Special Edition: American in America!

So, I've been home for just over a week now. I had been expecting the culture shock to be pretty intense, but haven't really noticed it at all. There are little things that keep surprising me, though, like having white eggs (the only ones I've seen in France are brown), the different shape of light switches, the different placement of toilet handles, thinking in dollars (which is a lot less painful than euro), and being able to make witty remarks to people I don't know without accidentally insulting them. I do miss my apartment, my friends and the warmer weather of Montpellier, but Vermont has its own perks, including (but not limited to) not needing to cook for myself, having a dryer, being able to talk with people, etc. Also, I'm sure that no one in their right mind will agree with me here, but... I had missed American men.

So, I got home on Monday evening, 24 hours later went to my friend Lise's annual Christmas-cookie-making-and-fondue-eating extravaganza which was awesome, and then two days later left for Sunday River, a mountain in Maine, to going skiing with the fam.

This is arguably the least attractive family photo ever to exist, but what can I say? Attractiveness isn't necessary when all that can be seen of you is your nose.

So, we went skiing on Friday and Saturday and headed back that evening. It might have only been two days, but dear God was I sore!! I feel like I pulled every muscle waist down. Ouch.

The exciting event of Sunday was my first contra in four months!!! I got there early to play in a jam session which was fun, and then danced the evening away. It was excellent--not only was the band, Nightingale, incredible, but there were a lot of great people there, as well. There was just a lot of love going around that evening, and it felt wonderful :)

(Photo stolen from Roger Katz, resident awesome photographer)

So, tomorrow I head off to NYC to visit family for New Year's (Seriously, 2010? It's going to take me at least 6 months to get used to writing that), which should be fun, and will be coming back on Sunday. Then, I need to figure out how to cram the following into 11 days:

- Choose a new violin
- Visit my music teacher
- Go to contra
- See Crooked Still
- Visit my Grandmother
- Go to an Irish jam session
- Go to a Renewal concert
- Meet up with 7 different friends, half of which don't live in VT

... And I had been worried about being bored while at home... HA!

GOIN' HOME--The EPIC travel log of an American trying to leave Montpellier.

4:30 am, France time--Maybe going to sleep at 2:00 am wasn't such a good idea after all. Pretty nervous about this whole trip, but have been reassured many times that everything will go just fine. Am determined to prove optimists wrong.

5:45 am--Why did it seem like such a good idea to pack so much and then walk to the train station? My hands hurt.

6:05 am--Hello Gare St. Roch, nice to see you again. Man I'm here early.

6:45 am--Waiting for my train... Thought that it would be a good idea to get here really early seeing as it's the only part of the trip that's under my control. Am now sort of wishing I had stayed in bed a little longer.

6:50 am--So, the train was supposed to be here by now, instead there's a flashing EN RETARD sign for an HOUR AND A HALF. Fuckfuckfuckfuck.

7:30 am--Waiting... And waiting... And... A fire alarm and everyone needs to evacuate the building? Great.

8:20 am--If the train isn't here now, I kill people.

8:25 am--Train's here, thank the gods.

(11:00 am--When I was supposed to arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport)

11:30 am--Wish the alternately screaming and giggling children would go away. They're stressed me out. At least the country is beautiful and snow-covered.

12:45 pm--So, not only are we running an hour and a half late, but the train is running slower than normal, too. FML.

1:00 pm--At the airport 2 hours later than originally expected and FORTY MINUTES BEFORE TAKEOFF!! AHHHHH! Mad dash to the terminal where I was told "pas de stress" and that it would be fine, as apparently everything was running late. Whew. Bags checked, go through security...

2:30 pm-- On the plane! Don't know how or why I made it, but I'm not going to complain.

3:00 pm--Au revoir, France!

9:45 am EST--And... the entertainment system is broken. It's gonna be a Loooong 7 hours. At least I got to chat with my neighbors.

4:00 pm--Hello, Montreal!

4:30 pm--Really, security and customs? Could this take ANY longer? I mean, I don't have another flight to catch or anything, so take your time...

5:25 pm--Just getting through customs... Hope it's not a problem that my flight was scheduled to leave FIVE MINUTES AGO. FUCK!

5:30 pm--Skidded to a halt at my gate just as they were calling my name, and just barely made it on the flight. God, that was close.

5:31 pm--Kid stole my window seat! Grr.

6:40 pm--I don't know how... But I made it! Hello, Boston!

9:45 pm--Home sweet home!

10:30 pm--Bed sweet bed! After 20 hours of travel and enough stress to give me a freaking ulcer, I think it's deserved. Also, I've decided that when I return to France in January, I'm getting myself a rowboat and ROWING back. It'll be easier, I think.

And thus ends the travel log, when Emily checks herself into a mental institution after the general trauma of travelling internationally.

Time for the most epic catch-up ever!

So, it's been an interesting few weeks. Long story short, the French university system works so that for the first three-fourths of the semester, there's nothing to do whatsoever, and then the last few weeks are hell. But, somehow I made it through the papers (including the one that I didn't learn was optional until the day I handed it in...), and actually just finished my third exam this evening! YAY!!! I had two exams yesterday, which ended up being 5 hours of exams straight which was good fun, and then another today. Being done still hasn't sunk in, though... I think that there's just too much residual stress and caffeine in my system to let me calm down and too much apprehension concerning packing, saying goodbye, traveling home for break... Yeah.

