Science and nature

Agility course for dogs!

Pretty cool, eh? 5-10 minutes from the vet school.

 Hi, friends! So the theme for today's blog, despite being the name of two very famous scientific journals, is science and nature.

First, science. Today and yesterday were my first days introduced to the lab environment here, and they've been great. My professor is out of town with her other two interns on an experiment, so it has been up to others to welcome me. And welcome they have - everyone here is SUPER nice, and they all seem really happy to meet the newest joinee. Additionally, everyone is quick to compliment me on my French and ask how I learned it so well, so that's a big confidence boost and a big thanks to my French teachers and friends over the years!

On Thursday I met up with some of my professor's colleagues, and after some discussion about the lab we all went together to the weekly meeting of the Toxalim team - essentially, they all work together in food toxicology and have weekly meetings/presentations and discussions from the various members - whether students or lab heads. I was introduced and welcomed, and then a  Ph.D student presented her master's research since she had only just arrived to start her doctorate. The subject involved hydrogen sulfide and was only vaguely related to toxicology. It was interesting, but I was still very jet lagged at this point (11 am local time and 4 am home time), so I kept having to struggle to stay awake...shame on me, right? I managed, however, to follow along quite well, considering the material was very dense...and in French. I do have a slight lack of more technical vocabulary, but the people here are very forgiving and insist that this will come. It's better that I have the essential speaking skills down pat, and I can pick up the lingo as I go.

So that ended at around lunch time; I was famished, and a very sweet intern from Lebanon joined me for lunch at the Resto-Universitaire. Veal for the main course, with peas and pork, potatoes, salad and dessert plus a bread to go for only 3 euros? Yes, please! Afterward I went home for a nap, and woke up to enjoy the rest of the day (which I'll recount later!)

Today I went to the pathology lab to visit with the people there! I was supposed to observe an autopsy but, alas, there were none scheduled for that day so it was straight to the lab for us. I got buddied up with a very friendly researcher who showed me what they do after the autopsy - essentially, take chunks of any organs or tissues of interest, preserve them, then make cuts to fix them in wax and eventually make slides to be stained and viewed under a microscope. It was cool to see the entire process, and the woman I was with and I had great conversation while there. We helped remediate some of my lack of French scientific vocab and her lack of English, and we laughed especially over one thing in particular - dog breeds. You know the French bulldog, right? Well in French, it's essentially pronounced the same way, except its spelling is super silly - it is a bouledogue français. Isn't that fun? For what it's worth, a Labrador is both pronounced and spelled the same.

Besides all of that, I'm very glad I know my histology! Because this lab relies on it considerably. So when I joined a very sweet French vet student/master's student at the same time (who also gave me her cell and invited me to hang out sometime! Yay friends!) to go over her slides on the ovaries of mutant mice (that lack a particular estrogen receptor) with her professor, I knew exactly what was going on and only needed to worry about the translations. They weren't super different, so I can be glad that all this science-y stuff comes from Latin! Part of her work involved counting and classifying the follicles found in each cut, so anyone reading who has taken histo with me will know that I'm glad to know what primordial, tertiary, and atretic follicles are! We also reviewed some of the mice's other organs, and they seemed pleased that I was able to tell them the different layers of the adrenal gland exclusively from memory. Yay, histo!

So that's science, now nature! I heard through the grapevine that there is a gorgeous hiking/jogging trail that runs along the river called Le Touch (pronounced "toosh"), and after some hunting and more asking, I found it! It is less than a five minute walk out my door, past the rugby/soccer field and equestrian center (lots and lots of horses!), and it literally goes for miles and miles of beautiful, wooded path that runs right alongside this lovely river - ensuring it's impossible to get lost. I walked for about an hour yesterday and jogged today, feeling very happy and serene. I've got a ways to go to get back in tip top shape, but with such beautiful scenery it seems like a certainty that I will! I'll upload more photos, later, but here is a pic of the beginning of the trail:

Trail marker. Not sure what the head band is doing there!

Not on the trail, but a pretty little windmill on the way to the dog park...that doesn't work!

Made it!

