New adventure?

So, I don't think I'll ever get around to adding the rest of my vacation photos. If you want to see all of them in their mind-numbingly large quantities, you'll have to see them on facebook: here, here, and here. Sorry about that.

I've been back in the States now for about a month and a half-ish, and I'm used to it now more-or-less. I think I came home expecting for all to feel like it did before I left, but I hadn't taken into account how much I—and my perceptions—have changed, even if things here are pretty much the same. I still, after a month, mix French and English in my head all the time, and according to my French-speaking friends, my English sentence structure is sometimes odd as it continues to resemble that of French on some occasions. Other than that, I think I'm doing very well... even if I do miss French bread etc. very much.

As for missing France, that brings me to my new adventures. First, I've applied (and have already interviewed, actually) to be a Teaching Assistant on a new study abroad program that the Women and Gender Studies Department is offering next July in Paris. It would be focusing on French Feminism and my responsibilities would (and hopefully WILL) be to help Dr. Grant (the head of WGS and coordinator of the program) to organize the excursions and other trip details and to serve as a translator of sorts for the group, as being able to speak French is not a requirement. I interviewed on Wednesday and I think it went really well, so now I just have to wait until the 24th to see who she picks. I feel kind of in a pickle about that as I'm friends with 3 of the other 4 applicants (some better than others, but still)... All I know is that I really want her to pick me. :-P

In other news, I applied for PURF funding to go back to France over Spring Break to do thesis research. Having learned that medieval manuscripts don't really do it for me, I've decided to focus on the modern revival of Provençal (the language) today in Provence. The French Department has already told me (i.e. Dr. Vines) that they can give me $500 for materials etc, but I really need the PURF funding to pay for gas, food and my plane ticket. As with the other possibility, I have to wait until the end of October to see if the committee is going to fund my proposal or not. Currently, I'm just working on gathering research and attempting to learn Provençal. Jérôme (the guy that I went to his wedding) has been incredibly helpful as he is very interested in the language and Major, who is a fantastic pirate, found and burned me a program to learn Occitan (which is incredibly close to Provençal)... So, hopefully this goes well.

That's all for now, now I just have to wait another 45 (probably student-less) minutes before I can go home and make myself dinner (I'm thinking Lemon-pepper chicken and baked asparagus... mmmm). Katy and Em are home right now for Yom Kippur so the apartment is very empty.