Three Months

After a long month of work, the apartment renovations at my family’s house are finally finished! It has been a patience-trying process for my family and we are all excited to be able to sit on the couch together and watch TV again. To celebrate, we also put up the Christmas tree! While the experience was different from trekking through the VT woods and cutting down a tree, it was a fun family afternoon. I even had the honor of placing the star on top of the tree.

Christmas shopping with Caterina

This coming week is the last of the “trimester” (we have a 3 month block and a 5 month block of school divided by the Christmas break) so things are really heating up in school. I have a History and a Psychology test, as well as interrogations in Philosophy, Art History, Psychology, and French. These interrogations are different from any form of evaluation that I’ve faced in the US and are as daunting as they sound. Interrogations are essentially oral tests in which the teacher asks questions covering any of the material from the semester. Not only does the wide range of material make these interrogations difficult, but because they are usually open-ended questions that require a lot of explanation, you need to have a full grasp of the material. There is no way to cover-up the fact that you didn’t study or are under prepared. Though the teachers are more lenient with my responses and don’t expect as much out of me, the preparation is still very difficult.

The other exciting piece of news is that we have confirmed our plans for the Christmas break. We are going skiing at Chamonix! My family has friends with a house in Chamonix and they are kindly letting us stay there for the holiday break.

It’s crazy to think that I’m just about a third of the way through this adventure!