"Oh! You mean Ba ʒe ma Fra kla!"

Salut tout le monde!

Wow, has it been a long time since my last post or what? I would apologize, but there's really not a whole lot that has happened. In any case, I'll give you a condensed version of the past two weeks:

• Went on a metro adventure and took touristy pictures of all the interesting stations
• Took a walking tour of the 2nd arrondissement (learned about the modernisation of Paris during the 19th century) 
• Watched my friend get pooped on by a pigeon (I'm pretty sure it was karma, as she had just blown off plans we had made not an hour earlier)
• Was chastised by my teacher for daydreaming in class (does trying to remember the date count as daydreaming?)
• Learned that Benjamin Franklin's name sounds much better when pronounced in French (according to my host brother anyway) Now do you get the title? It turns out no one here understands who Benjamin Franklin is when you pronounce his name in English.
• Got lost in the Louvre (not as in "The Louvre's so amazing I could get lost in here forever," but as in "You know, if a fire were to break out in here, we would die staring at the map on the wall.)

Palais Royal Metro

• Watched a film about France's desire to forget the Algerian War (though because it was a French film you wouldn't know that was the premise unless someone explained it to you- thank you M Bondurand)
• Discovered that no matter how many times my host brothers and sister greet me by kissing my cheeks, I will always wonder in that first instant when their face is flying towards mine what they are doing (handshake anyone? maybe a wave and a smile?)

Anyway, I think that pretty much sums up the past two weeks!

This Friday marks the beginning of spring break. I will be traveling around Europe for the next two weeks, starting in Prague and ending in the south of Italy. Today is the first day I've felt really excited about it, because I finally managed to get my group together last night and convince them we should probably finish booking hostels. I can't even begin to tell you how stressful planning this trip has been! I'm going with four other people, all of whom seem to think their mom is going to show up with train tickets and itinerary in hand. Thankfully, we now have places to stay at every leg of the trip, and a way to get to all those places. All that's left is to learn how to say "Hello" and "I'd like a sandwhich" in Czech. Anyone? No? That's okay, I'll let you know in two weeks!

À la prochaine fois!