Anyways. What else have I been up to? Well, I've been to two more folk dances, which were a lot of fun. The first was just a really small one at UPV which I went to with Sara and was really nice. Then, two days later, we went to another dance, "Le Bal au Chausettes" (Dance of the Socks) where everyone was supposed to wear crazy socks, and there was even a competition. So, of course, I went out and bought myself a pair of striped knee-socks. It was a rather intense dance, in that it was packed and chaotic, but still fun, and I finally learned some more of the dances.
I wish that this had come out better... But there it is! It's a little hard to see, but the decorations included laundry lines with paper socks clothes-pinned on. So cute! Met a nice boy, too, by the name of Pierre :)

So, despite the fact that Thanksgiving doesn't really exist in France, we still celebrated! Twice, in fact. First, the whole group of us went out to dinner at a restaurant called l'Artichaut, and they actually made us Thanksgiving dinner! ... That is, French style. Two days later, we celebrated again, this time a little more family-style with a potluck! Looks amazing, huh? Tasted amazing, too. I must say, we're a pretty damn talented group of cooks! Let's see, there were yams, mac+cheese, turkey, peanut chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, lemon meringue pie, apple crisp... God, I'm still full, three weeks later.

Last week, Sealia and I had our last cooking session of the semester, and made salmon, crackers (you have to pronounce it in a French accent, though), and chocolate mousse!
Cooking away...Mme Mousseron--she is SO CUTE!*Salivates*

So, Friday was the first night of Hanukkah, so me being a good little Jewish girl (/wanting an excuse to not be studious) decided to make my two favorite Jewish foods, latkes and noodle kugel! Never having made either I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out... But it ended up being great! :)Bon appetit!The makeshift Hanukiah that Sealia made out of tea candles. Yes, it was only the first night, but we figured why not celebrate all 8 nights in one? It made me really, super happy :) (Also, it just occurred to me that most of my photos seem to be of food, which makes me wonder why my pants still fit me...)

I MADE CREPES! Okay, can I now be officially French?

"EXAMS" is all I really need to say here...
Note the package of Prince cookies, mug and the Pyrex-liquid-measure-turned-teapot. What's that expression, necessity is the mother of invention? Yep, pretty much.
At some point very late on Monday night/Tuesday morning when I was just tired enough to start raking pictures. Glad that's over with!

So, that's me. I'll be spending the next 4 days cleaning, packing, and spending as much time as possible with my friends before heading home on Monday. I leave first thing in the morning (like 6:58 am or something) and will be home late that evening, after about 20 hours of travel. Wow, I can't believe I'll be home so soon. It'll be a bit weird, but I'm excited to be back home and if you're in the VT or MA area, give me a call!

(Oh, and most of the photos are courtesy of Sophie or Sealia--thanks!)

Hello all! Well, I've been up to quite a bit since my last check-in. Now, of course, I just need to try and remember some of it...

I had a really busy week, last week, with a phonetics test on Tuesday (amazingly, I think I'm getting worse at this subject, which is quite impressive), a new art history professor and topic (it's all about the end-19th-century Symbolist Movement in painting, which is actually kinda cool, and coincides with the era in which Byron and Shelley were writing. It's very dark, wonderful stuff), and yet another test in grammar which was really tough. So... Yeah, it was a busy week. And this one is a whole lot busier, as I have two papers due next week. Ironically, they're for the same class, one is 3 pages (the French students need to write 4, haha!) and the other is 7. But here's the weird part--the longer one isn't graded, while the other is, but we still need to do it. Does this make sense to anyone? Oh, the French university system... *shakes head*

So, as exciting as my academic adventures might be, other adventures might be more appreciated... Like, my trip to BARCELONA this past weekend! I headed out with Essi, Muoyo and Ally on Friday afternoon, hopped on a bus and 5 (looong) hours later we were in Barcelona! My very first time in Spain, how exciting! We stayed in a little hostel "El Residencia Erasmus" which was actually great, and really cheap. It felt very much like a slumber party, as we were all in one room. We had an early night on Friday, and then spent all of Saturday walking around, seeing everything--the market, the sea, the old quarter, the cathedral, the Gaudi park etc. Man... I'd gotten used to Montpellier, which has a downtown of about a square mile. According to my poor feet, Barcelona is quite a bit bigger. We did some more walking around on Sunday and then took the bus back and got home in the evening. Quite the whirlwind trip! But, pretty damned awesome :)

Photo shot from the bus, at the French/Spanish border. The photo doesn't really capture it, but the landscape there is Beautiful, really mountainous, and at the moment kinda misty.










We went wandering through a park on Sunday, and found this! I'm not sure what's it's a monument to, but it was beautiful... And riddled with Greek mythology, which always makes me happy.














L'Arc de Trimuph!... Every city's got one. This one was quite spectacular, though.












Shoe-shot!
I kinda like my turquoise chucks, right here...












