I am back safely from Aix. I had a great time. I had lots of fun with Vero and her friend Nicole. I was spoiled rotten with lots of delicious food. Vero made couscous and this meat and creme fraiche meal I love. We also did the raclette (which is melting cheese and putting it over potatoes and ham products) with Nicole. It was great fun. I definitely had a lot of opportunities to practice my French! The only English I spoke all week was when I went to the C.E.A. study abroad office. I also saw the new French film Mes Stars et Moi. Very funny! And after receiving my paycheck (finally!), I bought a very pretty sweater at Promod. All in all, a great week!

Emily, an American assistant from Beauvais, joined me for Halloween in Chauny. We had a delicious meal at an Italian restaurant before heading to the bar which for once, wasn't too horrible. We had a good time and lots of good conversation. Yesterday, we pretty much set up shop in the cafe. We were there for like 3 hours! But in our defense, we had lunch there and purchased two beverages! There wasn't much else to do anyway, because yesterday was a public holiday. We were also trying to figure out holiday plans. Should be finishing those up later today.

Unfortunately, I had some really horrible news yesterday as well. I don't really want to go into details, because certain things haven't been publicly released. It has to do with a student of mine (a student I did know fairly well... not a friend, but still...). I am not looking forward to returning to this class on Friday. It's going to be really awkward and sad. I'm not quite sure how this situation is going to be dealt with. Luckily, I won't be alone with the students. I'll be with Claude.

I guess that's all for now. I'm not really in the mood to write much because of what happened. It was on my mind all last night.