Retreat, Paris, and Chez Tara

My school has a retreat for the seniors to go somewhere for three days with their respective class to get to know each other better. For three days I was surrounded by french 24 hours a day and no internet. At first I wasn't too excited about this retreat, but once I was there, I was excited. I knew it would be goo for me. This retreat involved me answering many questions (sometimes in french and sometimes in english) about myself: where I am and where I want to be, and me standing on a table to fall into the arms of my classmates. We did many other games and activities that might seem pointless, but they really helped me to learn about my classmates, and for them to learn about me. I now know everyone's name in my class, except for one. And I know it starts with an N, but I just can never remember it. Grr. :)

The day after returning from the retreat I headed to Paris for three days with the Rotary. It was so much fun too. On the way there, I didn't really know anyone, but I definitely made some good friends along the way. We visited le tour Eiffel, le musée de Louvre, le chateau de Versailles, l'arch de triomph. le cathedral de Notre-Dame, du shopping, etc. It was all awesome.

Upon returning from Paris I went to stay with Tara for 4 days. We made cookies, went shopping in Liege, and played perhaps a million games of Uno. Wednesday afternoon we had tea with the governor of the province of Luxembourg. That was fun simply because I got to see everyone again. They had pound cake too, it was delicious. I know that "the press" was the there and they interviewed a few exchange students. I wonder where this will show up. I'm not in an interview, but I am in the picture, so I'd like to see this. Today at Tara's St. Nicolas left candy in our shoes. Actually it's a marshmellow kabob and a clementine. YUM!! :D It was awesome. We were really confused at first though because we didn't know the story of St. Nicolas.

Apparently, St. Nicolas is usually December 6th and that's where he comes and leaves candy in your shoes if you're good. And it's for little kids. But he also comes like a month before too. I pleasantly surprised to find this out today. Sounds like 3 times the candy as normal, haha, Christmas, St. Nicolas, and today. When candy is involved, I will never mind being treated like a child. :)

Finally I'm back home to sleep in my own bed after over a week of traveling. It was a great week, but I'm super glad to be home.