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!