Tour of Tours

This is going to be a relatively short entry, because we're leaving the residences for the train station in about 30 minutes and I need to finish packing.

Things have been going well. I'm getting more used to classes, and meeting a lot of people through Handball and class as well. Yesterday in my Organizational Consulting class, the professor did a short lecture on business communication and presentation skills, and then we had to break into groups of 5, read an article, and prepare a presentation of the article's message to be given that same class period. We did and it was fine, but it was terrifying. I gave my part of the presentation in French, obviously, in front of a whole classroom of native French-speakers. That's something I've never done, and hadn't anticipated doing so soon!

Very weird coincidence involving a girl in my presentation group, Antonia. She is French, although that's not a French name. She asked me where in the US I was from, so I drew a little map of it with Chicago labeled, and then I showed where St. Louis is in relation to Chicago. She said great, and then drew a dot a little above Chicago and labeled it Madison. I hadn't told her where I go to school or anything, so I was like, YES! but...why do you know that? It turns out that she will be studying there next semester! Isn't that fun? We exchanged info.

Handball practice was good yesterday. It's such a fun game. We practiced running into the attacker when you're on defense yesterday. You just run up to the guy with the ball, and hit him. Not punch him, but run into him with your body and use your hands to try to control his arms and prevent him from getting a shot off. That's fun.

So yeah, we're going to Tours, a city in the Loire Valley. The area is known for its numerous chateaux and vineyards. We plan on doing some biking, seeing some chateaux, some relaxing, some going out. It's our first trip away from Paris! And the FIRST time I'm travelling in Europe with only a very small duffel bag. That's the best part.

We're coming back on Sunday, not sure if I'll be able to post any pictures, but I'll try to at least update the blog while I'm there. Alright, gotta catch my train!