Long time

Hello to the faithful who still check this blog! I am still in France, working as an assistant, and time has really flown. Only one more month of teaching and a little traveling left, and I will be back in America. Just to give you a quick update on what has happened since I last posted...
During a weekend in January, I went with my friend Carrie and her 2 children on a little road trip to see the beaches of Normandy where D-day happened and Mont St. Michel, a cool abbey on an island. I had 2 weeks off in February and was lucky enough to get to travel with friends. I went to Dijon with my friend and fellow English assistant, Chelsea, for one night. We got to see where the Dukes of Burgundy used to live, and of course, taste some mustard. Then, I went to Arles with my roommate, Erika, who is the Spanish assistant at my school. We got to see cool Roman ruins and many of the places where Van Gogh painted and spent some of his last years, plus a little day trip to see the Mediterranean. The last week of vacation, my friend Kate, from Nebraska who is also an assistant, and I went to Sweden. I know this is cheating...but she has her pictures from our trip posted online, so if you are interested, just click on the link that says Kate. It was a wonderful and relaxing trip. We got to see many cities and some beautiful nature. I also tried ice-skating for the first time in my life!
These last couple of weeks were full of good times with my friends Rachel and Julia from home. They came to see me and we had such a great time together. We got to eat dinner on the Eiffel Tower, travel to London, and they came and taught with me one day and got to enjoy the fabulous life of an assistant (sometimes we are treated like celebrities)! Rachel and I also got to go to Barcelona...she unfortunately got sick while we were there. But, we still enjoyed the warm weather and got to see some cool things. They have both gone home now, but I feel so blessed to have had them here!
This morning, I woke up to chanting and drumming outside my apartment. I live on the grounds at my school, and the students blocked the gates of the school in protest of something called the CPE. So, there were no classes and right now in Paris students from high schools and universities are gathering to make their concerns known. It is so interesting to me because I don’t think that this would ever happen in the USA. But the students here want to make their voices heard, and France is very much a culture of doing something about problems. So, if you want to strike, you can. I got to sleep in since I didn’t have to teach, and enjoy a very French experience.
So...I am still so thankful to be here and am enjoying my time. It will be fun to be home, but I will miss it here. I am so lucky to have this experience....