Last Night

My blog sure did pitter off here at the end. O well.

So today is my last day in Avignon. It is going to be terribly sad. I will say goodbye to my French friends tonight. 

Anyway, today we had our last meeting as a group. Last night we had our aperatif. It's all a little sad, but the real pit in my stomach hasn't hit me...yet. 

After our meeting I went and had a lunch with Rachel and Jenny. I ate a tartine with eggplants. OMG, it was soooo yummy. Then I went to my favorite ice cream place for my last chocolat ice cream with raspberry ice cream. I told the man it was my last time and he loaded it on!

I somehow managed to pack my bags today. And they aren't over in weight according to the scale I am using. I also used this scale to weigh myself. I gained 5 kg. I'll let you figure that one out on your own. Let's just say, I have some work to do this summer!

This evening I took a walk with Rachel to the "grand roue," (ferris wheel) but it was not open. That would have been fun. I will miss my Rachel dearly. She is staying in France for awhile to visit some people in Belgium.

Tomorrow morning I leave for Paris. I plan on visiting the Catacombs and Musée d'Orsay tomorrow. I kinda wish I were just staying in Avignon. It is so peaceful here and Paris is too hectic. O well.

Au revoir Provence.

Heartburn, xylophone, oh, and Marseille

So here I sit in my bed, with heartburn and no heartburn medicine. That was stupid of me. And Thomas or Hugo is playing the xylophone, annoyingly and I can feel a headache coming on. Anyway....

I am starting to panic about going home. I am more worried about returning home that I was about leaving it. France is just so relaxing and I have no problems here. I am really going to miss all my French buds. They have been so kind to me!

Jonathan left this week. He was the Swedish boy in the room next to me. He got mugged the last night he was here. On our street. Boy do I love living in the ghetto. They stole his wallet with 500 Euro. Don't ask me why he had 500 Euro on him at night. Not smart. Anyway, the children did a little presentation for him and Marie and Natsu sang. Just another day with the Partridge Family I guess.

This past weekend the group took an overnight vacation to M

arseille. I was really looking forward to it because all the books I read in grammar and litterature were by the author Marcel Pagnol and many of them were based in Marseille. It is the second largest city in France. So now I have visited the largest, Paris, second largest, Marseille, and third largest, Lyon! Before heading to the city, we took a hike in the Calaques of Cassis. It was probably the prettiest site I have seen here in France. The water is so clear and blue here. 

The pictures do it no justice. It was super hot though and I had fun swimming in the ocean afterwards in Cassis. I almost drown. No joke. We had been swimming in the water for about 15 minutes and decided to swim out to the bouyies. This whole time I was treading water. When we got to the bouyies I realized that there was a strong undertow. Then I tried swimming back and seriously had a moment of panic. The beach wasn't far but I was so tired. Luckily, I made it back! Then I learned that Sakinah had gotten stung by a jelly fish. Had I gotten stung by a jelly fish in the undertow, I would have died. 

That night we went to Marseille. We ate at the White House. Or at least that's what they called it, "La maison blanche." The food was delicious. Afterwards the city was so crowded and alive because the soccer team was in the finals and it was the last game. They won their match, however, the team who came in first won their match, too, so Marseille was in second. Yeah, that took me a long time to figure out. Afterwards I was dead tired, so I went back to the hotel and konked out. 

The next day I did some tourist browsing on the rue de Canbiere, kind of like the Champs Elysee of Paris. Then we walked around the port and headed to the beach. It was a nice relaxing Sunday. 

I have just finished up the last of my horrid work. I have one more grammar test tomorrow. A final on Thursday for oral. A final on Monday for grammar.  And a final on Tuesday for history (I still have no idea what is going to be on that). I am really starting to flip out. No offense, but I don't really want to go home yet. 

Well, time to go enjoy my last nine days =( ......

Oh and one last thing. Please note the difference in the toilet paper. Also, I just learned the other day why there are two buttons on the toilet. One for pee (that uses less water) and one for poo. Learn something new everyday! Oh and I am sad that I have not seen a buday. I don't know how to spell that.

Now Normandy! Day 1

Before I start with Normandy, let me tell you about my postal experiences. I recently received all my mail on one day. It was weird. I received a letter from my mom from almost 2 months ago! Nonetheless, I was still happy to receive it. I also got a piece of paper saying I need to go pick up a package at the Post Office. I went to get it and saw that it was from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Joe. When I opened it, I laughed so hard because it was full of toilet paper. And the strangest thing was, the toilet paper looks weird to me. I am so used to the small, pink, roles that the French use here. I almost forgot what color toilet paper we use in the States. And the roles are so huge! I don't know, it just threw me off. They also sent me Tylenol PM (yay!) and Mac and Cheese, which I will make tomorrow for lunch. I think I will also make some for my French friends because I described it to them and they looked like they were going to vomit after I mentioned the powdered cheese. Hopefully it will taste the same with the strange milk they have here.

