Finally! Classes are over! (After I go to this one in half an hour.) I absolutely cannot wait to begin wonderful, slothful days of...studying.
On a sad note, my French Professor, Dr. Langille, is taking off the next semester to write a book or something, so he's getting replaced by...some professor who's not listed on the Modern Languages faculty page or ratemyprofessors.com! Maybe she doesn't know what she's talking about. Oh dear. Anyways, although I started out the year painting a very amusing picture of Dr. Langille as a ridiculously sharp 1950s dresser who flings out his coattails before he sits down, he is, in fact, much more amusing than that. He has a scornful, sharp humor that is just great. So, even though I know that on the written page these are amazingly unamusing, I give you some Dr. Langille quotes:
"Does 'ce sont' have a feminin hat on?"
"I couldn't imagine that anyone could be more interesting than me."
"I could be doing much more sophisticated lectures, trust me, but I'll be doing French 100 for the rest of my life."
"Any questions about that? 'Cause suddenly I'm going to make things a lot worse."
"Since you were so good today, I'll tell you a joke."
"Sorry, you have to get used to my sense of humor, which is sometimes quite devastating." (after he's just ripped a student to shreds for an incorrect answer)
"What's a day without a concept?"
"Let's see where we're AT *humorless laugh*"
"Someday, I'm going to take my frustrations out on the teachers of the world who didn't teach you any grammar. They all deserve to be horse-whipped!"
"My office is in an old, decrepit building. I think it's condemned, actually. A bird was flying around my classroom today. I was standing, teaching, and the bird actually landed on my head. No one could concentrate."
"And do you know why you don't care about subjects and objects? Because you're English!!" (Dr. Langille, I should add, is Canadian. Not French-Canadian, either.)
So, I know that these quotes don't seem amusing at all, but trust me, they are. And in the end, despite the fact that every class made me really scared, nervous, and stressed, I'm definitely going to miss his cruel, dry sense of humor.
Thanksgiving! Bottom line: Fun. Average sensation: Pain. Ow!
From the beginning: Sam drove up to Antigonish and picked me up! How awesome was that? He came Wednesday at four, and we went out to dinner at Gabrieau's. I've eaten there before, and thought it was good, but this time it was great! It's nice to know that there's actually a proper place to eat in Antigonish. Too bad it costs an arm and a leg. :( Sam was exhausted, so he went to bed early, then I had classes, and we left afterwards. Because the car he was driving was Megan's/Clint's/Clint's Dad/Someone's and he hadn't expreeeeessly asked permission if I could drive it, he drove all the way home. He apologized, like it was a bad thing, while I was feeling awesome since not only did I not have to drive at ALL, but I also didn't have to feel guilty about it. Sweet. We had a nice talk in the car. I think that's the longest I've ever spoken to Sam at once.
Upon arriving home: Wow, the house is very unfinished. Wednesday, Dad, Sam, and I drove down and picked Ben, Julie, and El (new nickname, to avoid spelling confusing of Isabel) up from the airport. When we got back to the house, after a very tame drive home, Dad decided that this was a perfect time to bring the refrigerator up from the basement. So he put plywood on the stairs to turn it into a ramp, wrapped a rope around it, tilted it onto the ramp, and Sam, Ben, and I pulled on the rope upstairs while Dad pushed from below. The whole heave ho-ness of it all made me feel very much like a slave in Egypt, buildign the pyramids, pulling a huge block of stone up ramps with other slaves. Of course, in the end, I accomplished almost no real pulling action, while Ben and (surprisingly) Sam did most of the work. The fridge, while slightly dinged, is very nice. I love it.
Thanksgiving day: We arrived at the BeViers' around...eleven? Eleven thirty? Something. In addition to Wes, Becca, their kid (Nathalie), Blake (is that is name? Why can I never remember his name?), Heather, their kid (Madelein[sp?]), Chick, and Susan, there was also Clyde and Pam, neighbors and friends of the family. Clyde is Chick's particular friend. Clyde scares me. He's very loud and outgoing, and also seems very competitive. I would never want to play a sport with him. Which is why, when softball started, (I predict that Clyde was on his high school, if not college, football and baseball team) I decided to help look after Nathalie and Madelein so that Becca and Heather could play. For me, this was much more fun than baseball. Afterwards, Ben really wanted to play touch football. Now *this* was a game that I didn't mind playing. No game of touch football is ever really that good or competitive. And in the end, most of us were really bad. Except for this guy Ryan (I forgot about them! Ryan and...and...hmm. Wife. And their baby son Gavin. He's a chef for the coastguard one of their boats, I guess.) who threw really well, and Wes. Poor Wes was on a team with Ben, me, and Heather. We were doing so badly, and I think that Heather and I were most useful serving as ineffective decoys.
Class time, I'll finish this later....
Later: Dinner was fabulous and huge. I took itty bitty bits of everything, but even with only a little of everything, there were so many options that I ended up STUFFED and with no room for any seconds. I didn't even get to try everything! Afterwards there was this iPod music game the BeViers wanted to play. I didn't want to play, and everyone was pushing me, but Wes was kind enough to save me and suggest that I help him pick out the music. It was actually probably a pretty good idea, since between the two of us we knew the musical tastes of almost everyone playing. Two pieces of pie later, and we went home, all of us very exhausted.
Friday, I rolled out of bed in immense pain from my muscles. The fridge left my arms crippled, and the football left my legs and waist crippled. Sam also felt my pain, but it took half a day for Ben's to set in. Two days later, when Sam and I were feeling better, Ben was still sore, which I thought was very fair considering his late start on it. :-P So, Friday...oh yeah. We all went out to dinner at the Chandler House. My previous experiences at the Chandler House I haven't liked so much. I thought the food was pretty mediocre. However, I've always ordered chicken and pasta, 'cause the other options are steak-like things and seafood. The restaurant seems to be known for those two things, so I thought that I should at least give the seafood a try. And...it was great!! It completely changed my opinion of Chandler House. So, if you ever find yourself in Calais at the Chandler House, keep away from chicken-y items and get seafood.
Saturday: Sam left, Ben and Julie went to Wes and Becca's, then they all came back later and we watched the horrible loss of Notre Dame to USC. While they were gone, though, Dad and I rearranged the wood in the basement to make room for the Expedition to go in. Having a car in a heated garage=awesome. We were pathetically tired, though, so Wes, Becca, and Nathalie left at halftime. Dad and I watched the DaVinci Code that night as well. I thought it was amusing and entertaining, but also pretty silly. Poor Tom Hanks seems to have fat man chin without a fat man body.
So, that was Thanksgiving! I didn't finish this entry until the day after I started writing it, so now that I've woken up and finished it, I need to go get a shower. Ben K should post his pictures on BenandJules.com...but not in flash form, so that I can save them to my HD.
Time for.....leftovers.
And, sorry for giving way more detail than anyone *ever* wanted about another person's Thanksgiving.
