Le Club de Conversation!

I just finished making captions for my rather large new photo album! I have pictures of all sorts of things, so enjoy!  Les Saints et Les Amis

Once again this week flew by....next Friday I head off to London for my first break and when I come back it'll be March. I honestly don't know where time's been going.

I'm pretty sure that I'm just going to London and Venice now, and not Belgium because I couldn't get the girl that originally agreed to go with me to commit. I don't think she's doing anything for break because she never planned anything...Oh well. I might check out Rome for a day by myself (because it's so cheap to get there from Venice) and then head back to Nantes the Friday or Saturday of my break. Mme. Rouchet (one of the directors at IES) said that students that travel the entirety of the breaks are always too exhausted, anyways, so it'd be a good idea for me to come back and have a day or two to rest.

The Conversation Club started 3 weeks ago (3 Tuesday ago). The first night I was too tired after all my classes, so I didn't go. Last Tuesday and this Tuesday I DID go, though! And I will never miss another one again, no matter how tired I am!

It's the coolest club where IES students and French students from the University get together in groups of 10-15 in separate rooms and play social games or talk about a certain topic. Either half of the sessions is held is French and then the other English, or the American students speak in French the entire time and the French students speak in English the entire time (I've had both). It's really fun and you get to meet a lot of really nice, funny, and cool French students. It's an hour and a half so you really get a lot of time to practice speaking, listening, and getting to know each other. Plus, it's always reassuring to see other students your age trying to speaking your language with the same difficulties and mistakes as you have while speaking theirs. I love this activity; it's one of my favorite activities in the entire program here in Nantes.

I don't have too much else to tell you except for the fact that I can't really Skype with anyone. Ichat and OoVoo don't work either (other types of internet video chatting). The wireless internet here (and apparently all over Europe) just isn't good enough unless you have your own private internet router (which a lot of people actually don't have, including me). And the wifi offered at IES was horrible the one day I tried it.

So, if you'd like to talk to me more, my only suggestion is through AIM (AOL Instant Messaging).  If you don't already have a screenname, you can quickly make one free of charge; then I can instant message you!

Lemme know,
Monica