Ok Normandy. I left Thursday morning (May 21) with Rachel, Jenny (The grad student), and Catherine. It was a nice group of just us girls. We first took a train to Paris, and then from there we took a train to Bayeux, but not before stopping at Starbucks in Paris. Catherine, Rachel and Jenny are caffine-aholics. The train ride there went smooth (just wait until I tell you about the ride home!)

When we arrived in Bayeux, I was terribly surprised to see how much cleaner the North is! Avignon, granted I live in the inner city, is very dirty at times. We went to our cute inn/hostel, Le Maupassant, which sits on top of a bar, and then headed out to see the tapestry of Bayeux. That sucker was long! It was amazing that it was all stitched by hand. I mean, who sits down and says, I am going to make the longest tapestry ever of the Battle of Hastings (I think that was it)?

After that we visited a very pretty Notre Dame. Of course it wouldn't be a city without a Notre Dame! But actually, this one was very pretty and I liked it a lot. 

It had a crypt in it, too. And the stained glass was magnificent. And as you can see from the photo, it was gorgeous against the blue skies.

After the church, we decided to have some tea. Being that Normandy is so close to England (just right across the Channel), there were many English speakers. In fact, many French people who speak English have a British accent because they are taught that type of English. Anyway, Anna's Tea Room started our eating binge in Normandy. It was a fun, different thing to do. The French love to sit and chat for hours on end, and I am starting to like it, too. The waiters never give you the check unless you ask for it. You can sit there for hours in a restaurant just drinking coffee and it's normal. 

After the tea room we went to this French specialty shop of foods from around France. I saw the alcohol that one of the student's host dad makes in Provence. It is a liquor with a pear inside the bottle. I guess the pear grows inside the bottle. It was cool. I texted Lance to let him know that this shop had one bottle of it in Normandy. At this store, I bought onion jam. Ok, I know that sounds gross, but I am super excited to try it. I have not opened it because I am going to save it for home.

Next we went to dinner. Oh my God, dinner was delicious. I had some pizza, with eggplant. It was sooooo good. We had the table wine, too, which is a cheap wine (you can drink cheap wine here without looking, well, cheap), but even France's cheap wine is better than the USA's good wine. It was 11 euro and we eat got three full glasses out of it. And of course, we had dessert. I had this caramel, vanilla, delicious ice cream dish. In the photo you can see how big it is. And it was only 5 euro. Jenny got this crepe with apples and caramel and ice cream and sugar. That was good, too. We all wanted to vomit when we had finished. It was a delicious dinner. Going out to dinner here is always magnificent. When I think of Applebees, I want to cry. American dining is so sad. Oh well. 

We went to bed after that, very tired and stuffed to the brim...

Lot's of stuff. Let's start with La Fountaine de Vaucluse.

I have not blogged in awhile. So this might be long. 

To start. Let's talk about the Fountaine de Vaucluse. Vaucluse is the providence that I live in in France. La Fountaine de Vaucluse is this spring that has no bottom. Well, at least divers have not been able to find the bottom. Yes, it is very deep. It is also terribly cold. The water was so pure though that I didn't noticed I had stepped into it.

 Luckily Brad yelled "Shawna! You're standing in the water!" and I could jump out before I completely soaked my brand new Converse. The seem to be impermeable to water though. I walked away unscathed. 

After visiting the town, we visited the village. It carries the same name as the fountain. It was a little town and it was a bit touristy. There was also this huge hill to climb to a chateau. It was very hot but Brad, Kelby and I decided to climb it. It was completely gorgeous up there. And terribly high! I was scared. In the picture with my one leg up, I was standing on a steep ledge and I was scared to death. 

Luckily there was no Mistral that day or I would have blown right off! Kelby continued on up the mountain (he's the adventurous, hiking, rock climbing type) and Brad and I decided to head back down because it was so hot. I actually sported some shorts on this hike (it's very taboo for girls to wear shorts here without pantyhose underneath. Yeah I know, don't ask). Brad and a group of our friends hung out by the cold river the rest of the day. You could literally drink the water it was so clear. 

We were initially in the city because there is another Resistance Museum there. The students in the Resistance class (I didn't take it because I was not at that level and it requires a LOT of work) had a meeting with a group of senior citizens who participated in the movement. I could have met them, but I had a feeling I wouldn't understand their accents. And I was right. I met up with them at the museum later. They were nice, but I had trouble understanding them.

Overall the day was wonderful. I got some more ice cream, of course and then we headed back. I wish I could post more photos of the fountain, but I can only upload 5 photos per post.

Busy Busy Busy

OK, so I just got home from Normandy yesterday and I have a busy week ahead of me. I will blog about my fabulous trip in a few days!! See you in 2 1/2 weeks...

This is where I live. And carpet. And milk.

Ok. This might sound terribly strange, but I miss the warmth of carpet beneath my feet as I wake up in the morning. Followed by a nice bowl of cereal smothered in milk. Oh well, I've got the rest of my life for that!

So this is where I live. Avignon.

