This week was pretty busy but nothing too crazy. Monday we had the first event for Coffee and News. It is a club I am on the organizing committee for where students are invited to come and discuss different topics in current events. We organize things on the NYU France end and our staff gives us cookies and coffee and invited French students to come. This week's topic was the Gaza Conflict. I can honestly say I was pleased and surprised about the direction of the conversation! 10 students showed up which is pretty good for a first time in the middle of classes. I have been involved in a LOT of Israel-Zionist activities and had the same conversations with the same types of people. I love it still, but I am kind of tired of the discussion when nothing new gets accomplished. In this particular context, it turns out a lot of students are just confused about what is going on in Israel right now and were eager to learn as much as possible, including some of the staff. I ended up sort of being a spokesperson, at least in terms of information about Israeli society and the army culture. I always say that I try to advocate for an image of Israel "beyond the headlines," sharing the struggles and experiences of normal Israelis who I am proud to call friends. The other people seemed to be really open to this approach and were interested in talking about Israel in a setting that wasn't too political, just understanding the facts of the war on both sides so I did the best I could. I did say that I was very much on the left of Israeli politics and in an American Jewish setting I am usually in the minority just to make sure they knew where I was coming from. The Student Life director had invited her friend who is a journalist for a French news station so she offered a very unique perspective as well. She told me afterwards a bit about herself and she seems so great! Her parents are Algerian and very anti-Israel, but she recently traveled to Israel for work and loved everything about it, so she was happy to talk about Israel with students in a way that was not so biased or black and white. Overall I think people came away a little more engaged in dialogue and a little more well-informed.

Classes are going fine. I had an oral presentation for one class and had to recite a poem for another. I have done both of these before for French classes so I didn't think it was too difficult. Some of the texts I have had to read have been really challenging and sometimes downright incomprehensible, but I am doing my best. My dictionary is my best friend still but thinking in French is gradually becoming more natural. I am doing better than some but all the people in the all-French program are sort of together in solidarity in our classes so we can just complain and help each other.

Friday I decided I didn't feel like going to synagogue. My friends and I were craving spicy food yet again so we went for Indian. The place was really good and everything was delicious. We had a friend with us who had never had Indian food before...she was a good sport but I think she will stay away from it in general. She tried everything but ended up ordering a salad with grilled chicken. We all enjoyed the samosas and curries and bread and left in total bliss. They are going to Chartres tomorrow, a medieval town with a totally breath-taking cathedral. I have been before and as much as the stained glass is awesome, it is kind of a once in a lifetime experience. I am going to come up with a brilliant plan to do something in Paris.

Sunday I have plans to go to the Louvre and to Angelina's (the best hot chocolate ever) with friends. NYU in France came up with quite a clever trick to get us into every museum for free. 99% of museums let you in for free if you are an art history student, so all of our student IDs from NYU say that we are Art History majors...completely untrue but totally to my benefit so it's ok. I could probably fake it if anyone asked me though! At the Louvre I can get a special student card that gives me access to skip the lines! So I am going to do that while I am there.

That's all for now. A la prochaine!

PS If you want to comment on any of my entries feel free to. It will let me know that someone is reading this and that I am not wasting my time : )