My lovely travel-companions!!!













Street in Barcelona, in the Gracia quarter, I think.













So, Monday was spent recovering from the busy weekend, actually getting work done, and getting another fiddle lesson. I learned a great new tune called A Cup of Tea. I think we all know why I like it... Also, I've decided that I need a new violin. After mentioning, for the tenth time, something about getting my pinkie down where it should be, Brian tried to demonstrate it on my violin... And realized that it was practically impossible. The problem is that the strings are Really high off the fingerboard, so being able to push down hard enough to get a good note with my weakest finger... Not gonna happen. It's actually really nice to be able to blame my instrument for my problems, for once.

Tuesday was terribly busy (normal classes, plus paper-writing and going to a required play in the evening), and today has been as well. Sealia and I had our cooking class this morning, which was fun--unfortunately I don't have any photos to put up at the moment. And... tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I'll admit to being very sad to not be home :( It's only the second time I haven't been with my family for the holiday. We will be celebrating here, though, which should be fun. And now, I have class to go to! Tah!

This is going to be a somewhat happier post than last week's, I believe. So. I had my big presentation in my literature class on Tuesday which went pretty well, although it ended up being Way longer than originally expected. We had been aiming for, oh, you know, 20-25 minutes. How long did it end up being? Nearly an hour, and even when we left the front of the class, we were still talking about the passage. Wow. I think that the main reason for this was that my partner had timed her piece with her speaking at normal speed: not presentation-in-front-of-a-class-full-of-foreigners speed. Ah well. I got to feel like a good little MoHo, though, because we were talking about how there were all these feminist themes etc. and also, we were asked a question to the effect of "does it just seem like a feminist novel because that's how you want to see it?" to which I answered No, in fact it Was a feminist novel, so there. [Take that, French man!] Also managed to make 'em laugh a few times, which felt good. Anyways, thank god that's over. Now I can worry about all that other work I need to be doing... Frak...

Wednesday was a national holiday, in celebration of the Armistice of WW1 (although, of course, it took me half the day to realize that that was the cause, not some bank holiday. I felt rather silly when I found out). Took ballet in the morning, and went out to a wonderful restaurant called La Tomate in the evening. It felt really very French, and had this great atmosphere--very cozy, with a fireplace and everything. I even got to see frog's legs, for the first time. They really don't look all that appetizing. Thursday contained yet another culinary adventure: the veggie gratin to end all veggie gratins... but, of course with half of the ingredients changed around. It ended up being cauliflower, onions, shallots, an apple and some spinach cooked in wine then with cheese and eggs added. Not bad, not bad at all. I think I added a bit too much liquid, though, as it was a bit soupy.

This weekend was really one of the best on record. Like, seriously. I got a fair bit of work done (for once), went to a knitting store that I found a few weeks ago with Sophie and bought materials with which to crochet a hat to match my scarf, spent a good deal of time in cafes hanging out with my lovely friends and working, and had a most epic dinner party on Saturday evening which included: wine, salad, bread, eggplant parmesan, pasta, sauce, chicken, and a cake. My compliments to the incredible chefs!! Friday night was the Irish session at Fitzpatrick's which was a blast. I knew/kept up with maybe 6 or 7 of the songs, which may not seem like much, but it was enough to make me really happy. I even earned myself a free Guinness... Which I promptly gave to Brian. A whole group of the girls came to see me play which was really sweet, too :) Anyways, it was pretty awesome weekend, just what I needed--a balance of productivity, friends, music, sleep and just plain relaxing. I do have a whole ton of work I need to get to, though, and sharpish. I think that's the main thing I hate about this system, that you have no work for the first 2/3 of the semester, and then Everything is crammed into the end. It's kinda terrifying, actually. Hm, maybe I should stop whining and start working? Quelle idée!

So, I would argue that the past week has been one of the more interesting/busy/social/horrid on record, although I'll spare you most of the gory details. So, there have been such adventures as: meeting interesting French men at laundromats, working on my first presentation for a literature class, another cooking class with lemon meringue pie and being able to play with cookie cutters, skipping my first class this semester, a cooking adventure which involved substituting most of the ingredients which still came out well, finally breaking down and doing a bit of shopping, being read to via Skype by my awesome dad and sister, watching American movies dubbed in French, finding Irish fiddle books in the library, making plans to visit Barcelona next weekend, and having really, really awesome friends :)

