Back to France

So, after a bit of a hiatus, I'm updating on my extraordinarily busy month of January.

I came back to Paris just after New Year's. I still had two weeks of classes/exams for my translation class at Paris III. All went reasonably well.

The new batch of Skidmore students arrived for their spring semester in the middle of the month, and I started my spring semester at Middlebury the same day. I'm just taking one class there this spring - a history course about the Vichy government in France during WWII. So far, so good. For my second class, I'm continuing translation at Paris III, but I've changed sections so I have a different prof. We've only had one class so far, but she seems good.

After two days in Paris with the newly arrived Skiddies, we whisked them off to the Loire Valley to speak French, eat French, drink French, breath French and to learn some French history while laughing and carrying on. It was also my first time in the Loire Valley - a surprise to most French people when they find out how long I've been in France: "you've still never been to the châteaux de la Loire!?!" And I was very excited to go with Skidmore, to have the great guided tours with our favorite tour guide, and maybe most importantly, to have one of those experiences where being with newly-arrived, still-star-struck students makes me appreciate France in a way I can otherwise get out of the habit of doing.

So here will follow the castles, all five of them!