Three weeks...

A strange pattern has emerged. This is the third time I am writing my blog after three weeks. You're slacking, Gabrielle. Clearly, this means that a lot has happened in the meantime so I will try to give you a brief but interesting overview of "the latest" in my life.

As most of you know, all the classes I do at my French university centre on the subject of Communication, but there's one that I have warmed to the most: Writing for Multi-Media. Not only is it taught by a professional freelance journalist (who works for the New York Times) but it also focuses on what I want to do in life - write. As our teacher is "in the know", she managed to get one of her professional friends named Jeanne Oliver to come in and talk about her travel website, a website with all the information you need to know about Croatia. She took us through the ins and outs of setting a website up, looking for inspiration, facing competition and keeping up-to-date with the time. But this got me thinking... maybe I could create a website one day. But, of course, there's no rush.

Talking of travelling, I've made another crazy life decision. I want to do an internship in Egypt. And yes, I've already applied and had a Skype interview for it. I told you a lot can happen in three weeks! I know what you're probably thinking: why Egypt? Well, I'll tell you. After announcing to my housemate about wanting to do an internship in Egypt, his initial reaction was "don't go there, it's dangerous", and that got me thinking. My response to him was "I want to see what we see in the media for myself". A typical Gabrielle response, but it's true. Of course, I see his point. There has been a major uprising and revolution, but if everyone had that sort of preconception about certain cultures, no-one would travel! I've always been fascinated with the ancient history of the country and I want to see how the culture is now, in this day and age.

Blame it on The Mummy.

Because I'm in France, I'm unable to do a face-to-face interview in England (obviously) so I managed to arrange a Skype interview - my first Skype interview. I was quite nervous at first. What do I wear? I should make my bed. What if the internet randomly cuts off? Who calls who? I am happy to say that despite my initial nerves, the interview went very well. I think I may have kept looking at myself on-screen, but nevertheless I said everything I wanted to say, I was honest and, most importantly, I didn't panic. A few days later, I received an email saying they were impressed with my responses and were sending my interview transcript to the national office for final acceptance. That's good enough for me!

I have also completed my second and last set of midterms for the semester. I think they went well, especially my speech. We were assigned to write and perform a persuasive speech. The first thing that came to mind was the abolition of nuclear weapons, so I did it. It's something I feel quite strongly about and I wanted that to come across in my speech. My speech began with a hypothetical situation, asking the audience to imagine they were the President of the most powerful country in the world and they had just been attacked by a neighbouring country - do you press the "red button" on your desk (which would instantly fire a nuclear missile) or not? After telling a few anecdotes and shocking facts, my speech was over. My teacher came to the front and said to the class, "we should be throwing flowers at Gabrielle, she had total conviction". The best [unexpected] compliment I could have wished for! It truly made my day.

What next? Ah, yes. Thanksgiving. I have celebrated my first Thanksgiving with my amazing American friends in France. That's a story for the grandchildren. The food was delicious: turkey, sweet potato pie, stuffing, the lot! And because we were hosting it at our house, my housemates and I were able to enjoy the leftovers.

Nom nom nom.

Well, I for one think that this is a successful summary of my life over the last three weeks. I am currently bombarded with project upon project, leading up to "finals" - like midterms, only these are at the end of the semester. I'll try to write another blog post soon, but if three weeks pass again, I'll be writing it in England!

I'd better make the most of my time left then, i.e. eat as many fresh croissants as humanly possible. Au revoir!