Ready to Come Home

I think I've done an excellent job of not complaining about wanting to come home.  I did not (probably much to Mommy's surprise) call home once my first 4 months here to say I wanted to come home.  Not once.  But now, as I enter into my last three weeks, I'm going to say it: I WANT TO COME HOME!!!!!!!!  I think all this excitement is getting to me.  Knowing I can actually start shipping stuff home and packing is killing me.  This past week felt like the longest week in months, only because I knew I'm so close to coming home!  I hope the next 3 weeks go by much faster!

Maybe it's not all excitement, maybe it's also part due to stress: I have a 10 minute presentation on Thursday about a Shakespeare Sonnet (Sonnet #2, if anyone is interested in helping....Thanks again Shannans!!).  What, you may be asking yourselves, can someone possibly talk about for 10 minutes that pertains to a freaking sonnet?!  It's 14 lines long for crying out loud!!  All I can say is that even after discussing things with my professor, the British girl in class and myself are freaking out.  It's not going to be a good day, I can say that much.  My prof tried to make us feel better by saying that no one was going to rate us on how well our French was, just on the content.  Well, thank you M. Marty (yes, Marty), but that doesn't make me feel any better about standing up in front of a bunch of French students and trying to speak about a dumb sonnet for 10 minutes.  I pray no one is in class (last class there were 6 if us).  It'll make it somewhat better.

After that is over with I'll have one week left of classes.  So maybe after this week everything will be ok.  Either way, I'm ready for home and Mocha and our wonderful coffee maker that BEEPS when the coffee's finished brewing and my beautiful brand new washer and dryer and Mommy's home-cooked dinners and EVERYTHING!!!!  I can't wait to go out and get a normal sized coffee.  It's going to be soooo good.  And I'm going to wear every piece of clothing I own, I'm sooooo sick of wearing the same couple pairs of pants and tops every day.  And shoes - a girl who sold shoes for 3 years should NEVER go to France for 4 and 1/2 months with only 4 pairs of shoes: it's suicide.  My boots had better be up from the basement, that's all I'm saying....

I guess I should get back to this sonnet analysis.  Awesome.  23 days, and then I'll never have to deal with Shakespeare again, never have to go to that dumb Anthropology class again (sorry Anna, but it's boring), never have to go to that ghetto campus, and NEVER HAVE TO LIVE IN THIS DORM EVER AGAIN.  Hallelujah!!

The Final Stretch!!!!

So, here we are: I have 27 days until I am home :)  Not counting this week, I have 3 weeks to go!  I have ONE more Medieval History class!  I also have my Shakespeare Exposé next week, December 2.  The only plus side to that is that it'll be December!  But I just sent that prof (the Justin Sane look-a-like) an email saying I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.  So hopefully he gets back to me tomorrow and we exchange a couple e-mails until he realizes it would just be better for both of us if I just write a paper instead.  (Wishful thinking). 

News update that I totally forgot about: there is a boy in that same class who looks EXACTLY (and I mean EXACTLY) like Rabbit in U-571.  I'm not talking about older version of Justin Sane, I'm talking about you could probably re-film the movie with him in it!!!!  Kelly, you must know exactly what I'm going through - only you could understand!!!!  I want to take a picture, but that would be really weird.  But everytime I watch my favorite actor ever, Will Estes, in U-571, I'll be reminded of this french guy....  Absolutely crazy: TWO doppelgangers in the SAME CLASS?!?!  It can happen people: this is proof!!

Anyway, I had a perfect time with Carl.  Arles was wonderful.  I also had a great time with Marsha and I cannot thank them both enough for loving me enough to fly across the ocean pour me rendre visite!  Merci à vous deux!!  *kissies*  I would go into every last detail if only I had the time!  Alas, I have so much to do, and it seems to have crept up on me out of nowhere!

Let's see, the to-do list:

• Anthropology: finish reading a huge section of a really boring book.  There are a ton of words I don't know, so I look them up and it's the same word in English.  Problem is NOT solved.  Also, finish reading another book (the whole thing this time).  It is easier to read, so that's good, but the main reason why I haven't succumbed to the torture is the lime green cover.  It's what keeps me going, seriously.  In-class essay for the final, but I don't know if it's in 2 or 3 weeks....
• Comparative Literature; I have the *dreaded* exposé on the 2nd.  Followed by in-class essay in either 2 or 3 weeks, he "wasn't sure".  Isn't it your job to be sure, Mr. Older Version of Justin Sane (mind you, I would never speak in this tone of voice with the real Justin Sane).
• Poetry: Originally, I would have had to write a dissertation on a poem by Ronsard to hand in on the last class day (December 9th).  But grâce à la grève, she doesn't think we have had enough time discussing poetry (I've spent MORE than enough time discussing poetry, thank you VERY much) to write a dissertation, so now I have a "reflection" due the same day.  What exactly is the difference?  I believe the dissertation would have had a question to answer.  For the reflection, I just need to analyse the poem to the best of my ability.  I will be putting "Je suis américaine" on the top of this paper for suresies.
• Medieval History: nothing really.  I have to look over my notes and then 2 Mondays from now I have to answer some short-answer questions in class.  We're not exactly sure about this, so I'll be emailing him later this week to be sure of what exactly is going on.
• Grammar: nothing really, again.  Mondays, we learn more grammar stuff (yay!! --note the scarcasm--), and on Tuesdays, we do writing practice.  So we'll continue with that for the next 2 or 3 weeks, have a little test, et fini. 

I'm looking forward to the end of this.  It's been a long time!  It hasn't been a bad time, but I'm more than ready to come home.  I can't believe I have to finish buying Christmas gifts already, and start shipping stuff home!!!!  I hope you're all ready for me ;D