Wow.

The past two days have been amazing.  Lauren and I took a bus to Montréal, we met one of our favorite singers, explored the beautiful city, met a good friend of mine, and stayed in a hostel.  I shall begin at the beginning, if you would like to follow me on my recounting of this journey.

We woke up at four-thirty in the morning on Saturday in order to head to the bus stop outside le Pavillon Desjardins (kind of like the student union of the university) by five-forty-five.  We caught what I like to call the accordion bus to la Gare du Palais and waited for approximately an hour before boarding an Orléans Express bus (which is similar to Greyhound).  After a quick stop in Ste-Foy to pick up more passengers, we were off.

The three-hour drive wasn't too bad.  Lauren passed out before we hit le Pont du Québec, but since I can't sleep on buses, cars, planes, or anything, I just listened to my iPod.  I woke Lauren when Montréal's skyscrapers came into view in the distance, and we soon arrived at the bus station on rue Berri.  It was really cool to see so much between Québec City and Montréal; 'tis one of the reasons why I love road trips so much more than flying.

Luckily the hostel I picked (almost at random) was very close to both the bus station and the place where I would have my "Coaching en chant" with Gabrielle Destroismaisons.  Go me.  Because we arrived so early (ten-thirty), we couldn't check into the hostel, but they had a locked room for us to keep our luggage in 'til four o'clock, our anticipated check-in time.

Close by was a small McDonald's where we had a quick lunch (I had "McCroquettes," of course) before setting off to find the building where the Coachings would take place.  We wandered around rue Amherst but were unable to find the place.  It was extremely stressful, especially as time grew short.  There was a guy standing outside the building (by which time we had found the correct place but couldn't get into since it was locked) whom Lauren was brave enough to ask if we were in the right location, and he said "yes."  So we waited outside for a while until none other than Gabrielle Destroismaisons pulled into the parking lot.

Let me just start by saying this: Gabrielle is absolutely gorgeous.  She came over to Lauren and me, and we shook hands and introduced ourselves (as if Lauren and I needed introductions from her).  I explained that Lauren had just walked with me to help me find the place, but Gabrielle immediately said, "You can come in if you want."  Naturally, Lauren (and I) was overjoyed.

Gabrielle unlocked the door and led Lauren, Martin (the totally awesome dude with the guitar) up to a small room on the second floor.  We all talked for a bit until Catherine (Gabrielle's other "student") showed up with her mom. We started with some vocal warm-ups with Gabrielle showing us how to feel the sound in our noses and faces (which tickles) and how to project by "sending" our voices to a certain focal point.  (I sent mine to California.)

Something fun to note: Gabrielle seemed to think it was totally awesome that I came from the U.S. and she said that she loved being able to practice her English with people, but knew that I'm in Québec to speak French, so she said I should do that.  She spoke French with the others, but did a mixture with me, which I appreciated.  She's actually the first person outside the FLE program who made an effort to help me speak French.

After we were all warmed up and rrrready to go, Catherine sang her first song.  She sings so beautifully, especially having had problems with her voice her whole life.  Martin went next, playing his guitar and singing a song he had written.  It was awesome.  If he makes an album, I want it.  I was last, singing Do What You Have to Do by Sarah McLachlan.  It was actually the first time that I had ever sung solo into a microphone for other people.  My main problem was not letting myself relax.  Having sung mostly in a concert choir, where we stood straight and stoically, it's hard for me to really let loose, smile, and move around.  I sang it two more times during the session and apparently got better each time, but it was hard.

My absolute favorite part was about halfway through.  We wanted to sing all together, but naturally it was a bit hard to find a song we all knew.  They knew that Lauren and I love Bruno Pelletier, so we decided to sing Aime, which everyone knew.  The  three "students" and Gabrielle sat together while Lauren and Catherine's mom filmed.  It was so fun.  At the end no one knew the words, so I did the big finish.  It was awesome.

Even though we finished late, it ended far too soon.  When it was over, we all said goodbye and Lauren and I went to check into our hostel.  After that we walked down the rue Ste-Catherine, through le Festival Juste Pour Rire, to rue Drommond to eat at m:brgr, a gourmet burger joint where you can "build" your own burger.  It was magically delicious.

