allons-y!

We are finishing up our second week of classes and things are already starting to pile on. We've got a few short papers due and a lot of reading (en francais, might I add) and I am starting to get that familiar feeling of dread and stress creeping its way into my system. I know for me its defintiely the presentations that I'm signed up for that will be the death of me. I'm one of the few people that aren't bothered by public speaking, but the fact that its in my second language and I have to answer questions after the presentations is what is horrifying. Oh well, those aren't for another month or so........

Besides classes, everything else has been great here. My friend Danielle and I finally went down to the la poste to get international stamps, and after a very confusing entrance into the French post office and 10 minutes of being dumbfounded, we discovered where to get the stamps. They are a bit expensive, but worth it. Be on the lookout for postcards from the department of Vaucluse!

Also currently occurring in Avignon is the post-holiday sales. This basically means that every single store in the entire city has a huge "SOLDES" (sale) sign in the window, and they are serious about their soldes. I was in a boutique last night (not shopping, just looking!!!!!) and there were dresses that were marked down from 150 euro to 40. There will probably be some sort of purchase by me this month before all the clothes go back to regular prices. But it is so temping to buy a bunch of clothes and shoes while I'm here because the French girls are so fashionable and awesome looking all the time. Seriously. They never wear jeans and a tshirt, and they would not be caught dead in regular gym shoes. Oh and they are also all gorgeous. hahaha... but seriously. The highschool students all look super trashy all the time, though. The girls all have their lips pierced and the guys all look like tools. And usually act like tools. HS students have a LOT more freedom than any school in America, more than Uhigh for sure. Culture shock ZOMG.

As far as my French, I can tell I'm improving, but I can see how far I have to go before I'm 100% confident in my speaking abilities. One thing I've noticed, however, is my confidence is improving a lot in speaking. I would seriously start shaking if I had to speak in French classes at home, because I would be so scared of not knowing how to say something. Being here as taught me just to go for it, even you don't really know how to say it. I think before I would always try to directly translate my thoughts into French, but you learn ways to get around exactly what you want to say, and say it in a way that you do know how to say it. If that makes sense?

Oh but one thing we are all getting good at is ordering food. And by food I mean delicious pastries from the boulangerie. If I had to pick one thing I love the most about the French, it would be how they eat. First of all, everything is fresh, all the time. There are markets everywhere with fresh fruits and vegetables, a freshly baked baguette is 1 euro, and there's a never ending supply of pain chocolat and beignets (my fav desserts!). Its so adorable to see business men walking out of the market with two baguettes under their arms to take home after work. I don't know how I'm going to survive back in the States with all our prepackaged nastiness and frozen food.

Lastly, in a few weeks we have our winter break. No, I don't know why we have a week off in February, but I do know that it's going to be awesome. Currently in the works for that break is a mini tour of France with a few of my friends! So hopefully I'll know more about that soon.

Well there's not a lot else to talk about, really. We are taking our first excursion to Aix-en-Provence this Saturday, so hopefully I'll have some pictures for my next blog! Also, sorry about blogging so much. :)