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.