Hi, friends! I arrived in France without incident yesterday, although very tired. My first flight to Amsterdam was about 7 hours 45 minutes and, thanks to crying babies in various places on the plane (I’m all in favor of sedation) and uncomfortable chairs, sleep didn’t come. On the second flight from Amsterdam to Toulouse, I was juuuust about to get to sleep when the elderly gentleman next to me surmised I spoke French (not sure how, since the Dutch flight attendant was speaking to me in English), and he proceeded to start a conversation. I didn’t really mind too much, even though I was exhausted, because I try to profit from every opportunity I get to speak French – and this was a nice brush-up before even arriving. He was quite nice, and talked about how he was returning from visiting his son in Shanghai. He was very proud of him; the son apparently speaks five (FIVE?) languages, including Chinese, obviously, and works there in some sort of international commerce job. He showed me all 300+ photos he took while there, including the super fancy building where his son works, and the super fancy restaurant/bar frequented by high-class visitors with their Ferraris and Rolls Royce’s, where he DJ’s by night. Seriously, this dude is living the good life. The conclusions I drew were: I’m gonna be super jet-lagged (was correct on this one), learn Chinese one day, and that Shanghai has a LOT of people. LOTS.

Anyway, when I arrived in Toulouse around 11 am the weather was absolutely gorgeous, like Alabama but slightly milder. A veterinary student who went to the U.S. with Merial last year was there to pick me up. He was chill and spoke VERY fast, but I managed to keep up for the most part until we got to the vet school and found my room. It’s your basic dorm, without a kitchen or a fridge, but it does have a nice floor-to-ceiling window, and the kitchen across the way (in another building) is already equipped and opens only to Erasmus/foreign students, so I’m always guaranteed someone to talk to!

Speaking of talking, my French is totally going to get work here! There is so far only one other person here whom I can speak to in English; with everyone else it’s all French, all the time! My roommate is a Romanian Erasmus student here on a clinical internship, and she’s been very welcoming and has introduced me to the other Erasmus students. She also showed me the Restaurant-Universitaire nearby where I can go for lunch, where we ate with some friends who enjoyed learning what on earth it is I’m doing here. I already have an invite to a barbecue this weekend, mostly just for fun but also to say goodbye to some of the departing students – including my roomie. So come Sunday, I’ll have the room all to myself! :D

Not too much else going on here, besides various administrative things. Today and tomorrow are going to be rainy off and on, not as nice as when I arrived (bummer). I’m proving that I’m still functional in French despite the jet lag making me want to nap at random times, and I’ve bought a phone, opened a bank account, gotten my student card, and fed myself successfully. Speaking of feeding myself, my heart practically sang when I went back to the grocery store/supermarket for the first time. Anyone who’s spoken to me about France knows that the food here gives me immense happiness, so my little heart sang at all the wonderful options. Since I can only bring what I can carry, and the various grocery stores (plus an AWESOME “hyper-marché” – like a French Wal-Mart) are all a 10-15 minute walk away until I acquire a bicycle, I don’t think I’ll be gaining much weight. Few people here have vehicles, and unless you’re one of those few, you walk, bike, and take public transport everywhere. So here’s to hoping that, along with exercise, I’ll come back in tip-top shape! I’ve already scouted out some nifty jogging spots nearby.

Ah, and because food makes us all happy, here’s what I had for dinner my first night (note: I did buy real food, but sometimes you just need a baguette and cheese…because it makes you feel good inside)!

Baguette and Brie, cheap, fattening...and oh so good.

And for dessert, one of my all-time favorites, pain au chocolat...essentially a chocolate croissant! :D

And finally, because everyone always thinks this is weird, milk here comes in a box, that you don't refrigerate until you open. May wonders never cease! (If that scares you, bottles are available)

 So that's all for now! Tomorrow I meet up with a professor (not mine - she's out of town until Friday) who will show me the lab and give me all the introductions. I'll let you all know how things go! Until next time, thanks for reading :)

I'm back!

Hi, everyone! Thanks to good fortune and better timing, the old blog is back - and I'm returning to France!

For those of you just tuning in for the first time, "It Happened in Montpellier" was my old blog/personal diary thing to record my thoughts and memories while I spent my junior year studying abroad in the awesome Mediterranean town of Montpellier, France. I did so mostly for personal reasons - out of a desire to get out and see the world, improve my French, and live someplace new for awhile. While at the time I didn't see it giving me any leg up for future grad/vet school applications, the intangible benefits were astronomical. I went from shaky and poor in my language skills to being able to converse fluidly and confidently in French, saw and did so many amazing things, made wonderful friends and essentially had the time of my life. Since I've been back I've always wanted to return, but since starting vet school I didn't really imagine it to be a possibility. So, I pushed it aside.

