Encore le FreeCell!

So, I’m still playing FreeCell; however, it’s not because I’m board, but rather because I like it. A lot!

Anyway, today was great! I got out of class early and I have no class in the morning! This morning the professors had to go around and make us sign something saying that we are being placed in the correct level of French. There are six levels, A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2. A1 is for people who don’t know a word of French and C2 is for people who speak French as well as they speak their maternal language. I was lucky / unfortunate enough to be placed in B2. I’m hoping that it will be challenging enough, but easy enough to make good grades! Stay tuned!

After class I went into town again with my friends and ate! I love to eat here! If you’ve ever been to France you know that just walking through the streets and seeing all the food makes you gain fourteen pounds. I am not kidding you; there are bakeries and chocolate stores on every corner, every bend in the road, and every crevasse known to man! If you ever have to die and go to pie heaven, I guarantee that God will put you in the middle of France! Baguette, crêpes (of which I ate more today), chocolate, wine, cheese, are you hungry yet?, cakes, pies, tarts, coffee, etc… And in every category I just mentioned, there are millions of things from which to choose! The world is yours (as long as you have something we like to call Euros)! If I run out of money by the end of this séjour, it won’t be because I traveled too much, but rather because I ate too much! I should have brought fat pants!

After we ate, I had to opportunity to meet a guy from one of Andrew’s classes named Guillaume Le Ber. He is a student here at the university and loves to hang out with Americans. He speaks English very well, but lets me speak French with him. We taught him some American slang words that he can use / watch out for when he visits the states. He wants to study at Baylor in 2009 because he heard that it’s the best university out of all the universities with whom Caen has exchange programs. I told him he was right even though I’ve never even seen these other universities.

Tonight at dinner there was still no meat. The family started to tell me about lent, so I just jumped right on in and asked if it was a tradition not to eat meat during lent. They told me that you’re only supposed to eat it on Fridays, but that most people don’t follow that rule. I almost said something, but I decided instead to eat another block of cheese. We had quiche, salad, fried vegetables, cheese, bread, and yogurt. It was very good! Hélèn is always a good cook and always gives me the most food! There must be a rumor running around that Americans eat a lot! Imagine that!

Tonight Rachel was invited to go out with some Australians for a guy’s birthday party. She was told to invite whomever, so we all joined her, including Guillaume. Although I would never be able to do this in Waco, we all went to a local bar and sat around meeting people from all over the world! It was so amazing! The bars here aren’t like the bars in the US. Here they’re actually classy and have character. I got to meet some girls from Australia and was told that if I ever went to Australia that they would show me around! I might just do that some day; eh mate? (They don’t actually say that!) It’s so cool to have connections all over the world!

Tonight when I came in I was as quiet as I have ever been, but for some reason Hélèn got up and asked what I needed. I know she was still half asleep because she was saying some pretty crazy things. Instead of saying goodnight (bonne nuit), she said goodbye (au revoir). I got a nice little laugh out of it and walked up to my room.