Hello everyone! Sorry I've been a little quiet lately... I managed to leave my camera battery charger in the hotel in Paris, and while my battery lasted through Brooke's visit, it died shortly afterwards. I'm in the process of tracking down a new charger, but it's funny how the lack of photos has meant a lack of writing inspiration. In the past it was always the other way around...
It's also possible that I just haven't had anything exciting to mention. I've settled back into the routine here in Besançon and things are going smoothly, all except for the weather, which continues to be rotten.
But getting to the subject as mentioned in the title, today after school I donated blood!! I had planned to do it once last fall with some people on the team, but it turned out the blood drive had already happened a week earlier (I didn't read the post on the team forum carefully enough). So today was the first time I donated blood outside of the U.S. At home I've done it maybe a dozen times, and I think I donated successfully twice at Wake Forest (at least once the wait was too long and another time my iron count was too low).
This blood drive was held in the Grand Kursaal, a large theatre in Place Granvelle. I had never been in there before and was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful it was. If there are normally seats in the center (I wasn't sure if it was a theatre in the round or not because there was a stage at one end), they were cleared to make way for approximately 30 beds for the donators. There were probably 50 donators there when I arrived: 30 donating blood, 10 waiting to speak with the doctors for the pre-examination, and another 10 speaking with the doctors or filling out the forms. There were possibly more too, because the room designated for the post-donation meal (yes, meal, not snack) seated about 20-30 people as well. The procedure was identical to the one I've followed in the U.S.: fill out a preliminary form, wait to speak with a doctor, speak with a doctor who takes your blood pressure and confirms that you haven't traveled anywhere on their list of unallowed places, take your baggy of test tubes and pouch over to one of the beds, where your blood is taken by a nurse. My nurse's name was Lucie and she was very friendly.
I guess I was a little surprised by how identical the whole process was to donating blood in the U.S. They even used the same orange pricker-thingys to test if my blood had enough iron in it to be safe to donate (although the nurse did this after the doctor had given me the okay, and usually at home that test is done during the initial interview with the doctor). Anyway, I had the same sensation as usual... completely fine during the first 3/4 of the blood donation and then surpressed panic at the end. The same thing happens to me on plane flights... I'm totally calm for the first 75% of the voyage and then with one-quarter of the time to go my mind starts racing and it's all I can do to keep myself under control. Luckily this hasn't yet resulted in a real breakdown, so I can only hope it will continue as such. I successfully completed my donation and was directed to the collation (light meal) being served in the adjoining room.
Let me first say that I have always found Hoxworth Blood Center's juice and Oreo's totally sufficient. They even have Girl Scout Cookies during the season. But the Établissement Français du Sang volunteers took the post-donation snack to a whole new level. First of all, there were place settings and menus on each of the 6-7 tables for four set up next to a bar, where about 6-8 volunteers were energetically taking orders and serving the donators. I had two options: froid (cold) which was turkey with vegetables and rice or chaud (hot) which was five different flavors of quiche. I chose the latter option, specifically a generous slice of salmon and green pepper quiche. All of this was served with your choice of water, fruit juice, coffee, tea, and, yes you guessed it, wine. Of course there was bread and soft cheese on the table, clementines and yogurt and fruit compotes for after your main course and the slice of gateau served for dessert. Talk about classy! One of the volunteers actually got upset when I tried to take my dishes up to the bar before leaving; "Nous en occupe!" he said ("That's our job!")
Overall it was a very positive experience. Even the brief wait for my meeting with the doctor was enjoyable, because I got to read more of Les Misérables, which I started on Wednesday and have so far read nearly 100 pages! Only 813 more to go, in part one. But I really love Hugo's writing style and I can see myself enjoying every minute of this story.
Other breaking news: for those of you not on Facebook, I officially signed up for my first marathon earlier this week. It's going to be April 15th in a city called Annecy which is south-east of here. Check out Google Images for some pretty stunning pictures of the lake around which the city is situated. I'm also excited that Grace Pardo, a friend and fellow Wake '11 graduate, signed up for the half-marathon on the same day, so we're going to cheer each other on! I have a big training run planned for this Saturday, and I'm hoping the rain lets up long enough for me to get it in. I hope all of you are doing well, whereever this blog entry finds you!
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