too long away!

thanks, Peter for making the photo more exciting!

EDIT:here are photos now! the internet here on campus has been ridiculously slow. I think it's because we pay by the month so at the end of the month they just decide to mess with us. It's just that way back at the beginning of September the internet was snappy and you could have 14 applications running at once and now suddenly asking Mozilla to open Facebook AND listen to a music video on YouTube is an outrageous request. Grr technology...

So lots to recap! Thursday night we attempted to celebrate the beginning of classes starting with the rest of Besancon but we got lost, had to wait for others and missed the bus. Our french friends dragged us to this terrible disco and we ended up walking home...it sounds like a terrible night but it was actually hilarious and very memorable. I love that I met people who have the same silver lining obsession I do...gosh I am such a Sagittarius.

Friday I went to Paris by train! It was an easy trip and it was kinda nice to be "home". I dunno, it's just nice to come back to a familiar place and see familiar faces. I heart Paris. I was very happy to see Oma and JJ, MB and of course little William! Gosh he is so adorable. He is the cutest little blond munchkin and so smart! It's amazing how fast they grow up.

Friday night Oma and I ate at this very interesting restaurant. We had fun people watching and the desserts were fabulous! Mmm...Saturday we were good and did work-some organizing, getting her computer set up, etc etc. I wish I had had one more day to get more things done. After a bit I went out into the city to buy a suitcase-successful! That night we had dinner with JJ and Beatrice which was tasty and interesting followed by a french movie that I was too sleepy to follow very well. Dommage!

Sunday I went home to Besancon...met up with Igga and Gillian to meet some Spanish, Italian, and German students for a pow wow on the river. It was really fun and perfect weather. One of the Italian girls had a guitar and a Mexican student treated us to a few songs. Yay for musical people!

Unfortunately while there we learned that our friend Soni had been in an accident; her bike vs a car!! Apparently this guy went really fast past her and startled her, making her crash her bike and tear up her knee and hands pretty bad. Luckily a good Samaritain stopped and helped her and took her to the hospital. She needed 4 stitches but was all smiles when we met her at Place Granvelle. We're just happy she's ok!

While at Place Granvelle we stopped at th crepe/waffle stand (yummy) and got waffles. Anna, one of the German girls, is really interested in irish dancing and asked me if I would teach her something. Since my dancing ability is pretty much non existant I tried to say no but ended up teaching her the only stuff I know (thanks, Katelyn!). We weren't doing anything exciting but a bunch of French people stopped to ask what we were doing and watch us which was pretty funny...

After waffles the Germans invited me to another German girl's apartment for dinner. I felt bad because I didn't want to crash the Deutsch party and make them feel obliged to speak English but they were very nice and said I could come. The food was great and the people were awesome (as always!). Really really fun night with fun people.

Today was D-Day; the first day of classes!! My first class was actually with Jurgen-yay for knowing someone! It was about the French Revolution and the events following it. Neato :) It was also 2 hours straight-luckily the prof was very nice to the foreign students and overall the class seems interesting. I am so nerdy, but I really was excited to go to class and start learning about stuff I'm really interested in. There are only about 17 kids in the class-including 5 foreign students. She asked us to introduce ourselves and then was like, 'wait, how many of you (as in the foreign students) are NOT german?' I'm the only one who raised my hand haha...yay for reppin the home land!

After class Jurgen and I ran into some of our friends (UK and Spain) and then went to the Resto to wait on Peter and our new Dutch friend. She's so nice! We had an entertaining lunch (with comedic duo Peter and Jurgen, of course we did) and they made fun of me for my love of soft American sandwich bread. I had been complaining about how French bread is so hard it hurts my mouth. Peter insists I'm a pansy and that in Germany the only way they like their bread is when it makes them bleed. Appetizing, guys. Oh they were also hating on white bread. Tsk tsk.

So after lunch I went to German class, which I was pretty nervous about. Turned out to be super fun-the prof is cute and super nice and it was a class for complete beginners-thank goodness! I was really worried they'd want you to know some basics before you came. I ended up speaking Dutch and Turkish in the class (random) too. I think the prof is really big on Erasmus (exchange programs) so he was all excited about us being in his class. I was the only American again...but such a fun class. I can't wait to learn! I need to find out what other languages to learn while I'm here. The Dutch girls have already offered to help me with my Dutch.

As I'm walking back from German I hear someone shout "Dude!" behind me and Peter appears! He was surprised (and amused, I think) to learn I'd just come from German. After a chat I left him to go grocery shopping with my lovely Igga. Made some dinner, lounged around a bit, and am enjoying my quiet evening. this is the first evening I've actually been in this early! It's weird not to do something every night.

All is well, tomorrow is more classes...I miss everyone!