Mon dieu! This past week has passed by so quickly!
So on Thursday night, I heard from the last of the colleges where I applied. I was excited to find out that I was accepted into Hamilton College (NY)! I was accepted in their January program so I will actually be starting school in January of 2014. :)
Last weekend was a 3 day weekend! On Friday it was Marine's birthday. She turned 21 (which is just like any other birthday here because you are considered legally an adult and you can drink at 18. On Sunday, we celebrated Pâques ("Easter" in English). I didn't do anything super special for Pâques. We did a tiny scavenger hunt and collected chocolate eggs in placed around the garden. However, all plants and grass had been ripped out from the backyard the week before so there were limited options for hiding spaces. Since we couldn't walk on the grass, the eggs were "hidden" on the border of the patio. Despite the conditions, it was still fun to take part in this little tradition. In France, it's said that "les cloches" (bells in English) hide the chocolate eggs. I'm not really sure how that works, but this is what the kids believe. In America, we have a rabbit who hides that eggs. If you really think about it, having a rabbit hide Easter eggs isn't any more weird that having bells who hide chocolate eggs. Easter afternoon, some of the family went to visit an aquarium near Tours. It was a little aquarium and mostly filled with fresh water fish swimming in murky water. But I was content learning all about the fish of the Loire River and of seeing some of the tropical fish. I even saw an electric eel--like in the Little Mermaid! I've never saw an electric eel in real life before my visit to this aquarium. After the aquarium we stopped at Tours to take a walk, but then we realized that everything was closed. So we went home and made crêpes for dinner. Anne-Cécile (my host mom) and I made a bet with one another to eat crêpes with mustard on it! Even though it just tasting like eating plain mustard, it wasn't very appetizing.
I loved the convenient translations in English...
Touchez= "Touch" in English
La Mairie de Tours
The town hall of Tours
A lycée in Tours. Pretty nice, huh?
This was one of the only cafés which were open Easter Sunday. In addition, it was just so cute on a such a beautiful day.
Today, I had the oral comprehension test in English for the actual Bac. They played a recording in English and you had write down a summary from what was said on the tape. However, there's a twist. You have to write the summary in French. You have 15 minutes to listen to the recordings and write down the summary. 15 minutes is not a ton of time to do all that. I didn't finish, but it wasn't a huge deal. It's nice to have that part over with. After taking testing, I had the rest of the afternoon off. I went to the fête foraine (a fair/carnival) with some friends. Right now, there are a few attractions, game booths, and candy vendors set up along the main street of Châtellerault. We had fried dough, (like at the Minnesota State Fair!) except for there were beignets (a doughnut without the hole in it) with nutella and waffles instead of deep fired candy bars and Twinkies on a stick. We also did bumper cars! Playing bumper cars made me realize that it's been nearly 7 months since I've last driven. I miss being able to drive!
À la prochaine,
Becca
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