Our night at the hostel was . . . interesting.  We were in a dorm with fourteen other guys and gals, and people talked all damn night.  Since we had to get up early and we were exhausted, we went to bed at eleven.  Naturally we didn't expect people to be quiet or anything that early, and it wasn't a problem for a little while.  Except I woke up at one and then three because people would not. shut. up.  It was maddening.  Lauren was lucky and slept the whole night.

I was also unfortunate enough to wake up to a guy . . . having fun . . . in the bunk next to me. Lovely. (If you'd like to read that inappropriate sentence, highlight it. If you're not comfortable with inappropriateness, don't.)

After a small breakfast at McDonald's (don't judge me; it's fast and affordable) we walked down rue Ste-Catherine and then rue St-Urbain to the Notre-Dame basilica. It didn't open to the public until twelve-thirty, so Lauren and I hung out outside and took pictures. I left at twelve o'clock to meet my friend François while Lauren stayed there. While I waited for him to arrive, I was approached by a guy asking me to sell him a cigarette, who proceeded to ask me why I was sitting there, why I was alone, who I was waiting for, and my name, at which point I told him to leave me alone. Ew.

When François arrived, we spent a lot of time just walking around Montréal and talking. It was nice. We had lunch in Chinatown and then walked around some more. At one point we went into the Grande-Bibliothèque, rode the elevator up and down, and then left. It was awesome. We met up with Lauren around four o'clock and hung out before heading to the bus station about an hour later. We said goodbye to François (sniff, sniff!) and Lauren and I got on the bus for Québec (and Ste-Foy) at six o'clock. When we got back, at around ten, we went to a nearby Chez Ashton for a late dinner of poutine before taking a bus back to the university.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Unfortunately I must now return to the real world of studying. Sigh.

POUTIIIINE!!!

Goodness.  What on earth can be said about the past week-and-a-half that I have been in what is quite possibly the most beautiful place ever?  A whole lot, that’s for sure.  Let’s break it down!

Lauren and her parents picked me up from my grandparents’ in Michigan on the morning of the third of July.  We drove for a while before stopping in Port Huron in northern Michigan at this really cool restaurant.  We sat in the atrium of the restaurant in movie theatre-style chairs with silent films playing off to the side.  ‘Twas quite neat.  The wait at the border was a bit long, but we finally got through and entered Canada around what was probably about one or two o’clock.  We drove through Ontario, often noting the vast number of Petro-Canada stations and Tim Hortons coffee joints.  In London, Ontario we exchanged some American money for Canadian and had some fun figuring out which coins were loonies and which were toonies and admiring the twenty-dollar bills.  We finally stopped for the night in Kingston, Ontario.

The next morning, we headed out and finally crossed the border into Québec at around noon.  It was extremely exciting.  The excitement was slightly marred, however, by my attempt to order a smoothie at the Tim Hortons right on the other side of the border.  The woman from whom Lauren and David was very polite and accommodating when it came to their unsure French, but when I ordered from someone else and messed up one word, she immediately switched to English.  I persevered, however, and spoke only in French.  It was rather disappointing, but I survived.  And later I came to realize that it wouldn’t be the only time it happened.

Going on the highway around Montréal, traffic was absolutely nuts.  It was even worse when we got into Québec City and tried to navigate through Vieux-Québec in an effort to find our hotel.  We finally made it and thanked God for the valet service so we didn’t have to try to park.  After getting settled into the hotel, a Marriott Courtyard right next to the Place d’Youville stage for le Festival d’Été, we decided to go to a snazzy restaurant right across from the stage called Chez L’Autre.  I had the most delicious roasted chicken au jus ever.  (Okay, it’s the only chicken au jus I’d ever had.)  Lauren and I spoke French to the waitress, and all was well.  After dinner, Lauren and I walked around the interior of the walls of Vieux-Québec and went nuts in Archambault.  And by “went nuts,” I just mean we were excited.  We didn’t go broke or anything.  I did, however, have to buy a CD of Bruno Pelletier’s since the only hardcopies of his CDs that I have are Concert de Noël, Bruno Pelletier et le GrosZorchestre, Microphonium, and Rendus-là.   And I need them all.  Eventually.  The only ones that Archambault seems to stock right now are Un monde à l’envers, Rendus-là, D’autres rives, and Sur scène.  So I bought D’autres rives since it has my favorite song in the entire world, Loin de chez moi.

