Weekend Things

I have had an absolutely fantastic weekend in Nantes! Let me tell you all about it, starting with Friday!
On Friday, I went for a run and then I bought a few grammar/vocab workbooks to keep up with my French until September, and strolled a bit downtown because it was so nice out. I also picked up my train ticket to meet my parents in Paris. I will see them in only 20 days! Crazy. I spent some time after that working on some homework before heading out again-- this time to go kayaking! It was the first time kayaking this year and it was a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day and we went for about an hour.

On Friday night, I went over to my host family's for dinner and to swap vacation photos. I also got to meet their son for the first time! He is studying in Paris but has internships all over the place, so we haven't been at their house on the same weekend yet. It was fun to have someone my age at the host fam's! We had a delicious dinner of seafood lasagne. Their youngest daughter also had a friend over for a sleepover and they were so loud and excited. It was funny, because it reminded me of how excited I used to be when I had friends over.
Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day! I woke up and did some homework (yep!) before heading downtown to meet one of the girls in our group for coffee. We spoke in French too, which was nice. After that I bought a couple of books from the bookstore: Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo (where the Hunchback of Notre Dame came from) and a poetry book by Hugo too. Notre Dame de Paris will be my challenge book, and the poetry is just for fun. We had a test with one of his poems on it, and it was so beautiful that I just had to read more. In the afternoon, my friends and I got our green on and headed down to Fleming's Irish Pub, where two of our friend's work. We had a great time, playing games, winning prizes, and meeting new people all night! The streets were absolutely packed for the occasion.

Then today, I had a little sleep-in, did MORE homework (getting ready for next year) and then got ready to go downtown... for a 5km race! It was a breast cancer fundraiser, so 3 of my friends and I signed up just for fun. It was absolutely frigid though... it rained/hailed while we were waiting around and then again at the beginning of the race. I can't remember the last time I was so cold! And so soaked. I ran through so many puddles! It was a good race though, and I finished in 23:10, so I was pretty happy. I had the hottest shower afterwards which felt great.

And now, well, I'm doing some laundry, eating some dinner, doing a bit more homework, heading over for Bible study, and then hopefully Skyping my family! The weekend went by way too fast, but I guess that's how you know you are having a good time :)