And Finally....A Coffeemaker!!

Drum role please........I am now the proud new owner of a coffeemaker. A 10$ coffeemaker, at that. I even managed to find Maxwell House coffee at the grocery store, but after making it realized it is a) powder (I can just pour hot water over it) and b) flavored with a hint of chocolate. So while it's not the coffee I truly desire, it is surely better than no coffee at all. I'll most certainly use up this little container within a week and find something that tastes more like real coffee. I believe the coffeemaker is also part of the problem. For one thing, it is no cuisinart. It's a proline.... For another thing, after running water through it to clean it out and get the new-plasticky taste/smell out of it about 4 or 5 times, it still has just a hint of that new-plasticky taste/smell to it. Oh well. My life is still better with the "coffee" I have than no coffee at all.

So let's see, what have I been up to since I last posted.

On Sunday, the pre-session enjoyed our final moments together at Saint-Guilhem-Le-Desert. It is a beautiful medieval town nestled in the mountains. If anyone ever gets to the south of France, this is a must-see. I have a gazillion photos up of facebook, if anyone wants to see. I spent that day with my good friend Emily Bates, wandering around the streets, stopping in a little bakery for some lunch, taking lots of photos, wandering in and out of boutiques (mostly selling jams and different culinary masterpieces, which are Emily's favorite type of shops). We also had the most French experience we will probably ever have: we stopped for some ice cream at a little 'Y' in the road. I got vanilla (real vanilla) and Emily got melon sorbet (a big thing here - and a tastey one, too!!). We took a seat nearby on a ledge off someone's porch and music started to play! And not just any old music: a man was winding an old music-box thing as he fed paper with notches punched out through it. It played what must have been a really really really old French folk song. What made it so French, though, was that every single person walking by sang along as they passed. And it wasn't just old people - young people were singing at the top of their lungs, too. My favorite part was when an old woman came out of her house across from us to walk her dog and as she stepped outside she began to sing her heart out. And everyone was so happy and had huge smiles on their faces. It was so French and so small medieval village! It was probably one of the best experiences of my life!

After this, Emily and I wandered around for a bit longer. She "stole" a fig off a fig tree and then we had to meet the group for a trip to the Abbaye de Gellone. It was a gorgeous old church. We got to go into the basement to see the tomb of the founder of the church and village. We also saw the organ from the 18th century and the relics of St-Guilhem (including something about Charlemagne!!). And I lit a candle for Gramma, so hopefully she feels better soon : )

Afterward, we all went to the Pont du Diable which is a bridge from the 11th century. We got to swim in the icy cold water beneath it!! Quite the experience!!

Emily and I got some souvenirs: postcards for tout le monde and some pottery: I got a gorgeous new coffee mug that I'm saving for some really good coffee.

Before I write another word, I have to charge my camera battery, as Emily and I have decided to take a day-trip to Sete tomorrow.

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On Monday, I met Emily for lunch at Comedie. We walked around forever trying to find the perfect (inexpensive) cafe. We finally found one near Montpellier I (university) and the Louis Blanc tramstop. It was called 26ieme or something like that and really good and cheap. I got a huge sandwich on a baguette with lettuce, tomatoes, chevre, and some other kind of cheese and of course a coke. After that, we went to campus to look at classes which turned out to be really frustrating and then even more frustrating when we ran into Colleen who said she found everything perfectly. Not fair. Then it turned out that everything was listed online finally, anyway. Jerks. I want online registration! And I can't even register myself for my last semester of college!! UUGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!

I also got to talk to my love on Skype. It was wonderful.

Monday night was wonderful: it stormed! I mean thunder, lightning, rain, the whole thing! I was so excited because it reminded me of home, as the forecast for home was stormy stormy stormy!! And it stormed here, too! Crazy!

On Tuesday, I was planning on doing laundry and then decided I'd let the dirty clothes keep piling up for a while, as doing laundry is expensive. So that'll wait for a little while longer. I'm slowly running out of clean clothes, however. This is partially do to dropping undershirts in puddles of dirty water on my bathroom floor after showering and partially due to somehow managing to get toothpaste stains on my shirts that just don't look very nice at all and won't come out with some nice hot water. And of course there is the splatter from my scrambled eggs. I never realized how messy I can be until I don't have a washer and dryer 5 feet from me at all times. Especially a brand new washer and dryer that sings to you when the load is finished. Gosh how I miss my laundry duties at home. And that is not sarcasm. It's straight up truth. Anyway, instead of that, Colleen sent me an im on Skype saying that she and Emily wanted to go out for pastries and tea/coffee and wanted to know if I would like to join in. Of course I did, as it wasn't storming like I had hoped, just blustery and chilly outside. So Colleen and I took the super crowded tram (thanks to the national strike that made the trams run much less often than normal) where we had to get off at the stop before Comedie (le Corum, again thanks to the greve), where we had to climb the neverending staircase and were out of breath by the time we met Emily in front of Louise (ice cream!!). We had planned on going to a moroccan tea room near Antigone, but it was closed for some dumb reason so we wandered around for a while before settling on a pastry shop near Emily's host mom's house. While there was no coffee/tea, I did manage to have the best treat in the world: a thick, fudge-like cake with chocolately syrup all over it, decorated with white chocolate drizzle. Yum!! Best dessert ever!! That night it stormed again (awesomeness) and rained like crazy. In fact, the parking lot in front of Triolet is still flooded. I'm glad Henrik's not in that parking lot!!!!!!!!

