Hey Michel, Steve, et Diane,

I would write in French, but I'm afraid my assez petit vocabulaire français could not possibly suffice to describe my experiences here.

Sometimes my head hurts because I've seen and learned so much. Thanks a million times over for encouraging me to study abroad and for helping me get here.

I just got back from our spring break vacation--8 days of hiking in Corsica, followed by a petit séjour in the south of France, and a weekend in Paris. Corsica was absolutely amazing. I've never been a big backpacker, so hiking most of the Mare E Monti in running shoes with my little host brother's pack was pretty tough at times, but I felt like the beauty of the island itself was worth every moment. More than worth it actually! Between Galeria and Girolata, Naomi and I hiked on a mountain ridge (the crête itself!) for about 40 minutes and we could see a different bay on each side of us and the open sea ahead. There were no clouds and we could hardly distinguish sea from sky. I heard rumours of Corsican sheep and two of our hiking companions saw sangliers, but we only saw cows. They were pretty cows though. When we were working our way up some steep slope, we'd hear bells a long way off, and look across a gorge to see some drastically thin cow eating shrubs precariously on a ledge much farther up.

It was difficult to come back to the mainland and enter everyone else's world again. We arrived in Toulon and Naomi and Betta left right away for other places. I was supposed to meet Travy, John, and Karen in Nice but I wasn't sure when so I decided to visited Marseille first. It was a little overwhelming, but I enjoyed the beaches and visited some churches. There was a manifestation in support of Palestine and although no one approached me, I felt a little uneasy reading the signs saying our president is a Nazi. It was a clear reminder that I should be more aware of the world and everyone else.

After my experiences in Marseille toute seule, I was pretty pleased to meet up with people I knew in Nice. When I stepped off the train, I ran into my favorite high school math teacher and my first grade teacher (who are apparently dating). I hadn't spoken English for a while and so just stood there for a second and finally said "I'm Mary Kotschwar." They recognized me after that and we all went to the Matisse museum together during their layover. I also went to the Musée Chagall that featured the biblical messages--they were incredible. The weather in Nice was terrible, but it didn't phase me much. I visited Eze-sur-Mer to hike a trail where Nietzsche supposedly got some of his inspiration. I've never read any Nietzsche, but a little inspiration sounded good. I ended up in a little village around the Chateau du Chevre d'or that featured an exotic garden of succulent plants in the ruins of the castle. A little random but interesting nonetheless.

When everyone else left for Dijon, there were no more places left o the cheap trains. There were plenty of places on the trains to Paris, however, so I decided I'd have to go there instead. Life's hard, I know. This time around I visited the Musée Rodin, the Musée Picasso, the Musée national d'histoire naturelle, l'Arc de Triomphe et the Champs Elysée. I also had a lot of time to explore the Quartier Latin and Montparnesse. I stumbled upon the Cimetière Montparnesse by accident and paid my respects to Sartre and Ionesco. By the time I got home on Sunday night, I was exhausted but well-pleased with mes vacances. I can't explain how much I love travelling.

Here in Dijon, things are going well. The classes of niveau 5 are difficult sometimes and I'm trying to get used to the French grading system. They keep telling us that a 13 out of 20 is assez bien, but I just don't see it. The electives are great though. After two art history classes devoted entirely to Rodin, I felt like I better understood all that I saw at his museum in Paris. Natalie is great and the group trips and activities have been wonderful. I'm still getting to know my family--it's a little harder than I thought it would be. The 19 year old daughter is preparing for her concours and the 18 year old son in preparing for his BAC, so they are always busy. My host mom is really nice, but also very busy. Even my eleven year-old host brother seems to have a lot to do. Still, everyone makes efforts to get to know me and make me feel more at home. And although Pamino the cat is no dog, he's not half bad.

I'm sure that my French is improving but I still get frustrated whenever I can't think of how to explain what I'm thinking or when I get so caught up in que's that I can't remember how to conjugate my verbs. I can only get better though. I'm looking forward to seeing you all when you get here and hope that you're doing well. Any news from UPS? Sorry for not writing sooner or more often, but it's quality not quantity that counts, right?

Take care.

Mary