Day 15 Report

This morning I woke up, vaguely remembered that I was on holiday, and thought about how I was going to spend my day.

Then suddenly I remembered that I was not, in fact, in Singapore but far far away on an immersion programme and if I lazed around any longer then I would be late for school!

So I got up grouchily.

I had to get up 20 min earlier today because the Stephans had a morning appointment at the opthamologist. I was surprised that they didn't just tell me to take the bus to school. However, I didn't mind going earlier since it meant I would have nearly half an hour to surf the Net before class.

We changed classrooms today, which is annoying because the room is now upstairs instead of across from the computer area - so I can't just hop back into class when I see my teacher entering.

We were assigned to present (in pairs) on a current affair. Unlike most of my classmates, I haven't been watching the news (or any television at all), nor have I been reguarly reading the newspapers. But I eventually chose to do my presentation on la grippe porcine, otherwise known as the swine flu.

We had like two hours to do our research so the time passed really fast (but we didn't have an actual breaktime of course). I got to surf the Net again, but this time to read the pandemic announcement on the WHO site. I read the statement in English, then opened another window with the statement in French. Haha.

At 11 a.m. we returned to class and met the three new students - two girls from Switzerland and one guy from Hong Kong, all older than us.

The presentations started and the first pair to present talked about H1N1 too, which was actually a good thing because I had less to talk about and less questions to answer from the teacher. :P She was, however, adamant that we PRESENT and not READ from our notes. I had to refer to my notes a few times because I kept forgetting certain terms and verbs and (especially) what I was supposed to talk about next. It's hard enough remembering all that in English. At least the teacher didn't say anything. :P

Mine was the last pair to present and we finished past 12.30 p.m., after which we went through Friday's homework. Apparently Friday's homework was the last exercise that we're doing in the book and now that we've finished it, we're supposed to get a new textbook and exercise book! My precious luggage space is for MUSEUM GUIDEBOOKS, not FRENCH TEXTBOOKS!!!

As usual, we ended late - 1.15 p.m. to be exact. The others had been planning to take a bus to Le Conquet (a little town at the westernmost point of Brittany) if the weather was good - and it was perfectly sunny for the first time in a long while.

But by the time we finished class, the others had already left for Brest on the 1.10 p.m. bus and would take the 2 p.m. bus to Le Conquet. The next bus to Brest was at 1.26 p.m., by which time we would miss the Le Conquet-bound bus. Yet we couldn't have lunch in school while we waited for the others to reach Brest and find out the time for the next bus (since we might end up missing it too), so we took the 1.26 p.m. bus to Brest anyway. On the bus the others messaged after checking the schedule and informed us that the next bus would leave for Le Conquet at 3.26 p.m.

Now we had over an hour to kill in Brest! If there was any way of knowing the schedule beforehand, we could've at least had lunch in school first. :P

I went to buy my weekly bus pass and then walked around the usual shops again. Then I met Denise at the bus stop, where I ate my chocolate and muesli bars.

Strangely enough, by 3.36 p.m. the bus still had not arrived. There was a young couple waiting for the same bus and were equally puzzled by the no-show. The guy finally showed us his little bus schedule (if only we had one of those) and said that we were probably wasting our time waiting since the bus probably wasn't going to turn up, but we could take the next bus (4-something) to Le Conquet. Well, that was too late for us so we left the bus stop.

So technically our teacher spoiled our afternoon. By 15 min! And we missed our lunch for nothing. Now I have an extra microwaveable meal.

In the end we spent the next 2.5 hours in Brest. First we went to New Look, where I had to get a new pair of shoes since mine have been giving way since the middle of last week (blame the endless rain and walking). Then we walked south and visited Monoprix, after which we got bored of Brest and took the 6.10 p.m. bus home.

At dinner Mr Stephan asked (as he does every evening) if I went to shop in Brest, and I rambled on and on about wanting to go to Le Conquet with my friends but my class ended late and I missed the first bus to Brest and the first bus to Le Conquet and then the next bus to Le Conquet didn't turn up and I don't know why and it's too bad because the weather was so nice today! (I must have seriously surprised him, since I usually just say "yes".)

Dinner, by the way, was a potato and ham salad followed by rice and chicken in tomato sauce (the same thing we ate the afternoon that the Stephans returned from their trip). Dessert was flan.