Darn you.

I spent the majority of Thursday being sick and trying to put together the hardest 250 piece puzzle I have ever worked on. That probably didn't do much for my physical health, as it began to drive me crazy. The puzzle itself was attractive, but there was a significant lack in details and color variety, which any puzzle aficionado knows makes it difficult to piece together. To top it off, there was a note written on the back and in order to read it one must complete the puzzle. I spent the majority of day sweating over the damn thing, muttering "I'm going to beat him to within an inch of his life".

I did finish the puzzle, by the way.

  This evening, my host mother is hosting (ha ha!) a dinner party. As I was helping her with groceries today, I noticed she had bought close to 10 bottles of wine. Welcome to France, Sam. I have seen this multiple times in the store with strangers. One would be tempting to throw around the word, "alcoholic" if someone purchased that much alcohol in The United States.

  I've been constantly fighting of some sort of malady since I arrived in this country. There is an ever-present sore throat and I'm starting to develop some flu symptoms. Busy work is rampant in my schooling and it's driving me batty. The French education system is inefficient and unorganized, and that's putting it mildly. The professors cannot stand anyone with a different answer than their own and they have a nasty habit of making students look incredibly stupid. I plan on giving it another month or so, and if things show no improvement, I am seriously considering cutting my stay to just a semester. My site director will probably have something to say about it, for the pure reason that when I come to her with issues (which is what we were all instructed to do, of course) she always has something negative to retort ("What are your real reasons for wanting to move into an apartment?" - "Come back to me after you think more about it. You should really stay in a host family"). 

I absolutely cannot wait for my mother to send me peanut butter. Here's to hoping it gets here toute de suite!