That is, I pushed it aside until fate smiled upon me and led me to the reason for re-starting this blog! See, every summer, all 28 vet schools across the United States, plus the Canadian schools and some in the Caribbean, sponsor a certain number of first- and second-year veterinary students to take part in the Merial Veterinary Summer Scholars Program. Merial is an American-based, multinational animal health/research/drug company that co-sponsors veterinary students (that means we get paid! yippee!) to spend their summer working in a professor's research lab, eventually presenting that research at the Merial-NIH (National Institutes of Health) symposium in August. In their words:

"The mission of the Merial Veterinary Scholars Program is to expose veterinary students in their first or second year of veterinary school to biomedical research and career opportunities in research."

 So, essentially, encouraging students who want to delve into the world of veterinary research for the summer, with the hope that this exposure will help them keep veterinary research in their minds as a possible career path - and it is one that is quite in demand right now!

 It was my goal from the start to try to participate in this program at Auburn during the summer, since I have a bit of research background and also a strong interest in public health and infectious diseases. In any case, competition was super steep and there wasn't room for me at the program in Auburn. But, wise and encouraging friends reminded me to not despair, and keep trying for other things!

 And now we arrive at why this all relates to France. For the past two years, Merial has been sending a couple of European veterinary students to American vet schools to participate in this summer program. This year, however, is their "pilot program," as the first time they are doing the opposite - sending American veterinary students to Europe! The two participating countries are the Netherlands and France, with three students to be sent to each, with the same goal - working with a professor at one of these schools, performing a research project in their lab.

 So, given that things in Auburn didn't work out, why not apply to the one in France, right? The worst they could do was say no, I could always go work at home, yaddah yah... However, I did happen to have one ace in the hole, that the France leg of the program asked its applicants to have a sufficient level of French for the needs of daily life (there is no language requirement to apply for the Netherlands). In general, the French aren't quite as proficient at English as the Germans or the Dutch, so to live anywhere that isn't Paris you really ought to have at least some of the language to survive.

 But I digress. Long story short, I sent in my application and, not too long after, I was notified that I'd been accepted!! For a fun bit of trivia, France actually is home to the world's very first veterinary school, established in 1761 in Lyon. As of today, there are three other vet schools in the country - in Paris, Nantes, and Toulouse. It was my job, after being accepted, to contact the professor at the school I was interested in to discuss the possibility of working in their lab. We were given a list of potential projects, and I tried to find the best of both worlds - a city I'd want to spend my summer in, plus a research project I'd like to do. My first choice of city was Toulouse, a medium-sized city in southwest France. I love love love the ambiance and everything else about southern France, and decided that this was the place for me to spend my summer.

The project I will be working on, which I'll discuss a bit more in a post to come (as this one seems to be getting quite long), involves a mycotoxin (fungal toxin) called deoxynivalenol. It is a food contaminant that is found in cereal grains and, while it won't kill you unless you get an especially high dose, it is toxic to both humans and animals (its common name? vomitoxin). In people it causes symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, headache, and so on. More relevant to my study, in animals it causes significantly reduced food intake and, as a result, these animals don't thrive and don't gain weight. This equates to lost money for the farmer/producer who feeds his animals grains infected with this toxin. Pigs are of particular interest, since their diet is largely grain.

This is the reader's digest version of the story, and I'll likely go into more detail on this topic, but based on my discussions with the professor, I'll be participating in the facet of research trying to characterize how deoxynivalenol produces its toxic effects in an animal model.

Okay, for any friends/family brave enough to read this novel above, thank you! I'm happy you're interested enough to follow what I'll be up to this summer. Don't be a stranger now. Hit me up anytime to say hello, and I promise lots of fun posts involving my second go at life in France :)

Until next time!

Life stateside.

Sorry, for those who read, that I haven't been around in a while. Immediately after returning (and by immediately, I mean less than 24 hours after hopping off the plane) to the South, I had soccer matches to referee. Then, afterward, a week-long tournament to keep me busy. And I'm glad for it, because having that instantaneous activity to occupy me probably helped quite a bit. I got to see friends I hadn't laid eyes on in a year while running my butt off chasing after a soccer ball. Loads of fun.

