Vive La Grève!

So, it's Grève Week here at Université Paul-Valéry.  That is the official name we American students have given this crazy crazy week!  What is a grève some of you may wonder?  A grève is a strike.  As in the students here blockaded the entrance to campus as well as all the entrances to classrooms and buildings.  As in I sometimes wonder if I am currently living in a civilized country or not....  I never got to see the students outside the campus striking (grèving, as I like to call it), but apparently it was something else.  I did, however, see the artwork of the blocked doorways.  There is an outdoor staircase which was blocked with many chairs and desks and how they got them to stay in place is beyond me.  It took some skill.

Grève Week was officially declared earlier in the week.  On Tuesday, the students went on grève, then decided to grève the rest of the week as well.  So as to lower the amount of damage to school property, the school officials decided it would be in their best interests to close campus for the rest of the week.  Now hopefully this doesn't continue into next week, or I have to figure something out.  Apparently, the International Relations office emailed all of our professors to tell them that if this continues they have to email us our assignments so we still get grades and credits this semester.  This is important, as Paul-Valéry students apparently enjoy grèving, even when it lasts a whole semester....so we shall see how this pans out!

The grève is all thanks to the French government trying to raise the retirement age from 60-62.  SIXTY TO SIXTY-TWO!!!!  And people are lighting cars on fire and blocking oil refineries for this?!?!  Do you now see why I feel like I'm living in an uncivilized country sometimes?!  First, I can't buy decent coffee in a grocery store, now people go ballistic because of 2 extra years of work!  TWO YEARS!!!!  Grow up and deal with it!  Oh my gosh!!  Trains are only running about 50%, theres no gas to be found, people are losing their minds, high schoolers are getting themselves involved (violently sometimes) just because they can get out of school....  Will I be living in a dangerous 3rd-world-esque country soon, I wonder? 

At least planes are still landing and taking off (knock on wood).  Air France announced that it will keep  running 100% of its flights.  Most planes are just asked to refuel before landing in France, or have to stop somewhere right outside of France to refuel on it's way somewhere else.  Crazy crazy craziness.  All over 2 extra years of work. 

Such has been my life recently.  Gotta love France.  At least I really get to see what French culture is really like: there's the grève and my Anthropology memoire, which I don't technically have to do except that I've pinned myself into a corner....  I honestly can't wait for some Buff State classes next semester!

I'm Halfway Done!!

So as of today, I am more than halfway done with the semester here!  I thought the day would never come, haha.  And Carl is coming in 12 days!  It's so close I can't stand it!

So I haven't written in a while, I know, but not much was going on.  I've just been doing schoolwork, which isn't fun.  I also somehow got myself into doing more work than is actually necessary: my Anthropology professor mentioned to the class about signing up for some paper in class the other day, so I caught her after class and asked what she was talking about, as I didn't recall her ever mentioning this before.  She told me to come to her office the next day to discuss it with her.  It turns out that the paper she mentioned is the Memoire that all the License 3 (final year) ethnology students have to do to be able to graduate.  They hand in a dossier/CV in December and then write the paper throughout next semester.  My professor decided that it would be a great French cultural experience if I handed in the first part of the paper.  Good job Heather, for trying to be a good student and getting yourself messed up in all this business!  So I'm doing a bilingual dossier for her.  Awesome.  I don't really have much to do, she even admitted it.  She gave me the name of some book to read and said I should just interview American students about their motivations to study in Montpellier (the topic of my Memoire).  She actually said the most difficult part would be to find American students to interview.  Little does she know I know about 40 of them and have 2 other Americans in my hallway....  So I basically just have to write down important quotes (in English, without translating), explain them and compare them to what other students said, and then write summaries about different topics I will be discussing (that part is all in French).  She finally put up a little outline online, but it's confusing.  So luckily I have to hand in a rough draft in the middle of November so she can let me know what I have to change.  I guess it will give me something else to do beside read because I feel like that's all I've been doing lately.

On another school note, I have to find out exactly what is expected of me for this Shakespeare sonnet expose (with accent mark on the second e)/commentary.  The British gal and I are both so confused because all the French students have done this before and know exactly what is going on.  So we are both planning on emailing him within the next day or so to figure that out.  As soon as I figure it out, I'm doing the whole thing in a couple of days, as my 'expose' (if I end up having to do one), will be December 2nd.  I don't know if I have to also do a commentary or what, so we shall see!

