Today was much more relaxing - we had the opportunity to spend the day with the French kids and teachers at St. Etienne's. We divided into groups for certain sports - most of the students and teachers played volleyball, but I went with the group to rock climb. We were only in a gym but it was still completely scary - I'd forgotten just how afraid of heights I was until I'm clinging with sweaty palms and fingers to protruding bits of plastic ten or so feet from the ground. Not exactly terrifying heights, but I was sufficiently terrified nonetheless.

After failing miserably to reach the top of two different rock walls, I gave up and slunk over to where a line of ropes hung from a horizontal rock wall above our heads. This proved much easier and much more pleasantly exhilerating - I hooked one part of the rope to my harness and stuck my foot a loop near the bottom, and pulled myself up to the top. It was pretty high, and there was one slightly frightening moment when I couldn't figure out how to counter all I'd just done and get myself safely to the ground again. The bit holding my harness, though, started sliding slowly downward so I made it.

After sports we went to the gym where the volleyball matches were being held, signed a letter our teachers composed to President Obama, and recieved a couple prizes for our participation. Then Anne, her friends Alex and Basile, Hélène and Hannah, Camille, Hanna and Madison and I all walked around Strasbourg for a couple of hours. We ate lunch with a group of French and American students in a restaurant called Flam's, which served a popular dish here, flambée, comprised of a pita-like pizza crust, a white sauce instead of marinara, and ham, cheese and onions. We were a pretty loud group, and it was amazing listening to the mixture of French and English conversation going on around me.

I went shopping with Hélène, Hannah, Hanna and Madison after lunch and picked up a scarf and a version of Harry Potter et la Coupe de Feu (and the Goblet of Fire) for a friend, who unfortunately does not speak French, but enjoys the Harry Potter stories just as much as I do.

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