas with my family is one of my most beloved memories so I think no matter how old I get or where I go I will always want to be in my parents kitchen waiting for the Wassail to be ready, listening to Nat King Cole, hanging stockings, and making "Haystacks" with Mum.

So, lets return to the evening! The tree, my first real tree was probably more exciting for me than anyone else. I was so excited when Guillaume lugged it up the stairs, dropping pine needles everywhere! They laughed at my "child-like" joy but I don't care. It's awesome!

I was just waiting for Guillaume to clip the strings and branches fly out and bust the windows like in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation! Luckily, that didn't happen.

AIN'T IT PURTY?!! 

The minute we started hanging the decorations my mind raced back to 1995 when my little brother, Andy, was but a wee nugget and would throw the balls on the ground just to watch them shatter. We had to hang them out of his reach or else we wouldn't have had any left! Auggie was not violent with the decorations, but instead preferred to remove them and put them on the couch immediately after we hung them on the branches. Haha! 

Jean-Pierre ("Papi") helping Auggie: 

Mommy and son 

After it was all over and Auggie was in bed with Papi reading him a story, Guillaume, Emilie and I cleaned up the dishes and I could tell they weren't very happy. Guillaume was rather disappointed in the outcome of the night. I have told many stories about the memories I have with my family at Christmas and I think they want to have the same type of memories with their children, which is wonderful, but Jean-Pierre was rather disengaged in the festivities which hurt both of their feelings. Victoria is only 6 months old and Auggie is only two, so this is just the beginning and I think they are off to a great start, which I explained to them. I don't know anything about Guillaume's relationship with his parents, but Emilie never knew hers so I know it is important to her to create memories that they will always cherish. While the evening may not have gone the way they would have liked, I think they are starting some great traditions that they can build on for years to come. They are wonderful parents that do so much for Auggie and Victoria! It is really special for me to be here to experience this time with them, share stories and traditions, and ultimately be part of the children's growth. 

Bisous,

Alli

The Bucket List

A few days ago my Facebook account had a glitch and thought I was dead. While it was funny (I think) it made me think about what I would want people to say about it me if I were actually dead. A little morbid, I know, but we all have to go sometime so its worth a thought or two. I imagine that most of us "picture" our deaths at an old age, but truthfully we never know when it will happen. What do you want to leave behind? If you were to die today what do you think people would say about you? Would they say you were always smiling and happy or always giving and helping others? Would they say you were smart and accomplished? Would they say you were talented and hard-working? Think about it. I am not saying to think about your death but rather about what you can do, well, before it's too late. Haha. There are many things I would want people to say about me but unfortunately, I have not always done things that would prompt people to say them. I am not always the nicest person you will ever meet. I have a good heart but sometimes my words and actions do not display this. Lucky for me, my Facebook was mistaken and I am still alive! Therefore, I can still make the changes that I want to make and do the things I want to do, one day at a time before I "kick the bucket."

Speaking of buckets, a few years ago I started my first bucket list. It was very short and sweet because I really didn't know what I wanted. Some of the traditional things you might find on other peoples' bucket lists, like traveling the world, seemed a little far fetched but look at me now! Living in Europe! I never thought something like this would happen to me. So, this summer I updated my bucket list with a lot more conviction than when I started. Some of the things I have already done so I have put a little cross by them. Have a look and feel free to be inspired! Also, I would love to hear if you have any of the same things on your list or some suggestions for mine!

Places I want to go: (in no particular order)

-Greece
-Austria
-Italy X
-Ireland
-Scotland
-Germany
-England
-France X
-Switzerland X
-Egypt
-St. Petersburg, Russia
-Morocco
-Spain
-Brazil
-Thailand
-Japan
-Fiji
-New Zealand

Things I want to eat or drink:

-Gelato in Italy X
-Guinness in Dublin
-Fried grasshoppers X (believe it or not, I have always wanted to try these! I have wanted to since I was little and saw the I Love Lucy episode where Ricky and Fred eat them in Japan.)
-Fondue in Switzerland X
-Pizza in Italy X
-Hot Sake in Japan
-Crepes in France X



Things I want to do:

-Swim in the dead sea
-Ride a Camel
-Ride an Elephant
-Climb the Eiffel Tower
-Climb the Matterhorn (that one is probably a little too far fetched...hahaha)
-Learn French (working on it!)
-Learn German
-Learn to Ski

Of course, I will add more things to the list over time but I think I have a good flow so far!
I would love to know what you think. In the meantime, back to my coffee.