I also get to find out the topic of my Ronsard dissertation this week, and that will hopefully be almost finished by next weekend, as that will be due December 9th.  And honestly, after Marsha leaves I won't have much time at all!  And I'm thinking the Athropology dossier will take up more time than the two literature assignments, as I'm used to papers for French literature, but not Anthropology.  I'm also expecting my Anthro prof to tear my format apart, as I really don't know how these things are done in English, much less in French. 

Now for the fun stuff!  Last weekend, Friday to be exact, Emily and I took the train to Carcassonne!  Can I just say that it was one of my favorite places in the world?  It's like a fairytale land!  I will have pictures up soon (hopefully tonight or tomorrow), so that everyone can take a look.  Honestly, I didn't want to leave!  It was just absolutely gorgeous and medieval and terribly romantic.  I would love to go with Carl for a weekend if we ever get to travel around Europe for a couple of weeks.

The train station is in the newer section of town, so we set off in search of the tourist office, which of course was closed indefinitely.  I feel like that's the story of our life: it's either closed or we can't find it.  So without a map to guide us to the Cite (accent mark on the e), which is the old fortified medieval city, we set off in what we hoped was the right direction, wandering around and peering down side streets until we saw towers.  We crossed a bridge, from which we saw the most beautiful scene in the world (beside the Buffalo skyline, obviously).  There was a little river below us, and across the river was the gorgeous fortified city, with a park full of trees below it!  And since it was raining lightly, there was the faintest mist in the air, making it absolutely romantic and fairytale-esque.  My pictures can't really capture the full beauty of the moment.  All I can say is, if you ever get yourself to Carcassonne, make sure it is on a misty morning in the Fall.  You won't be disappointed.

After crossing the bridge and trying to figure out how to actually get to the hilltop where the Cite is, we ended up following an older British couple.  They were so adorable.  They were maybe 5-10 years older than Mommy and Daddy, and held hands the whole way up to the entrance, where we lost them.  The woman had a slight limp, and had to walk very slowly, especially since we were walking uphill.  But the man was so patient- he just held her hand and walked beside her.  It was so cute.  Once we got to the hilltop, the view was wonderful!  You could see everything!  And inside the walls, the city was so cute!  We walked around the ramparts (I was terrified!), then toured the castle, and then wandered around town for a bit.  We ate at the cutest little restaurant, L'Ecu D'Or, where Emily and I both had Cassoulet.  It was perfect for a chilly, wet Fall day in France!  I want to find a recipe when I get home to make it for everyone!  You'll all me very happy with it, especially the dog.  I know Daddy would have just loved it!  We also had the best chocolate mousse for dessert, and my starter was a chevre chaud salad, which was absolutely amazing.  However, I would have to say that the most memorable part was hearing Moby's big hit from years and years ago.  It was called "Southside" or something, and I think it was on the Now (insert number here) CD that was always advertised for on TV.  It was just so strange and funny because all the other songs were typical French restaurant songs, very mellow and relaxing, and then all of a sudden Moby came on!  I haven't heard that song since I saw one of those dumb commercials!

Another highlight: La Maison Hantee (accent mark on first e), aka Haunted House.  A bunch of highschool-aged students were standing outside waiting to get in, it was quite funny.

Also, there were a TON of British people there.  If you want to see Brits in France, just go to Carcassonne.

So that was Carcassonne, and also the only thing of interest from last week.  This weekend, yesterday to be exact, Emily and I took a bus for only 1E50 to a tiny village called Clermont-L'Herault.  We never would have heard of it, except for the fact that on Friday after lunch Emily took out a Southern France tour book she found in her hostmom's house and we saw something about it.  It seemed cute enough so Emily found the bus routes (she's amazing at that, if you ever need a train/bus route, just ask Emily for help), and we left around 10am yesterday.  It was only an hour bus ride, through the mountains and some cute small towns.  The town itself was so adorable.  It's a perfect place for a romantic, peaceful weekend away from it all.  There are mostly just locals, but still things to do, such as shops, a gorgeous church, a feudal castle (which was closed, but maybe we'll go back as it was so cheap), and beautiful streets to wander down.  It reminded me of day trips while on vacation in maybe Saratoga Springs, when we went to a little town and had breakfast or lunch at a little diner.  It was Fall, so it must have been during that trip. 

Anyway, we both decided that it would be a great place to live someday, as it's near the countryside but close enough to the city, is soooo quiet and peaceful, and is absolutely gorgeous.  We also decided that someday, even if it's in 50 years from now, we are going to get together and backpack/bike/rent a car/whatever seems most convenient at the time across France, mainly to check out all the tiny villages in the countryside and in the mountains.  We made a pact, and we won't break it!  I'm excited for that, maybe I should save it for a mid-life crisis!