The next day was the real day of tourism.  We visited the Château Frontenac, la basilique Notre-Dame, went down to the Basse-Ville, took a roundtrip ferry to Lévis just for the hell of it, and did all of that fun touristic stuff.  Lauren and I also got to see some street performers doing stuff like rolling around in a hoop and juggling fire.  Then we came back to our hotel and went to Chez L’Autre again for dinner.  I got the roasted chicken au jus again, at which point I realized that I’m allergic to something in it.  Joy.  A little after dinner we all walked a good way away from the wall to see a free performance of Cirque du Soleil’s Les chemins invisibles.  IT WAS AMAZING!!!   

The next day we drove in some direction that escapes me to see la basilique Ste-Anne and the Montmorency waterfall.  Once the afternoon hit, we headed west to Trois-Rivières to see the Torontonian jazz singer Emilie-Claire Barlow in Le Festivoix.  I’m not a fan of jazz, but it was a great show.  She’s hilarious, and her use of franglais was awesome.  It was particularly funny when she would say something funny in English and the four of us would crack up, but no one else would get it.

On Sunday, we headed to Université Laval to move in to our dorm and start the whole study abroad thing.  When we went into the residence services building, the woman assumed we were with a group called Explore.  Neither of us contradicted her because we didn’t realize there was more than one French immersion group and we just assumed that our program was called that and we didn’t know it.  Oops.  We were placed into our dorms, which are directly across the hall from one another, and said goodbye to Lauren’s parents.  After that, Lauren and I had a few hours until a “tour” that was being given, so we walked down the street to check out the huge Archambault store in the mall and to eat at Casey’s a bar/grill right next to it.  The “tour” was nothing more than walking around our dorm building, which wasn’t very helpful.

The next morning was the first day of classes.  Lauren and I arrived at the language building at 8h30 to receive our schedules and the levels of French into which we had been placed.  It was at this point that we learned that we weren’t in Explore, that that was a program for Canadians and was practically free.  Oops.  We went one more floor up to find our correct group, which we did, and got in line for our schedules and placement.  It was then that I realized that I had forgotten my passport in my dorm, which needed to be photocopied before I could receive my schedule.  So I walked the ten minutes back to the dorm and the ten minutes back to get it photocopied, which took a while.  Finally, I learned that I was in the highest placement, “supérieur” or “superior.”  Sweet!

After lunch, Lauren and I just hung out for a bit and I talked to my mom and sister on Skype.  We went to the University Pub (yes, there is one) to hang out with a bunch of people in our group and the “animateurs” who are very similar to Truman’s student advisors.  It was lots and lots of fun.  There were games and limbo and music, and it was a blast.

One thing that’s interesting about this program is that they really mean it when they say they want you to speak French all the time.  Like seriously.  I am currently wearing a yellow wristband that tells people I’m an advanced French speaker, so they can come up to me and say whatever they want and I should be able to understand.  Beginning students were blue wristbands, which means that you need to keep sentences simple and you’re able to use franglais.  Red wristbands are for intermediate students.  I’m scared of my yellow bracelet.  Also, they give out different colored cards at random.  They give out green ones if they hear you speaking French and red ones if they hear you speaking some other language.  If you’re seen not wearing your bracelet, you get a yellow card, at which point you have to go find an animateur and explain why you weren’t wearing it.  Or something like that.  If you don’t do this, it becomes a red card.  Apparently there are consequences for too many red cards and rewards for lots of green cards.

Today was the first “real” day of classes for the advanced and superior levels.  We received our schedules, which include our optional course.  I chose Le Québec et sa culture, which should be EXCITING.  At some point we’re going to learn about swearwords in Québec.  My other two cours are advanced grammar and oral expression.  So I’ll get a total of six credits.  I don’t know if they’ll transfer to replace a requirement at Truman, but I’m just happy for the electives and the experience.

For TL;DR: Québec is awesome.  I love it.  I find French already coming more easily to me when I speak it, and Lauren and I speak it almost all the time to each other.  It’s quite awesome.

