Amandoo’s Handle of Realitumtum

“Wazzup”

I am happy for that little guy, and happy to say that I am a good, well-rounded person who is by no means boring enough to be described in a few words like “good, well-rounded”.

The reason I blog is to remind you that I am busy, busy with student teaching so that is why I have not been blogging (lame excuse, but my future depends on it). I also was reflecting on my past and I realized how happy I am to say that I successfully studied abroad and helped French children paint when I had no idea how to do it myself. I braved painting during the adult classes and speaking French with real French adults. I was a nervous college student who had some views, but they were general and “liberal” and these people both made me speak French in conversations with them, and they made me declare and defend my position.

I hated it at the time. Now I see that it was one of the more important parts of the studying in France experience. It made me a better human in so many ways.

There were plenty other of these instances where I grew (or was forced) to become a more well-rounded, opinionated person and I look back on them so fondly I can hardly believe I haven’t been to France since!

There are so many reasons why I benefited from studying abroad and so you should do it. No matter what your major is, no matter how old or young you are. At least get out there and travel, or learn a foreign language.

It can really change your life. I am happy now living off of those memories. I am happy to think about where that experience has and will take me in the future. Yay!

All I want to do is get more than 4 hours a night of sleep, but apparently not enough- I procrastinate, have “fun” (like going to TJ’s or Whole Foods to get some sustenance), and end up doing lesson plans for HOURS until the evening becomes miles from where my bedtime should be for having to get up so early. My friend sent me this to make me feel better- (I’m deeply disappointed that I haven’t been blogging more because I have sooo much to share! I promise I’ll blog 10X this weekend!)

“The photo above showing a beautiful crimson and gold sunset was taken from Marseille, France on January 12, 2007. In the background (at right center), notice the Canigou Mountain — at the eastern end of the Pyrenees Range, along the border of France and Spain. This mountain is approximately 250 km (150 miles) away! What is shown here is simply the image of the mountain and not the actual mountain itself.

Without considering the effect of atmospheric refraction, these mountains are far too distant to be observed from Marseille. However, on occasion, atmospheric conditions permit objects typically too far away to be easily observed to come into clear view. On this evening, summits in the Pyrenees Mountains higher than about 2,300 m (7,546 ft) can be detected. Most of the distance between Marseille and the Pyrenees Range is over the Mediterranean Sea. When the water is colder than the layers of air above it, a ray of light traveling through the lower atmosphere will be bent or refracted downward — the image of a distant object is thus displaced upward (superior mirage).

Notre Dame de la Garde is at the lower right center of the photograph. The faint vertical streak just above the horizon at left center is Comet McNaught.”

(http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=404000)

At the end of a French class today, I had a nice conversation with one of the students who has family living in Ireland. She talked about how she wants to take French for 4 years to help her get into an international school and how she wants to study abroad in Ireland. I was happy to hear her say that, and it also made me want to go to Ireland, or anywhere, really. Oh to travel!

I’ll have to make a point to tell the students they have to study abroad in college no matter what their major (and maybe I’ll sneak some photos/stories into my lessons about my time abroad)