Le Monde Francophone

I spent the past week out in the charming and cosmopolitan city of Dayton, Ohio at a conference for AIESEC, the international student org that I'm involved with in DC (I also went to Morocco on an AIESEC Program). In Dayton, since one trip outside the hotel more than sufficed, I spent the time attending sessions and meeting as many people as I could. The international flavor was amazing - there were people from Japan, Macau, The UK, The Netherlands, and even Canada (!) among others.
While there, I made a point of corralling any person who spoke a modicum of French into conversation. I talked to people from Haiti, Cote d'Ivoire, France, and other Americans who love the language as much as I do. One night, as I took a break from cutting a rug on the dance floor (be glad you weren't there, I'm a woman-repeller when I get my groove on), we managed to gather a few people for an impromptu session - which I quickly termed "le monde Francophone" (the french-speaking world). While it didn't last that long, and I was as anxious as ever to continue my wooden dancing to Madonna, it was a great opportunity to get myself even more excited for Paris - I'll head out on the 10th of Jan.

On a side note, I just got my homestay assignment. While all the details aren't totally clear, I'm living with a guy who works at the Centre Pompidou, and his son who is an electronic music composer - I'm very happy about the living arrangements.