Some pondering

I'm about to my halfway point in France. Its a weird feeling sometimes its still surreal that I'm here. But since I'm not crazy studying for tests at the very moment, its nice.

I've been getting grades back on my tests and they are confusing, either on a 20 or 30 point scale, and much different from back home. An "A" is equivalent to a 15/20 or higher or a 21/30 or higher. Thus far I've gotten all A equivalents: a 23/30 on my lit test, 21/30 on my langue test, a 16/20 on my writing test, and a 28/30 on my culture class. I"m still waiting for the results of my history test. Needless to say I think this semester will be a gpa boost.

Another interesting thing is that women here are super judgment, and appearance is everything! I mean EVERYTHING. Walking into a place sometimes you get a head to foot look down. It was a shock at first. I can't wear tshirts here, and have to watch my style. Anything flashing draws attention, because the French really love their black. Its incredible how much black they wear. For real! And I try not to wear black, so that puts me out of it.

I am realizing how much I miss different food. Not french foods. Thats probably the hardest part about living here, not have such a diverse selection of foods. I don't eat cooked meat that often, but I do eat more desserts because they are fantastic. I'm surprised I haven't gained weight actually. haha. but its probably because I walk everywhere. I'm getting calves of steel! Not really but kinda. I walk up 5 flights of stairs for class at least once a day.

I am super excited right now because my spring break starts in a week! We're are going to Rome, Florence, Siena, the Italian coast, Verona, and Venice (thats Italy). Then up to England for Oxford, Liverpool and Stratford-upon-Avon for a Shakespeare play, A Winter's Night, in his birth town! Then over to Dublin and a day trip to Galway. I am super pumped!!!!! a 17 day trip and 3 countries. And for my birthday, it ends up I'm probably going to go to Brussels, Belguim! And then Madrid at the end of May. I'm really quite excited about all the travel coming up!!!

Tomorrow we are going on our last excursion to the D-Day beaches and the American Cemetary. I have been looking forward to this trip the most since I arrived. Its supposed to be cloudy and rainy, but I feel like that is fitting for this place. It shouldn't really be that sunny.