However, now that's over and I'm faced with an expanse of "summer vacation" laid out before me. Hopefully something that will help keep me somewhat entertained, and not depressed and listless with the sadness of feeling torn from this past year I've loved so much, is recounting all I've glossed over the past year! Namely, my vacations. I feel like I've been quite faithful with my blogging but not so much that I've missed out on the pleasures of life in Montpellier, so now comes the time to catch up. I can chat to you about Christmas markets, Bavarian food, crawling on the Great Pyramids at Giza, and the hilarious commentaries of Moroccan men, to give a few tidbits...

But I'll leave starting that to the next post. At the moment, I'll start a list. Perhaps one of many. I'm not sure. Let's start with the shortest one, things I've missed about the States, even if only marginally so.

Cheap/free laundry! Those who have followed from the beginning know that I almost religiously did my laundry by hand, for nearly ten months, because a single wash at the cheap student laundromat, besides having huge waits, cost the equivalent of 3.50 (give or take). Ouch. Also, yes, I know. I'm a cheapo.

Microwaves! Throw ovens into this list as well, because contrary to student residences in the U.S., French studios are equipped with stovetops, not microwaves. Clearly they are less afraid of their university students burning their buildings to the ground than American schools are. Granted, I loved having two burners (two?! oh no, but that's such a fire hazard!) in my dorm and lived happily with the myriad of things I could cook, but there were times that I really really wanted a quick munchie late at night and could neither run to the store for it nor pop it in the microwave. I was forced to cook, which in retrospect would probably help a lot of Americans manage their diets? This could be solved if living in France for an extended period of time, in which case I'd probably just buy one.

Having a gym! French universities are just that - universities. They are there to educate, not to disguise themselves as trendy, all-inclusive student resorts. Hence, no student "recreation center" or gym. Yes, they do exist, but me not being willing to buy a membership (which can cost), I had to get creative in my workouts. I will say, though, it was fun looking around and seeing what I could do to build up strength without all the fancy machinery. That being said, I'll surely be enjoying my last year of "free" gym membership while at the University of Alabama.

Soccer fields with grass. A bizarre thing to miss, and you get used to not having them around, but don't go to a city in France and expect to find yourself a nice green pitch within 15 kilometers. What you'll find instead is either dirt or asphalt; soon enough, you'll get used to it, and forget what it's like to have people sliding at you trying to snap your ankle in half with the underside of their cleats. :)

TV! Yes, I did miss having a television to watch, guilty as charged. No matter how busy you keep yourself (and believe me, I did!), there are going to be times when you want to just sit down and turn off your brain for a while in front of the tube. Eventually I adapted to the quiet, and I refrained from complaining about it for the most part, but the internet connection in my dorm was generally fairly terrible. Youtube or any video was typically out of the question except for those times when most people are out enjoying the day. I heard that 3 am speeds were pretty good, though...

So, that was about it, really. Maybe you can tell from the writing, but none of these things really detracted from my stay in France. I didn't miss my car, as me and my bike were two  peas in a pod, American food and restaurants were a long-distant memory, and I didn't really care if nobody around me spoke English or sucked up excessively to me in the name of customer service. I still can't bring myself to calculate sales tax or tip in anything to buy (it's been two weeks now; this could become a problem), I want to hear French when I listen in on others' conversations, and I'm constantly reminded about how darn far apart everything is around here.

But hey, I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually...though I'm not sure how long it will take my poor little heart to stop bleeding every time I walk through the bread department in Wal-Mart. Saaadddd...until next time!

Time to say goodbye...

Well, guys, this is it. I depart in one hour for the airport, to take my flight out of Montpellier and back home. I haven't been around much lately because, well, as you can imagine I've been trying to enjoy my last few days in Montpellier after coming back from England (which was great, by the way - will share eventually!) as much as possible. I got back the 8th and today, the 11th, was my departure, and I haven't slept more than four hours during any night since. In fact, I'm writing this at 6 o' clock in the morning after staying up all night,

....and that's where I stopped my post before realizing that I still had to mop my floor before leaving an hour and a half later. So, while this goodbye to Montpellier post isn't actually in Montpellier, per se, the sentiment remains. I'm now back in south Alabama, after a long trip and some entertaining soccer matches. But that's for another time.


My last few days in Montpellier, after arriving home from England, were incredibly full. See, I got back late afternoon of the 8th and, as you saw above, left early early on the 11th. So there was lots and lots to do in the meantime. That day I got back, I had pre-planned a last night of salsa dancing with my wonderful dance group friends, a couple hours after arriving home. Once the party started winding down near 3 am, me and a couple -other- great friends (who I also met through our common love for dance) grabbed a group together and went to a friend of theirs' apartment for late-night cards, music, and drinks. Ended up riding my dear bike home sometime around 5h30 and crawling into bed before setting my alarm for 9, given all the "business" I had to attend to the next day.