 Never thought it was much until I started walking around. We are famous for the Palais de Papes that I told you about a long time ago. And also le Pont d'Avignon. The bridge that broke. Now you can see a little bit of my town. I run along that river when I'm not being a lazy ass and Rachel wants to come with me. It's dangerous to go out by yourself. As you can see, I walk under a terribly scary bridge at least

 twice a day. 

And also you can see the Snack Kebab. They make deliciously sketchy food, but they can be intimidating at times, especially the one by my house. The men who hang around the place are super creepy.

Basically, Avignon has a good side and a bad side. Sadly, I live on the bad side. But that makes me wanna get out and see the good. Talk to ya after NORMANDY! Be jealous! We just finalized all our plans and I am super excited!!!

Uzes and Pont du Gard

Yesterday was my favorite excursion yet. It was a beautiful sunny day, probably in the mid 70s, not a cloud in the sky. 

First the group visited a town called Uzes. There was a big Saturday market there. The markets are a lot of fun here. They are so different than back home. After Uzes we sailed under the Pont du Gard, an ancient roman aqueduct. It was so much fun. We canoed under it! It was so pretty. And of course I took about 50 million photos. 

I don't really have much else to write. I'm still loving life in France. I am sad that I only have a few more weeks. Hopefully I'll get some more photos up soon. I just realized this week that you guys don't know what MY town looks like. You've never seen the monuments in Avignon. I went around and took some photos the other night so hopefully I'll post them on photobucket soon. 

Have a good week! Next week is Normandy for me!!!

My Random Weekend

This weekend was yet another 3-day weekend. I decided to stay here however, because my French buds offered to take me to the beach, and it was free, so I was up for it.

Let's start with Thursday night...

Rachel and I decided to run to the convenient store before dinner. We were tired and did not feel like putting on a real outfit. I went outside in a workout t-shirt, basket ball shorts, flipflops and a pony tail. We jokingly talked about how we were look like freaks. People actually stopped to look and laugh at us in our American outfits. It was hilarious.

Later that night our French buds took us to a "soiree" (party) at this high end club.

 Oh my God, it looked like a club from a movie. I felt like I was in a movie. It was fun. We just chatted and drank free alcohol. I like going out with my French buds because I learn a lot. They are cool.

On Friday we were going to go to Aix-en-Provence but did not feel like spending 30 euro to get there and back. We opted for Orange. It is known for its super old Roman theatre built in 1 AD. It was cool and I liked the garden there. However there was not much to do there. Though I did find some good postcards.

Friday night we went to Apt, where a few of our French friends live. It is so far away. By car it is about an hour. I don't know how they make the drive so much. Plus there are so many round-abouts and curving streets. They drive like lunatics. If I die in a car crash here, at least I'll die instantly. (But don't worry Mommy, I won't die) So we stayed in Apt for the night because 

the beach was kinda far away. 

Our French friends never like to tell us anything about where we are going and what we are doing. It gets kind of annoying. Friday night I found myself at a dinner party for our friend

 Thomas. He is super nice and he family was so welcoming. They just kept giving me food (I had already eaten a full meal) and cheese (which was so good) and wine and pies and alcohol. Oh, it was amazing. I have been gaining so much weight! The French kids always make fun of me because I never stop eating here. I like 

to think of it as taking full advantage of the culture. I have all summer to work it off. So basically I left this dinner party trashed. Thomas's dad danced on the table without his shirt, letting his huge belly hang out, then he mooned everyone. Boy do the French know how to have a good time.

Next morning we woke up and went to the beach...but not before walking through the

 Saturday morning market in Apt. It is supposedly the best outdoor market in Provence. It was nice but we didn't really stop to buy anything. See, the problem here is with the cars and driving us all around. The cars are smaller so we're always having to drive everywhere twice and I never know what is happening. That is basically my life here: confusion. 

So we headed to the beach called La Caitot.

 It is by Marseilles on the Mediterranean. 

Boy was it beautiful. The car right there was nauseating, but it was worth it. Lots of topless sun bathers lined the beaches. It was a little cold, but that didn't stop me from swimming in the water. I kinda wish I hadn't gained so much weight, but Oh Well! You only live once and you only study in Europe once.

After the beach we watched a handball game. Oh, I forgot to tell you. Me and Rachel are friends with the majority of the Apt Handball team. They are all so good looking. I'm talking 6-pack abs. They took us to the beach because they had a match in La Caitot that evening. It was interesting and I did not mind watching the hot boys run around one bit. I especially liked the end when they won and took off their shirts. I am telling you, they are GOOD LOOKING. It was something fun and interesting to do. I don't know why these boys like to hang out with us, but I'm not complaining. They're fun to be around and I can practice my French and experience how the French live more than the other students here. I feel bad for the students who don't know any French people.

After that we took a different route home. Thomas, the super nice boy with a super nice family and a super hot body, took us through Marseilles. It was gorgeous. I wanted to stop and get out and take pictures. The group will be going there in a few weeks for an over night stay. I am very excited.

