Day 103: Pau, France

So, as of today, I am completely finished with my responsibilities here in Pau.  It is incredibly weird to be done with everything.  I'm definitely really sad, but I am really thankful that it was all such a great experience.

I got up around 7 00 this morning, took a shower, and went to school to take the TCF.  We all went to a giant amphitheater in the law building for our test.  The test takes an hour and a half, with 25 minutes for the 30 question listening portion, and then 1:05 for the remaining 50 questions.  I did pretty well, I think, except for on the listening portion of the test, which a lot of people seemed to find difficult.

Here is our testing room.  We had assigned seating, with about 3 people per row.

This weird thing is in the courtyard of the law building.  There are like 3 horizontal surfaces in the entire thing, and it seems to be pretty useless. 

After the TCF, we all went to a meeting with the USAC staff.  It was just to remind everybody of a few final things, and to give us some tips on how to deal with the culture shock of going back to wherever we are going that isn't as good as France.  After the meeting, we all took a bus downtown for a final lunch together.  They took us to La Brasserie Royale, which has very good food. 

My lunch table.  I didn't give them a lot of warning about the picture I was taking.

This salad with duck was the highlight of the meal for me.  I will miss duck.  :(

Me and Breanna.

Me with Ryan, Robina, and Pauline, The USAC office staff here in Pau.  There were all fantastic.

The lunch was a really fun meal, and it was great to see everybody together one final time.  It was pretty weird saying goodbye to everybody, knowing we won't ever be together again.  It actually felt a lot like a season of drum corps, where you are completely immersed in something for months, and then suddenly, it is just over.


After lunch, I walked around the centre ville with some people and we did some shopping, and then I went home.  I practiced for a little bit, and then I took a nap.  Thom was practicing his drums.  I am really glad I have those nice headphones.  When I woke up I practiced some more, and had a really good session.  It was the first time that I really felt like I might, at some point, be able to play the trumpet again.  I really hope things keep going well.  


For dinner, I went to Pizza Cap, and then went back to eat in Laura's room.  There were about 10 people in and out of Laura's room during the evening.  We just ate and drank wine and had generally had a good time.  

Rehana and Catalina.

Jenny.  And Matt's legs, arm, and camera.

At around 9:30, we went to Le Garage and met up with basically everybody in USAC.  There were tons of people there.  It was a lot of fun.

Duke, Rehana, and Erin.

Our pilot friends, Michael and Roman, with Lauris.

Fabritzio, from Venezuela, Catalina, form Portugal, this guy we met named Sam, from England, and Betty, from Las Vegas

Jamie and Forrest.

Catalina, Laura, Matt, and Jeff.

It was a really great night out, and we had a lot of fun.  I am very excited to spend my last few days here with most of these people.