France on lock down

I think most people have heard about the volcano which erupted in Iceland. I haven't heard of any injuries resulting directly from the eruption, but the resulting cloud of ash has shut down air-traffic all across Europe. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8625813.stm visuals from BBC News) Add to that the rail syndicate strike in France, and nobody is getting very far very fast.

My host parents drove all the way from Grenoble to Toulouse and back so that their son, Jean, could spend part of his vacation at home. I have friends away on vacation in Scotland, Ireland, even the Canary Islands; none of them can get flights back into France, because there aren't any flights into or around Europe. Victor (our other SU prof) was supposed to get into Grenoble tomorrow, but I don’t even know if he’s been about to get into the country, or even the continent! Maybe it's much better that I didn't go anywhere for this vacation - I don't know when I'd get home!

And in fact, I've been very pleased with my week off - j'avais bien reposé! Plenty of sleeping in, films most nights, reading out in the sunny garden during the day, and I even got to call my parents a couple times! Starting tomorrow, it’ll be back to the grinding stone, right up through May 5. Then, à partir du 6 mai, les examens finaux! Not looking forward to finals… but that’s how I’m going to get my grades, so I’d better’d buck up and get it done when the time comes.
Afterwards, I can look forward to spending a week and a half in Morroco with Victor and everyone else. That will be fantastic!

We’ll be looking at Moroccan, Francophone (refers to other French-speaking countries) literature with Victor (whenever he happens to arrive) beforehand, and potentially meeting up with some North African writers while we’re in the area.