It's Beginning to Feel A Lot Like Wanderlust

AH....I really am bad at updating this thing. It's been a month since I last wrote mostly because the last month has been a little heavy in terms of school work, and quite light in terms of new and interesting things to blog about. This is the second to last week of classes before the Christmas break, and to be quite honest, the break can't come fast enough. It snowed for the first time today (or at least it was the first snow that I've witnessed in Paris), and for the first time in three months, I felt a little nostalgic for home...I'm still loving Paris, but the constant grey and drizzle really isn't nearly as pleasant as the fluffy snow back home. Since I'm not going home for the holidays, the hour of wet snow that we received this afternoon is probably the best I'm going to get.

Speaking of the holidays, I haven't left Paris since arriving in September, and I'm definitely beginning to feel the wanderlust creep up. In order to satisfy my need to travel, I'm heading to Strasbourg in the East of France (right on the border with Germany, and the seat of the European Parliament) for three days this weekend, and then in exactly a week from tomorrow I'm jetting off to Morocco for three weeks! This will be my first foray into Africa, so I'm super pumped about it. Mint tea, camel rides, and 5AM calls to prayer, here I come! The decision to go to Morocco was a bit of a last minute thing, because I had been planning on going to Egypt for the break, however Morocco turns out to be much more budget friendly at this time of the year (I'm probably going to hit Egypt in February). So for the moment, I haven't done any planning for Morocco, except that I know that I'm flying in and out of Marrakech, and I've booked my first night's accommodations....other than that, it's all a little up in the air, which is both refreshing and terrifying. Mostly, I'm just excited to hit the road, and to see a little bit more of the world...

On a final note, the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight: I have an appointment for my mandatory medical check next Tuesday, and hopefully in exactly one week from today, I will FINALLY have my residency permit!!!  Once that card is in my hands, I will be able to work (legally), apply for student housing assistance (more paperwork, but SO worth it), and leave the country and re-enter at will. If this is not a cause for celebration, I don't know what is.