And now whatever way our stories end, I know you have re-written mine by being my friend..

Why hello there =)

The end of exam week was a little uneventful; I spent a lot of time worrying about literature and the exam in general and instead she gave us three pieces and we had to analyze them…tres simple. The phonetics exam was time consuming because she has to individually read phrases and you count either the syllables, the sentence breaks, write it phonetically, or write it grammatically correct; ex. She’ll say “chais pas” and we have to write “je ne sais pas” (obv. Those who don’t know French won’t fully understand this) overall it was fairly easy and painless. Which brings me to the exam I was dreading; traduction. For some reason, I can do the homework really well and I understand everything that is going on in the class, but my good ole amazing test taking skills come out full force in this class. (folks, this is sarcasm, I have always been a horrendous test taker) I crammed for this exam all day on Friday and more on Saturday morning, but it just wasn’t enough. It’s the only class I don’t feel I did well in, and it bums me out, but I guess that’s just how life goes.

We had our last dinner at mcdoner the other night with “les filles”, when we left we took a picture with the owner, and he told us his life story. Haha, overall hes a very nice guy and if you’re looking for cheap and sort of greasy food, head there. =) oh and get the tea, it is to die for!

Yesterday I had lunch with some of the girls at a soufflerie, and we each got a catalon soufflé, and split a dessert soufflé. The catalon was this sort of sausage, tomato, onion….I can’t even remember all that was in it, but it was good. The dessert soufflé was pistachio and raspberry with salted carmel sauce for dipping; now this may sound like a strange combination, but it was ah-may-zing. Soufflerie win.

Today I attended mass at the cathedrale. It was on my bucket list before I left France, and today is the last Sunday, so I went. It felt strange to be sitting in church again, but after it was just about done, I found myself thinking how other than the fact that it was in French….the process and music…even prayers were the same. Religion strangely has affected me while studying abroad, and the more it does, the more it makes me want to sit down and read the bible to get things straight for myself. Those who know me, know that I don’t consider myself religious, sure I’ve made my communion, I’ve gone to church, I know the procedures, but that’s where it ends. For years I’ve struggled with what I believe in and even if I believe at all. So now, after spending a semester in a country where religion is separate from state, but still a very big deal …I find myself curious about it and plan to do some reading when I get home.

After mass, Leah, Liana and I set out to find the Angers cemetery, and it was a long walk. We ended up coming across the Angers prison, and there was a plaque outside about the German occupation during the 2^nd world war, and the 3 of us wondered out loud if it had been used for nazi camps, and I decided to take a picture because the building really was quite cool looking…too bad none of us realized the prison is actually still in use today and as I took my picture, a guard came out telling me “pas de photos”…Oops. Well I put my camera away, but I do have a pretty nice shot on it of the prison…and it now resides in a folder on my desktop.

Once we actually found the cemetery, we explored a bit and were slightly curious of an entire family name being on one plot, but once again..I’ll need to do some further research on this one.  The weirdest part of the cemetery for me, was coming upon an area of crosses, and the plaque told us that all of these crosses were people who died during the german occupation in a working camp…some were soldiers, others were nearly 10 months old. Entire families were there. I was shocked to see so many crosses, and after being at Normandy, it just brought back a lot of somber feelings. In the u.s. (for the most part) we don’t have cemeteries were entire families were knocked out from the same thing, during the same time period. It’s crazy to think about, and even weirder to actually see.  I think today was the quietest day we have had in Angers so far. I could hear every step I took, there weren’t many people out (Sunday) and it is so humid that many are staying indoors to avoid the sticky heat. In fact, that is how I plan on spending the rest of my Sunday.

Highlights of this week:

-done with classes, and most of the exams were easy( if u studied)

-Corn bread.

-souffle

-wandering Angers in search of things we haven’t seen yet

-laying by the pool while studying.

-Cidef goodbye picnic by the Maine

-throwing out notes, worksheets, and papers that I will no longer need( while of course keeping those I will use)

-Mass at Cathedral Sainte Maurice

Bad things:

-Feeling unaccomplished after an exam

-Goodbyes

-the weather; whoever told me angers was a dry heat was sadly mistaken, the way this humidity is I won’t be surprised if I have an afro after walking around for a few minutes. Hot + humid = awful.

-needing to pack but not having the motivation to actually do so.

I find myself pleasantly surprised to be ready to come home. Most of my friends have gone in the past few days, or leave early tomorrow morning. While I am getting slightly nostalgic about this place, I realize that Angers was as great as it was because of the people I spent it with. Coming here I wasn’t thrilled to be in a university in the Loire Valley…I had thoughts of fields, and castles. While we have both of those, that is simply not all it is. But as is the case in many of my life experiences, if you are with the right people, any city, or any experience can be made into something unforgettable. So for all of my amazing friends from this semester, who will now be heading to all corners of the earth, I wish you all the very best, and if you ever find yourselves in Michigan, don’t hesitate to give me a call.

Classes are finished, exams have been taken, and goodbyes are being said. My time in France is coming to a close.