It's Midterms week and I'm not studying.

Bonjour tout le monde! The past week has been pretty tame. I stayed in Aix for the weekend to prepare for my midterms this week, though somehow I didn’t end up doing much studying. Go figure. I guess I wouldn’t be a college student if I didn’t procrastinate.

I went out to Le Sunset during the week and enjoyed the happy hour special with my friends Zach and Mike. They have girafes for 10 Euros before 10:30 so we went out a little early and ordered a couple at 10:25 to keep on reserve. We got into an argument with some Englanders that turned out to be pretty amusing. They were talking about how stupid Americans are and how we don’t even know our own history and what not. One of them was determined to prove to us that we were idiots because we said we have 50 states instead of 46 states and 4 commonwealths. Anyway it was pretty funny watching everyone get worked up. Some people just shouldn’t drink.

I spent another night walking around Aix with Zach and Mike looking at all the buildings and admiring how they are all crooked and hover over the streets. After we got tired of walking around we stopped in at the hookah bar for some tea and Apple Hashish (I think that’s how you spell it?). As usual we were the center of attention because no matter how hard we try to blend in at the end of the day we are just loud Americans, Mike especially. You practically have to whisper everywhere you go in this country or you will get stared down.

Friday I went wine tasting with a group of about 30 people from IAU. We went to a small restaurant with a room upstairs where you can sit and learn about wine tasting. After that you go downstairs to a special area with about 50 different wines you can taste. We went upstairs where the owner taught us about different wines, how they are made and how to taste them. He had another session before us and I guess he didn’t spit out the wine because he was pretty drunk come the middle of our discussion. He spoke english pretty well but he kept forgetting what he was trying to say, which I think was more the fault of the wine than his language skills. He smacked one of the girls in the back of the head when her phone rang in the middle of his lesson. It was pretty funny but I think everyone was pretty shocked. It wasn’t that hard but I could never imagine that happening in the US. Anyway, we tried a Rosse, a desert white wine, and a red wine. Then we went downstairs and I tried probably four or five other wines. It was really interesting and tasty and I learned a lot though I’m not sure how much I retained…I’ll have to go to more wine tastings.

Over the weekend I watched the French put up a pathetic fight against Argentina in the match for third place in the Cup du Monde for Rugby. I also watched the championship game, England vs South Africa. Marie kept saying, “Elizabeth et moi, nous destons les anglais…allez allez Afrique du Sud!” Translation: We hate the English…Go South Africa! She is pretty funny. She was happy South Africa won and it was a really good game. It was the first match I’ve watched that I actually enjoyed, lots of heart. I have also found a new love. His name is Johnny W---something. He’s the kicker? For the English team and he’s gorgeous. Too bad rugby is over.

I spent most of Saturday on a second quest for jeans since the only pair I brought have a broken zipper. In my two searches I must have tried on at least 35 different pairs of jeans and none of them fit. So you know where I ended up? At the freakin Gap. Ya, that’s right. I’m in France and I went to the Gap. Oh well, they fit, they were cheap, and the zipper works. Done. The rest of the weekend I spent trying to stay warm.

I’m not sure what happened but it all of a sudden became really cold here. Sunday I wore a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, sweat pants, gloves, a hat, knee-high snowboarding socks, and slippers…and I was in bed. FREEZING!!! There is a weird white metal thing in my room that I finally figured out is a heater and not simply a towel rack ☺. Unfortunately it’s not working at the moment. I’m dying.

Last night I watched one of the worst movies ever made, “The Day After Tomorrow”. I had successfully avoided watching that movie until yesterday but with French TV you take what you can get. It was on public television and even though it was dubbed in french and I couldn’t totally understand the terrible dialogue, it was horrible…to the point that I couldn’t stop laughing for the last 20 minutes. Next Sunday Harry Potter comes on but I’ll be in Amsterdam. Darn. ☺

Every host family operates differently. Some families never have wine, some have wine and don’t give any to the students, some have wine only at dinner parties and some, like mine, have wine every night and always offer it to me. My family lets me watch TV with them, which seems obvious and natural but some families don’t let their students sit in the salon with them so I’m very thankful. Just watching french tv at night with Marie et Marie T. makes me feel more like I’m in France. I just get absored in what I’m watching and I sometimes forget I’m listening to another language and translating it in my mind. Something like breathing…until I hear words I don’t know and then I’m sent gasping for air, snapped back into reality as American student in a foreign country. I watch the news, the weather, a couple shows I really hate, whatever movies are on, sports and a hell of a lot of Cold Case dubbed in French. Tonight I finally noticed a real improvement in my french. I didn’t realize it until the episode of Cold Case was over but I understood nearly every conversation, not word for word but well enough to know each person’s story and motives and what not. It was such an awesome feeling. Just thought I would share that with you all. I’m learning and I’m not even studying. ☺

Ahh 3 days until departure! I’ve sorted out where I’m staying in Amsterdam. I am staying in a few different hostels in Amsterdam, moving as friends come and go and Friday and Saturday night I am staying with Anna, a girl I met at camp that lives in Amsterdam. I can’t wait to see her. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures! I can’t take any of the prostitutes unfortunately, I was informed that is frowned upon. Sorry all. Only 3 more tests and one more paper until I’m free!

Can’t wait to tell you all about the Netherlands and Spain!

Bisous! Bisous!