No one wants to be defeated.

A lot has happened in the last several days.

The weekend in Normandy was fantastic. I saw Omaha Beach, and the American Cemetery...spent an afternoon at Mont-Saint-Michel, which is every bit as beautiful and special as my host mom said it would be (she grew up in that area)...finally went out one night with the group, in Rennes, which was a lot of fun. I'd do that more often if Paris was as calm at night as Rennes is. Unfortunately, it isn't. Such is life.

We spent a great deal of time on the bus driving around, and the radio was on most of the time while we were on the bus, and in case you were wondering, Michael Jackson's death is BIG NEWS in France. I'd imagine it must be pretty chaotic in America, considering what it's been like here. We got back Saturday night and yesterday afternoon apparently there was a big tribute event at the Eiffel Tower. I would have liked to go...

However, I spent all of yesterday in bed with what I'm guessing was food poisoning. Which was not so much fun. I actually was kind of sick all weekend, but especially Saturday night/Sunday. I finally feel okay right now, though, which is good because my host mom suggested that if I'm not better tomorrow I should go to the doctor. And I do not like going to the doctor. I think it will be okay, though.

This afternoon we went to the Cinémathèque Française, which is a museum about film and cinema. It was really, really fun, and extra cool because I'm currently in a cinema class, so I felt very knowledgeable. I see stuff in Paris all the time that relates to my history course; it was nice to see some examples of the cinema stuff too.

It was HOT today. In fact, all day I kept trying to tell myself, it's not that bad, it's hotter in Tucson. And of course it is...but it's humid here, too. Basically, the sun is nice but today was rather unpleasant trekking around in the heat, and with an upset stomach at that. On the bright side...I'm in France. So it can never be too bad!

I've started reading a French translation of the book "Eat, Pray, Love", which if you haven't read, you should, because it's fantastic. In French it's called "Mange, Prie, Aime" - one of the few books where the title actually translates directly. And it's so beautiful in French!! I think I'm falling more in love with this language every day. And getting better at it, too. I was kind of impressed this evening by my ability to have a conversation about soap operas, cinema, and gastro-intestinal issues with my host mom without too much trouble. (Too much information? Oh well, it's my blog.) I think she finds it really hilarious that I'm starting to be able to keep track of the characters in "Plus belle la vie," which is our soap. It's VERY complicated.

What else? My classes are going well. Lots of homework - I must confess, as much as I'm going to be so sad to leave Paris and finish this program, it's going to be really nice to not have homework for awhile. Just sayin'. But really, I am going to miss all of this so much. I can't believe I'm 2/3 of the way finished already. I'm becoming better friends with the people in my group all the time, and I'm really happy that we'll all be back in Tucson together come fall (unless Crava decides to stay in Paris forever, which is a whole other story).

All in all, despite the loss of my beloved Bonzai (not to mention MJ, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and BILLY MAYS) and the food poisoning and whatnot, I'm feeling so overwhelmingly lucky and blessed with everything in my life right now. I truly couldn't ask for more.