No crepes? Ridiculous..

Last week was the first week I went without a crepe. How odd...

I voted for the first time last week! It was a great feeling. I was really excited (more so than I thought) when I found my ballot in the mail. It's nice to know that in a state like MO I have the ability to make a difference and make my voice heard. I voted for Obama and encourage you to do so as well.

My host brother was kind of a jerk tonight. He asked me if I've noticed my French improving since I've been in France. I didn't understand because I haven't learned past tense or the word for noticed and asked him to clarify. He told me in English and then said 'obviously not.' Later on his dad and I were speaking and he told his dad not to speak in French to me because I wouldn't understand (when I was), so I spoke up and said so. I have definitely improved since coming to France and I'm seriously learning new things every day. It hurt my feelings and confidence to be judged off of one sentence I haven't even learned yet.

I went to Rome to visit Ally again. I had a great time even though we didn't do much. We did go to a real Roman market and met with Ally's vender. You have to know someone in Italy. He even gave us free grapes! Then we made an excellent dinner with her friends. We made fried zucchini flowers, brochette, and minestrone soup. It was all delicious and I had a great time.

I'm going to be home in almost a month. That seems really weird to me because I've been out of the country for three months! It's been really crazy and I'm actually really excited to go home. I've enjoyed my journeys but I'm ready to be home among friends and family.

I finally went to the grocery store! I now have enough food for 8 lunches and three or four dinners. I bought bread, nutella, oatmeal, cereal bars, French crackers, cereal, jam, cookies, and juice. I wish I could find a place that sells peanut butter! It'd be amazing to have nutella/peanut butter sandwiches.

Some people in my program are really lucky. Bridget has a few friends from home living in Paris so she can see them and meet REAL French people. Tracy just moved in with a very wealthy family who will give her three meals a day and took her to their home in the country side last weekend. They also introduced her to French kids my age. And Amanda has a fellow student living with her who she's best friends with. I'm jealous!

In other news I did well on my Islam midterm (85%). I have another midterm on Thursday for Paris culture but I think that will be alright. Wish me luck!