Interesting week

Hi friends. This week has been an interesting week. It was full of all sorts of things. I got a cold for a couple days which made my energy level almost none existent which meant the last thing I wanted to do was go out and speak french. None the less I made myself go out because I would not get to know people, or improve my french, or get the things I needed to get done if I hadn't. There were a couple of days where I got rather home sick. All I wanted was to see a familiar face or talk to someone I knew. That got better as I began to meet new people. I now know a few people I hang out with frequently and some people who I have made a deal to help them with english if they help me with french. I also went to a church that I was told about which was nice and they welcomed me in right away.
The problem that I have found the hardest is how many people prefer to speak english with me especially when they learn I am from the U.S. Especially when my cold was hitting full swing I easily fell into the trap of just speaking english. Slowly though I have continually asked different people to speak in french. Although I have spoken in english a great deal I have found that my confidence of speaking french has improved and given me courage to do it even more. Of course I make mistakes but I am definately improving. I had a conversation a couple people the last couple of days in french that lasted about 20 or 30 mins. That was encouraging.
So some interesting things that have taken place. I was walking down one of the main roads and walking a local performer when I saw a guy running toward me. My immediate reaction is hold my bag and start walking away. Considering the fact that I do not know many people it makes sense. Eventually the guy got closer all the while calling my name. It was David, the guy from Whitworth who is studying here. It was fun to bump into him and see a familar face. Unlike what I thought he actually had just arrived in Aix. For some reason I was under the impression that he had been here for a while. He has not had the best time here so far. They put him in a room that has bed bugs. Apparently he had asked Marlene (i do not know how to actually spell her name but I think this is close) for a pot to borrow so he could he something for dinner. She is one of the girls that I have started hanging out with. They got to talking and realized he was put in the same room she had just been moved from because she complained of the same thing. He had not had a chance to sleep for a while so they checked the room to see if the bugs where there or if they had the dorm had taken care of the problem. Generally you do not put a person in a room that you know has bed bugs. he woke up the next morning covered in bites. Since students are the ones who run the "office" on the weekends he could not change rooms. He found a friend he could room with for a couple of nights. Now the bed bugs are everywhere in his room. Including all of his stuff. We all joke about it but it still is not exactly the best welcome. He should be allowed to change rooms today I think.
Another interesting thing...I have been asked by two African American French guys at different times if I could be their girlfriend. You must realize that both times it was after having met them once and talking for about 15 mins. Both of them wanted me to go back to their houses with them. I said no and found ways to leave the situation. Both of the guys were students and both occurances happened at different times, different places but I just found it funny. It also holds to the stereotype that European people believe American girls are easy. Well they kind of picked the wrong girl to see if that was true. Going to prove that one wrong quickly. Just thought it was interesting.
Anyway. My social butterfly is starting to come back. I was walking around with a couple of people yesturday and what stared as 4 people sitting at a cafe went to 10 people at the table. It was rather fun. I was sitting in the middle and was able to be part of several different conversations. What was also fun was that France was playing rugby against Republic of Georgia (country) so every cafe was full of people watching the game. We could not really see the screen from where we were but we could hear the cheers and boos through out the game. It made for a fun afternoon.
Alrighty this is getting long. I hope all is well with everyone. I will write again sometime next week or so. I am going to Holland this weekend to visit a friend and then start school so it may not be for a little while. If you could be thinking today of me because I have my oral test tomorrow and hope it goes well. Eventually I will find a way to get pictures on here but currently my computer is not working well and it does not seem to work well with wireless so I haven't found a place I can download pictures. Also in regards to skype...same problem. I will continue to try and find places but I can not promise I will have that any time soon. Things here are good and I miss you all.