We ended our trip at McDonald's, however I have not been hungry today. And now here I sit. Planning more of my Normandy trip. Next weekend I will be canoeing under le Pont du Guarde. Then the weekend after that is a 4-day weekend where I will be visiting Normandy. We will see the Bayeux tapestry, the D-Day beaches, and Mont St. Michel. I am super excited! I can't believe I have been here for almost 7 weeks. I do not want to leave! The longer I stay here, the more attached I become. France is so beautiful and so laid back. I could definitely get used to this. If only I could understand and speak more...

Oh and my oral exam went well. Christophe said that I am improving and that I speak well and participate enough in class.

Have a good week in the USA!

Lyon and Insomnia

This past weekend I visited Lyon with my roomie, Rachel, and Marie and Elisse. It was so much fun and it was a good break from Avignon!

Weleft on Friday afternoon because we did not have school as a result of the French Labor Day. Everything is seriously closed on this day except for restaurants and trains, but it was OK because we spent our time traveling. 

After freaking out and thinking that we did not have a room at the youth hostel because the lady was spelling Marie's name incorrectly, we saw our sweet duplex! It was so cute! I'm pretty sure I have stayed in crappier hotels. That night we walked around the city. It 

was so pretty. Lyon is the third largest city in France, but it manages to keep its charm and character. I loved walking along the Rhone here, and it was pretty close to our h

ostel.

The next day we woke up early to see all we could. We got these things called a city pass for only 15 euro to see all the sites of the city, a boat tour, and free metro/buses/trams. We visited churches (of course!), a miniature museum that was super cool, a silk museum that wasn't cool, and took a boat tour. The miniature museum had a bunch of doll houses. I think my mom would have really liked it. The museum featured the miniature replicas that are made for movies. I saw how the Overlook Hotel from the movie "The Shining" was made and also the replica of the Titanic breaking in half. 

We visited some shops along the streets including this colorful one that had these crazy toasters, graters, spoons, picture frames and nic-naks. I was going to buy Noel this cool grater for maybe her new apartment or wherever she might live someday because it looked like something she might like. But it was kinda expensive. However, I learned today that this store is also in Avignon and therefore I might still get it. I guess you had to be there 

and see how cute this store was.

After that I thought it would be a good idea to see the silk museum because Lyon is famous for its silk. Boy was I wrong! After walking 30 minutes up a huge hill, we were disappointed. It wasn't even a museum! We walked in and pretty much walked out. However, I guess I didn't have enough fun the first time, because I returned after I forgot my sweater there.

We ate some lunch on a statue in a park and then headed to the river for the boat tour. We missed the tour that we wanted to go on and signed up for the next one. In the meantime we visited the Resistance museum which was pretty sad and depressing. 

By the time the boat tour of the Rhone and the Seone (they rhyme!) came around, I was pooped. I think I fell asleep on the to

ur actually. But hey, I got to sit! That night we took naps and then headed out for a night on the town.

We started our evening in Old Lyon, it was one of my favorite sections of the city. We left the first restaurant because I'm pretty sure they knew we were Americans and therefore, felt no rush to serve us. It's OK, I did not want to eat a calf's head anyway! We decided to eat at a Mexican restaurant and boy, was it tasty! French Mexican is excellent. And for dessert, I ate the best chocolate pie ever. After one bite, I could have stopped it was so rich. After dinner we chilled along the Rhone and then headed to a bar for a few drinks. We called it an early night so that we could wake up early and ride bikes along the river.

HOWEVER, that did not happen. Because the bike renting machine did not like our credit cards=( I was very sad and it kinda ruined the plans of the day. We

 bought another transportation pass for the day and headed to the main attraction of the city, Notre-Dame de Fornievre (or something like that). You take this strange metro up this huge hill, they were called fourniculars I think. It was like a roller coaster, but very slow. The site from the hill was amazing. And of course the church was beautiful, but I've seen a bunch here. They sort of all look the same now. They were having mass, too. I couldn't imagine being able to go to some of these beautiful churches for mass. If we had churches like that in the US, I think more people would go to church.

After that we headed to the park, which we wanted to do on bikes, but no, we took the metro. It was a shame too because by the time we found the place, we only have 10 minutes to see it. It is called le parc de la tete d'or (the gold head park). It is huge and it had tons of bikers and runners. It would have been amazing to see on bike. Oh well. Perhaps someday I could return to Lyon and ride my bike along the river to the park.

From there we checked out of the hostel and headed home. Since then I have continued to battle with my lack of sleep. I have started to tremble and shake now because I do not sleep. I will go to bed at midnight and wake up at 12:30. It is horrible. When I DO sleep, I am terribly confused and dream that I am lost somewhere in Europe. When I wake up I have no idea where I am. I bought some new sleeping pills today, and I pray that they work. I can only take them for 10 days though. I wish I had some Tylenol PM and could take it when I need it. Oh well, once again. If worse comes to worse, I will visit the doctor. It is only 22 euro to visit the doctor here. How crazy is that?!?!?

Have a great week! I'm gonna be sittin' pretty here in Avignon in the 80 degree sun and Saturday I will be chillin' along side the Mediterranean. Try not to be too jealous. Though I DO have an oral exam on Wednesday! Yikes!

Au revoir! Bious!

