rome

Things are going well! I officially bought my ticket to ROME for the end of April. I am so excited that I can't even tell you. It's going to be the most AMAZING trip. The day after classes finish (officialllly, which means that this trip will be in celebration of NEVER having to sit through a 2-and-a-half hour discussion section on Free-Masonry in France again), four of my friends and I are taking an early train to Paris, where we'll be spending the day (!) and staying in a hostel because we have an early flight the next morning. Then the next morning we're going to Rome, where we'll be for four days(!). They're continuing on to Venice/Florence/Bologna for about a day each, but I really want to see my cousin, so after Rome I'll be flying directly to LONDON! Ah! Paris/Rome/London for Spring Break 2010 = the best birthday present from my parents ever, with some of my favorite people ever. I'm so excited.

Then, I'm pretty sure the plan is to come back here and soak in Bordeaux for ten more days or so/take small trips with my friends who are still here, and then possibly end up in London if a couch becomes available for a few days. And then fly home sometime before the end of May! It feels really good to have a plan finally. If my professors wait until after I've booked tickets to inform me that I do in fact need to be on campus when it isn't convenient for me, I'm just going to tell them that it isn't possible anymore because they didn't clarify that when I asked the first time. I'm willing to cross that bridge when I come to it, and it feels so good to just not worry about it anymore :)

It's gotten cold in Bordeaux again! But it's also sunnier, which is weird. This past weekend there was an interesting carnival, and a parade that apparently crossed the river and made it to downtown near where I live, which is a long way for a parade. I was impressed. Some highlights:

Confetti!

Also, I think I'm officially done searching for stripes. I've tried on SO MANY shirts/dresses that I'm just not in love with, plus I'm already very happy with the two pairs I did buy here. Trying on clothes here is more tiring than it is back in the States, because here in France, we come into the stores wearing many, many more layers than we wear in the States. It's exhausting. So, I've decided to channel all of my energy that used to be spent drooling over stripes into drooling over tights. So I really need this cold weather to go away really soooooon.