Hi everybody! I have a lot to catch you up on.

So I said in my last post that I have six classes and I'm dying from stress. This week got to be too much; I only left my room for 2 hours last weekend, Thursday night to Monday morning, because I was doing homework the entire time. That is not at all healthy, especially this early in the semester. So I went to our Director and asked to drop a class. What I'm hoping to do is make one of my other remaining classes a four-credit class instead of two-credit to make up for the class I'm planning to drop. We'll see how it goes, and I'll give you a final update.

At the moment I am in Marseille! I hopped on a train at 6:42AM and got here about 11. After getting lost I finally found the hostel, then after dropping off my stuff I took a tour around the city. I saw all the major churches and monuments, which was quite an achievement in only 7 hours. I also got lost yet again, and spent about an hour walking around aimlessly. Thank God for my map, but it doesn't have all the little streets on it.

I've had a pleasant time here so far, but I must admit I would never want to live here. It doesn't have the same historical charm that a lot of the other European cities do, and honestly, it's dirty. There is litter and trash everywhere, as well as cigarette butts and poop because no one cleans up after their dogs, apparently. A lot of things are falling in disrepair, too, which is really sad.

Additionally, some of the men here have been horrible. I get upset enough with being catcalled (honestly, what do they think I gain from knowing they think I'm attractive? Do they the opinion of a stranger matters to me, especially when it is expressed in such a crude manner?) but today I walked by this group of guys who were maybe a year or two younger than me, and one of them pushed his friend into me as I walked by. I know he did it on purpose because he looked at me, looked at his friend, and then pushed him, so at least I had a 2 second warning. But besides the fact that this is extremely rude in general, it also was a pretty hard push. This kid almost knocked me over. I turned around and was completely beyond trying to yell at him (the one who did the pushing) in French so I just said "REALLY?!" and he was like "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to" as he is LAUGHING. I really wish I had yelled at him but instead I just kept walking. Ahhhh!

Other than those experiences though, it hasn't been bad at all and I am enjoying the experience. For those of you worried about the fact that I'm traveling by myself, I'm limiting myself to a curfew of nightfall. Also, since I got up at 6AM, I am quite tired right now so I will be going to bed soon. Goodnight everybody!