Getting ready to say au revoir to Poitiers

I leave Poitiers in almost a week. I'm not feeling it yet, but I foresee my stress level as being on the rise. It doesn't help that yesterday during my appointment at the bank (to discuss closing my account), they destroyed my debit card. This makes me feel extremely uncomfortable and vulnerable. This whole time I thought I could just tell them to close my account on a certain date, and I could keep my card to use until the account had been closed and then the card wouldn't work anymore. Non... ça ne marche pas comme ça. It doesn't work like that. Because of the fact that I'm moving out of the country, it's no longer even legal for me to have an account, because I'd be without an address. So now I just have to hope to god that the transfers from that account to my bank of america account will work, because I'm expecting close to 1000 euros in reimbursements. And I have to carry cash practically from now on. I received another letter in the mail from the CAF requesting a copy of my birth certificate. This would be fine, but the birth certificate can't be any more than 3 months old. I believe mine is pushing 20 years. I really don't understand what it's for, but now we have to order a new one. It just doesn't make sense to me... if it's legible and valid, whoooo caresss? I got a check today from Alena (Sylvie's assistant, who goes to UO) as a reimbursement for the excursion I couldn't go on with the rest of the kids because I was stuck in Ireland. That made me pretty happy.

On Sunday, I went to Bryan's party, which was a very nice way to spend the day. There was a lot of people there, even some of my professors. At one point we did have a little talent show with "spectacles". There was a man there playing a viola with an accordion that I believe was a friend of Brigitte, Bryan's host mom. I told him I played violin and was wondering if I could have a shot at playing his viola, even though I might not be able to do it. He actually happened to have a violin there too. So I played Ashokan Farewell for everyone. I didn't suck too badly. I probably could have played it by memory, but I chose not too, since I didn't get much time to practice, and I didn't feel like messing up.

Monday I had my last exam for professional translation. I think it went pretty well. I'm just glad it really was at 9 am, since I only knew that it was in a different room. The professor sent me an email telling me the room but not the time. So I just assumed it was at our normal class time. I was going to be very upset if it had actually been later in the afternoon or something and I would have gotten up and out of bed early in the morning for no reason.

So here's the rest of my to-do list:
-figure out how to pay hospital bill, because I can only send a check
-get a Guinness at a bar downtown... need to try the french Guinness and see if it's up to par
-give Caroline the bedsheet she let me borrow, and get my scale back so I can weigh and send another box of stuff home
-start bringing stuff that I wont be taking to Sylvie for kids to use next year
-see Baptistère St. Jean and Musée St. Croix
-make a page for Sylvie's scrapbook we're putting together for her

I may also go to Niort this weekend to stay with Sophie's family. That should be fun :) No official plans yet though. I went to Buck Mulligan's with Sophie last Saturday to try and get a Guinness... but they DIDNT HAVE IT. I can hardly call them an Irish pub now. They had Murphy's, which is similar, but it's no Guinness. Hence the part of my to-do list that mentions getting a Guinness. I found a bar that actually sells it... finally.

On Thursday I'm going to go to the Fac to help Séverine fill out her apartment application and show her how to navigate the online class registration system. She's a french girl I met who goes to the Université de Poitiers with me, and is coming to Oregon in September to study abroad at the UO. It feels good to help her out, because Caroline did the same thing for me and it made my life a lot easier. So I know how it feels to be overwhelmed with and trying to understand all this study abroad stuff.

That's pretty much it until I leave Poitiers on May 27th. My train leaves for Paris at 12:20 (from Paris I'll go to Toulon). At 10:30 that day, I'll have to do my "état des lieux" with a cleaning lady... I don't remember the term in english, but it's when you go through the room and look and record any damages. I'm hoping I'll have time to run to the Fac to give Sylvie a few extra little things like a hairdryer and stuff I'd give to her earlier, but would want to use right before I leave. After I leave Poitiers, there should be updates about Toulon, Marseille, Landsberg, Rock im Park, Munich, and right before I go home.