We got back to Montpellier early, at 3 or 4 and wandered for a bit.  Then I came back here and made myself CHICKEN NUGGETS with MIKE'S HOT SAUCE!!!!!!!!  Amazing!!  I'm so excited I found his hot sauce, it absolutely made my life!

Today I've just been sending facebook messages to Carl and reading for Anthropology.  Sooo much fun.  At least it's cooled off here: it's only been in the low-mid 60s for the last couple of days, and it's not supposed to get any warmer!  Yay, it kind of feels like Fall (finally!)! 

I hope all is well at home!  I'll post another blog soon and hope to have pictures up asap!  I love you all, please send my love to the Grandma's and Mocha!

3 Year Anniversary :)

So today was me and Carl's 3 Year Anniversary.  3 years already!  Can you believe it?  Us neither.  It's kind of crazy, especially when I go through pictures and remember everything like it was yesterday.

To start things off, Emily came over early to drop something off.  I thought it was just the papers for my Monoprix fidelity card (it's like a bonus card), but she had a big bag with her.  She said I couldn't look at it yet, but that by the end of the day I would know what it was and would know when to look in it.  After she left, something kind of clicked a little bit....

Anyway, the other day Carl told me that if my phone were to ring with a number I didn't know today, that I HAD to pick it up.  Even if it wasn't him talking on the other line.  Of course, I didn't like this idea at all, as I hate talking to people I don't know on the phone and I didn't even know what it would be for!  The only times it has been perfectly easy for me to talk to strangers on the phone was at Sears doing shoe checks because I knew the person on the other end was in the same boat as me.  Plus, it was kind of my job.  So I was worried all day that I'd miss the call, so I turned the volume up really high (I have to remember to turn it down before I go to bed, or I'll wake up with the loss of hearing in one ear), brought it into the bathroom with me when I showered, carried that huge, clunky phone in my front pocket while grocery shopping, brought it into the kitchen while cooking lunch, and then had it glued to my side for the rest of the afternoon.  No call.  I was kind of starting to get worried by now, as maybe my number wasn't working (Carl had said it might be a local number). 

So you can see where I thought that maybe these two things were linked....the phone call which had something very important to do with our anniversary and something wrapped in bags that I couldn't open until I knew the time was right....  maybe right when a phone rang?

But the phone never rang.  I had enjoyed my lunch and a light snack and tea and was enjoying myself watching highlights of the Sabres vs. Senators Round 2 of the 2006 Playoffs.  In the middle of my highlights, there was a knock on my door.  Thinking it was either Emily about my mysterious gift or Bronwyn telling me my hockey highlights were too loud, I got up and opened the door only to find ---- a random french girl standing there holding a baguette.  She informed me that when she had asked for her mail at the 'Acqueil', the guy working there had asked her to go to room B24 and tell the girl there that he need to talk to her.  Right away I thought that something must be wrong, such as my rent or something equally as important.  So I originally planned on going down tomorrow morning, so as not to let it ruin our anniversary.  But after a few minutes, I literally felt sick with worry, so I went down to the 'Acqueil' and said, "You needed me?" (only in french: "Tu as besoin de moi? Chambre B24?") "Room B24?".  He asked me what my name was (probably to verify that it was really me), and then walked over to the door, where I followed him (our conversation had taken place through the little window).  Then he handed me this giant box!!  I was in shock, until I looked through the see-through lid and saw flowers!!  My heart nearly fell out of my chest!  I don't think I've ever had such a wonderful surprise!!  Right away, I almost started balling my eyes out, and I know the look on my face must have been full of such joy and surprise because then the guy said, in english, "Enjoy!" with a huge grin on his face and I said "Thank you!!" and walked myself and this big box of flowers back up to my room, trying not to cry with happiness!!!!

And then what do you know....I opened my pink roses (!!) and realized it was time to open what Emily had brought me this morning.  Lo and behold, it was a vase!!!!  So as I started trimming my roses, Carl came online!!  Perfect timing!! 

So, yes, I have to admit that even though we are 4000 miles apart for our anniversary, it was still a perfect anniversary (if you don't take into account that he was here to spend it with me - but we talked on the webcam for a really long time, so it was almost the same thing....almost....).  I can't believe how thoughtful Carl is.  A+ for being extremely romantic even when we're so far apart :  )

I took it upon myself to dress up a bit in a nice sweater (and skirt earlier, but then I got chilly so I put on my dark-wash skinny jeans, very classy) and to make myself a nice dinner.  I made stove-top macaroni and cheese, which turned out to be amazing!  I'll send anyone the recipe if you want it!!  And it was quick and easy, too!!  I also had some Chardonnay (Carl had some in Belhurst, so when I saw it, I just had to get it).  And in a little bit I'll be having my dessert of french vanilla coffee (from Carl <  3) and crousillant chocolat noisette, which I'm not exactly sure what it is, but the picture on the box looks like it involves chocolate mousse.  I'll let you all know.

