Tuesday, November 16, 2021 | Written by Mira
At GTL we follow the French holiday schedule. So, while we don’t have Thanksgiving off from classes, we got Armistice Day (November 11) off. A lot of people took this four-day weekend to travel a little farther than we would be able to on a normal three-day weekend. The freshmen even got to travel this weekend on their own. I, on the other hand, always have four-day weekends based on my course schedule, so this “long” weekend was a normal weekend for me. I had already planned on not traveling this weekend because I knew I would be exhausted from the week-long adventure to Eastern Europe.
Thursday
On Armistice Day, most businesses are closed, and the buses run on a Sunday schedule (limited). I woke up around 9:30am and searched for an open grocery store on google maps – Carrefour Express was open near the train station. I hopped on the first available bus to downtown and popped into the grocery store to grab a few essentials. The next bus back to Lafayette wasn’t for another two hours, so I walked across the street to Fox Coffee Shop to do some schoolwork while I waited for the bus. I also made a quick stop at the train station to purchase seat reservations for my Paris trip next weekend!
The main task of the day: Statistics project. I had procrastinated this assignment during fall break because I was too busy traveling and too exhausted to work on it, but now the countdown began. I had 24 hours to complete the problem set. At 1:30pm, two classmates came to my apartment, and we started to grind it out. It took more than 12 hours, and I won’t disclose exactly what time I went to bed, but it was late enough that I learned not to procrastinate on the next project.
Friday
I woke up just before noon, starting my not-so-productive weekend. I walked to Auchan to do actual grocery shopping and did my laundry. I spent the rest of my Friday trying (and failing) to be productive.
That night, I had dinner with a family in downtown Metz. They had recently traveled to New York and brought back a toy yellow school bus for their kids. They asked me if these school buses were also in Atlanta (yes), and if other cars on the road really stopped for the school buses (also, yes). In France, there aren’t buses dedicated to bringing children to and from school. Instead, kids use public transportation. I had gotten on a bus early one morning to go to the train station, and I walked on to see it packed full of middle schoolers!
Saturday
I spent my Saturday completing a few tasks here and there, but mostly catching up on some reality TV. It was super relaxing to sleep in and slow down a bit. If I would have been traveling this weekend, it would be a series of early mornings and overexertion, so being able to stay in bed all day was a nice change of pace. (It’s totally okay to slow down and take a break – you’ll thank yourself later!)
Sunday
My Sunday transpired very similarly to the previous two days. The gloomy, cold weather didn’t do much to help my productivity either, but I did manage to work on a physics lab. My sleep schedule had been a little bit messed up from that late night working on statistics, so I treated myself to a nap before completing my physics lab while watching a movie. I was also able to catch up with some friends from Atlanta and my parents (remember to call your parents!).
I may not have had the most productive or exciting weekend, but it’s okay to slow down and recharge, especially with finals rapidly approaching! It is important to find a balance between *study* abroad and study *abroad*.