EE-step, not EH-step, not Eh-STEP

Ladies and gentlemen of the germy, I am in Michigan.  It's pretty surreal.  I haven't been here since I was twelve years old in very late 2003 and very early 2004.  A few years after my parents divorced, my sister Emily and I flew from Oakland, California to Michigan to spend the week after Christmas with the whole Estep clan for the first time since we were very little (my father was living back here with my grandparents at the time).  A lot has changed since then.  The digits in my age have reversed; instead of being 12, I am 21.  New family members have been born, people have married, and the Estep family continues to grow.

 

This week, for the first time in many years, all of us will be together to celebrate my grandparents' fiftieth wedding anniversary.  I flew from St. Louis to Detroit yesterday, Emily flies from Louisville to Detroit tomorrow, and my father, his wife, and their kids will drive up from Georgia on Wednesday and get here on Thursday.  When I say everyone, I mean everyone.  Last time we were all together, there were seven grandchildren and one great-grandson.  Now there are twelve grandchildren, three grandchildren-in-law (is that a real term?), and five great-grandchildren.  My father has since remarried and his brought his wife's four kids into our great big, happy family and they have an adorable little girl together, my baby sister.  It's not only an anniversary party, as my grandmother has put it, but a gigantic family reunion.  I haven't seen my father, step-mother, and siblings in about five years, since I was sixteen.  I haven't seen my oldest sister and brother in even longer, since I was last up here.  I haven't seen Emily, whom I grew up with, in about six months.  Words cannot express how excited I am for all of this to happen.  (And though I say the Estep family continues to grow, don't expect me to contribute to the number of great-grandkids any time soon.)

 

I'll be here for two weeks, and then it's straight up north with Lauren, Deb, and David.  We'll spend a few touristy days in Québec City before Lauren and I move into our respective dorms, at which point our study abroad experience will begin.  But you all already know about that.  There's a lot in store for this summer besides this big family bonanza: vocal coaching with one of my favorite singers, seeing Bruno Pelletier in concert after three years. . . .  Oh, yeah, and studying.  That, too.  That's kind of the whole point of going up to Québec in the first place, but we don't worry about that.  (Although I am terrified that I'll make a fool of myself while trying to speak French.)

 

While packing, I actually accomplished quite the feat in that I only forgot one thing, albeit an important thing: my laptop charger.  And, of course, it took a dead battery in my laptop for me to search for the adapter and realize that it wasn't with me.  I'm currently using my grandma's, but I ordered another charger for fairly cheap, so that should arrive soon.

 

Now I'm going to go write.  Noodles.

A veritable whirlwind

Just as the title suggests, the past few days have been a veritable whirlwind.  Many, many things have been good, even amazing, but not everything.   Lauren and I will be leaving our comfy room at BNB for a smaller one in Dobson.  I shall resign myself to communal bathrooms and try not to let it kill me.  I went to Hannibal today to spend the day with Kat since it'll be the last time I get to see her until I get back from Québec.  I was sad to leave.  Sigh.  This whole "being apart" thing isn't fun.

Oooh, what else?  Let's see . . . oh, yeah.  I get to sing and be coached by one of my favorite singers, Gabrielle Destroismaisons.  It's kind of a long story.  She's been offering four vocal coaching sessions for about $350, which is quite reasonable.  The problem is, I'm a broke college student and can't afford that.  Not only that, but I don't have the means to go to Montréal for weeks in a row.  It's just not possible.  So I was pretty bummed.  Then I received an email from Gabrielle herself (yes, I'm just that cool) saying that, after multiple requests, she was opening up a single group session for $85 on 27 July.  MUCH more doable!  Though I would prefer a one-on-one session, beggars can't be choosers, as my mom likes to say.  I'm just happy and grateful for the opportunity to sing and be coached by her, period.  Lauren and I will probably spend the night and the next day in Montréal, as well, before heading back to Québec City.  While I'm in Montréal, since it might be one of the only times I'll get to go there, I'll also be meeting up with a friend of mine, François, for the first time.  We met online via NaNoWriMo because he saw that I liked a lot of Québécois musicians and he was surprised.  He's cool.  I'm excited.  Woo!

