Music and other awesomeness

I'm coming home pretty soon. I might be a little bit excited about it. Just a little.

But before that: updates. I haven't been traveling much lately, mostly because I've had so much to do with school- and yes, I do go to class and yes, I do have to study.

I did get to go to Belfort for the weekend, which was fantastic. I have a friend (Sarah Dupee, for those of you who know her) who lives not far from Belfort, which is a city about three hours to the north of me. We both had free time and there was a huge music festival going on there so I headed up on a Saturday morning, thinking that I would hang out with her, listen to some music, and jump back on the train home. When she met me at the station, though, she was like, "you pack really light!" I was a little bit confused- all I had was my purse. It took us about five minutes of exchanging confused "what?"s to figure out that she had assumed I was going to stay the night and I had assumed I wasn't. So we changed my train and I stayed. It was awesome. The 23rd annual Belfort International Music Festival was so much fun. There was every kind of music you could think of- rock bands, choirs, an African drumming group, a classical guitar group, an accordian band, various orchestras, and this really amazing Creole Jazz Band from Germany. Yes, you read that right. They were easily my favorite group. There were 14 venues in different locations all around the city. On Saturday night, there was folk music in the big town square and people were gathered around doing folk dances- it was so much fun! I learned a French square dance!

The second concert I got to go to was last night. There's this unbelievable band called Explosions in the Sky that was playing in Paris, and since they don't go on tour very often and I didn't know if I was ever going to get another chance to see them live, I went to Paris for the night. My host mom thought I was crazy, but it was totally worth it. It was probably the most incredible show ever. They're a rock band, but they have no singer so all they do is play amazing, powerful, mindblowing music. If you've never heard of them or listened to them, look them up on youtube or iTunes. One of my favorite songs is called The Birth and Death of the Day. Go listen to it. I'm not kidding. And then look up First Breath After Coma, one of my other favorites. It might change your life. : )

So now I am nearing my final weekend in Lyon. It's really weird to think that I'll be home in three weeks! I remember that during my first week here, I had a terrible dream where it was already time to go home and all I could think of was "No! I just got here! I haven't done anything or gone anywhere! I can't go home!" I'm very, very happy to be able to say that I don't feel that way now that I'm really leaving. I've had a wonderful, rich semester and I feel like I've been challenged and stretched in a lot of ways.

This will probably be my last post from France. Next week I have five exams, and then I'll be taking a trip to Austria for ten days before I come home on June 11. I'll blog about that trip when I'm back on familiar ground. For now, thanks to everyone who sent me cards or letters or emails- hearing from friends always makes my day! And thanks for reading my blog, even when the entries were ridiculously long (though if you didn't read all of it, you don't have to tell me, haha). I can't wait to get home and see all your faces again!

Love,
Sarah