Fondue-ing

Noel is going to be so jealous! I went to a real French fondue restaurant Tuesday night! It was so much fun!

The name of the restaurant is La Maison de Fondues. It was a cute little restaurant. A group of 9 of us went out for some nice food and a good time. It was the night before Nina's 20th birthday. 

The plates at the restaurant were super huge so Lance and I decided to share ours (even though I'm pretty sure it's rude to do that in France. I can't eat that much!) I was in a real "need meat" mood since I hardly ever eat it here, so Lance and I decided to get the Piemontaise. I think that

 was the name. It was deliciously seasoned beef with potatoes (another food I never eat here!) When the plate came it looked delicious (but uncooked), so we got to fondue-ing. Our table all got oil fondue plates. It was something different to do, cooking your own food. You had to be careful though that you cooked it all the way. They gave us lots of different sauces to dip the food in, too. There was so much flavor!

Afterwards, Lance and I decided to go all out and get dessert, too. We got this chocolate with peach alcohol. It was so delicious. Once we finished dipping all our fruit it, I decided to just finish the bowl of chocolate with a spoon. What can I say? I'm a chocolate lover. The price wasn't terrible when we shared. My whole meal was 15 euro.

I don't know if I told you but I'm getting super grades in my one class that actually gives me grades. I have a 90% average! This weekend were headed out to Lyon so I probably won't write about that trip until Sunday or Monday...

Gorde and Roussillon

Yesterday the group went on a great excursion to the Bories, Gorde, and Roussillon.

The Bories is an old village that was used a very long time ago (300 AD I think). All the homes are made of stone, without mortar. It's amazing that they still stand. The streets were crazy getting there, I thought we were going to fall of the steep cliff. 

Next we went to a town nearby, Gorde. It was so beautiful! The pictures I have don't even look like photos, they look like paintings it was so pretty. We ate lunch and I picked up some sleeping pills in this town. I don't understand how these people walk up and down the steep hills with cobblestone all the time!

Afterwards, we went to my favorite part of the trip, Roussillon. This is the site of the world's largest Ocre deposit. We learned how the ocre dyes were sifted out and processed a long time ago. It took a lot of work and a lot of time. Ocre is used for paints and dyes. It comes in white, orange, red and yellow. It was absolutely amazing to see the canyons of it. I was sad though because my camera battery died when we were there. I could have sat and looked at the scenery for hours. I wish my dad had been there, he would have loved it.

Then we went and got some delicious ice cream. I tested the flavor violette. It was interesting. They also had lavendar. The ice cream here is amazing. I had framboise, raspberry, and melon. The raspberry tasted like pure, fresh raspberries and it was so red! Delicious!

Other than that, this week was pretty chill. I saw Fast and Furious 4. It was not very good. I don't recommend it. But the movie theaters here are cool. They have candy shops. And the seats are so comfy! And the screens are huge! On Friday I saw "Coco avant Chanel," "Coco before Chanel." It is pretty big here right now. It has the French actress who played in "Amelie." I highly recommend that you see it when it comes out in the States. She did a phenominal job.

I think I just ate tuna fish =b

Let's talk food!

When I first came to France, I loved everything I ate. Don't get me wrong, food here is amazing and my host mom cooks like a chef (I think she should open a restaurant). Last week she had an American food party. She made the best hamburger I have ever eaten (better than the Applebees cowboy burger!)

Don't get me wrong, I have eaten some strange things that I think if I KNEW what I was eating, I probably would not eat it. I eat squash here a lot. I had some spinach soup. That was probably the most difficult to eat with a smile. Though, tonight's tuna fish was a bit rough and so was the goat cheese grilled cheese.

However, this week, Isabelle's ex husband is in town and I have not seen her in a few days. Jean Bernard cooks like a college students. Not so great. I am starting to miss American foods. Such as mac and cheese, grilled cheese, mashed potatos (any potato in general; one does not notice how much potato Americans eat until you leave the states), Ranch dressing, granola bars and MILK! 

In southern France, Provence, they eat lots of vegetables and today John Bernard told me that's why people live so long here. In northern France, all they eat is meat. So that explains all the strange old people I have seen and the multitudes of vegetables my intestines have been struggling to digest.

There are many foods I will miss when I go home. Pain au chocolat (Flaky croissant with chocolate) is my favorite and I eat one almost every day fresh from la patisserie (bakery). I also love croissants and wine and taboli! Oh boy do I love tabooli (don't know how to spell it, but it's like couscous). I kind of like eating healthy. We have full garbage bags comprised of souley yogurt containers. 

Welp, that's the food. I can't believe students at home are starting mid terms! I have been here a month as of yesterday. Time is flying!

Bronzer. And bug bites.

Oh the leisurely life of the French. The weather here has been beautiful. Lately, I just keep thinking about how lucky I am to be here and how crazy it will be to go home. I think it will be more of a culture shock going home than it was coming here!