That business was: closing my bank account, arranging course credit transfer, meeting with my agent de menage for what needed to be cleaned and how in my studio before check out, and last-minute shopping for items I wanted to bring home. Closing my bank account felt more sad than I expected it to, like a big ripping away of a legitimate link to French life. Same with doing the état des lieux with the cleaning lady, as my room got progressively emptier and more plain. The shopping was...well, actually kind of fun, deciding what wonderful French goodies (read: FOOD) I wanted to bring home with me. I ended up with an amusing assortment, including a bottle of wine, two beers, saucisson sèche, several varieties of tea, chocolate, cookies, mayonnaise (French mayonnaise is better: trust me!!), kebab sauce, and perhaps one or two other things that pressured my already quite full suitcases. I also bought some pastries, but those were just for me! Guilty.

Then after that, I spent the following night-the 9th- in a similar state of non-sleep. More meeting up with various Montpellierain friends for our last goodbyes, continually reminding me with each meeting that this meeting or the other will be the last time I see this person for a long time. But I kept away the blues for the most part, focusing instead on enjoying myself. Had crêpes and cidre for dinner/dessert, then went for a walk through town with a friend to feel less guilty. Over these last few days I proceeded to randomly run into just about everybody I know, giving me a chance to say goodbye in person to people I hadn't otherwise thought! It was crazy, but just goes to show how on beautiful summer days/nights in Montpellier, everybody's out and about.

I wish I had my camera available to post pictures, but while enjoying the sunset over the top of the Corum (one of Montpellier's performance halls/opera houses that also happens to have great views of the centre of town), ran into some more friends! And though I had been planning on biking home to change, I ended up just staying out, once again, all night. At the Esplanade in the centre of town there was the coolest gathering going on of at least 30 people, with their own instruments, doing traditional French dance. These were mostly young people, awesomely, very welcome to people watching and even making clumsy attempts to participate, so throughout the night I/we tried our hands at some super entertaining circle/group dances, mazurkas, and waltzes. As the night went on, the people I was with shifted: the friends I was with before went home, and other friends out on the town joined in, and we ended up staying out yet again quite late (this time, only until 4 am!) Even better, I got to say goodbye to a friend going home for the summer that I hadn't expected to be able to. The atmosphere of the night was great, just a bunch of people outdoors playing music, dancing, and hanging out under the yellowish-orange lights that give a warm glow to everything. You could just taste the happiness.

My final day at Montpellier was spent in a similar fashion, up early once again as I had so much to do, and so little time! My wonderful Moroccan friend made me a delicious tajine lunch, I later on ate Nutella and banana gaufre (waffle - French street food) not caring the least bit about our waistlines with a girlfriend, took care of assorted business, and wished I didn't have to leave this awesome place for good. At the end of the day, I just sat and talked with two friends from the day previous about leaving. It was happy, but sad. I got home after 10 pm to attempt to clean, but got sidetracked by saying an extended goodbye to my wonderful Erasmus friends at Vert Bois. Altogether, the last couple days in Montpellier could not have passed more perfectly. I was worried beforehand that I wouldn't wrap up my time here well for whatever reason, but as it turns out I didn't need to. At the end, all that was left to do was go back to my studio at around midnight and, as you know, stay up all night finishing that stuff I'd been procrastinating.

I think that's all for now; I'm off with my mom soon to buy a new cell phone. I seem to have notoriously long-lived electronics; my current one that's about to retire I got in December of 2006. And it's still kicking. I'm gonna miss it, actually...

There will be a new post soon, for anybody still reading! So with that, until next time! bisous.

1 week? can it be....?

Tomorrow is June 4th. I leave Montpellier for good June 11th. It's official: J-7. The final countdown.

I don't really know what to think. I'm having a hard time accepting that this part of my life is so very near to being over. I'd prefer to spend my retrospective reflections for after I get home and continue to "entertain" you with what's actually happening here, but I will say one thing that could probably cover at least a bit of how calling this time a "study abroad experience" doesn't quite cut it. I've had to remind several of my Montpellierain friends that once I leave this summer, I won't be coming back at the end of it...for example, unprompted while several of us were out on the town one night, a friend asked if I was coming back in the fall. I responded negatively. Caught that flash of disappointment before the other nimbly returned to the conversation. You know what? That really sucks. Knowing that they care enough to miss me, and unlike other friends who are in the same study abroad boat, they'll still have each other when I'm gone, and their lives will move forward. I'll be the only one separated.