On Wednesday, what did I do? Oh yes - my group (C) had to meet Soumiya from the International Relations office to discuss choosing classes. That took up a good hour and a half of my morning and then I was trapped in my room with a migraine (first French migraine) for about an hour. Then I decided to venture out on a quest for a cheap coffeemaker. I ran into my next-door neighbor Bronwyn (it's a Gaelic name, in case you were wondering, and no, she's not Irish, she's American) and she said one of the other girls found one at Odysseum, which is a mall about 30 minutes away via the tram. I didn't want to venture that far out after my migraine, so I thought maybe I'd have some luck at the mall at the Comedie. No such luck. I also figured that since I was there, I'd look for a new purse, as I don't want to ruin my scarf using it as a strap, but had zero luck there as well. Oh well! The rest of yesterday was pretty uneventful except for talking to Carl on Skype, talking to Mommy for a bit before our connection was lost (*tear*), and then talking to Gramzabelle. Emily and I were going to try and meet to discuss a weekend getaway, but that never happened, as she was trapped shopping with a very indescisive friend! Poor Emily!

Today was a good day. I have all my classes picked out: Medieval History, Comparative Literature, Advanced Grammar (for foreigners muahaha), French Poetry (mainly focusing on Ronsard), and Religious Anthropology (which will be exactly the same as Buff State's Religion, Magic, and Culture class based on the course description). I also got a reply from Leann Grace at the Buff State Study Abroad Office saying that all these classes will count toward credits and that she emailed Dr. Raffel and he said I can use Medieval History and Religious Anthropology to finish my minor requirements! Yay! So that was a success. My French credits will also be taken care of, but I'm 100% positive I'll still be taking a French course or 2 (depending on what's offered) next semester just for fun (and to use up my remaining elective credits)!! Leann Grace also said I shouldn't even need to fill any forms out for the non-major courses, because she said the email trail we compiled over the last few days should be all the proof we need!! Yay!! Life seems so easy sometimes : )

I met Emily at Comedie at noon and we walked toward Antigone for lunch at a creperie. It was so adorable - like a little farm house out in the country!! I loved it! Even better, it was delicious and affordable!! And I had my first cafe creme (be proud KK!!). It was the best! Not the best like coffee at home is the best, but the best in France ; ) Then we went to Emily's host mom's place, who I met and is very sweet, and we looked at train info after deciding to go to Carcassonne. Then we went to the train station to see if we could buy our train tickets in advance, but you can't do that if you have a discount, which Emily has, so we have to buy our tickets before we leave Saturday morning, which is fine. Afterward, we decided we might as well make the best of no classes (and ridiculously cheap train tickets) and go to Sete tomorrow. We won't leave until 11 because it's only a 20 minute train ride. Plus, we want to save all our energy for the beautiful fortified city of Carcassonne on Saturday!! I'll take lots of pictures to post of facebook and write about our adventures in a blog next week.

Has anyone been printing these to show to Gramzie? Also, has anyone been able to show her some of my pictures? I want her to read these and see my pictures so she knows that I'm enjoying myself. I'm also missing her and Mocha lots. (I'm obvi missing everyone lots, don't worry, but I feel like I have to mention them specially).

One more thing: I dreamt last night that I was filthy rich and was going into every single store in some high-class mall and buying every single item I thought Mommy would want because she deserved it all. I had a million shopping bags in my hands and was holding tons more items that I wanted to buy her. I hope it's a sign of things to come! But I would first and foremost pay off the house/credit cards, and then I'd buy her a house wherever she wanted and decorate the whole thing with lighthouses!! Now I just have to find a way to become filthy rich. I think Carl needs a nice promotion ; p

I love you all! I'll write again soon. Until then, just follow my posts of facebook to know what I'm up to day-to-day!

Kissies *speciall major-kissies to Mocha, cuz it's major-kissie-time*

Luvvies so much
Heather