So life, what have I been doing? Well I have these nasty mosquito bites on me. The bites are different here though; I got blisters from them. The worst is I have one on my face! Otherwise I've just been hanging this week. Today we cooked a meal at this indoor market nearby. It tasted pretty good. Then I layed outside the Palais de Papes on a hill in the sun and "bronzer" or tan. This afternoon I did some shopping with Rachel and bought the cutest shirt and necklace!!

Basically I'm living the life!

Except for the fact that I am not sleeping at all anymore. I wish I could have some Tylenol PM. And some mac and cheese. I thought I bought a box of mac and cheese the other day. Turns out it was just noodles! Psych! So mommy, if you'd like to ship me some I would love you. You could send some Tylenol PM, too! Just kidding! I can't wait for another sunny day tomorrow. 

Have fun in O-H-I-O!

I saw a bull die. No, make that SIX bulls =(

School update: The university was closed on Friday to everyone, even the International students. It is going to be closed all week, but of course, Christophe is finding a way to have class. So no worries, the money is still being put to use.

On to more interesting stuff...

Today I visited Arles with Melissa, Brad and Lance. They had wanted to go horseback riding but they wake up kind of late so we missed the bus from Arles to the horse place. That was fine with me though because I had never seen Arles. When we first got there, we ate. Then we walked around and saw a few of the places where Van Gogh painted his famous paintings. Arles is known to be home to Van Gogh. He painted Starry Night here on the Rhone. I saw the place where he painted Cafe de nuit, my favorite of his works. Sadly, the original cafe was bombed during WWII and the replica is far from what one sees in his painting.

After that, we went to see a corrida. I don't know the word in English. Maybe, bull fighting? With "torro" and stuff. Except, I didn't know that they KILL the bull. Brutely kill it. First they tease it, then a man on a horse stabs it twice in the back with a stick that grinds into the bull. Then they put six of these mini swords in its back, THEN the real toro man comes out and teases it more and then stabs it with a sword that goes all the way down its body. Then, when it finally falls over, they STAB IT IN THE HEAD!!! And to make things worse, they'll do that multiple times and then twist the knife around. Oh my God, it was awful. I paid to help fund that. I seriously cried after the second one. And from then on I could not look. It was awful. They were dripping with blood. One time, a guy got ran over. I was rooting for the bull I think. Wow, I guess I can check that off the French culture list. I'll probably have nightmares tonight.

Hope that did not ruin your day, or your appetite like it did to me!

Death by la poussiere

These allergies are killing me slowing. I feel as though I breathe in pure pollen. I can see it in the air and on the ground. And the worst part is "la poussiere," the dust. I cannot get it out. My eyes itch and hurt and are red. I use these eye drops, but they have stopped working.

I do not sleep anymore. I just toss and turn all night. Many of us have been experiencing nightmares. Students have also said that they have restless nights sleeps like I have where they feel like they are awake all night and "people" won't let them fall asleep. Sometimes I dream that I am stranded in a train station and a hoard of people rush off a train at me. And then I wake up. Other times I am lost in Avignon with my friends and I tell them I must go home and sleep, but they won't go home and I don't know the way. Those are 2, to name a few.

Allergies and nightmares are not helping, but they are not ruining my life here in Avignon. Everyday is new and fun. I can't believe a third of my trip is almost over!!!

L'école. Let's talk about school.

Nothing much has been going on lately. Sunday and Monday were spent sleeping and bronzer (tanning). There weather is sunny and in the 70s. Be jealous. 

So today I thought I would tell you a little bit about school. I've realized that you have no idea what I am studying (aside from France) and what I am learning. It is a big part of my life here. 

My first class on Monday and Tuesday is Grammaire (or grammar) with the program director, Christophe. It is a continuation of what I have been taking at school. We use the same book. We are reading three plays; Marius, Cesar, and Fanny (a trilogy). That class is not too hard, and I actually know what I am being graded upon. 

The next class that I take, l'histoire (or history)  is on Tuesday and Friday mornings with Monsieur Boura. He is the nicest man and he is very intelligent and enthusiastic. I feel bad because he knows so much about the topics, but can not explain much about them because he had to "dumb-down" the class to our level. In history, we look at a song and translate it. Then, we see where the song came from and the history behind it. For example, the first two weeks we learned about Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc) and la Guerre de Cent Ans (the 100 years war). This week we started learning about the French Revolution. He tries to focus a bit on Avignon, too. It is interesting, but also boring at times. All my classes are two hours long, and when you get hungry and all you hear is French, you tend to zone out. I have no idea how I am being graded in history, as the French do not like to give out syllabuses. I just participate and ask questions as much as possible and do my homework.

Another class that I always have at the end of the day on Tuesday (6 hours of class, 8 hours at school) is le litterature (literature) with Monsieur Bory. He is very cute and people have told me that whenever they look at me in class, I have a glazed look and I am staring at him smiling. Sadly, today I learned that he is married with 3 kids. C'est dommage! (darnit) In this class we have two separate subjects. On Tuesdays we learn about French authors in general. It is very difficult, and I often zone out. It is like in depth English literature, but in French! On Fridays, we focus on Provencal literature (the area in which I am studying). It is almost the same. In this class, we will be doing two compositions on the literature and two 20-minute oral presentations. That's right, 20 minutes in French, explaining literature. I'd like to see me do that in English!

