Uhhhg, Immigration!

Because we are here on a year-long visa, almost everyone on my program had to get up at 6am today to find an office and get our chests x-rayed. Then we had to walk downtown to another office so an actual doctor could look at our results and tell us that we were fine and TB free. All while it was below freezing outside and way too early for most of us to function. The whole experience wasn't difficult, even though it was mostly in French, it was just a tad bit frustrating since we are all leaving in about a month (the Lewis and Clark students leave in two weeks), making the visit practically pointless. It was definitely an eye-opener to what countries require foreign visitors or immigrants to do in order to stay there. We had to give up our entire mornings (missing "crucial" hours of class, exams are coming up!) and pay 55€ for a mandatory doctor's visit. Any day where I'm asked if I'm pregnant, more than once, is not considered a good day in my book. 
Luckily, I was able to make up for feeling fat and grumpy by walking around the marchés de Noël and buying a pretzel covered in cheese and bits of ham (a Strasbourg specialty!). While eating, I meandered around the little booths set up in the square and admired all the candy and beautifully hand made toys and gifts. There was a lovely pair of earrings at one of the shops that looked like a black and white flower made of some sort of shell or coral... I may never know which. But I got them anyway. :) I've finished my Christmas shopping for everyone else, so why not myself?
Yesterday ended up being a fairly good day as well. As I was leaving the house in the morning, I couldn't figure out if I was setting the alarm system up correctly or not... it kept beeping at me and flashing funny lights. By the time I was closing and locking the door behind me for the second time, Chris (my friend who I moved in with) was walking up the front steps and helped me out. Perfect timing!
Classes were... classes and we came back home for dinner. Once again, my host mom and I ended up talking about plants and a day-by-day calendar of flowers that she has next to the dinner table for a while after we finished eating. There was one of the plants that we couldn't remember the common name of so she pulled out one of her books and we searched it out together. She also gave me a book of plants to read through in my room! So much fun.
Right now, I'm off to enjoy the weekend free of doctors and classes but full of shopping in Christmas markets and baking with my host mom! À plus!