"re: Bonjour!"

"bonjour Grace. C est avec joie et beaucoup de plaisir que je vais t acceuillir en avignon et nous ferons connaissance je te recois avec deux autres etudiantes catherine et kristin. bon vayage et a tres bientot tu parles vraiment bien le francais bravo D ANIELLE SEROR"

I realize the majority (not all) of my readers do not speak French, so here's the meat of it. It's with much joy and pleasure that I will welcome you, [and Catherine and Kristin] to Avignon. Bon voyage, and you really speak French very well. Bravo.

The end.

Short, but WOW, it's still quite fun to hear that from a French person you've never met. So I guess the details will have to wait for me to discover them, which is really cooler anyway, if not less instantly gratifying. Still, the basic idea here is that I heard back from Danielle, confirming that she exists, she knows I exist, and that I have her email address down right.

That's reality check moment, part 1. Part 2, NINE DAYS. I can now count on my fingers, and the well-wishing is flying thick and fast. A big huge thanks to all of you, it means a lot to know that folks back home (anybody else notice that I keep calling you the 'folks back home' and I'm not even gone yet?) are noticing and supporting my overseas adventures.

I believe I can now safely say that my paperwork is over and done with, with the exception of the final payment, which doesn't count because I don't have to sign it. So there's something to check off the list. No more photocopying-signing-dating-printing-paperclipping, and turning in to EdAbroad in triplicate...hoorah, now it's just packing and leaving, really...

And, in the fabled "non-F-word" paragraph, I got my PSY 332 final of doom out of the way: two essays, two and a half hours, 50% of my grade for the class, and I NAILED IT! *Victory dance* What a relief, although at first I thought I seriously damaged my wrist sprint-writing for two and a half hours. And here's a little tidbit I feel like sharing: it was just about two hours into the final when this guy bursts in, panting like he'd been running and digging in his backpack for his bluebooks. The boy looks up, sees that of the whole class there are only about seven of us remaining, and his jaw drops. Slowly, eyes widening in panic, he scanned the lecture hall, one side to the other, staring at those brave few of us who were left sprint-writing our enormous essays.

Bafflement on her face, the TA slowly stands up and looks at the guy, who turns to her and asks in a panicked, breathy voice, "Abnormal psych?" "Yes," replies the TA tentatively, "Oh-my-God-I-thought-this-final-started-at-TEN!" "No-o-o..." she replies with a shake of her head, "It started at eight."

I don't know, I found it share-worthy. I suppose we shall never know what became of the boy. Frankly, I don't even know whether to believe that he made an honest mistake, but maybe my suspicions are just a motiveless paranoid read into the motives of others. I dunno. I'm more concerned with wanting to stop being able to analyze my every thought.

Well, I have mythology finals to study for, a Jeff shift in an hour, and other general stuff to do, so I'll leave off this post, thrilled to have reached the "receive reply from host family" stage of the proceedings. All the best, and thanks for reading!

-G

(88-- LAL, 3/17)