Giverny = incredible

Saturday was my excursion to Giverny (Monet's house) and all I can say is it was unbelievable. It was one of the most gorgeous places I've been in France as far as nature is concerned. The pictures don't really do it justice. If you visit France, I highly recommend Giverny. Also, I really lucked out... each student can only go on two excursions with the program, but there were open spots for Provins this Friday because people had to cancel (probably other travel plans or something, who knows). Either way, I get to go on a third excusion! Provins is an old city that used to be a really major fortress in France and has extensive underground caverns. It really works out because I don't have any other plans this weekend, so I might as well go on a program excursion.

I had my politics presentation on Monday, and I don't know how well it went. I found an article on the financial crisis in Hungary in a French newspaper called Le Figaro and in the New York Times. I hope I did a good job of explaining it, but it was complicated and I had to look up a lot of new vocab words. I just hope Marc is as cool with his grading as he is with his teaching! I'm mostly just glad it's over.

The big news in my host family is about Aurelie. I feel really bad for her because she's been having problems at school with the girls in her class. She has the same people in every class because it's like they are all one group that attend different classes together, and Alex is in it with her. I guess these girls in their class are really mean and make fun of her for spending so much time with Alex or something like that. It was so bad the other week that she ran out of the classroom crying! How immature of these girls... they're 20 or so, not 14. It's completely ridiculous and out of hand... Alex told me the professor saw everything and never even asked if Aurelie was okay. She didn't even go back to class because she was so upset. Catherine and Lionel are actually looking into private schools for her to go to, and I really wish there was something I could do for her. She's so nice; she really doesn't deserve this and I only wish I could go to her school and tell these girls off.