In a bit more detail... I've had a really social past few days, wow. In fact, I feel like I've barely been home at all which is weird. So, Friday evening was celebration #1 of Ally and Muoyo's birthdays! Happy birthday! So, we all went out to a bar for a few hours, hung about and had cake. Then we went out to Australia (we were actually let in this time, unlike last week when we were unceremoniously turned away for no good reason) and danced until the wee hours which was fun. On Saturday I had quite an adventure... I had run into my friend Magali the day before and she had invited me to go out folk dancing with her and her friends Olivier and Stephen! It was in a little town about an hour out of Montpellier called Sommieres (I think). I was expecting it to be really small, and low-key... Man, was I wrong. It took us about 15 minutes to even get in because there was a line, and then it was this big hall that was absolutely packed to the gills with people. We decided that the word of the night was "chaos." Nothing was taught, so you either knew it or you were out of luck (or, if you're me, you just hunted down a good partner and didn't let him get away), and it was so crowded that it was hard to tell what was going on. There were some dances that were done in pairs, some in pairs in lines, some pairs in circles and some in lines in circles.... Whew. I can now dance a pretty mean valse (waltz at warp speed), scottish (possibly the sexiest dance I've ever done--un, deux, trois, un, deux, trois, un, deux, trois, quatre--and done while practically hugging your partner because there just wasn't enough room to do otherwise. It reminded me of a salsa or something) and a mezurka (nothing like what we learned in ballet class--un, deux, saut!, un, deux, trois--and just super awkward, but rather fun anyways, when you're not stepping on your partner's feet). So, it was fun, but also overwhelming in the fact that at home, folk dancing is where I belong, I know the dances, the people, the music etc. whereas here, I was expecting the same and was rudely surprised. Apparently there are folk dances at UPV on Thursday evenings, though, which I'm really excited about. Also, there was a boy with long blond hair in a skirt who danced really beautifully. I think they're following me...

Today I went to a mini jam-session with my fiddle teacher Brian and his friend Mark. We spend most of the afternoon playing away, with 2 fiddles and... a banjo? Yep, a banjo. They're such funny instruments. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a new tune by ear, which always impresses me as I'm usually horrible at doing that. I think it's actually the fiddle tune from the Titanic. Weird, I know, but a really great song. And now... Time to decompress from the last 7 days and get ready for an intense week.

... Because when deciding between procrastination and schoolwork, procrastination always wins.

So, another week full of exciting and less-exciting adventures. First of all, I made it though my week of two tests and a new section in my art history class, although barely. We'll be spending the next four weeks on... Something to the effect of iconology/iconography (there's actually a difference, who'd a thunk?) of Renaissance painting. Sounds like a blast in theory, but in reality, she's hard to follow and has this bad habit of assuming that all the students are in her other class as well... Yeah. That'll be interesting. Academics in general seem to be gearing up a bit, which is pretty terrifying. It's not that a ton of stuff needs to be done so much as what does need to be done is either very poorly explained and thus daunting, or is worth a huge percentage (say... 100) of our grade. Yikes.

So, on Wednesday, Sealia and I had our first cooking class! Getting there was an adventure, as it was pouring rain and windy to boot, so by the time we got there, we were soaked, despite the umbrellas and rain jackets. So, it was with a lady by the name of Mme Mousseron, who's rather adorable. So, we spent about 2 hours with front-row seats at a cooking show. We helped out a bit, but (at least I) did a lot of sitting and watching. We made: gratin aux endives, truit aux amandes, un "cake" et un "crumble," which was all wonderful, with perhaps the exception of the endives.

"LAAA!"
General immaturity, what can I say?
Also, I'm not sure I realized that fish have rather sharp teeth. And really silly looking tongues.










Grapefruit and kiwi. Do you have any idea how hard it is to cut and peel grapefruit like that? Well, hard!!! Looks pretty, though.











"Look what I made, ma!" Sealia showing off the truit aux amandes.

p.s. MHC, we're onto your scheme. You attract the brightest and most motivated women, then send them away to to foreign countries to "broaden their horizons" and turn them into housewives!!






Le "cake." Really, that's what she called it. It was basically a cheese/veggie loaf of bread which was really good, minus the olives.















Fishies! Mmm... They made fun of me for how I ate it, though, which I would consider a "I'd like to avoid getting fish bones stuck in my throat" manner, but they just thought was funny.














Apple crumble! And a rather satisfied cook :)

















As for the rest of the week... Nothing too eventful until Friday evening, when I headed back t Fitzpatrick's, the Irish pub, to listen to the jam session. Turns out that I got there early and had time to kill before they started, so I ended up just sort of attaching myself to a group of Irish students and hanging out with them for a while. It was a bit awkward, but I was damn proud of myself anyways :) On Saturday I finally went and found a ballet studio and took class! It was a really good class, just the right level, and a lot of fun. It really is interesting how little ballet seems to change around the world, though--same words, same order, even a similar "ballet mistress" attitude. The thing that amuses me, though, is the fact that in English, the words "tendue," "pirouette," "pencher," all sound so beautiful and elegant, whereas in French, it just means, "stretch," "twirl," and "tilt." Much less interesting. Saturday evening found me with a babysitting job, of a 2-year old and a 4-year old, the kids of my friend Lawrence who owns the English bookshop just down the street. It was an eventful evening--Finding Nemo, then train tracks (I love those things!), then paper-towel confetti, then books (written in French, and read outloud in English... Let's just say it wasn't pretty), and then bedtime, which took some persuasion. Whew.

Monday was a rather excellent day, overall, including such things as massive grocery shopping trips, cooking a really good dinner for myself (I CAN COOK!) and then having my first Irish fiddle lesson, from one of the guys who played at the pub. It was a good lesson, overall, but, as first lessons are wont to be, a bit disorganized and an overload of information. Ah well. At any rate, I have a good number of bad habits that need fixing toute suite, including some of the most basic elements, which is frustrating. Oh well. And... So starts another week. Oh, and random important information--I will most definitely be coming home for Christmas break, which is about between Dec. 18 and Jan. 20, so put that on your calendars!

