Hello, Middle of the Trimester! When'd you get here?

I feel like time is beginning to spin out of control! So many things coming at me and it's getting a little hectic in my head! I'm no longer just focusing on things here, but now I'm working on planning for this January and then spring semester and student teaching next fall... And I'm thankful I'm in France, but coordinating all these things would be so much easier if I was in the US. I guess I'll just be thankful that I can be stressed out in a different language. Yeah. That sounds fun. :)
As midterms approach, I find myself preoccupied with a different feeling. Normally, this is about the time when I gather all my notes and review them vigorously because I haven't looked over them enough... But now, with my French courses, I find that I am unable to do that. My tests will be oral/written comprehension and production. That means that I have 4 different tests that I can't really study for... All I can do is hope and pray that my ears and brain work on Thursday and that my mouth works on Friday morning.
Today is Armistice Day, so we don't have school. I used that as an excuse to "faire une grasse matinée" meaning I slept in. Yes. I slept in. Until 9:30am. Success! I am procrastinating in doing some French things, because as soon as I immerse myself, I have a feeling I won't come out in a long time. It's like: Ready, get set, get-all-the-English-out-of-your-system, GO! I'm sure it won't be as bad as I'm making it sound, but I really want to perform better than I have been on tests.
We all went on an excursion this past Saturday to Chateau de Chinon, where Joanne d'Arc was held by the king... and learned a bunch of that history. It was an amazing castle, but like most castles from the 11th century, it is mostly ruins. There were quite a few towers that were intact and that we climbed the stairs in. For example, we would run into the tower and I decided to run up the stairs and then run down to the lowest level... periodically reminding my friends that I love stairs... It was great. But all silliness aside, it was really interesting to think about the towers being functional in times of war. What would it have been like to be Joanne d'Arc? What an intimidating time!
We also visited another Abbey, one that was used more specifically for the royalty. For instance, Louis XV sent his daughters from Versailles to study with then nuns at this abbey. Talk about fixing a spoiled child! It was rather cold, but very beautiful. It was actually a prison from the time of Napoleon III to 1960. Weird, huh? That wasn't that long ago. The sanctuary was transformed into 5 floors of dormitories for the inmates. That blew my mind! I was also a little in awe of being so close to Richard the Lionhearted... I felt like I should have been Robin Hood or Maid Marian (or however you spell her name). I felt the same way when we were at Chinon because it was also during that time with Richard and Prince John. Oh man. I love history!
Our last stop was a small town (I forget the name) that was very picturesque and we climbed a pathway that led us to the top of a hill where we could see the entire town and the beautiful autumn colors. We must have been pretty tired, because then we decided it was a good idea to speak in French with English accents, which then turned into English accents with random French words thrown in, then just English accents, then the Irish crept in, along with the Scottish and a little bit of everything. This went on for at least 2 hours. I feel kind of bad for everyone else on the bus...
There aren't any excursions planned this weekend, but I'm thinking I'll be going to Samur with Alix because it's my last free weekend while she's here because she's leaving on the 22nd of November. I'm really going to miss her when she's gone... We're going to have quite the full house for the next two weeks... Fung has a friend coming and staying for a week, then Alix's boyfriend's family is coming to visit and take her up to Paris for the next part of her internship. Crazy.