Chers followers,

I've been negligent with my blogging, and for that I am sorry. But now that it's been so long, I don't really know where to start!

Last month I went to central Europe, and explored Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. It was my most favorite trip of my life! In part, I think, because it was my first truly solo trip- I met so many amazing people from all over the world. And the history is so rich, with the Nazi and Communist occupations. It was fascinating.

A highlight for me was when I was in Paris. Because of a police investigation of unattended luggage in Charles De Gaulle, I ended up missing my train back to Lure by about 13 minutes. So, I got a new ticket and sat down on a bench to wait the two hours until the next train. I was actually sending a text message and had a question about the usage of the subjunctive, so I decided to askthe man beside me if I had spelled the verb right. He was old, I thought maybe about 80, and he got out his glasses and read the whole text and told me it was perfect. Then he looked at me and said, You're not French are you? With that, we started talking - for more than an hour and a half! It turns out in 1943 he was 11, and his family was deported to Poland during WWII. We talked about everything under the sun: religion, politics, Hollywood, war, human nature, gender roles, children, etc. He even told me some jokes and we laughed and laughed. He asked me for my home address so that he can write me! He also told me that our meeting was fate, that there's a reason for everything. I had the most wonderful time and I felt truly honored to have met and talked with him.

I hosted a crepe party this past weekend, and it was incredible! We had little crepe makers and everything. We started with savory - I made a scrumptious white veggie sauce - and then moved on to dessert - Nutella, sugar, lemon juice, fruit, all the fixins. It was a success, even though I'm sure that if I had a smoke alarm in my apartment, it would have gone off several times.

Tonight I'm going to Belfort to attend a party! Eva and Tourist invited me, it's a big family party with all the people from Vouhenans. I think they're even putting my name on a cake for all the birthdays in March!

Also, I feel really connected with Ohio today - two days ago it was 55 and sunny. Today, I woke up to three inches of snow. Feels just like home!

I hope everyone is well. All my love.

Sam