Theme of the Week: SNOW!

So this past week has been relatively uneventful: we had class, we watched some Modern Family, we bought groceries and cooked our dinners, we’re still adjusting to the French life, etc., etc.

However! Last Monday I commented on how it was snowing, and I figured it would just be a dusting or so, I always thought/was told that the Paris/northern France regions didn’t really get snow in the winter, it was just cloudy, gloomy, cold, and rainy. How wrong was I. We actually got about two or so inches last Monday night, then another inch or so Friday night, and then another inch or so Sunday!

Some pictures of it snowing from my room

There are a few differences in how the French handle snow and how Americans handle snow, though, that must be addressed. First off, we still had school. Which is fine! I expect to always have class, even at Washington College. The difference, however, is that NOTHING is shoveled. It’s very interesting trying to get around a campus that has iced-over snow sidewalks and footpaths and streets and whatnot. The other aspect to this too is that some of the streets in the towns aren’t plowed, or are merely plowed in the middle of the street (this is due to the fact that cars park half on the sidewalk and half on the street). The sidewalks around the towns are shoveled either, unless the people who own the house in front of the sidewalk shovel it themselves. It’s been manageable, I don’t mean to complain, but it can be very cumbersome as we walk everywhere, every day, and sometimes with heavy grocery bags. But, I will end my rant there!

This is what the street/sidewalk looks like on campus

And what it looks like on the street where I live!

Regardless of how… annoying the un-shoveled streets are, when it snows in Arras it is very gorgeous and I have greatly enjoyed cozying it up in my warm bed and watching it outside of my window while enjoying a movie or a book or the internet!

 Here are some photos of my school, for those of you who are curious!

La bibliothèque (The library)

The Lettres et Arts/Histoire et Géographie building, where I have most of my classes

In other news, I have my first bit of homework (noooooo!!!) and two of my classes were cancelled today due to the professor being absent. However, we have class tomorrow (our day off) to make up for not having two classes last Friday (absent prof… noticing a theme yet?), which is a bummer. But, ah well, c’est la vie!