In other knews, the fantasy hockey draft went better than I had expected last night, after my draft decided not to load.  But luckily I have the most amazing boyfriend in the world, who put his own draft on the line to help me out with mine *smiley face*!!  I have a pretty good team and I'm excited about it.  And I'm pretty sure that I'm already addicted....

Tomorrow there is apparently a bazaar thing going on at Comedie, with vendors selling all sorts of things, including food, so I might head out there in the morning/early afternoon just to check it out.  Otherwise I'll be couped up all weekend because Emily has a friend visiting and they are doing all sorts of things together.  Plus, I have an essay to write so I'd rather get that done tomorrow or Sunday rather than wait til the last minute on Monday.  So even with getting out tomorrow I'll still be couped up doing that!!

I also have been reading du Bellay's Defense et illustration de la langue francaise (Defense and illustration of the french language) FOR FUN!!  Well, not really for fun, more like because it's on all the French M.A.  reading lists.  But I already had the book because we are going to be referencing it a lot in my Ronsard class, so I figured I'd like to have it for that.  So I've been reading it.  It's an easy read, and pretty interesting so far.  Never thought I'd say that, but it's true.

I hope to write soon!
I love you all.  Please send my love to Mocha and to Gramma and to Bushie.
And don't forget how amazing Carl is next time you see him!!!!
Luvvies forever,
Heather

The Bike Ride That Never Happened....

Not much has happened since I last posted.  I don't really recall what I did last Saturday.  Probably groceries like I said I'd do.  Maybe some reading.  But Sunday....now that was quite a day.  Colleen and I met Emily at the Comedie, hoping to rent bikes and ride to the beach.  So, we went to the closest place and they told us they were all out of bikes, even though there were like 10 of them outside.  They must have been on hold for people, but grr, why couldn't we have them?!  So then we went to the tourist office, but you have to give them 150E just to rent one bike!  That's $200!!  You get it back afterward, but it's just not right handing over $200 for a bike you're using for half the day!  So they told us we could go to the train station and rent bikes there by just giving them an ID to keep until returning the bikes.  So we strolled over there and what do you know?  They were ALSO out of bikes!!  How does this happen?  We assume it was because it was a Sunday afternoon and since nothing much is open, everyone had the same idea as us.  But it just wasn't fair.  So we wandered back over to the tourist office (thank goodness all these places are nearby eachother) and asked about taking a bus to the beach, which really defeated the purpose: we hadn't really wanted to go to the beach just to go, we wanted to ride bikes to the beach.  But the bus idea wouldn't work out anyway because the next bus was really soon and the last bus to bring us home was in an hour from when we'd catch the bus to the beach.  We'd have to walk to the next 2 stops to get home, and we had no idea how far apart they were, or even if you could walk to them, so we didn't go to the beach.

Instead, we walked over to the Arc de Triomphe to see if we could walk up to the top (a lot of things were open that weekend because it was a Patrimony weekend or something like that), but the line was really long so we walked to the Plant Garden instead, which was absolutely gorgeous.  It reminded me of a mix between Sonnenberg Gardens and the Botanical Gardens (woot, Kelly!!  Botanical Gardens!!).  Then we went into the old Medical School because it had some old books on exhibit, which was pretty cool.  Emily read Dante in it's original form, so she felt very accomplished!!  Then we went inside the Cathedrale: it was massive and gorgeous!!  I would actually love to see a mass in there.  And yes, I did just say I would like to see a mass.  Haha, please don't all die of shock.  It's just that the cathedrale was absolutely gorgeous and I can only imagine it when it's filled up with people.  Or imagine a wedding!!  How pretty!!

Afterward we wandered around, ran into Maria and Arielle again (who we'd already seen at the Plant Garden), and then said our goodbyes.

