Hello everyone,
It has been quite an uneventful last month and a half, and it's supposed to stay uneventful for the next three weeks. I've been in confinement since March 17 and school is expected to start on May 18th for the students in terminal. ...
... Even then, only half of the students are supposed to go back to school because no more than 15 students are allowed in each classroom. We're not sure if we'll be swapping days or swapping weeks, but we should find out shortly. Right now it's spring break, but because we are confined not many of my teachers are giving us a break. I was supposed to be travelling around France in a bus with a large group of teenagers right now, but as sad as I am about not being able to do that, I am enjoying my time with my host family. I've gotten very lucky with my host families and I'm so glad I'm confined with this one because we're really bonding. I've been doing a lot of french cooking during confinement which has been really fun.
I've also been working on stuff for university. I got enrolled in most of my classes today and I have meetings with the honors college and the engineering college in the next couple days for orientation. I've been pretty successful at keeping myself busy without being able to leave the house. We're quite lucky and we've been confined in a house with a large garden, but there are many people who haven't been allowed to leave their apartments.
Before confinement, I did manage to go to RYLA which was so much fun. It got cut short by a couple of hours, but I'm so glad I managed to have one last Rotary weekend.
I think I'll be coming back in May sometime, but I'm okay with that. There isn't much left to do here, especially because most things will remain closed until July. I'll be sad to leave my friends here, but I've had a pretty successful, if not unique, exchange. I'm so grateful to have been given this opportunity and I'm so glad I took this chance. I'm sitting here typing this email surrounded by blooming roses in a garden in the french countryside. That's pretty cool. When I get back, I'll be more than willing to show pictures :).
-Abby Fellows