Hi! So, it's been a busy week. It was really nice to see my parents again, albeit a tiny bit odd to have them here. I guess that's to be expected, though. So, on Thursday we went to the opera (Magic Flute, take two) which was a lot of fun. I had been nervous about figuring out how to get our tickets, but it worked out just fine. We were in a box nearly at the center, but something like 6 levels up, which was intense. I thought we were going to need oxygen tanks, from the sheer altitude. It was a really good show, a bit more polished that when I last saw it.

Friday was our trip to the Camargue! It's a region about an hour east of Montpellier, and reminded me rather oddly of Mexico or something. Hm. So our first destination was a city called Aigues-Morts (no, I don't know what that means--the only translation I can do comes out to something like "dead high pitched notes" which isn't especially logical). We happened to get there at the best time possibly possible, as in we were on the main street for about 5 minutes when we realized that the city was in the midst of their Bull Festival! As we were figuring this out, a herd of black bulls comes charging down the street and were kept in line by a few Camarguian cowboys on their white horses. I wish I had pictures, but it happened so fast that I didn't have time. Oh well, plenty of other good photos! Must admit, though, that it did make me appreciate Brattleboro's Strolling of the Heifers a bit more...

The street along which the bulls had run. Pretty huh? Actually, one of the horses threw a shoe, which of course I had to keep as a souvenir.











They let a bull out into the arena and just let him run around and charge at anyone and anything he felt like. People kept on jumping into the arena to catch his attention and then jump to safety. As Becca said, it's good to know that there are idiots in every country. It was cool to watch, though.








They had the cowboys (I'm not sure if there's a specific term for them or not) herding the bulls around in the ring which was pretty cool to watch. Pretty white horses...










The arena was right outside the wall that surrounds the city (which was later went into and walked around in).











Moat!! I want a moat...













I couldn't help myself.













Manifestations Taurines!!!













View of the city from the top of the wall. Cool, huh? I wonder if you could get across the city just on the rooftops... Seems like something in a James Bond movie.










It's times like this that I feel a whole lot better about my French.













Film of one of the bulls running around the arena (and no, your computer isn't broken, there's just no sound). No worries, no bulls were harmed in the making of this movie. No promises about the guys who were running around in the arena, though...

So, that was the excursion to Aigues-Morts. After that, we went to a town called Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer which is the capital of the Camargue and walked along the beach. But man, it was cold! I feel like we jumped right from summer to winter. Brrr. The highlight of the second town was, of course, the humongous crepe that I ate before we left. Oh man. After getting back to Montpellier, I headed out to the pub Fitzpatrick's to check out the Irish jam session I had heard about. I got there around 10, ended up watching about 45 minutes of a rugby game (it makes football look like a game of pattycake) and then finally the session started up. It was great music, and I ended up talking with the fiddle (who's Irish) about lessons... I hope something pans out.


Sunday found me hiking yet again, but this time in a. five layers, a hat and gloves and b. proper hiking boots! (Which gave me giant blisters... Ow) The hike was "les cascades d'orgon" which was a really nice hike, except for the last part, which was basically straight up. Not so fun.

It was ridiculously pretty, though, and actually looked kinda Vermont-ey. *sigh*






Sunday was brought to a close with me going to a real, live French dinner party :) I still can't get over the fact that I was invited by my friend Magali. It was fun, even though I understood about 3% of the conversation, and involved wine, good people and lots of food. I'm still getting used to the French method of greeting, aka three kisses (in Montpellier, it's always three, Paris is four) even if it's someone you've never met before. It still kinda cracks me up, though, when I kiss someone especially manly looking, who probably wouldn't be caught dead doing such a thing in America. Oh, the Europeans...

So, that's it for now. I have a busy week this week what with some tests, a new professor for my art history class, and a good deal of catching up, too. Also, I have my first cooking class tomorrow morning! I'm really excited.
Hope everyone's well!

Hello all! Well, I'm happy to say that the last week has actually had fewer adventures than previous weeks, which might mean less interesting reading, but a relatively more sane Emily which is always good. On Wednesday we had our medical exams which was the last step in the process to get our "cartes de sejour" aka residence cards. I had been pretty happy that my exam was at 8:30 am because I figured that things would be more or less on time and I could be in and out quickly. Alas, I forgot that this is France. So, it happened in three parts. Part 1 was my chest x-ray which was relatively painless, although cold metal on bare chest is not very pleasant. I was then given my x-ray to hang on to. Part 2 was when the x-ray was looked at, and I was asked a. if I was pregnant b. smoked and c. if I often threw up blood. Um... No. If I was throwing up blood, I don't think I'd be calmly sitting in the office, but in a hospital trying not to die. Turns out that I don't have tuberculosis! Who'd a thunk? Then waited around until Part 3 which consisted of me getting my carte de sejour! It's this giant yellow, shiny sticker in my passport with my picture on

it. Yes, I'm official! So, that was that, and took a mere 2.5 hours (not including having to go back to the office half an hour later because I had walked off with the wrong x-ray... Oops).

