'cuz I'm just that cool

So I've decided that the ultimate compliment these days it (the French equivalent of) "wow, I totally thought you were French". At the risk of sounding cocky, I've gotten that one twice in the last week and it makes me happy. Granted, both times were people that I didn't really know (one being a friend of Wei's that I was meeting for the first time and the other being this guy in my capoeira class), but still. Apparantly I at least seem confident enough with my French to pull it off.

Also, and I feel like I've posted about this a lot, but maybe not, I REALLY love doing capoeira. And I don't suck at it, which always helps. Last week, the capoeira association in Lyon had an open house and all of their classes were free and open to the public. I only made it to the class on Friday night, but it was really fun, and it was a little more challenging, and a smaller class than I am used to in my class at school. Also, the people who do it there are a little more serious than the people in my class. So, I kind of went around and around in my head about taking classes on a regular basis at the studio. On the one hand, it's kind of expensive (although really it's not that bad...just an extra expense), and my schedule doesn't work all that well with the classes that are offered. On the other hand, I feel like I could be good at this if I practice at it (plus, it kind of makes me feel like a badass), and it's more of a community, so it would be a good way to make friends. Anyway, after much contemplation, I've decided that, for the time being, I'm going to try to do one class a week there and see how it goes and then maybe start taking more. I guess it's kind of a silly thing to blog about, but it's sort of a big decision for me to commit myself to something like this and to think about being a part of something here in Lyon.

Um, let's see...have I mentioned lately that I LOVE my living situation? Becuase I do. This morning, Wei knocked on my door to ask me if everything was ok, becuase apparantly yesterday I seemed upset. I hadn't really realized that I was acting any different, but I did kind of lock myself away in my room and I was a little frustrated about this paper that I had to write. It's not even really a paper, but a detailed outline + the introduction for the paper were I to write it. [sidenote: the French really love their organization. Lionel was telling me that, generally, when students take a written exam and have 3 hours to write an essay, they well spend and hour or an hour and a half just writing a detailed outline...wow] Without going into too much detail, the essay is about the two empires (Napoleon I and Napoleon III). So I spent all day yesterday reading about the basic history of the two empires, as that's not something I ever really studied in depth, and then I spent the evening being frustrated because I had no idea what to do with the paper. Then, last night, Florence came to my room and asked how the essay was going and I just kind of looked at her pathetically and told her I hadn't even started writing and I was totally lost. I spent the next half hour talking with Lionel, and Florence pulled a bunch of books out and we came up with a basic outline. And they said that tonight they would be more than happy to look at what I wrote. So, since I didn't have classes today, I spent most of the day working on it, and I'm mostly finished. It is a huge weight off of my shoulders and I actually think it might be decent (although I'm still not exactly sure what the teacher is expecting). I don't know what I would do if I didn't have an amazing couple of really smart people here to help me out. And, going back to the beginning of this thought process, it was really touching that Wei noticed that I wasn't in the best of moods yesterday, and she urged me to talk to her if I ever needed someone. I really couldn't imagine being in a better place right now.

Ok, enough gushing...I need to put the finishing touches on my paper and then I think I might go see a movie.

ps. A couple people sent me advice on my plant after the post where I said it was dying, so update: I think I was overwatering it and I stopped that and now it is much happier.