Planes and Danes

My family has all left Paris as of last Thrusday. Needless to say, I was very busy while there were here, and have been busy catching up with school work since they have left. This past weekend I also participated in the Eurocup tournament which was held in Paris. It was a tournament with schools from all over Europe in many different sports. We places second for volleyball. The general consensus was that the Danish people were the coolest :P. The guys and the girls were so nice. I met one girl who just got back from being on exchange at SFU. My team placed 2nd, loosing to the team from Bratislava. I hope this week to go and train with an N2 volleyball team here which has completed their season. This way I should get a couple weeks of good practice in, as I want to be able to make my club team again when I return home. It was nice at this past tournament to have a real coach there. This coach complemented me and two others as being the best players on the team and saying that our level was above that which we were playing in. This is really nice to hear, and also, before it was our Captain who chose who played, and as we play the same position, she would nearly always choose herself to play over me. So, this tournament I was able to play 100% of the time, while often it is a lot less. :)

The other exciting thing about this past week was that I rebooked my ticket home, and I booked my ticket to visite Israel. I am now coming home on Aug the 11th, and I am going to Israel from the 27th June until the 12th of July. My ticket to Israel has a stop over in Rome, and on the way back, if possible, I will just stay in Rome. It should be possible since I only plan to take carry-on with me. I will then stay in Italy for a week or 2 (possoble WWOOFing, google search that if you do not know what it is), and if not just moving onto another country. I then hope to visite Switzerland and my family there for a couple days, before returning to Paris for a couple days before flying home. Flying out of Paris coming home was important to me, since I want the chance to say goodbye.

It is really sad here already as all my friends are buying there tickets to leave Paris. Some are leaving as early as the end of May (people at other Universities), but most will be leaving between the 25th-30th of June. I am already not looking forward to saying goodbye! But, I have no doubt that I will see a number of these people at some other point in the future. I am convinced this will happen especially after seeing so many people from home, in Paris!

I am really looking forward to my summer here, and I am happy to have booked those major tickets. The rest of my travel will likely be by train, and those I will not book until a lot later. Now that these cornerstones are set, I am free to be spontaneous in my travels within those limits. I can now stop looking at tickets everyday and concentrate on finishing my semester here.

Volleyball

I was worried coming to Paris that I would not the normal dose of volleyball that I am used to, and that concern has become reality. However, not to the extent I thought. The school has an Association Sportif where students can choose from about 25 different sports ranging from horseback riding, fencing, Judo, chinese dancing, toVolleyball! I was tempted to try out one of the more obscure sports but I stuck with Volleyball and may venture to another one next semester if it fits my schedule. Since the summer volleyball has been destined to occupy my Friday nights.

The team here is great! There are about 40 girls who come out to play and then we are split into skill level. Being part of the competative group we will get to play every Thursday against other Grands Ecoles. The team is allowing me to meet non-international students here. It will also allow me to see some more of France in the spring. We will go away one weekend for intense training, and then another weekend to the Crit. The Crit the large Sciences-Po tournament that occurs in the Spring where all the campuses compete against each other. To pump up for this tournament our team will do more bonding activities as well as advertise our team. This years will be held in Lyon!

Practice time!