Thursday marked the official beginning of fall, in that there was a freaking Monsoon. Seriously, it was absurd. It drizzled for the morning, and then in the afternoon poured until there were rivers going down the streets, and even with an umbrella (which I was sharing with this French guy who seemed wetter than I) I got soaked. I'm told that fall isn't usually like that, which I'm hoping is true, because I really don't want to invest in scuba gear. The power actually went out at one point, but luckily came on a few minutes later, just when Muoyo and I were about to go ask Mme Cesari for candles.


Friday was Mountain Day--Montpellier style! For those of you who don't know, MHC has one day every fall when classes are canceled first thing in the morning, and everyone goes and climbs Skinner mountains and generally enjoys the fall weather. So, obviously we can't just cut classes here, but we did have a nice afternoon trip to this little Chateau on the outskirts of Montpellier.

Chateau! It was pretty small, but had this really nice garden.












On the roof, directly about the door was a dove which was just about perfectly placed. Good job, dove, very artistic.











I'm honestly not quite sure what this is supposed to be, but there were a few signs like it. Hedgehog? Wild boar? I'm hoping for the former.











Wandering the paths around the chateau. It was very quiet, and peaceful with no one else around, and made me remember why I like living in the country. As much as I love Montpellier, I'm a VT girl.









A lily in the little pond in front of the chateau.













On Saturday, there was an outing avec les filles, to dinner and then... skating? Yes! Apparently there's a year-round ice skating rink here. Wow. So, that was fun, although a lot harder than I remembered it being. I'm going to blame the dull skates, I think... There was this one point when I was trying to demonstrate proper stopping technique to some of the other less-sure girls--you can probably guess the rest. The fall was spectacular, and I think may have included a somersault. I think I deserve points for style. Also, it was really nice to breathe cold air for once.

The rest of the weekend was less eventful, and more centered around cleaning, laundry and homework, in preparation for my parents to visit me! They came this afternoon! I was waiting for them outside the train station, and thought that I was early, and then all of a sudden my dad's in front of me! Thought I'd have a heart attack. So, there was a good deal of waiting around for my dad to find the car that they rented, and then a rather long and much too eventful drive from the station to their hotel (Distance: about half a mile. Time: over an hour. Years shorter that my life is going to be: about 25). Let's just say that Montpellier is not a driver-friendly city. But, we made it through the tram-dodging, construction-avoiding, and one-way-street-avoiding and wound up at the hotel, at which point I collected the thing my parent shad brought for me (!) and staggered off to my apartment. We later met up for dinner which was fun. Looks like they'll be going to Saint Guilhem le Desert tomorrow, as everyone should, and then we'll meet up for dinner again. Hopefully I'll be able to go on a few excursions with them in the next week.

So now it is time to accept the fact that it is time to sleep, so I can live through my Tuesday from hell. Goodnight!

Sorry that it's been so long since my last post--life has a way of getting in the way of things, doesn't it? So, at this point, I have a full two weeks of classes under my belt and am getting a little more used to it all. My Francophone lit class is going well, although we're absolutely flying through our first novel, called L'Enfant Noir, and the man who teaches the lecture class is pretty tough to follow most of the time, although at least he's not using the microphone anymore. The mosaics class is a little less overwhelming, although he still goes really fast--he'll she a slide just long enough to write down the place, country and date, and then he's onto the next. Whew. The grammar class, while a subject that manages to both be dull but impossible to fully comprehend, is going well because the prof is pretty wonderful--the feistiest 60-year old woman I've ever met. And, phonetics is still putting me to sleep, and I still can't really tell the different between [y] and [u]. Damn you, French.

Last weekend was pretty full of adventures. On Sunday I went out with the hiking club. We met at 10:00 (it was a big group, a bit over 40) and then all piled into cars to head off to... wherever it was that we went, I honestly have no idea. I turns out that my car was full of four other 'oldies' which was both nice because they were telling me about everything, but also intimidating because they were all good friends. Also, fast-spoken French still goes totally over my head. Holy crap. So, after a. getting a bit lost and b. losing one of the cars in the convoy, we made it to the mountain, which we proceeded to climb... Obviously. Although everyone was referring to it as a "randonette" (une randonée is a hike, so randonette is a cute little baby hike), I was more or less ready to fall over when we got to the top. We had lunch and hung out for a bit (I chatted for a while with a Mexican guy (yes! Someone from my continent!) which was fun, and an exercise in really close listening). Also, peeing in the bushes = not so much fun, especially when said bushes all have prickers. I still have scratches all over my legs. So, that was interesting, at any rate. Unfortunately, the group was a little older (as in, not in college) than I had been hoping, but I'll definitely go back at least once and see how it goes.

