11 December 2008

respect

i have a newfound respect for all of my past teachers - grading is hard work! and i feel so bad giving out bad grades! :-(

lets see. So far this week I've made some new friends who are in the masters engineering program, taken Grigris back to the vet (whom i found smoking in his office/exam room... ) and am freezing my butt off (currently wearing my coat in my apartment that is barely 50 degrees with both heaters on). 

I had a very interesting conversation with one of the engineer guys, about how american always bad mouth their country. its true- it's kinda in vogue to be "anti-american". He pointed out that while america has made plently of mistakes we also have a lot to be proud of, and we've accomplished a lot in a very short amount of time. It was a very interesting conversation, and honestly, one that I'd never had before. 

09 December 2008

Christmas Begins

i love christmas. 
And Le Mans, it turns out, is the place to be for all types of holiday goodness.
There's the christmas Marché, lights as far as you can see. Santa now resides in his chalet at the place de la Republique ---

oh quick interjection of an Emmy story. SOOO cute: in class the other day, i was teaching them how to say "santa claus" and one snot-nosed boy yells out "santa doesn't exist" to which this adorable little girl answers, "yes, he does! i saw him at E.leclerc on Saturday"(a store like Target, kind of) i almost melted

anyway, back to my rave review of Le Mans at Christmas. The best is that the Cathedrale has this light show thingy going on at night, all lit up with projections. I have yet to suceed at taking an adequate picture of this event, but i will continue in my quest. The "spectacle"(french for show but i think the french word is better. more SPECTACULAR! i see the word like that in my head whenever anyone says it) makes the fact that it gets dark at like 4:30 a little more bearable, since I get to watch it when I walk home from school.

anyways, been hanging out at french parties, italian concerts and american apartments, awaiting with bated breath the 19th when my family arrives!!!

thanks all for aujourd'hui folks. gotta go plan me some lessons...