School times in my part of America:

Primary school: 8-2:30
Middle school: 7:50-2:46
High school: 8:15-3:03--but we had a whole hour for lunch, whereas in primary and middle school it was only 25 minutes!

A 7am class sounds like my idea of hell! Also, we didn't have buses in my high school, but it was private. And I ALWAYS wanted to walk to school, but alas, I lived 30 miles away.

First of all, yay for Kathryn on the podcast! We love it!

Second of all, how on Earth do you people remember what time school ended at, especially primary school? That's insane!

Third of all, my school had a zero hour as well - I took it my junior & senior year because then it meant that I could take classes at the university in the afternoon. It was a great deal because the school district paid for tuition and books, so I ended up saving a lot of money and had almost all of my generals out of the way by the time I graduated. Which then meant I could take Finnish once I actually got to uni because I had an extra class period free every semester.

And lastly - re: the cider. I prefer doux as well, but the downside is it has contains almost no alcohol because of the high sugar content. Brut has a lot more but gives ya gut rot. So yay for more alcohol but boo for gut rot!

It's really hard to be jealous of your trip to Normandy when it's going to be 92F/33C in Los Angeles by this weekend. Springs skiing or the beach? You can do both within 2 hours.

I'll take earthquakes over tornados or Snakes on a Quantas Plane: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8001644.stm, giant bugs, tiny killer spiders & tiny killer jelly fish, the severe floods, humidity or blizzards of the Midwest or Eastern US.

Real Angeleno's don't even get out of bed if the quake is 6.0 or under. But I'm one of the 7 people born here so I'm used to them.

Have fun in Normandy...ok...I'm a little jealous. :-)

Another great episode ladies. It was great hearing about your trip to Normandy. I really need to remember your tip about the tourism office being your friend. I always seem to forget to stop when I am in a city but every time I do they are always helpful. I know when I moved her I stopped in my local office and the lady gave me a ton of maps and ideas for things to do, it really helped me out a lot.

And I cannot believe you remember the exact times you went to school... I have a rough estimate but my memory is just not that good... or maybe I blocked it out.

Anyway... thanks for another great episode!