This week has just been school school school.  What fun!!  Not really, though....  It went by so slow, probably the slowest week since I got here, even slower than the first week!!  Hopefully it picks up a little, geez!  I mean, France is great and all, but I want to be with my love and my Mocha and my family :)  My classes are going well.  However, by the hour and a half mark of my 3 hour classes I can no longer focus.  And then I'm completely exhausted afterward, even though I didn't do a damn thing!!  I've had 3-hour long classes at Buff State (Zola, for example), but a) Zola was a 5-person class so you were always involved in the conversation, and b) my speech class was half lecture, then the second half people giving speeches, which was entertaining.  But when someone tries going on for 3 hours about the basics of religious anthropology, you almost want to kill yourself.  I'm sure I'll get a bit more used to it.  Thursdays are the worst, though, just because it's 2 3-hour poetry classes.  I know everyone must be wondering at this point if I am intentionally trying to torture myself, and the answer is no.  They just both happened to transfer over to Buff State perfectly and had to be on the same day.  I'm so glad I have off Wednesdays to relax before my day of hell!!  At least my last class, Comparative Literature (Shakespeare and Petrarch....blah!!) keeps me up a bit more because the teacher is Justin Sane's older doppelganger and I am actually quite interested in analyzing English poems in my French class.  Haha.  I feel bad for those French students having to read Shakespeare in English, though, because that's even difficult for me.

So then yesterday Emily and I went out for our weekly lunch of crepes.  We are regulars now, and the waitress knows us and even asked us if we were students or just living here for fun or for jobs.  When we walk in she greets us like friends, it's rather neat!  Then we planned on seeing a movie, but we just missed all the afternoon shows, so we went back to her place to plan daytrips and then decided that since it was raining (it rained the night before and that day!!  I was in heaven!!  I didn't even want to take my umbrella out but Emily whined a bit, so I opened it up!!) we'd go to an exhibit called Le Reve Americain (The American Dream).  It was amazing.  It had photos of America, including some of people watching the twin towers fall, which I thought was kind of weird.  Our favorite was of an older couple holding hands and crossing a street in a small town to an antique store.  Very cute.  Then there was an Elvis exhibit, where some guys dressed up as Elvis and a photographer took pictures of peoples' expressions.  It was hilarious!  If there's a book out by these guys, I'm buying it!  Then we watched some short movies, my favorite being the one about Alaska, as it showed a 2 second clip of an old-school hockey game and a 30-second clip of Don Cherry and the poor bastard that has to work with him on Hockey Night In Canada!!  I was ecstatic and Emily had to deal with it, poor thing!!  Plus, that video had snow in it and moose, so it was clearly amazing.  Another cool one was about the videographer's great grandpa who had come to Cleveland from les Cevennes in France and it was just funny because it talked about how he gambled and the first thing he won the first time he played was money, a car, and a building.  Haha.  It just had typical pictures of him and his American wife, like with the car, the bike, the house.  But it was funny because at the end it had a quote from an old lady relative back in France saying something funny.  I don't remember what it was, but we were laughing so hard.  In fact, we were laughing through all these videos because we totally understood everything, and the French people probably had no idea what we were laughing at!  The 3rd video wasn't so cool, though.  It was about druggies in NYC.  Interesting, but not as good as the other two.  Then we parted and today I just hung around, did a lot of work, talked to Carl through Skype IM for a long time and then tried to webcam it, but that didn't work, so we IMed for a long while longer, and then I made dinner, and then I talked to my wonderful family for about 5 minutes!!  And that was my week!

I love you all and hope everything is wonderful :)

Kiss Mocha for me!!

Luvvies,
Heather

Kelly was right - Aquariums are AWESOME!!!!

Not gonna lie, when Kelly said she went to the aquarium in La Rochelle a lot, I kind of asked myself, why would you want to go to the aquarium??  Not having been to one in a really long time (I don't even remember my last trip to the aquarium), I shouldn't have judged.  I went with Emily to the Montpellier aquarium today and it was AMAZING!!!!!!!!  I saw seahorses (real live seahorses - they are so flexible in real life!!  They wrapped their tales around plants and napped!!), sharks, penguins, sting rays (RIP Crocadile Hunter), EELS!!, starfish, crabs, lobsters, tropical fish, and just a million amazing things!  Emily and I befriended a fishy who would come over to us everytime we went near the tank!  He had teeth and loved us!  I took a picture, so that'll be up shortly.  We also saw scary sharks with creepy teeth and 2 with saw-like noses!  Soooo cool!!!!!!!!!!!!  But my favorite parts were: a submarine-type room (I obvi took a pic of that!!) and a room that looks like you're steering the ship and there's a storm and the room rocks back and forth like you're on the ocean during the storm and there's a screen so it looks like it's pouring out and there's thunder and lightening and at one point something "came undone" and went flying into the water.  Emily couldn't be in there for long, but I loved it!  I think Daddy would have just loved it!  So yes, I love aquariums now!  I want to go back!!

