Author: yusufn882

Today, the last day of classes, was actually really fun, but I’m mostly speaking for myself. I had English classes all day today so obviously I was excited to speak the language that I know the best. It was the first time all trip I was actually encouraged to speak English and it felt great. Today was also the first time I went off campus for lunch and Vale took me to some sort of hamburger place. After eating a cheese burger from there I can confirm that America has the best burgers in the world, no comparison… But it was still kind of good. After lunch all the Americans just waited, by either sitting on window sills or playing basketball, until it was time to get our daily exercise of trying to keep up with Madame Jones. If you’re trying to keep up with Madame jones on one of our many walks around the city, understand that your walking speed must be amped up to that of a brisk jog. We separated into 2 groups, I’m assuming to get through everything faster and to not waste time. First my group visited Cathedral Gatien which was named after a bishop. Some fun facts about the cathedral: it is asymmetrical, some of the statues are missing because of the French Revolution and the stained glass of the inside was used for people who couldn’t read, young or old. Next we traded places with the other group, hopping on a boat that took us up and down Le Loire, the longest river in France. Now some fun, and one not so fun, facts about the river: as stated before, it is the longest in France, the Vikings used this river, and the water is so polluted typically no one swims there. It was a very fun, informative and (if you were in Madame Jones group) very quick day.

On Monday I woke up kind of late because I was still so tired from the flight. I woke up at around 11:30-12, French time of course. The night before Val’s mom asked me what I wanted to eat for breakfast and I asked for a croissant, because I love croissants and we are in France, so I expected it be really good. The next morning I walked downstairs to go see what was in store and I wasn’t greeted with an extremely appreciated surprise: sitting in the table was 2 really big croissants that were just for me!!! There were so soft and giant and delicious and just so wonderful to eat. After that we went back to my room and hung out for a little listening to music. After that we went and ate leftovers from the night before which was, as it was the night before, absolutely delicious. As I said in my pre-trip reflection I was really nervous about liking the food from here, because I’m kind of a picky eater sometimes, but trying everything has been put in front of me has been amazing so far. After that Val and I decided to meet up with gregoire and Brett in the city. First we met with gregoire and Brett and then we met up with a bunch of Val and Greg’s mutual friends. We then walked to a bar where Val and his friends has a drink. After hanging out there for a little bit we walked to this sort of tunnel like place where there was stairs and we sat on those. A little while after getting there Kaelin and Esther (her exchange partner) showed up. We hung out there for a while talking and Val and his friends began rapping all of a sudden. It was so cool!!! After hanging around there for a while we all went back to Val’s house and did even more hanging out! We ended up throwing around the football that I brought as gift for Val. The French kids were pretty amazed as how we threw the ball how we did so far and fast. They taught us how to throw the ball like a rugby ball because it was easier for them and I was so amazed how far they could flick the ball. Eventually everyone started to go home and after everyone left we went back inside for dinner which consisted of chicken and French fries. That was, obviously, also delicious. I then went up stairs, after eating, to take a shower. After my shower I went into my room, wrote a little bit and fell asleep.