A rare sparkle in a very dark place Today was psychologically a very hard day. I observed a trial, in which a man was accused of having abused his girlfriend and his children for ten years. No need to say it wasn't a very joyful moment... Anyway, being in a court is never a very joyful moment. The atmosphere is always heavy and people are all grave and solemn. For some people, it's suffocating and unbearable. For the others, it's just an habit. But I guess one will always feel uncomfortable when being confronted to this kind of case. Everything started the normal way. The juge asked the victim to sit on the bench of the plaintiffs. This is the very first bench. So she stood up and left her 4 and 9 years old children to find her place. That's when it happened. After a few seconds, her daughter followed her mom and sat with her...on the bench of the victims... I guess she automatically followed her mommy without thinking. Everyone was wondering if the juge would let this go, and he did. This little 4 year-old girl spent the whole trial sat in front of everyone, playing with her pink teddy bear, sometimes putting it on her head. It was sort of sad and refreshing at the same time. Such an innocent person in such a place. She had no idea where she was.

One month language training for french/english

Hello hello! I am searching for a motivated native english speaker to talk a few times a week, just a little bit (maybe 20/30 minutes), but very efficiently! I can help with french, since I'm french :)

 

About the TOEFL

Hello, italki's people! Lately, I've been wanting to try to take the TOEFL. I don't really know how it works, so it would be awesome if some of you answered my questions.

 

--> Do you think it's possible to prepare for this exam without the help of a teacher? 

I passed the FCE a few years ago and the teachers I had were really devoted and qualified, so I'm not sure about doing this alone...

 

--> Is the level to reach close to bilingualism?

Just to know how much effort I have to make ^v^

 

aaaaand a last question --> Is there a particular website which stand out more than the others, to prepare for it.

 

Thank you in advance, dear community! :)

I decree that this weekend is the weekend of hugs! This weekend, I have to break a record: the record of 215 hugs in two days! Of course, I'm talking about 215 hugs to 215 different persons. I'm sure you're wondering: "But how is it possibe?". Well, it is! This weekend, there is a huge music festival in my town and this is the only opportunity during the year to create my own world of loud music and cuddles. There is a special tactic to get strangers to open their arms and wait for you to jump in them. You have to get a piece of cardboard, write "FREE HUGS" in big black letters and wave it toward the sky! Some people will give you a very shy hug, while some others will throw you into the air! Of course there are some drawbacks to this practice.... Indeed, this is a music festival, so people are dancing. They are dancing, so they are sweating. They are sweating, so they stink! I generally just keep in mind that I must stink too.

My sister and I used to share everything...everything! My sister and I are as alike as two peas in a pod. Usually, people who first meet us think we are twins, but I was born seventeen month after her. Still, we've always stayed together, we've always shared every single thing. This way, it seemed quite normal when in kindergarten, we fell in love with the same boy! I'd like to see again the faces of my parents when they heard: Me: "I'm in love with Brian!!" My sister: "Me too!!" I'm pretty sure that at this very moment they thought :" This will create some problems in the future...". Anyway, it didn't bother us that much. On the contrary, we found it amusing to have an other common point. We shared him happily. What? We can't share a boy? That didn't seem wrong at all for the five and six-year-old little girls we were. We would play with him together, invite him over and go at his place together. God didn't seem against it, he turned out to be our neighbour! And we both had our first broken heart when he moved away. Ho but, as far as I can remember, we got over it pretty quikly!

It's the end... Monday is the beginning of the exams period.It means 150 points out of 300 to gain. It means two weeks of tests. At this stage, we have three options: Option number one: jumping out of the window (which would be very inefficient, knowing that I live on the first floor) Option number two: taking them and crying on my paper Option number three: taking them, hands in the pockets, without worrying one bit I chose the option number two. The last one is out of my league. We now have to prepare: identity card, checked, student card, checked, civil code, checked, six ballpoint pens (just in case the first five pens capitulated before I did), checked, highlighters, checked, and chocolate which seems to be my only friend during this battle, checked. Now it's time to go!

Erste Text in Deutsch Ich bin nicht sehr gut in Deutsch... Ich studierte es für die Abitur, aber ich habe alles verloren nachdem ich in Universität gekommen bin. Ich muss gestehen, dass selbst wenn ich Deutschekurse hatte, arbeitete ich nicht zu viel.... Aber jetzt bin ich motiviert! Ich werde einfahr viele arbeiten, so dass I nicht linguee benutzen brauchen werde :) Es tut mir leid, dass ich nicht mehr interessant Sachen schreiben kann. Für jetzt, kann ich nur unkompliziert Sätze schreiben ^.^

Just discovered a new place I know that every student should know it, but it was my first time going in there: the library! I'm used to studying alone, at home, but it seems it's actually very pleasant to suffer...hum I mean to study together. Nobody is talking but oddly enough, it feels great to be surrounded by calm and serious people. The advantage is that there are no distractions. Of course, there is the wifi, but I try not to succumb to its call... I hope I can make some friends there, though It might be complicated without talking to anybody.

My sister's athletic performances after seeing an insect My sister has always been afraid of insects. It never stopped us from going camping, and it was sometimes amusing to see how fast she could run away. She could easily win a 100-meter race if she was chased by an unidentified flying object. Obviously, she would scream and shake her arms while running. If you heard someone crying out in the shower rooms, you could be sure is was her, after seeing a moth. If you happened to see an agitated shadow inside a tent at night, you could be sure it was her, desperately trying to kill the last mosquito. The only problem was the fact that she didn't care about what was in front of her while running. It could be grass, a national road or an abyss, she would run. My parents are now too old to go camping, and it might be safer for my sister's life!