We went to the aquarium today because the weather was supposed to be crappy and we didn't want to go to Carcassonne if it was crappy out.  But the sun ended up coming out!  Yes, it was chilly (yay!!), but not crappy and rainy like it was supposed to be!  So we went for lunch (crepes!!) and then to the aquarium and then I sent some postcards (finally, sorry) and then we went to Monoprix so I could buy some soap (it's orange flower and smells oh so yummy!) and another notebook for school.  Then we parted as she had a tummy ache and I was exhausted from all the aquarium excitement.  Then I talked with my darling on Skype and made dinner (pasta with bolognese sauce - amazing!).  Then I watched an episode of CSI and washed my dishes *sigh* and a french girl came in to make herself some food and said bonjour and au revoir to me!!  Lol.

So my classes went well yesterday: I had poetry of the 16th century in the morning.  We will mostly just be reading Ronsard because he spanned a long time and 3 different kings, so his style changed with the times.  The prof seems really nice and said she'll work something out for the foreigners as far as the evaluation goes.  Then in the afternoon I had comparative literature and my prof looks like Justin Sane in 15 years.  And I mean EXACTLY LIKE JUSTIN SANE!!!!  He would probably even wear the same clothes if he wasn't out in public!  Same height, same build, same voice - it's creepy!  I'm convinced it's his doppelganger, just 15 years older..  Kelly, I will try to pretend I'm texting someday and take a pic for you lol!  I'm serious, it's creepy!  He walked in and I was like "woah, now!"  Freaking crazy!!

Anywho, that class should be good.  We are focusing on praise and desire and seeing if you can write about one without the other.  So we'll read Shakespeare (parts in English!!  I feel bad for the French students lol) and some Plato and Petrarque, which works out, because in my poetry class we will be referencing Plato's Le Banquet (that's the French title, I don't know what it is in English), but not reading it.  And we'll be reading it in the other class!  And we'll be looking at Ronsard in my comparative literature class!  This works out great for me!!  It's kind of like when you pick a bunch of random classes at Buff State and they all end up talking about the same things within days of each other!

Tomorrow (Saturday), I have some plans: groceries, textbooks, purse.  I figure I'd rather get my groceries out of the way now rather than wait until half-way through the week like normal when I'm almost out of everything.  And as for textbooks, most classes only want me to get 1 or 2 cheap books and then recommend other ones for reference.  So I'll get what I need and see how much some of the reference books are and if they are cheap I'll get them, too.  For example: we don't need a book for history, but I might take a look at the 3 books he recommended in case I can't follow along well enough; I'm gonna take a look at the 16th century literary dictionary for my Ronsard class; and there's a book we'll be referencing in my comparative literature class but won't be reading, but since it might be a difficult class I think I'll get that, too.  And for Anthropology, we can choose like 3 out of 4 (I'll choose the 3 cheapest, lol) and then there's a list of other books we can look at if we want to.  So for right now, I'm just getting what I need for that class and then if I need anything else I'll either go to the school library or see what they have at Sauramps (book store).

And I would like a new purse so I don't ruin my scarf by using it as a strap.

And if I have time I'd like to get cleaning supplies to clean my room!

I hope everyone is doing well.  And I expect comments on each of these last 3 posts this weekend!!!!

Have fun boozing and cruising, Kelly *muahs*

*kissies* to my Mocha

Luvvies,
Heather

When I Get Home, I'm Never Doing Dishes Again

I always knew I hated doing dishes.  Even when I was a kid I hated it.  That's why I chose to do the household's laundry when Daddy said we had to each have our own chore to do.  I love laundry.  Dishes though....I'd almost rather die. 

So imagine me having to wash my own dishes every day....  I'm not enjoying this one bit.  I only have one dish, one bowl, one frying pan, and one sauce pan.  Which means I have to do dishes at least once a day, but sometimes twice if I cook for breakfast or lunch and then want to cook for dinner as well.  It's a royal pain in the ass.  It's what I least look forward to every single day - it's not even missing Mocha and Carl really badly before I go to bed: it's doing my dishes! 

And let me tell you, I'm not very good at it.  I feel like it takes me forever to do a few dishes.  So instead of taking up space in the kitchen, I've been doing dishes in my bathroom sink if I only have a few.  It's horrible, such a pain in the butt.  And my hands feel pruney!  And you all know how much I hate germs and I'm handling a sponge!  If I had lots of money I'd use a knew sponge every time I did dishes!