Whoof. Better stop before I go on too long. Besides, why talk about sad things when you can talk about...

...FLAMMEKUECHE! (gesundheit?)

No, I didn't just sneeze. Flammekueche, besides being more than a little tricky to spell and pronounce, is also a French dish. More specifically, it's Alsatian - from the Alsace region up near Germany - and is delicious! It's a thin stretched dough covered with white cheese, lardons, onions, crème fraîche, and perhaps things like mushrooms as well. And it's deeeeeelicious! Basically, a friend and I went out to a real sit-down restaurant just because we could. The weather the past couple days has been grey and on-and-off rainy, so it was an excellent day to spend an afternoon. Conversation, trying not to slip and slide on the wet ground while trying to find the restaurant, and....

Fondant au chocolat! (melty chocolat cake, sitting in a bath of crème anglaise with real whipped cream on the side!)

Okay, sorry for the torture. I'll stop now! I guess I decided that if I couldn't go out for a run in this weather, I might as well do even more damage to my referee training and go the whole hog without feeling a single ounce of guilt. (I won't mention how many times I've eaten kebab in the last week...nor crêpes/gaufres, for that matter...)

Besides that, I've been spending a lot of time just trying to enjoy the city and life as much as I can. When I'm not spending time with friends or training or cleaning (ok ok, or eating), I tend to take lots of long bike rides or walks to my favorite spots or on the never-ending discovery of new places in this crazy wonderful town.

The playing field specifically reserved for players of boules, the favorite game of old French men :) In the shadow of the aqueduct!

A typical apéro in a plaza in the old center, on the church steps. Wonderful meeting place!

Life, despite the ominous looming of my departure, is good. Tomorrow, I'm actually leaving Montpellier for a bit - I get to visit one of my best friends from elementary school, in England! She moved back after 6th grade, and we've kept in touch, and I feel super lucky to get the opportunity to see her again. You know this is important if you can tear me away from my town for any amount of time this close to when I'm going home!

I think it'll be great, and probably a little surprising to be surrounded by English again, and in the coolest of accents! Well, I think the French accent while speaking English definitely wins my heart for cuteness, but I'd love to see what people in Essex (where she lives - not too far from London!) think of my nowhere, generic North American Female accent. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll be able to imitate that French accent and fool people into thinking I'm French. I think I may make that a personal goal of mine, actually. Hmm...

Anyways, until next time, toodle-oo! It's off to England!

J-12

jour moins 12 - day minus twelve - Yes, I`ve finally reached the two week mark. I`ll have to think about that later - too much to do, people to see for my last few times, my favorite places in Montpellier, etc...all I can say is that while I`m looking forward to seeing friends and family back home, I want more time.

So how am I spending my last weeks in France?

Life is hard.

Last weekend, the weekend before my exams, I decided to throw a little caution to the wind and go on a canoe trip! We spent two days canoeing and a night of camping in the Gorges de l'Hérault, a stunning stretch of the river Hérault with cliffs, rapids, and beautiful scenery! Sure, I had to make up for it with a couple long, long nights of studying for my exams the next week, but I have to say: totally worth it!

Ready for liftoff!

It was very well spent, and I came back with aching arms (but feeling pretty buff all the same!). The time was passed between trying to help my newbie canoers navigate, especially the rapids, which were actually quite difficult for beginners, taking stops along the way to swim and sun, and getting into races/water wars. It was awesome, despite this one...uh...capsizing incident.

Yeah, life is really hard!

On the left - our noble steed.

But about those exams...victory! I studied really hard - hours, upon more hours - and it paid off! I went into those exams Wednesday and Thursday and showed them who's boss. They definitely weren't easy, but the studying paid off and I feel like I did really well.

In any case, now I'm free!! I've been out, to the beach, eating kebab and treating myself to pastries and such...watched the Barcelona final and was overjoyed to see them win!!

And now, it's time to go out and enjoy the beautiful weather! In between my training for Regionals, anyway. I'm getting quite tan here with all the time I'm spending outside! Until next time!