I can't believe that I'm leaving for France in two days. I will be living in Nantes until January and then in Paris until May. My room is quite messy right now as I try to finish packing.
While in Nantes, I will be studying Sociology, living with a family on the Erdre river, and hopefully improving my French. The family I am staying with seems really nice. The family consists of a middle-aged couple and their five kids, two of which (a 10 year old boy and 16 year old girl) live at home. They have had hosted students before and enjoyed doing so.
My Host Family
1. My little brother is adorable.
2. I met Joe Purdy yesterday! He was playing a show with Joseph Arthur. Both musicians were great performers. It was also Joe's momma's birthday, so during the show he called her on the phone and had everyone sing her Happy Birthday. This was my second Joe Purdy show, the first of which was in Kent, Ohio earlier this summer when he was playing with Steve Earle. Both were probably the best concerts that I have been to, but I think I enjoyed this newer one a bit more just because he played for longer. I met him after the show and he was incredibly nice. It was the perfect end to a great summer.
3. The Madagascar political crisis has hit another road bump, which is disappointing because things seemed to be improving. (I've been studying [independently and sometimes with professors] Madagascar for the past year and a half, so I may mention it sometimes just because the country really interests me.) This crisis has caused problems for both the extreme poor and native (and sometimes endangered) species throughout the country. In southern Madagascar, 13 percent of the children under 5 are malnourished (crises are declared at 15 percent) and throughout Madagascar lemur hunting has surged since the political crisis started. If you are interested, here is a good article that summarizes recent events. http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrint>
I've never kept a blog before, except for one where I would post other people's poems that I liked. So this is the first time I've actually kept one that wasn't filled with other peoples writings. Hopefully this blog will be interesting enough for you all.