My next class in one class, but it is split between two teachers on Thursday. The first part of the class is kind of like grammar and writing, I guess. We write poems. It is a lot of fun. I feel like I am in second grade again. We made acrostic poems. This was mine:

S péciale   (special)

H onnête  (honest)

A imable   (amiable)

W (ise)      (sage) ---------------> "w" does not really exist in French. The only words with w's

                                                         came from the English language. Therefore I used an Eng word.

N erveuse (nervous)

A musante (amusing/funny)

I like this class the most out of them all because the professor treats us like little kids. The only bad part is that she smells un peu (a little).

The next part of this class is oral. I do not like this class. AT ALL. The professor is supposedly my neighbor somewhere around here. Half our grade is a 20 minute presentation and half our grade is a final. For MY project with my friend Melissa, we have to go out, record French people our age talking, write it down, and then correct their grammar. Other people are recording sports casts, or talking to politicians, or analyzing music. The basic point of this class is to examine how French people talk, and how it is grammatically incorrect, kind of like slang. The only problem is, we don't know slang French. Hmph. It is funny though because she teaches some of it and always tells Rachel and I never to use it in front of our host mom because she speaks very properly. And it is true. All the kids here say "ouyais" (pronounced "way") instead of "oui" (pronounced "wee") because it is like saying "yeah" instead of "yes." But at home we get in trouble if we say that.

So those are the classes I take all week. We do not have class on Wednesday, unless we have Monday or Friday off. Basically we have 4 days of class per week. The only bad part is that the lunch breaks are 2-4 hours long. So, for example, on Thursday I only have 4 hours of class, but I also have a 4 hour break, so I am at school for 8 hours. It takes me a half hour to walk home so it would be pointless for me to go back. School is 2 miles from my house and 4 miles a day is more than enough. However, sometimes we do go shopping and eat and tan and use the Internet during this time.

And one last thing. The University is still on strike. It has been for 3 months now. This is a HUGE problem in France. From what I understand, President Sarkozy just made a law that says that college students now have to pay for school. Before, school was free for students. All you had to do was pass the extremely difficult BAC (like a super hard SAT) and you could go to school for free. Well, the French being the French, decided that they would not put up with the bullshit and are striking. However, the students will still have to take their finals at the end of the semester even though they have no learned the material. Last week they went to school for one day to catch up on what was going on. My thoughts are, if it is free for them, why don't they just drop out for the semester and go back to school when the strike is solved? It is very complicated, but this is what I understand of it from my French professors.

Hope I have not bored you too much! Just wanted to show you that I am learning a lot =)

I Smell. And Joyeuses Pâques.

Alrighty. It's Sunday. Happy Easter to all of you. You'll be happy to know that they still have Easter bunnies here in France, even though all those books I read before the program said they don't. They also have a flying bell. Interesting. The church bells do not ring 3 days before Easter, but at midnight tonight they will ring once again (or maybe that was last night), and the bells fly down and drop chocolate bells and Easter eggs. Interesting.

So I don't know if I told you, but I thought my host mom was having an affair with her "friend" because Rachel and I never saw the father. Well, turns out she IS divorced. She says that she is still best friends with the father, but for some reason when he came to visit this weekend she could never be in the house with him. Hmph. His name is Jean Bernard, and he is super nice. He doesn't have the southern French accent so I could understand him. I'm pretty sure I talked more last night at dinner than I have in all three weeks here combined. I hope he serves dinner tonight! But then again, today is Sunday and all we eat is sweets and who knows if we even have dinner because it is Easter.

Yesterday (Saturday) the group took an excursion to les Baux de Provence. This is an old town built into rocks on top of a mountain. It was sort of interesting but there was not much left of the town. The audio guide kept telling us to imagine things, I just couldn't see it though. I took a lot of photos, but they're all starting to look the same to me. Rocks and trees and green fields. Plus the weather was not too swell. It rained a lot. We also saw how a catipult works, which was someone interesting except for that it was freezing on top of the mountain and I really did not want to be outside. My allergies were also horrible, so thank goodness it rained. You can see the pollen on the ground there is so much. And a lot of pollen gets in my eyes. I take this nose spray 3 times a day and some eye drops, too that help a bit.

Afterwards we went to la Cathedrale d'Images. This is an underground art museum inside and old quarry. The paintings are projected onto the walls with accompanying music. It was quite different. This year the place is featuring Picasso. I thought it was fun, but again, cold.

Then we went to this town called St. Remy to see a chocolate place, but I didn't find it all too amusing. There were a bunch of us shoved into a tiny chocolate shop with chocolates that cost up to $70. Lance and I went to the market nearby and he bought a pack of Hershey-like chocolate called Lions for 2.65 euro. And it was yummy.

Last night I ate the wonderful dinner with Jean Bernard and then went out with Brad, Melissa and Lance. We chilled at Brads house for awhile. His house is so different than mine. And there was a TV! I have not watched TV in 3 weeks! It was amazing. We also played French Scrabble until we realized it was just too hard for us. Afterwards we all went out to the discotheque.