Bisous,
Alli

Un Jour Avec Moi

     Bonjour, mes amis! I just put Auggie down for a nap, I am curled up on the couch with some lait de chocolat, and it is snowing outside. After I finish my warm beverage and this blog post I will iron some of the baby clothes, make compote, and decide on what to prepare for dinner. It is a cozy day.

     The other night I purchased a book on my kindle about a girl who was an Au Pair in the Loire Valley in the late 1970s. It is a true story and its hard to put the book down! It made me realize that I need to keep better track of my daily life and not just the days when I visit a new place or do something out of the ordinary. Maybe someday I will write a book of my own (haha), so I need to remember as much as possible about this adventure. So, I thought I would write a post telling you all about my daily life.

     In general, on Mondays I work from 7am-4:30pm. I give the kids their bottles for breakfast, we watch a few cartoons, I get them dressed, then we pile into my Ford and take Vicki to Nounou for the day. When Auggie and I come back home we do a number of activities such as coloring, play dough, puzzles, etc. I prepare his lunch, which is usually a meat, a carb, and veggies, and he has a yogurt for dessert. After lunch we read a story and then he takes a nap. While he is napping I usually iron and tidy up from play time, and then I usually have time to read, study my french, or update my blog. Depending on how long he naps and if the weather is decent, we sometimes take a walk up to the chateau or to the stables to watch the jumping students train. Guillaume is usually home between 4-4:15 and I am free to do whatever I choose. I usually help prepare dinner around 6 because Emily is usually home by 7.

     On Tuesdays, I have French class in Annemasse until noon, and then I come home and have lunch with Guillaume and Auggie, and as Guillaume leaves for work I read Auggie a story and then he takes a nap. Like today, I usually have some down time and then do some light chores around the house. Last week I peeled a HUGE bag of apples from Nounou's tree and made apple sauce. Today, as I stated above, I will make compote, which is a variety of fruits (usually apples, pears, and banana) that are cooked and mashed in the Thermomixer and I freeze them for Auggie to have as a snack after nap time. I work until 6:30pm on Tuesdays so I usually start bath time for the kids around 5 and go ahead and get dinner started.

     Wednesday is my favorite day with the kids! The morning starts the same as Monday, but after we drop Vicki at Nounou, Auggie and I go to Bonneville for his baby music class. He loves music class. Afterwards we have lunch and then I take him up to the chateau for baby gym class, which he also loves. We are done with classes and home by 2pm and I put him down for a nap. I am usually free after that because he sleeps until Guillaume comes home. I always help with dinner on Wednesday because Emilie has yoga class after work and isn't home until around 8pm. Lately, Guillaume has had Volley games to attend so I put the kids to bed by myself.

     On Thursdays I have French class until noon and then I am free for the rest of the day. I usually run errands, clean my room, or take a nap. Haha. On Friday mornings I only work from 7-9am to get the kids fed and ready and I take Vicki to Nounou and Auggie to day care, however, this Friday I will work until 2pm because it is a bank holiday so Nounou is off and daycare is closed. I have the weekends off except some Saturday mornings when I take Auggie to the indoor pool in Annemasse. Its not my favorite activity because the chemicals really bother my skin and sinuses, but I guess we all have things we don't like about out job.

     Some days can feel very mundane and tiresome, but I do my best to create new, fun activities to brighten the environment. For example, I try to find recipes that would be fun and "easy" to let Auggie help me with, such as dog cookies or pretzels. I also try to come up with learning games for Auggie to teach him numbers, colors, and of course, letters! His English is getting much better but he can be rather stubborn about it sometimes so I try to make it fun. Yesterday I started teaching him to make his own bed and pick up his own mess/toys. We have been working on potty training for a couple of months now and he is finally progressing, but I think part of that is because he gets un bonbon for every poop on the potty. Haha!

     So, there you have it. My daily life as of late. Christmas is quickly approached and I cannot wait! I am already planning gifts and recipes and sneaking in some holiday tunes on my spotify when no one is around to judge. Haha. I plan to enjoy European Christmas to the fullest extent. Starting...now.

