Apparently since Wednesday things haven’t been so exciting. And why would this be you ask; because I’ve fallen ill. I thought that I could escape it and keep myself healthy while here, but I suppose it was inevitable! Thursday morning I woke up and was feeling a slight scratch in the back of my throat, but I thought it was just some dryness since the air here is really dry, but as the day progressed I found my sinuses going crazy and then getting excessive nosebleeds. It turns out I have a cold, but of course this didn’t stop me from going out on Thursday night, the night of parties in France since everyone goes home for the weekend. So Nic and Sarah send me a texto saying that they are going to the Salamander at 23.00, so I think, fine fine I will suck it up and go have a good time just becasue I was bored and stressed from school a bit.

I got ready, and we all were late that day, but I was mostly just a bit irritated becasue my teachers aren’t being really clear about when something is ‘due’ and when it’s ‘due’ to be handed in. Apparently we are supposed to read their minds, regardless I managed to get everything handed in and nothing too crazy was happening. Right, so getting ready and then we were all late and we walk over to the Galia after visiting Zara and Matthieu who were going somewhere else. We said hellos and then left for the party, and of course as always Nic has his huge entourage with him. Whole bunch of Americans were there, lets see if I can remember their names. The were Sara from Rhode Island, Jessica from Syeracuse, Sarah from Maine, Lisa from God-only-knows-where, and then some random girl who I don’t even remember being around us that night. Anyways, we get to the disco and Ginette’s mom calls her mobile so she ditches us for awhile and we go in and it’s lame to the max. Apparently it was Economics night, and everyone there was weird, and it was mostly guys just sitting around, but the most disturbing thing was the fact that they were playing 80’s funk. When I say funk, I mean serious funk that it’s impossible to dance to, so after ‘attempting’ and clearly the rest of them not being drunk enough to continue they go and ask the DJ to change it and he says ‘I’m not allowed’ so we are all thinking ‘lame!’

Anyways, about an hour later things pick up and good music comes on and we all get our grooves on. I was feeling good since I went for a run, and apparently when I do physical activity my body doesn’t get sick anymore, so I was dancing around and such an the place gets absolutely packed! These two girls(?), gender questionable, showed up in weird outfits and guys with spotlights and were throwing t-shirts to everyone, and we were all thinking ‘are those really women?’ It’s sad when they are dressed like women, but we can’t figure out if they are, however it was a highlight of the evening. So we end up getting onto the stage because one of the girls is clostraphobic, and there is this crazy guy who was in the same place all night trying to seduce just about everyone in sight. Luckily (or unluckily) for him he got a t- shirt and was using it as a lassoo to trap people and dance with him.

He grabbed Sarah and she just about freaks out, then Lisa and she goes along with it and he get’s méga-über-creepy when he starts making tiger noises and rawring at her. I am in stiches dying because the guy is plastered off his ass and clearly having issues. He ends up on the floor and was wigging around as we are heeled over laughing, and for a moment I thought he was having a ceasure, but I couldn’t have taken it seriously if he was. So he starts to try to pretend to be an elephant and then falls over into the wall. We think he’s hurt but really he’s just laughing, and then moves on to the next victim; that is to say everyone in our group. Absolutely hillarious, and I will never forget the 20 minutes in my entire life.

Also Ginette and I have decided that French guys are just plain stupid, they can’t take no for an answer. This Haïtian guy trys to pick her up cause she’s in a tube top, she says know, and he stalks her. He eventually gets thrown out for sexually harrassing someone else. Then we see this blonde tall guy who keeps coming our way and we are like ‘sketch-factor through the roof’ so we avoid him. He eventually comes back at the end of the night to try to dance with Ginette, but apparently her Acadian-ness has allowed her to become more French easily and just said ‘No’ and move and and ignore them as we were leaving.

Also this Russian guy? was stalking our group because Lisa was dancing with him, and after we shun him for about 1 hour he still doesn’t take a hint and leaves. Kinda pathetic, but it was funny to laugh at him without him knowing! Eventually we are leaving and Ginette feels guilty ditching Nic who is being a social butterfly as usual, so we find him and it’s about 03.00 at this point, and he nearly takes a hissy-fit when he hears that we are going. He nearly cried I think, and considering that he wasn’t that drunk, I don’t know what that means. Regardless he wouldn’t let us go without hugs and such, and then we run into Zara, Mattieu, Zoë, Jemma and company who apparently stayed in their room because the lineup at the Gallia was too long then came here. They are all excessively drunk, being British and all, and danced a few mins with them, Mattieu of which looked like he was about to fall alseep, and after they hugged and kissed us and grabbing onto just about every part of our clothing we leave into the cold frosty air of Strasbourg.

When we get home the guy at the ‘Acceuil’ asked for our keys, and I laughed since he clearly sees me everday, but I guess he doesn’t notice that I say ‘Bonsoir’ all the time! Damn French! We go upstairs and I’ve got the munchies of course, so I cook pasta while Ginette complains to me about her (lack of) lovelife and the guy that lives in Germany that she dated in Canada, and how he doesn’t want a relationship at this point in his life, blah blah blah. Quite honestly I didn’t know what to say to her, so I just tried to be supportive, and gave her yoghurt. That seemed to shut her up a bit.

Finally I went to bed, but not before blowing my nose and getting a nosebleed. Waking up the next morning for a 10.30 class was like walking down the street and getting hit by a tram and a bus, one after the other. I felt like I was death walking amiously through life. My throat hurted, mucus everywhere, and just not feelin’ so hot. So I went to class all struggling and luckily we were only doing simple phoetics stuff, so I talked into the mic with a hugggggggge sniffily accent and my teacher makes fun of me. Damn you Alain!! I think he was just saying it becasue I was not in the ‘French’ mood, as I was occassionally saying ‘struggling’ or random other words in Swedish into the microphone. He asked me what I was saying, but I refused to answer, pretending that I was so stuffed up I couldn’t hear.

I took a nap after getting home and did some food shopping and found some good foods for 20€. Luckily so far I’m staying within budget, and I’ve spent less than 600€ since I’ve been here last month. I think I set aside about 1’000€ each month, but now that I’ve got a bank account adn such I think I can start to transfer some funds. I assume that once I travel a bit more, I will be spending more money, but not by much. I’m thinking that if I’m not sick, I will be going to Paris for Zara’s birthday in a few weeks (DISNEYLAND!!), and then Switzerland in the winter for skiing with a friend, Gus in the UK if he get’s his act together and gives me some dates, and then Christmas in Sweden? Not sure yet.

Jean also demanded that I stay in Europe until the end of June since that’s when our little get-together that failed at Myrtle Beach is gonna be, but this time in UK. So basically this means that mom’s trip to Switzerland might be in the middle, my rent goes until end of June, so I will come back from .CH and then send home anything I need to with mom, then take whatever I have left to the UK to spend some time with Jeannette and company. The less I have the better, but I’m seriously considering some electronic dictionary since I’m sick of carrying around a book, but a couple hundred Euros doesn’t seem at all worth it. I will do a little more research first I believe!

Also I watched 3 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy since I downloaded them, and went to bed at about 03.00 so waking up right now is pretty nice and I feel well rested, but I don’t feel like going to IKEA today. Maybe I will regardless. Anyways, weather looks sketchy, and I will post pictures of IKEA when we go. Bon après-midi, ou matin si vous n’êtes pas en Europe 🙂