This morning, or rather this afternoon I woke up at 1. I could not pull myself outta bed. I tripped on chocolate eggs as I walked out the door and crushed a few with my monstrous feet. Then I ate some. Though it is "only-eat-sugar-and-bread-day" today, I will survive because I still have some ham. Ha! I beat the system. Though I do need some bananas because I get Charlie Horses about 5 times a day. No joke. It must be all this walking. Try explaining Charlie Horse to Natsu in French. 

And now I would like to apologize to my mom for last night because I love her and feel very terribly. And I would like to apologize to Nick because he sticks with me through everything and all I can manage to do is shoot him down. I know that's not the even the half of it, but he is the love of my life and I never meant to do any harm. I will be sitting in my bed today. If you wanna talk, you know my number and guess what everyone?! MY INTERNET WORKS!!!!

Happy Easter/Joyeuses Pâques!

qu'est ce que c'est?

Bonjour mes amis! Today was my day of rest, Wednesday. And boy do I love it.

Last night we went out for our now weekly trip to the bars since we don't have school the next day. It was fun. We went to our hotspot, Red Sky. I learned the name of the bartender, Xavier. He saved me from some creepy man by the bathroom. Don't worry, Xavier is old, too.

Afterwards we went to this Cuban place because we wanted to dance, but it turned out to be no fun. No dancing=( Then we wanted to go to the discotheque because I haven't been. But Lance and I just ended up walking a bunch of our drunk friends home for about an hour all over the city. Poor Lance had an extra half hour after he dropped me off=(

Today Melissa, Brad, Lance and I went to Nimes. It was fun, as always. We missed the first train by a minute. Seriously, we saw it move away as we stepped onto the platform. So we chilled in Avignon for a few and left of the next one. 

Nimes is known as a Roman town. One of the largest/most influential after Rome. It has an ampetheater/collasium (I don't know how to spell) and lots of other Romany things. We saw this 3D film on the city, then went to these gorgeous gardens (pictures to come!) to see this tower. It was so beautiful there. I wish it had been a sunny day. 

We ate some after the gardens and did some shopping! I bought two pairs of shoes for 18 euro (I'm a bargain shopper!) Then we quickly headed over to the collasium and took more pictures. 

I don't want to go to school tomorrow. I need print some poems and I don't think paper is free at school so I don't exactly know how we do that.

Boy do I need some sleep! 

cold showers. sugar. and bread.

So hey! I haven't blogged in so long! I'm sorry but the Internet hardly works anymore and once I got behind in this blog it just seemed like too much to catch up. So....

LIFE: Well, life here is OK. I hate taking showers because they are always cold and you have to turn the water off when you put soap and shampoo and stuff on so as not to waste the water. I went without toilette paper for a few days because I was too afraid to ask my host mom, Isabelle.

I went to a town about an hour away by car called Montpellier. It was really cool. We went with a group of about 50 students from the university. We visited a zoo and the Meditteranean. Hopefully I will be able to post some pics soon. It's just so much to do for me to write my French journal, and upload to facebook, and blog and post pictures. It's hard to keep up when the Internet doesn't work. We do so many activities here! So back to Montpellier. It was the most gorgeous day ever. Sadly Johnathan (for the 50th time Mommy, he is the Swedish boy that I live with), fractured his elbow at the beach=( While Rachel and I viewed the city, he was at the doctors. 

SCHOOL: Sucks. Each and every minute. Including homework.

So to sum things up: Life has been very relaxing, (except for my terrifying trip to the post office, which I hope you love those postcards because I went through a lot to get them sent!) because the weather is awesome and the French love to sit and eat and do a whole bunch of nothing!

A night out...and a sinus infection

Last night we went out as promised. We went to O'Neilles on the main street, la rue de Republique. It was a lot of fun because most of us were there. Things got a little crazy, but we all managed to make it to the Palais de Papes this morning. Also, I was very excited because Johnathan came with us! He probably thought we were crazy Americans, which we are. Rachel and I are going with him on Saturday to Montpilier (a town) so hopefully that will be fun.

Avignon is known for having been the home to 9 popes when there was a civil war in Rome and also when the anti popes were around. The palace is huge, but it wasn't too exciting because there wasn't much in it. And there were a lot of tourists. I suppose it was necessary for us to see it though because we need to know the history of the town. I did learn that Friday the 13th was created when some king masaccered (spelling?) a bunch of people in temples a long time ago on the Friday the 13th in October. I thought that was interesting.

We also visited the pont d'avignon (a bridge). It only goes half way across the river because it broke. It had nice views though. Hopefully I will post some of those pictures soon on Facebook. 

Afterwards I tried to find a new purse but I didn't want to spend too much so I ended up with a boring one. I headed back because the sinus infection is starting and I need sleep!

And lastly, the weather was great today. It was suppose to rain, but it did that in the morning and then the warm sun came out! It was maybe 65 degrees. Il fait beau!