An absurdly long post to make up for my absence.

In the past few days I have purchased tickets to Munich, Paris, Turkey, and Greece. Oh, my poor bank account. I told my host sister about going to Turkey and she looked at me like I was crazy, "Why are you going there? Honestly, there is nothing to see in Turkey." I disagree. There are wonderful friends and amazing sights in Turkey. Why wouldn't I go there? It is a once and a lifetime opportunity, like I would pass that up. French people are so elitist. Liking your own culture is one thing, but not being able to at least appreciate another culture is just sad.

Speaking of other cultures, I have found a new love: Rugby. It is like a brutal combination of soccer and American football, except with no pads and it never stops. What a good sport. France has been hosting the Rugby World Cup for the past month or so and last Saturday they beat the All Blacks, the hardcore New Zealand team, in a surprise victory to get to the semi-finals. It was a really good game and I happened to be walking to a bar when they won. Seriously, people went nuts. Every bar was full of people screaming and cheering. Practically every car was honking in celebration. Passengers were leaning out of windows and even sunroofs as they drove past. One driver had a french flag that he was waving as he drove... and these were just the quarter-finals! Next weekend France plays England, which is always a fun rivalry. With any luck they'll make it to the final game! Allez France!

Last weekend my parents also visited! It was crazy having them here in Strasbourg. My host mom recommended a good restaurant for Tarte Flambée, an Alsatian specialty, so we went there with Mike and Sarah. Other than that I can’t say I was the best host, mostly because I was sick and completely exhausted, but I think they had a good time. I’ll get to see them again in two weeks in Paris! Definitely looking forward to that.

Also, we had our first excursion last Friday. It was... intense? The first stop of the day was Struthof, the only concentration camp on French soil during WWII. I guess in retrospect I'm glad I went, but it was very upsetting. Not the best start to the day. The next stop was Chateau de Haut-Koenigsbourg, a chateau that was built back in the day and then burnt down by the Swiss. Then the Germans came at the beginning of the twentieth century and rebuilt it to look like an ancient chateau. The only problem is that they didn't really know what an ancient chateau would look like so it was sort of... tacky. I think I'm spoiled, having been to Mont Saint-Michel. Finally, we ate in Kaysersberg, an Alsatian town very similar to Ribeauvillé. Not really a thrilling place, but I guess it's quaint or something.

In other news, my classes are finally sorted out. Lewis & Clark is sort of ridiculous and requires me to take six electives, all in french, in addition to my ten hours of language per week. The good news is that each elective is only one hour of class per week and has fairly little homework. The bad news is that each class has one cumulative exam at the end of the semester and that’s your grade. Oh god. So anyway, here’s a brief list of what I’m taking :

Phonétique
One of my better classes, surprisingly. It’s actually really interesting to think about the phonetics of french and the professor is pretty funny. The last class was all about the rhythm of the language and how the syllables are grouped together equally in a phrase. She also talked about french being one of the only languages that places emphasis on the last syllable of a phrase. Definitely a cool class.

Littérature du XXème siècle
I’m not a big fan of literature classes, but Lewis & Clark adores them and so I’m in this class. The class covers the important french literature in the first half of the twentieth century, which has the potential to be interesting. The last three classes have been focused on poetry, however, which pretty much the opposite of interesting to me. Hopefully it’ll get better. I’m looking forward to the lecture on Albert Camus.

Philosophie en France
For some reason, and don’t ask me why, philosophy is better en francais. I’ve never liked it in english, but I love this class. The professor is this hilarious guy, who looks like how I would picture a french devil – round body, vaguely pointy head, and really devilish grin. My favorite class thus far was all about Sartre and existentialism. Existentialism really confused me in english, but it just seems to make sense in french. It’s almost like it’s more appropriate here in its original context.

Société français
A completely absurd required course on french society. It’s pretty painful and almost completely useless, as we’ve been learning about the media and sports in France. I feel like if you’re living in France for more than a few weeks, you figure out most of this stuff for yourself. Ah well… the professor is an amusing middle-aged woman who seems very disgusted with the current state of french society, hehe.

Histoire de l’art
This class would have potential, were the professor not completely timid and neurotic. It’s actually pretty painful and I am becoming increasingly pessimistic about it. One of these days I’ll need to take a real art history course.

Littérature thématique
Oh boy, another literature class! We’re studying short stories this semester, which I guess is fairly intriguing. The professor is a woman in her late twenties and brings a lot of energy to the class. The class isn’t bad, but it isn’t incredible either. I think I just have high standards.

Now that we have school, it’s even easier to just go to school and then hide in my room for the rest of the time. Most of the time when I get home, I really don’t have the energy to go back out. I’ve found, however, that when I force myself to get out of the apartment I generally have a better time. For instance, tonight Sarah, Clif, and I discovered Le Kafteur, a local « théâtre d’humour » (literally : humor theater) and saw a Québécois group perform. It was brilliant and completey hilarious. Most of it was physical comedy so comprehension wasn’t really an issue. We’re definitely going back there for their next few shows. Sarah and I have decided to try to go to something cultural once per week so next week it’s the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra. The best part of all this is that we have "Culture Cards", which give us great discounts on everything from museums to movies.

Again, here are some random pictures from the last few weeks:
At the Orangerie, an amazing park here close to the European Parliament.

Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg. I don't know how to pronounce that.

The Chateau again, but this time with pretty Alsatian landscape.

Les parents at a cafe near the Cathedral.

The Cathedral in the daylight. It's big.

Okay, enough of my ramblings for now. Sorry for the crazy long post. A bientot.