Since Lauren and I are being driven to Québec by her wonderful parents, we're going to have a few days of "tourism time" before we move into our dorms and start classes.  One of things we'll be doing is going to Trois-Rivières to see Emilie-Claire Barlow at Le Festivoix.  She's a lovely jazz singer about whom I only know because she sang with Bruno Pelletier once upon a time.  Lauren and her parents looooove her and they're beyond excited.  I'm happy, too, even though I'm not overly fond of jazz.  I don't mind her jazz. :)

Speaking of concerts, Lauren and I had some pretty damn good news today.  Well.  Apparently, there's been an event up on Bruno Pelletier's Facebook fanpage since late May about a performance in Lévis (a city just across the river from Québec City), and Lauren and I had no idea.  We've been waiting on tenterhooks to see if Bruno would be performing somewhere close by while we're up there.  And he his!  He'll be performing on the evening of our second-to-last day of classes, the day after his birthday, on 8 August.  Technically, it's Bruno Pelletier et le GrosZorchestre, his jazz group, so he will presumably be accompanied by Julie Lamontagne, Richard Irwin, and Dave Watts.  Again, I'm not fond of jazz, but this is Bruno Pelletier.  I don't need any other pretense to see a jazz show.  And Lauren is beyond ecstatic.  She has wanted to see Bruno for years and years, and I was a bum and saw and met him first even though she introduced me to him.  I was a little disappointed that it's not one of his typical shows where he performs his regular stuff, but then I realized: I had my turn.  I was fortunate enough to go to Québec to see Bruno twice in October of 2009 for is Microphonium tour when I was 18.  Not to mention the fact that I got to meet him after both shows.  Bruno's stuff with the GrosZorchestre is very close to Lauren's heart.  She loves jazz, and it was the first stuff of his she found, so this is perfect for her.  I'm so happy that this, of all shows, is her first experience with Bruno.  She has been over the moon with joy about the whole thing.

It happened like this.  The lovely Ekaterina said there was going to be a show in Lévis when we were talking on Facebook.  Apparently this is already common knowledge.  I checked out the website and it turns out it's free, too.  It's a show in the street, literally.  (So we should probably bring some chairs.)  Obviously, no decision needed to be made.  We were going from the moment Ekaterina said it was free.  Unfortunately, Lauren had already left for class.  It was about an hour before I was to leave for Hannibal.  Nonetheless, I texted her and told her to call me asap since I had reeeeally good news.  We got a hold of each other while I was on the road and she was walking back from class, and I told her.  She cried and was hysterically happy, and I wish I could have been there to see her.  She's been in a state of disbelief all day.  I know exactly how she feels.  It's how felt when Sarah invited me to come with her three-and-a-half years ago.  (Something for which I am still and will always be immeasurably grateful).

This all sounds a little one-sided.  I am very excited, too.  I think part of my problem is that, not only has it not kicked in yet, but I'm worried that something will conflict with me going.  Not Lauren; she's going.  But the program in which we're participating at l'Université Laval has us doing, not only an actual French class, but a sort of workshop of our choice.  We submitted our top three choices and will be "sorted" upon arrival. My first choice was a singing workshop in which we would learn, sing, and perform francophone, especially Québécois songs.  The only thing is that I'm paranoid that that final performance will conveniently fall on 8 August since it's the day before the last day.  I have no way of knowing if it will or if I'll even get into the workshop, but the unknown is driving me crazy.  Maybe that's what's preventing me from screaming and jumping up and down and running in circles like I should be.  Hopefully that'll change soon.

Don't get me wrong: I am very excited to see Bruno again.  Immeasurably excited.  I'm just not good at showing it right now.  It's weird.

Anyway.  I leave for Michigan in twelve days.  I'm very excited for that, too.  I'm going to celebrate my grandparents' fiftieth anniversary with them.  I'll get to see my two oldest siblings, Dawn and David, for the first time in nine years, my grandparents for the first time in about two years, and my father, step-mother, step-siblings, and younger sister for the first time in about five.  Pretty crazy.  I'm nervous.  But hey, it's family.