Sunday night was the beginning of Yom Kippur, so (after a good deal of persuasion by my dear sister) I hunted down a synagogue to go to. So, I finally get there, and go up to the door and asked the man standing there if that was the way in. He said yes, and then proceeded to ask me a few questions about who I was (the last on which being "tu est juive?" Um... Nah, not Jewish, I just felt like crashing services. Seriously?) Of course, to make this more interesting, he had a really bad stutter, so... yeah. It was hilarious in a slightly awful sort of way. So, I eventually got inside, and mae my way upstairs to to woman's section. Oh my. So, the women don't get one side of the synagogue, they get stuck on the balcony, so unless you're in the front row, you have no idea what's going on. So weird. So, I stayed for about an hour and a half, 'course I didn't understand one bit of what was going on. At the end, though, there was this little old lady who saw that I was alone and must've figured out from my accent that I was American, and she said something to the effect of "have a good holiday, and I wish you a sweet and healthy new year" and kissed me, which was pretty much the cutest thing ever. It actually made me really happy :) I love nice people.

Monday's adventure was finding the Irish dancing studio which I had found out about at the foire des associations and had been really looking forward to taking a class at. So, I left an hour before class, which I thought would be enough time to get there. Hah. So, I took the tram to the end of the line, which is the suburbs of Montpellier, and proceeded to walk the three wrong ways (including along a bloody highway, which was sketchy as hell) before finding the right way. Turns out that the studio isn't even in Montpellier, but Juvignac, the next town over. Yikes. So, I eventually got there, half an hour late, and took the second half of class which was the tap part. It was fun, but not amazing. I dunno, if I'll go back or not. Luckily a woman offered to drive me back to the tram stop, because it would have been really, really, scary to have to walk all the way back. Yikes. Something about doing other types of dancing, though, always makes me want to go back to ballet, and I really need to go find this "studio Skouratoff" that I've been hearing about.

The last adventure I can think of included neither getting lost, French, nor new people, but a dead chicken. So, I found this great recipe for "poulet jardinier" in my microwave cookbook, and it called for a chicken, so goshdarnit, that's what I got. It was ridiculously cheap, too, only 4 euro. Cool. So, I cut up all my veggies, then the recipe says to add the chicken and I say... Oh crap. What do I do with it? So, I spent about half an hour wrestling with the bloody (literally--there were organs in it, too. Mmm-mm.) thing and stabbing it with a knife, and trying not to be too squeamish about cracking bones with my bare hands. Ick. Well, eventually I got 2 legs, 2 breasts, and 2 wings, so I figured that that was good enough. Emily: 1 Chicken: 0 So, anyways, the dish came out great, and it'll last for a while. Awesome. I love cooking full meals, so I can cook one thing and just add bread and be done with it. Also--I've decided that this whole "study abroad" thing is really just housewife training in disguise. Seriously. I'm ironing, planning meals, cooking, cleaning my bathroom every week, washing dishes... etc. It's sort of ridiculous how much work it takes, though, to take care of just you and your place. I can't imagine taking care of kids. Guess that's what the husband is for?

Let's see, anything else? Last night was Sophie's surprise birthday party, which was a lot of fun. We managed to totally surprise her! Remind me to never try and plan one, though, just thinking about it made my head hurt. We ended the night at Australia which was really fun. Also, I broke out my black leather boots for the first time in France which was awesome. Tomorrow I'm going hiking again, and the rest of the weekend will probably be spent cozying up with my homework. Well, that's what I'm hoping will happen, I'm not sure what the reality will be. Also, my parents are coming to visit in just over a week, which is pretty crazy. It was always this distant visit, and now it's almost here! Wow. I totally have plans to have them take me out to all the restaurants I've been eyeing for the last 6 weeks... Very sneaky.

Alright, I think that's all for now. Hope everyone's well!

I just realized that I had the blog set to not allow comments except for members, and just changed it to allow comments from anyone, so comment away!

Hello all! Well, what have I been up to for the past few days? Today was my first day of classes, which was pretty exciting... and a bit scary. My first class was francophone literature which was at 9:45, so not too early which was nice. On the tram ride up, though, there was a message about there being a strike tomorrow. Lovely. So, the first class was good (once I found it--good thing I left lots of time). Not only is it a small class and the professor seems nice (and she speaks really clearly and slowly) but it's about half international students which was initially disappointing, but it's really quite reassuring. I signed up for some presentation which I'm sort of regretting, and I feel bad for the poor girl ho got stuck with me... Oh well, too late to change it now. Spent an hour hanging out after class and then found my art history class which... was not quite as exciting as I was hoping for. It's a decently large class, and the prof is Italian I believe (which is actually nice, because he speaks slowly, but his accent is a bit tough to follow at times), and the subject matter...? Apparently the entire bloody class is about Middle Age mozaique designs [Wow, I just spent a good five minutes trying to figure out how to spell that in English--mosaic, apparently] So, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, maybe it'll be fine, but it's just not really up my alley, and it's just a lecture... Gah. I dunno. Also, I'm not sure how to sign up for it. UPC doesn't have a nice unified electronic system for things like this, I'm afraid. So, that was three hours, and then I ran off to my phonetics class which nearly put me to sleep. Why hello, phonetic alphabet. Looks like we'll be learning the entire thing. Oh boy... So, one day down. I officially don't like Tuesdays, but at least the rest of my week is pretty light.

Nothing terribly exciting happened during the rest of the weekend. There was a concert at Saint Pierre cathedral on Saturday which I went to, and that's where the pictures are from.

