On our walking tour, Leslie and I made friends with four other Americans who were staying in our hostel. Jeffrey, Liz, and Kaleel went to Loyala in New Orleans, and David was from somewhere in the Northeast; they were all studying abroad in London for the semester, and they were all on school vacation as well. After Prague, they were going up to ( Read more... )

I only have one week left of teaching-oh my God ( Read more... )

Leslie and I arrived in Prague at 10:30 at night on Friday, February 18. (Wow, that's such a long time ago!) After much confusion about the tram, we finally made it to our hostel, where we both showered and got ready to go out. We went to a really nice bar just two doors down from the hostel where the bartender juggled flaming bottles of liquor ( Read more... )

Today is exactly a month until the day I come home ( Read more... )

Last Tuesday, March 29, my mom, Jessica, and I took and early train from Geneva to the small town of Annecy, which is located in the French Alps. Annecy is the town I went to visit last October with Inge, Silvana, and the teacher from my school. I found it to be every bit as charming the second time around. The day was beautiful and sunny, with ( Read more... )

Last Monday, which was March 28, we all woke up early, Leslie got a train back to Lyon, and my mom, Jessica, and I went to the bus station to meet our tour group. We spent the day on an excursion to Mont Blanc and a glacier called la Mer de Glace, or "Sea of Ice." Our bus took us back into France to a small ski station called Chamonix. From ( Read more... )

Apparently April Fool's Day is a huge day in France. During my first class today, a bunch of my students from a different class barged into the room and paraded around it clapping, chanting, and shaking random students' hands. They only stayed about a minute, so I just let them carry on, watched them leave, and then commented to the students in ( Read more... )

My Easter in Geneva was quite nice. The Easter Bunny managed to find us despite the fact that we were very far from home, and that was exciting. In the early afternoon, my mom, my sister, Leslie, and I took a boat ride around Lake Geneva. There were two highlights: (1) we got to see the villas where Lord Byron and the Shelleys lived, which made ( Read more... )

On Saturday in Geneva my mom, my sister, and I slept in late and ordered breakfast in our room, so we didn't end up leaving the hotel until around 1:00. We walked across a footbridge over the Rhone River to the Left Bank of Lake Geneva, where most of the historical sites in the city are located. The footbridge also connects both shores of the ( Read more... )

My mom and my sister arrived safely to Lyon yesterday afternoon. It was so great to see them! I was thinking as I waited for them in the airport just how long it's been since I have seen them; it was a really weird feeling ( Read more... )