Until next time,
Alli

Autumn in the Alpes

It is finally fall: my favorite time of year! Well, it was my favorite time of year. Unfortunately, I feel that I must report the sad fact that autumn is much less festive here in Europe. It is still beautiful, but it doesn't have the same feeling as autumn in the States. Growing up in Mississippi meant long, hot, sticky summers so as soon as there was the slightest drop in temperature it was time to break out the scarves and cinnamon scented candles. Not only that, but autumn marks the beginning of a lengthy holiday season. It all starts with Back to School excitement, Labor Day weekend, then everyone gets in the Halloween spirit, then we have Thanksgiving, then on to Christmas. It's simply an exciting time of the year!

Not so much here in Europe, specifically France and Switzerland. The summers here are much shorter than in the southern states and therefore everyone is sad to see them go. Instead of getting pumped for hats and boots they mourn the loss of their booty shorts and bikinis. I do not share in this sentiment and never will. I have seen almost no fall decorations in stores or in people's homes. Maybe this is because they don't really celebrate Halloween and of course, they don't have a Thanksgiving holiday here. I suppose I can do without Thanksgiving because I prepared myself before I ever came, but no Halloween?! It's been a struggle.

To me, autumn is the most magical time of year, next to Christmas, of course! I have yet to find one single fall scented candle. WHAT IS THAT ABOUT?! I understand that not everyone is into #pumpkineverything but I didn't realize it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Oh wait, there is no hay, even though this is the land of cows. You'd think there might be one hayride or pumpkin patch... something? Nope. I even see people in horse drawn carriages in my village and are they in the fall spirit? Of course not.

Luckily, mother nature understands that it is fall. In Mississippi, it always seemed to take FOREVER for the weather to cool down but we do not have that problem here. I am already scraping ice off of my car windshield some mornings. I am fine with that. The leaves on the trees are golden, red, and orange, and the fog rising off of the mountains in the mornings is a gorgeous sight to behold. I can only imagine (and imagine, I must) what it would look like around here if people were in the Autumn-Loving-Spirit, as I strongly believe they should be!

Oh well. Just because the rest of France doesn't know how to enjoy this time of year doesn't mean I can't! I may be lacking in scents and decorations but I can still do some fall baking.

A few weeks ago I decided to make some Pumpkin Maple bread! It turned out great, but finding the ingredients was a bit of a challenge. Canned Pumpkin? Forget about it. You gotta buy a pumpkin and prepare it like they did in the olden days. Honestly, it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be but in the end it tasted no different than good ole canned pumpkin. Oh, and brown sugar? I don't think the French really understand what that is. Their idea of brown sugar is like rock crystals that are brown. Okay... I eventually found what I was looking for but it took a long time and it was called something weird that I can't even remember.

Luckily, the recipe did not disappoint! It was quite a hit!

I ended up having some leftover pumpkin and decided to make some Pumpkin Spice doggy biscuits for Elvis and Izzy, which were also a hit! 

I also made a Roasted Apple Pumpkin soup last week that turned out really well, but I didn't get a picture. Forgive me. 

Until next time, my faithful readers! Happy Autumn! 

-Alli

A Day in Annecy

Bonjour, mes fideles lecteurs! I randomly received this week off of work so I am staying in Zurich with Toby. We are on holiday from school and my host mum is on a business trip in Italy, so Guillaume took the kids to visit family in the north of France and I came here to Switzerland. Therefore, I have some time to give you guys a little update on life in Le Pays du Fromage! Aka, the land of cheese. Between living in France and frequently visiting Switzerland I am constantly surrounded by the world's best cheeses and I love every minute of it.

A couple of weekends ago Toby came to France to visit me and we spent the day in Annecy, which is one of the most beautiful places I have been so far! It is still in the Rhone-Aples and about 30 minutes from Contamine.

Looks like a dream come true, doesn't it? 

We spent the day wandering around the town trying on hats, drinking espresso, and of course, eating cheese! 

This, my friends, is a traditional dish known as "Tartiflette." Hot, creamy cheese and potatoes. Heavenly. If you're ever in France or Switzerland it is a must try! Write that down because you'll want to remember. 

