All three exchange students from Kent State (Colin, Stephanie, and I) arrived safely and on time. Stephanie's luggage is still missing, but she's getting by.
Yesterday Colin and I trekked to Ikea on the north side of Bordeaux to buy rugs, sheets, and blankets. Along the way we were aided by a wonderful madame, Michelle. She is fifty-eight years old and lives near the quay. We chatted, she gave us directions (it turns out that Michelle is going to be a grandmother in December and was headed to Ikea to buy a baby gate) and we parted ways. We bumped into her again in Ikea and a third time at the bus stop on our way home. On our second rendez-vous, she gave us her phone number and insisted that if we ever felt depressed or missed our parents, we absolutely must call her. She actually said that she could be like our mother, and we her children. I'm so happy to have made a connection like this.
This morning was bureaucratic nonsense, running from office to office and being completely misled (one assistant in the DEFLE office actually told us that registration was finished and that we must go home and wait until the next semester.) Finally, we got the information we need for our cartes de sejour, which are like green cards. Placement testing is on Monday and we register for classes 16 September.
My brain's a bit too muddled to share more at this point. Speaking French all the time is really taking its toll on my mouth muscles. I'm quite sore! I also took a tiny nap this afternoon which reduced me to the brain capacity of a four-year-old.
In the meantime, I have contact information for those of you whom it might interest. My cell phone number here is 011.33.6.25.52.65.69 (for those of you with Skype who want to reach me on the go). I'm also using Skype for video chats and phone conversations under the username elizabeth[dot]suzanne[dot]brown (just like my e-mail handle). My mailing address is:
MLE Brown, Elizabeth
Village 5
D112
33608 PESSAC CEDEX
France
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