Crazy Week

This week has been insane, it was for sure my busiest week of the year. I am so exhausted right now, and sick. Awesome.

On Monday I had my history final as well as a presentation in the same class. The test was pretty easy. Unlike last time where it was just 1 essay question that was really broad, we had two questions that asked us mini questions so we would know exactly what the prof was looking for in our answers. One of the questions was about the French government after WWII and what it was like and the second was about the Indochine war (Indochina, basically the first Vietnam War that the US wasn't involved in). The second question was pretty easy because mine and Katie's presentation was on Ho Chi Minh who lead the Viet Minh (his group) to victory in the war which allowed them freedom from France. Overall I think the test went pretty well. Our presentation was awesome. We made a game out of his life. We had a bunch of questions from his early life, and then during the war and stuff like that. A lot of the presentations have been really boring so ours was actually exciting and everyone was awake and I think the professor really liked it too.

Tuesday I was super busy. I worked on my paper for Costello's class all day, and basically tried to get caught up on all the homework that was due during the week.

On Wednesday I had a delish salad for lunch at school with Katie and then we started sort of studying for our translation test. It was so hard. It was a lot harder than the first one, and that was super hard to begin with. I was the very last person to finish, of course. I left school and then headed home where I ate something real quick and the headed out to the Chatelet Theatre to see Les Mis!!! Les Mis was amazing. Seriously, the best play I've seen all year. It's actually a musical. Comedie Musical en Francais! Anyways, our seats were on the first balcony which is called the Corbielle (the trash in French) the seats were very good. I had to sit on the edge of my seat the entire time because we were sort of at a weird angle. It was such a good show. All the actors were amazing and their singing was fantastic. It's all in English so they had French subtitles up on the screens so people who didn't speak English could understand what they were saying. If you ever have the opportunity to see Les Mis, do it. It's expensive but it is seriously worth it!

On Thursday I had Costello's class and then Lit which were both fine. We have our lit final this week, but it shouldn't be too hard. That night I was up super late finishing my theatre paper and going over Costello's paper. I don't think I went to bed until 2:30. I was so tired the next day.

So, I didn't go camping this weekend, like I said in my last post I would. I just really wasn't looking forward to camping because I really don't like it at all. So I just decided I'd stay here. I met Chaniece after class on Friday and we went to lunch and got gyros but I really don't like them here so I only ate the fries and not even half of the sandwich. After that we went to Starbucks and had planned on getting our drinks and then sitting in the Luxembourg Gardens to drink them, but Katie called and invited us to see a play that night. So we walked home, I changed clothes because it was like a million degrees out and then met back up with Chaniece so we could meet Katie and her friend KJ who was staying with her until Sunday when she was leaving to go back home to America. We saw Salome which is an Oscar Wilde play. It was pretty interesting. I really didn't know much about the story but it's from the Bible or something. It was interesting and free, plus it was something to do. After the play Chaniece and I headed back to our respective apartments because we both were really tired.

Saturday, Chaniece, Natasha, Pilar and I walked from Montparnasse to the Eiffel Tower where we had a picnic. It took us about an hour or so to walk there. It wasn't a really tiring walk, it was just pretty hot and I was pretty hungry. We got there and spread out our blanket, which was Johns...not sure why or how Pilar had it but we had something to sit on. There weren't to many people picnicking. The majority of the people were by the tower standing in line to go up it. We were there for a pretty long time. After a few hours we jumped on the metro and went to Montparnasse to get some dinner. As we were walking to McDonalds (because we're poor) I saw the police dressed in their riot gear. I mean like full riot gear. There was a giant protest going on for Israel and freedom. I'm not really sure. I think it had to do with what happened to their boats in the middle of the ocean. I really don't understand the whole story. I didn't want to go by them 1) because big crowds make me really nervous, 2) they were the same group of people that the riot police used tear gas on a few days ago on the Champs-Elysees and 3) the riot police are scary and it looked like they were just waiting for something to happen. Chaniece kept walking and I was like I don't want to walk through them (they were taking up the entire road) but she kept walking. I wasn't very happy because she was like don't worry it'll be fine. I knew it would be fine but I don't think she understood that big groups like that, especially a group that is angry, makes me very, very nervous. We made it through them and I just about lost it. We got to McDonalds and of course they were busy so it took forever to get food. We left about an hour or so later and the group was gone so we walked home.

Today I really don't feel that well. I've been sneezing a lot and I'm just really tired. I met Katie at Musee d'Orsay so she could see the Crime and Punishment exhibit and so we could basically say goodbye to the museum. We stopped in the book shop after and I got a coloring book for Madisen. It's in French and English and has Paris landmarks in it. It's cute. We headed to Montparnasse so Katie could go to FNAC to get some new head phones but it was close. I bought a sandwich and then headed home. Right now I'm laying on the couch, trying not to fall asleep and watching the final round of the French Open between Rafael Nadal (swoon!) and Robin Soderling and right now Rafa is winning (obvs) 2 sets to 0. I think if he wins this he might knock Roger Federer off of his number one player in the world spot because Federer was knocked out a few rounds ago...haha loser!

This week shouldn't be so rough. I have 1 test on Thursday, a concert to see tomorrow, a book to read, and I think a play to see on Thursday. But that's about it. So it should be an easy week which is good because I'm sick. I also have to start getting stuff together for the box that I am going to be sending home because I'd like to send it by Friday, Saturday at the latest so it's there when I get home. I guess that's all for now.

Bisous