Isn't he cute? Sippin' his espresso like he is not a big deal. <3 

It was a beautiful day and a bit crowded, but not as crowded as some places might be. Its a bit of a "hidden gem" for France. Your average tourist will go to places such as Paris, Bordeaux or Chamonix, not necessarily Annecy even though there is so much to see and do. I highly recommend putting it on your list of places to visit. You won't be disappointed. There are crepes around every corner, street musicians. shopping, cafes, a castle, and a beautiful river. Its the perfect place for a romantic weekend excursion. 

It was a very leisurely day and we didn't do anything "major," just enjoyed ourselves. However, I did give the entire street a little laugh at one point. We were walking and talking and I noticed that Toby was not beside me. I turned to my right and saw no Toby. I turned to my left and while there was no Toby there was a Mime literally an inch from my face! I screamed so loud that everyone stopped and started. The Mime was quite embarrassed and started bowing and backing away and the everyone busted out laughed, including Toby who was several feet away and had been waiting to see how long the Mime could follow me until I noticed. Apparently the look on my face was priceless, but I have to say I think the look on the Mime's face was probably better because he wasn't expecting such a "loud" reaction. Ha! He even said, "pardon" which is totally breaking the rules of mime. He was probably afraid that I was about to beat the crap out of him. 

It was a great day and as I stated above, put it on your list of places to visit!

French School

Tomorrow morning will mark the completion of my first two weeks of French school! I attend Greta-Lac l'ecole in Annemasse, which is about 20  minutes from where I live. So far, it is going well but it is much harder than the French courses I took at university! I have class every Tuesday and Thursday from 8am - noon with only a 15 break halfway through the morning.

What is it like? Well, the first day was so overwhelming! If you know anything about me then you know that I like to be early for everything so I left an hour before class would start. Finding parking is NEVER easy here so I wanted to make sure that I had ample time to park, find the right building, etc. It felt like the first day of college all over again, except nothing was in English and the parking is even worse than on a USA college campus. Imagine that. Finding parking here, and in Switzerland, is worse than finding parking in downtown Miami. I hate it. Luckily, I have gotten MUCH better at driving my new car so that relieves at least some stress. Anyway, I had no trouble finding a parking spot even though it was almost in a ditch, and I easily found the correct building. Allez moi!

When I entered the building there were tons of other students waiting and soon after we were all gathered in a large classroom together in front of 6 professors. They introduced the professors and then called our names to join the professor teaching our level. I was assigned to Marie-Agnes, a sweet middle-aged lady from Bretagne. After we were assigned to our professor we were bustled to our classrooms to begin class. My class had about 10 students on the first day and I was the only American, and I say "was" because since then more students have been added to our class who were in higher levels and found it too difficult so they moved down. Anyway, we immediately dove into the course which is 100% in French. We are not allowed to speak English at all in the class. Not even to one another on our break. We have to go outside if we wish to speak in a language other than French.

When I took French at university my teachers used English to help explain things to us, but they do not do that here. Part of the reason is because we will learn faster if we have to work harder, and we all come from different countries so we are not all native to the same language. If our professor used English to help explain things it would't help someone whose native is Spanish or Italian and vice versa. We have students from Brazil, Spain, Italy, Taiwan, Portugal, Canada, etc. It is a very diverse class but we all have two things in common: 1) None of us are native French speakers, and 2) we are all Au Pairs!! Yes, that's right, its a school full of Au Pairs! There are a few exceptions but about 98% of the students are au pairs from around the world who have come to France or even Geneva, Switzerland. Most of us, however, are in the Rhone-Alps, France. Greta-Lac is the only language school for many, many miles and since it is a requirement to attend French School for our visas, some of the students drive an hour or so so get to school. If they don't drive they have to take a bus or train and in the rural areas this means it will take them even longer to get to school. I feel sorry for those students, and especially the ones who were promised that they would be taught how to drive a manual car and their host families backed out on the deal. There is one girl in particular who I feel very sorry for because her family does not seem very nice and with them going back on teaching her how to drive has put her in a tough spot. I think I have learned enough that I could certainly help her.

The hardest thing about the class (aside from NO English) is that our professor does very little writing on the board for us. Writing helps me so much and when she talks for 15 minutes without writing anything sometimes I start to get a headache. Haha! Overall, I like the school and every day gets a little easier. We are a smallish class, most everyone is as nervous as I am, and our professor is very kind. I'll be fluent before you know it! HA!