Ashlee's first twister

Well.  If you know me, then it's likely that you know my worst fear: tornadoes.  Or at least, one of my worst fears is tornadoes.  So you can imagine my "joy" at living in the Midwest where tornado sirens seem to go off all the time for mild storms.  Let us embark on the tale of what took place last night and today.

Lauren and I left Kirksville and headed for Hannibal.  I dropped her off at her dad's and then went to the house where I live with her and her mom and step-dad to spend a few days by myself.  The plan was for Lauren, Kat, and I to see Iron Man 3 on Wednesday.  I went to Wal-Mart around 5 o'clock after grades were posted to get some dinner.  When I got outside of the store on my way back, I could see that the weather was, for lack of a better word, eerie.  There's a sort of stillness, of strangeness in the air that precedes a big storm.  It just felt off.  I already knew a storm was coming, but I thought it would just be a typical thunderstorm.

I lounged around the house for a bit, eating dinner and watching a movie, when the neighbor from across the street (Lauren and I are friends with his daughter, Lairyn) came over and invited me to come over to their house to be with them during the storm since we knew it was going to get pretty bad.  I declined, saying I would be okay.  I simply didn't think it would get that bad.  When the thunder and lightning started, I lounged on the couch to watch and listen through the window.  

Then I heard the tornado siren.  Despite living in the Midwest for almost two years now, I've only ever heard it go off once and that was when I visited three years ago.  So, naturally, I was scared.  I grabbed my laptop and Kindle and hurried down to the windowless bedroom in the basement.  Almost immediately, Kat (who knows just how scared I am of tornadoes) called me to see how I was.  At that time, I was okay.  I was kind of shaky, but at least I was functioning.  We hung up when I got an incoming call from Lauren, who was at the movie theatre downtown with her dad and step-mom.  Lauren, too, knew how scared I was.  As soon as she told me that it was, in fact, a tornado, I panicked.  I couldn't help it.  It was my worst fear coming to life.  Even though she tried her hardest to calm me down, it didn't work.  She tried to convince me to run across the street to Lairyn's house, and I listened for a moment.  But I stopped as soon as I looked out the window.  All I saw was green.  The air, the sky, everything was green and moving.  It was terrifying.  I'd never seen winds so fast.  Everything was whipping around and rainy that I was frozen with fear and told Lauren that I just couldn't go outside.  I called Deb and David in Kirksville, and they helped to calm me down.  At this point I was hyperventilating.  I knew there was a tornado somewhere and I was alone.  

Eventually, as it started to calm down, Lairyn called me and asked me if I wanted to come over.  Since it was calmer and I was calmer, I accepted.  I grabbed my bear, Sammy, (don't judge) and ran across the street at breakneck speed, at which point a towel was thrown over me and I was let inside.  By this point, things had calmed down.  We hung out in the basement for a little while, but then we went upstairs when it was deemed safe.  It was still greenish for a while, I continued to insist.  After a while, Lairyn's mom needed to charge her phone, so we all got into the car and decided to drive around so she could charge it.  By this time, the winds had stopped and it was only raining lightly.  I couldn't see much at the time, as it was dark and I didn't have my glasses, but it was bad.  We got a couple of scary jags of lightning, as well.

I slept in the basement that night, waking up about every two hours.  When I woke up, everywhere was still without power.  I talked to Kat, and she was fine.  Lauren was fine, too.  They and their families had barely any damage, and no one was hurt.  When David came down, we went out to lunch and surveyed the damage around Hannibal.  Trees everywhere, powerlines down and leaning over, trees uprooted, part of a building taken out downtown.  Officially, the news says it was just very, very, violent, strong winds.  The general consensus among word-of-mouth was at least one tornado, probably more.  Many people were reporting sightings of funnels and things.  The building that was torn up downtown had bricks ripped from it, which leads me to believe that it was a twister.  Apparently, a tornado was sighted up somewhat close to where I was, too, as well as downtown where Kat is.  Yikes.

BUT.  Everyone is okay.  We have all been incredibly lucky.  I know this is nothing compared to Oklahoma City, but it was truly the most terrifying moment of my life.  Not only was it a tornado, but I was alone.  Not completely, since my phone was ringing off its figurative hook with my loved ones calling to see if I was okay.  So I feel both blessed and loved.  Throughout all of this, I know my faith in God has increased, which means more to me than anything.

