Nothing out of the ordinary..

Hi!  It's been a while since I've written, I guess.  Or at least it seems like it!  Not much big stuff has happened, though.  Mostly everyday stuff!  I've had plenty of homework, took the final test in swimming (not sure how I did, but I'm sure glad it's over!) and went out with friends a bit.  In my last post I talked about the Bac Blanc, and it turned out not as horrible as I thought it would be.  The philosophy went good, and I think I actually prefer the 4 hour time limit to a dissertation we do at home-at least in the test, after 4 hours it's done, and there's no need to keep saying 'I'll finish tomorrow.. Just one more thing to add..So maybe the next day..' etc.  Not that I would ever say things like that!  I got pretty awesome grades in all the subjects, if I do say so myself, so I'm pretty happy about that.  Not to brag, but I had the best history grade in the class!  (15/20).  Not sure how that happened..
 
The weather's been really good-it's actually kind of strange.  It hasn't snowed since before Christmas, and the last week or two it's been almost warm-in the teens (celsius) most afternoons and at the breaks, we sit in the sun in our sweaters but no coats!  But yes, normally in France in February, it's winter.  It'd actually be nice if it snowed though, because it's not very good for skiing and with the vacation coming up, I want to go skiing!
 
Speaking of vacation, I'll have 2 weeks with no school after a week in Turkey.  So I'm going to go 3 weeks without school!  It's crazy for me, but in France having at least 2 weeks of vacation in normal for every time there's a vacation.  It's been 7 weeks since Christmas and my classmates will be in school this week, meaning 8 weeks between the two vacations.  I didn't really notice it, but for them it seemed super long since usually it's only 7 weeks at most between the 2 week vacations.  During the vacation, I'll be in and around my host town-no big travels with my host family.  I want to go visit some of the other cities around me, like Annecy, Lyon, and Grenoble.  I'll get to see some friends and some of the other exchange students!  As for Turkey.. I have mentioned that I'm going to Turkey, right?  I'm leaving Sunday and I'll be there til next Saturday.  We're visiting Istanbul (1 day) and the Egéen Coast (not sure how to write the name of the coast in English..)  There's one girl from my class who's going, and the 3 other exchange students in my school.  I also know a boy who's going, but the rest of the group of 30-40 students, I don't know yet. 
 
One Sunday afternoon I went to a game of handball with my host family.  I really liked it!  Handball is played for 60 minutes and it's like a cross between basketball and soccer.  Sort of.  I don't know how to describe it, but there's a little video on my facebook if you want to check it out!  It's exciting to watch because it moves fast and there's a lot of points.  The final score was 33-35 after 60 minutes I think, and each goal is worth one point.  The atmosphere in the arena was really good.  Everyone had these giant fan-type things (big piece of paper, folded accordian style and held at one end) that you clap against your hand to make a loud noise.  It was sweet!  And my host town's team is the best in the whole country.  2 or 3 of the players are on the French national team, that just won the world cup of handball.
Later that week, a Wednesday, I went to a soccer game with my host sister.  There's a French Soccer Cup, which every men's soccer team in the country can participate in.  It starts out with the little teams against little teams, but since all the divisions are together it's possible for the little teams to work their way up.  My host town's team is doing really good-they're in the quarterfinal and have been beating really good teams!  So that was exciting.  We won!  During the vacation there'll be another match, and I'm hoping to go see it.  This one's at Grenoble so that there's a bigger stadium.

There's some English correspondants (like an exchange student, but just for a week or two) that just came to our school yesterday.  I went up to talk to one English boy, and even though I talked to him in English.. he might possibly think I lied when I said I'm American.  :)  I said things like "And you?" which is okay in French but sounds awkward in English, and things like that.  You can't blame me though, I had spent all morning in class and reading in French!  I've been meeting a lot of English-speaking people lately.  A couple students studying abroad that I randomly came across downtown who were talking English, that I started talking to, and a girl in my bus who I didn't know I knew (apparently we ate together at school once.  I didn't remember.. ) who, when I said where I was from, got all excited and said "I speak American!!!" and so for the rest of the bus ride we talked 'American'.
   By the way, a lot of people say things like that-'I speak American' or when they talk about the US, they say that they speak American over there, not English.  It's odd. 
Have a good week, Happy Valentine's Day!