Oh my gosh, I'm getting all worked up over this now.  Let's change the subject to something else I can get worked up over: I had to buy nail polish today at Monoprix.  I swear to God I packed my red nail polish, but after searching and searching and researching for it I came to the conclusion that I left it at home.  So out I went to Monoprix to buy pink polish (cuz what girl would chose red when she can have pink instead).  Firstly, I couldn't find the perfect pink (also known at Avon's Strawberry Pink).  I ended up with super hot, shiny pink, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I wanted Strawberry Pink!!!!  And to top things off, there was no polish under 5Euros unless you wanted the tiniest little bottle of nail polish I've ever seen in my 21 years!!  Not cool!  And then I tried to find soap cuz I'm almost out and I couldn't find it.  I swear to God, Monoprix does not sell soap.  I'm gonna have to find some tomorrow.  I might have to go to the store in the mall.  Thank you Monoprix!  Thank you soooo much!

One more day of my first week of classes.  Hallelujah!  It hasn't been a bad week, but I just want to get it over with!  My schedule is looking like this right now: morning class and afternoon class Mondays and Tuesdays, off Wednesdays, morning class and afternoon class Thursdays, off Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.  I had originally planned on having one class Wednesdays and one Thursdays, but I messed up the times for the literature class today so I'm going to the one tomorrow instead (it's the same class, just different times and we're reading different books).  So it works out for me.  But I feel like I'm going to have a crapload of free time.  Where is Sears when you have so much time on your hands?  They loved putting me on the schedule when I had 6 classes and mad homework to do!  I actually want a lot of homework just to pass the time, otherwise I'm gonna either be sitting around a lot or spending money going out to cafes and what-not.  Oh well, it's better than having a lot of classes, I guess.  But really, I'm finding a job right after Christmastime, I can't stand not doing anything (never thought I'd say such a thing!).

I should go to bed soon, I guess.  But my hands are still so pruney and I'm gonna have to get them wet again to get ready for bed!  Ahh I hate you dishes!!!!  If I could buy a little dishwasher that plugged into the wall, I'd be all over that shit!  $500?  Sure, no problem, here ya go!!  Wash my dishes!!

Luvvies and wish me luck in my dish washing....,
Heather

2 Day Trips and 1st Day of Classes

The point of writing that long blog last week was so that this one wouldn't be as long.  However,that's impossible as I've been extremely busy lately.  I went to beautiful Sete on Friday, followed by a magical day in Tarascon, both accompanied by the wonderful Emily.  While Sunday was terribly uneventful, today was the first day of classes, which turned out to be as perfect as classes could get.

1) On Friday, Emily and I took an early train to Sete for only 8,20Euros round trip, which is ridiculously inexpensive.  Then we saved more money by having a huge "formule" lunch for only 13,50.  It was so much food I didn't even eat dinner that night!  The food was great - I got shrimp cooked in garlic (like Mommy makes with angelhair pasta!), which was really good except for the fact that the heads with eyes and all were still attached.  So after cutting the heads off and taking the shells off I could eat in peace.  For my main dish, I got some kind of fish.  I think the French like leaving their food looking like how they caught it, because my fish looked like a fish!  So once again, after opening him up and covering the head with some other food on my plate, I ate in peace!  The only problem was that there were a million teeny tiny bones, so Emily and I had to take tiny bites to ensure that we didn't eat any!  They were the smallest fish bones I've ever seen - like the size of a piece of hair!  But it was very tasty.  With that, I also had a tomato provencal, some yellow string beans and a baked potato with a tad bit of sour cream on it.  But I dipped it in my rouille sauce, which is absolutely amazing.  It's like mayo/sour cream but better!!  For my dessert, I had Baba du rhum.  So good!!  It's a little cake cooked with rhum topped with whipped cream and mine even had a touch of strawberry syrup!  Sooooooo good!!

We also had a little adventure in Sete: we walked up a ridiculous hill and a million steps to get to the top of a little mountain where there's a huge cross and a chapel.  It's called Mont St-Clair.  And the view was just gorgeous!!  Pictures are up on Facebook :)

Afterward, we wandered over to a navette store that's been open since 1913.  I got a huge bag for 4,50 and they are absolutely amazing!  Dipping them in coffee (or nutella) is heaven!!  I might be going back just to get some for home!  We also wandered around the town for a while, which was so pretty.  However, around 5:45 we headed back to Montpellier, as we figured we'd have a long, busy day at Carcassonne Saturday.  But alas, those dreams were dashed when we discovered that the earliest train to Carcassonne on a Saturday is at 11, so we wouldn't even arrive until 1 or 2.  Then we'd have to take a 7 or 8 o'clock train back that night!  Am I wrong when I say it would be better to spend a whole day in Carcassonne?!?!  So we decided to put that off until this coming Friday (however, that dream may also be dashed as it's supposed to be one of the rare occassions where it decides to rain in southern France).  Instead, Emily and I went our separate ways and researched where we should go Saturday.  I ended up planning a little trip for when Carl comes, but Emily made a list of towns on the train line, so I looked at them and picked two and she picked two and we ended up both picking Tarascon, so that's where we went!