Halfway there

Well, I done did it.  I am officially halfway done with college and halfway to attaining two Bachelor of Arts degrees.  Pretty crazy, eh?  Finals week this year was pretty hellish, but at least it’s over.  Lauren, Kat, and I are all having trouble believing how quickly this year went by.  It seems like Lauren and I were in our apartment just last month, not almost a year ago.  The first semester didn’t go by too terribly quickly, but this second semester was just a whirlwind.  It’s pretty crazy.  I’m glad it’s over.

Some highlights of this school year?  Well, I absolutely loved the casts for the two French plays.  We all were quite close, and some of us the second semester cast created “The Derp Troupe,” which was just a fancy way of saying that we met up every Sunday in the north BNB lounge to watch a movie.  Other highlights?  Umm . . . I can’t really think of many.  I became a peer tutor for French last Fall.  My first semester was for Elementary French I and then this past semester was the complete opposite end of the spectrum for Intermediate French II.  That was pretty cool, but also pretty difficult.  It can also be frustrating at times, but all work is like that.

At the moment I am sitting in the basement, just chillin’ out.  I haven’t really started unpacking.  I’m only going to be here for a month and a week until I fly up to Michigan to spend two weeks with family, and then two days after that we’re driving to Québec.  Since I’m only available for the first part of the summer, that kind of prevents me from getting any sort of job.  Which stinks.  But hey, what can I do?  I also applied to be a volunteer on the Prep Crew, which means I would be helping to prepare the residence halls for incoming freshmen and other students.  I would man the hall desks during Truman Week, prepare orientation packets, move in microfridges, etc.  If I get accepted for that, then I’d move into the dorm about two days after I get back from Québec, which is fine with me.  The less downtime, the better.

I think that’s it.  I’m tired.  I might nap.  Or I might unpack.  I have no idea.

It's all coming together.

This semester has gone by extremely quickly.  My mind is rather blown to realize that final exams start in about two weeks.  It still kind of feels like, in classes, we should be in that beginning state where professors are still just handing out syllabi and we haven't really started learning anything.  Yet we're wrapping stuff up now.

Since the French play's format was so different from the past three semesters in which I participated, that seemed to go by more quickly, as well.  Our two performances were on Wednesday and Thursday of this past week, and we had our cast party at the Nichols' house on Thursday night after the performance.  (This newfound tradition was started by a brilliant idea from yours truly.)  The first performance was great.  Everything was perfect, and we got tons of compliments afterward.  One of my French professors (for whom I worked as a peer tutor last semester, also) complimented me on my pronunciation and said he was very impressed.  EEEEE!!  Any compliment I get on my French sends me over the moon.  The second night of the play didn't go so well.  The sound was far too quiet so we could barely hear it, we dropped lines, Lauren's and my fight scene was off, the music didn't start right for our group song . . . I dunno.  But the audience still seemed to like it.  The cast party made up for everything, though.  We all had a blast.  I feel so fortunate that I've been able to get to know everyone in the troupe and that we've all become so close.  It just stinks knowing that we won't all be able to be together next time.

Back: Rachel, Marcelline, Dr. Lobert (our director), Mary, Ashlee
Middle: Anna, Jen, Sobira (our lovely subtitles lady), Maria, Lauren
Front: Dallin

In other news, study abroad in Québec is officially official.  Remember that huge debacle I mentioned with Truman's Study Abroad office?  Well, one of the women there has been in contact with the peeps at l'Université Laval à Québec, and we received a letter from both the university and Truman's Study Abroad office saying that we are officially accepted.  So our credits will transfer, and everything is hunky dory.  YAY!  I am so beyond excited.  In mid-June I'll fly up to Michigan to spend two weeks with my father's side of the family, and almost immediately after I return, we'll start the drive up to Québec.  WOO!  Next week is some mandatory orientation for those studying abroad this summer or next year.  Pretty snazzy.

Also in other news, I have had major difficulties in scheduling for next semester's classes.  Part of it is my own fault, and now the rest of it is pretty much just bad luck.  I'm hoping certain things will work out, but it's not, you know, certain.  Sigh.