It was in the late afternoon, so you can see the light of the stained glass windows reflected on the opposite walls which is super cool.















The beautiful organ that I was expecting to hear play, but didn't :( As Rob pointed out, it would have been basically impossible to play it with an ensemble, as was done--so, they used a little chamber organ. It was a nice concert, though.









I went on a really epic shopping trip yesterday, and not only bought proper tupperware (we've been using a mishmash of glass jars in odd shapes) but a glass pan for using in the microwave (I've been borrowing one from Mme Cesari) as well as cheddar!! I was really happy to find it, mostly just because it's so familiar and comforting to a homesick Vermonter. It's this really bright orange, though, which is different from what we buy at home. Speaking of home, I've been trying to do some thinking ahead about what I'm doing for winter break. It turns out that I have a 2-week break, which is enough time to come home, although I'm not convinced it's a good idea. I'm not sure I'll want to come back if I go home. Can everyone just come and visit me here during christmas? Please?

Also, if you're reading this, please a. let me know if you are, because I'm never sure if anyone's actually looking at it, and b. let me know how you are! I'm writing this to keep my friends and family updated on my goings-ons, so please return the favor--I'd love to hear from you all...

As per usual, the amount of stuff that has happened since my last post makes me despair about ever getting it all written down. But, I'm sure going to try. I guess we'll go chronologically. So, after successfully buying my tickets on Monday (for 94 euros, which may seem like a lot until you realize that if I didn't have my youth pass it would have been twice as much; it's good to be young), solidifying plans and packing, on Tuesday, Sealia and I headed off to Paris! So, trains are apparently very different from planes. a. They actually run on time and b. you only need to get to the train station about 20 minutes before your train leaves. Interesting. So, the trip took about 3 and a half hours and we were in Paris before 2:00. We spent the rest of the day hanging out with Sealia's family who were kind enough to take us in for a few days, and played Monopoly and barbies with Lea, their 7-year old daughter. So, not only was this my first real experience with a French family, but it was my first experience with a proper French dinner! So, dinner was a meat and then a veggie dish, with plenty of bread and wine as well (I actually managed to drink a glass of red wine). Then there was fruit, then cheese (it tasted rather like cheddar which made me really, really happy) and then dessert. All of this took at least an hour, at which point I was ready to be rolled away from the table. Whew.

On Wednesday we went into Paris proper with Lucien (Sealia's "uncle"--it's complicated) and went to the Louvre, although only the Egyptian and Sculpture exhibits, and then to a museum dedicated entirely to plaster molds of great sculptures, primarily cathedral facades.

Taken from under the glass pyramid. Too bad the sky is so gray... Actually it was gray (and chilly!) the entire time we were there, which was quite the shock after Montpellier.










Venus de Milo! I wouldn't say that she's the most beautiful sculpture in the world, but certainly quite nice (minus the lack of arms). There was a giant crowd around her which was pretty intense.














Actually not quite sure what this is, but it's one of four that are very similar and were moved into the Louvre for protection.











On Thursday, we spent the entire day walking around the city. I wish I had had a pedometer so I could figure out just how many miles (er, kilometers) we walked. Of course, we started at the beautiful Notre Dame.














You can't really tell from the photo, but there was a concert going on when we got there--good timing, huh? It was really cool, actually, and sort of made the space come alive. It really is easy to imagine how the people of the 12th century believed that cathedrals were a place in between heaven and earth.












Next up was the Sainte Chapelle (apparently called the Holy Chapel in English) which was commissioned by... Louis IX, I think. Anyways, it's practically all stained glass and defies gravity and most of the laws of physics. It's amazing.









The last stop of the day was les jardins de Luxembourg, which were really lovely, and had this to one side.











It's rather depressing how few of my photos make it onto this blog... for more, find me on facebook, or coerce someone who is friends with me to show you the photos.

So, that's my trip to Paris in a nutshell. I got a train back to Montpellier first thing Friday morning (all by myself, too. I was impressed) and was back by about noon. I must say, I like trains. They may be slower than flying, but it feels so much more natural, somehow. Anyways. So, Friday evening was Rosh Hashanah, so I made it over to Mira's host family's house for dinner at 9:00. They were very nice and seemed happy to have me there. I wish I could do a proper analysis of the differences between RH here and at home, but I realized that for the last few years, it's been too difficult to miss school so I haven't gone. There were a bunch of blessings over a number of fruits etc. which was interesting. Also, I could barely distinguish their Hebrew from French. Hm. So, as the house was pretty far from town, they put me up for the night and I headed back to my apartment early this morning. Overall, the French win for hospitality.

Let's see. In other news, I realized that putting my schedule together was indeed too easy, and that it needs to be rearranged so I can get a literature class that's actually French literature instead of literature that's taught in French. Oh well. The potentially good thing here is that I may end up with classes only on Tuesday-Thursday. Pretty cool, huh. Also, classes start this coming week which is terrifying. I mean, I can't even hold a conversation with a 7-year old, so how am I supposed to read college level texts and write papers? I guess that this is really the "trial by fire" part. I think I'm going to be burned to a crisp...