2) Tarascon is probably my favorite place I've visited so far, right behind Saint-Guilhem-Le-Desert.  It's a tiny little town with a castle!!  When we first arrived, we set our usual goal, which is to find the tourist office.  However, much like in Sete, we couldn't find it and got diverted elsewhere.  This time we were diverted to a castle.  It is the Chateau Royale de Tarascon, built by le Roi Rene a long time ago.  My first real Medieval Castle!!  (Avignon can't really count - it's a pope's PALACE).  So we toured this castle and I (quite literally) took hundreds of pictures.  Only a handfull are up online because I figured people would get bored with pictures of castle architecture.  So if anyone is interested you can see them when I get home (I'll probably force you to look at every single one of them even if you don't want to muahahaa). 

After the castle visit (where I ended up buying a little book about castles and a knight pen - see Facebook photo!!), we looked for lunch, but as it was around 2 o'clock, the places that were still open weren't serving food anymore!!  Lesson learned!!  Eat first, visit castle after!!!!  So we ended up going to the grocery store and buying a picnic for ourselves.  The best part was that when we were full and had half a baguette and a huge block of goat cheese left, Emily saw a homeless guy and said we should give it to him.  Afterall, it was too hot out to keep the cheese in our purses and who wants to carry a baguette around while you're exploring?!  So we gave him the food and he was so happy!  It was probably the best moment of this stay in France so far :)

Then we found the visitors center and visited a gorgeous old church (St-Marthe) which is named after the Saint who tamed or killed this monster thing that lived beneath the town and ate people!  I hope that's a true story, because it reminds me a knights slaying dragons and there is a castle!!!!  We also visited a cloister museum about this order of nuns, which was actually really interesting - they are celebrating their 400th anniversary this year - 400 YEARS!!!!  WTF?!?!  We then wandered around and saw some other sites and then finished the visit at the pastry shop!  I got a cream puff thing with honey over the top!!  SO DELICIOUS!!  More photos of that can be found on Facebook. 

So Tarascon was definitely successful.  Emily and I decided we should have that castle and if not, then a better one.  Especially since I was able to master the spiral staircases and make it all the way up to the top!!!!  And I didn't even faint!!!!

Sunday was extremely uneventful.  I talked to Carl on Skype and when we weren't webcamming, we were IMing on Skype. 

3) Classes started today!!  I was pretty nervous, not gonna lie.  I don't think I've been nervous for classes starting since freshman year of high school.  I think it's because I've always had people with me - especially at Buff State: Kelly's always been in several of my classes and we always drive in with Anna, especially the first couple of days.  So I got up extra early to get to campus extra early to make sure I could find my building and my classroom for my first class (Medieval History from 10:15-1:15).  But I lucked out - I walked into the building, and there was Maria from the presession!  We were so happy because we were both nervous and then when we sat down in the classroom, another girl named Sarah from the presession showed up, so it was much less nerveracking.  Not to mention, our prof is really nice.  He's probably in his mid-30s and is really into medieval history (which is just fine cuz I'm a total nerd when it comes to that kind of stuff!!), and he told the class that if there were any international students that we could talk to him during our 15 minute break.  So the 3 of us went to talk to him and he was awesome - he said if we have any questions, just to ask him after class or email him.  And then he took our emails so that if he gives an assignment, he can email us more instructions because he knows it might be difficult for us at first!  Yay!

My second class was Grammar, which is done by the international institute on campus.  So I was placed in the upper level based on my grades from the presession.  Maria was in that class, too!!  The prof is cool - she's probably around Mommy's age and was born in Croatia, grew up in Australia, and then has lived in Montpellier since she got a scholarship to study here for college.  She's a good prof from what I can tell, too, so that's good.  I have that class Monday and Tuesday from 2:15-3:45.  Monday's we'll be doing mostly grammar stuff and Tuesday's will be writing, so I still have a week to do homework and what-not.  Plus it gives my brain a rest, because the grammar every day for 3 weeks just about killed me during the pre-stage!!

Then I did some grocery shopping and here I am!  Tomorrow is Religious Anthropology from 9:45-12:45 and then Grammar.  I hope it's as successful as today!!

I'll try and post again by the end of the week!  Luvvies to all!

-Heather