It's still February!

I promised I'd post before the end of February, so I'm squeaking in last minute-like!
Okay, so around Christmas, I flew to the southern coast of England to spend time with Mr and Mrs Magee, who are friends of my aunt and uncle. I had an absolutely fantastic time with them. They are so very nice. They took me to various small towns, such as Plymouth, Exeter, and Totness, and I visited Exeter Cathedral and saw a Pantomime (which is so very cool. We need pantos in the US). I spent Christmas with them and their daughter's family as well. It was so kind of them to let me stay there. The weather was nice, too. It was warm enough that I ended up walking barefoot to Christmas Eve mass.

A few days later, I was off back to France to spend time in Paris with the parental units. *That* was.....erm, interesting. The flight over, that is. I had a great time with the parents, despite having to translate for them all the time. Anyway, flight. Yes. Bad time. Amsterdam's airport is officially one of my least favourite places EVER. My flight from Exeter was running way behind, so I missed my connecting flight in Amsterdam. Cue MASSIVE panic attack, despite having spent most of the flight planning what to do should I miss my flight. On the bright side, I got through security faster than ever, and I've a feeling the only reason I got onto the flight I was on is because I looked like I was going to puke all over the KLM counter. So I land in Paris, about an hour later than I'd originally planned, and go to collect my baggage. Which fails to materialize. By this time, I was like, "whatever. I'm too tired to freak out right now." So I asked a friendly security guard what to do, and he directed me to baggage complaints. I explained that my baggage was AWOL to the nice lady at the desk completely in French! I was very proud of myself. I didn't have to switch to English until the very end, because I wasn't sure how to describe the colour of my suitcase in French. I caught a taxi and got to see my parents for the first time in months. It was wonderful. And thankfully, I got clothes and shoes for Christmas from them! Otherwise I'd have had major problems, what with my suitcase disappeared.

We had an amazing time in Paris. The Musee d'Orsay is gorgeous, and houses such amazing work. Mass at Notre Dame was pretty cool as well, though the latin made it very hard to understand, and I kept wanting to burst out into "Temps des Cathedrales" at inappropriate moments. The Louvre is just....it's overwhelming. We only saw a fraction of what's there, but it was still so much. We did see the Mona Lisa (La Jaconde, as she's known in French), and were suitably underwhelmed. The Palace of Versailles was easily my least favourite thing. It was overcrowded, had an awful contemporary art exhibition going on, and it was freezing rain out. All in all, not the best conditions for visiting. Throw in the fact that I hate rococo period styles with a burning passion and was coming down with a headcold and that makes for a very unhappy Corinne. I spent the last day in Paris curled up in bed with said cold while my parents got to go see the Eiffel Tower, l'Arc de Triomphe, and l'Orangerie.

After that, we spent a day in Lyon, and I also showed my parents Saint Etienne. While in Lyon, I finally got to see the basilica at the highest point of the city. It's so gorgeous in there. Last time I went to go see it, it was closed to visitors. Mom and Dad agreed that Saint Etienne is a cute little town, and that my dorm room is depressingly small, but I've come to like my room well enough. After that, I took them back to Paris, loaded them onto their plane, and went back to Saint Etienne. Do note: During this whole week-long excursion, my luggage *still* hadn't materialized. It was almost two weeks before I finally got my suitcase, which had clothes, toiletries, and gifts that were meant to go back home. Bummer, eh?

Once I got back, school started back up. Nothing to really note about that, except that towards the end of January, the school went on strike. It's still on strike, actually. The students have actually blockaded the main gate with chairs. The strike doesn't affect those of us in CILEC, though. I scraped through my class, just barely earing the B2 rating that students need to earn to take regular University courses. and then, we got a weeklong break between first and second semester.

So I went back to England. But this time I stayed with Katie, who's studying at UCLAN. We spent a couple of days with one of her friends, and prowled the town, having a marvelous time. Then we took an early morning bus to London (about a six hour trip, but much cheaper than taking the train). I. Love. London. Being there was a dream come true, more so than having gone to Paris. We were smart and got a 3 day railcard for the Tube, which pretty much payed for itself after our first day. It was a little bit weird, because I associate the tube with a book I read a few years ago--Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. The whole time I was in London I'd think about what books had taken place wherever I happened to be visiting. I'm such a dork! We went to the National Gallery, and the British Museum, which is a lot bigger than I realised at first. I'm glad we ended up going to that one twice. We saw a West End production of Les Miserables (it's London's version of Broadway), and walked so very much. We walked around Westminster Abbey and the Parliament building, along the Thames, across several bridges, including the infamous London Bridge, which isn't nearly as cool as I'd imagined, because the bridge everyone associates with London is *Tower Bridge*, which we also walked across. We went to the Globe Theatre, and the Sherlock Holmes Museum (appropriately located at 221B Baker Street--I was a happy geek that day). Really, the only thing I didn't like about London is how expensive everything is. I spent waaaay too much money there. I'm very broke now. But it was totally worth it. And I know I said I'd post pictures, but due to technological issues (mainly my computer being a butt and not reading my memory card), I can't post any right now. I'm irritated. Irritated is a good word.

And now school has started back up. I was retested for classes, and got put into a class a smidge lower than what I really need. But I've decided not to move up. For one thing, the teacher teaching the level I should be in is simply awful. I do NOT want to sit through 15 hours a week of her. For another, I have a bit of a crush on one of the boys in my new class. I don't mind sitting through 15 hours of class a week if I get to oogle him surreptitiously. Plus the teacher is really nice, as are the rest of my classmates. I'm the only american in that class. The rest of the students are from Korea, Japan, Colombia, Bolivia, Spain/Morocco, and Sao Tome. The majority of the class is Korean and Japanese, though.

What's really great right now is that the weather is starting to get a lot nicer. The sun's been out every day this week, and it's steadily getting warmer. Aaand, today marks my sixth full month in France. That's right, six months ago today I was sitting in this very dorm-room having a massive freakout and wondering how I'd survive. I've only got three months left here. I know I've grown a lot, and I've made some amazing friends, but all the same, I cannot wait to be home. I'll try to remember and post again soon!