Hello, world! My second day in a row blogging...go me! Where should I begin...I guess where I left off would be a good place, huh?
Well, Wednesday night. After last blogging, I kind of failed at actually reading. I instead played Snake (like the old school game) online for a while and then Adam called me, wanting to see if I still wanted to hang out. Of course I said yes. I was getting absolutely nothing done in my room, so Adam, Sakinah, Kyle, Katie, and I all went to O’Neil’s. We only had one or two major language screw ups (one of which caused the waiter to completely ignore us for a time). No matter, we still had a good time. I laughed harder than I have in a LONG time (thank you, Kyle). This week has been relatively stressful with classes and homework and adjusting to the culture, and a night of laughter was much needed.
In addition to the healing laughter, I can’t help but mention the Belgians who brought quite the smile to my face as well. A group of Belgians had for some reason decided to take their holiday in Avignon, and they were all dancing the night away at O’Neil’s. Someone (Katie originally, I think, and then Adam) struck up a conversation with them, and we spent a lot of the evening talking with them. One thing that Avignon has truly afforded me is the opportunity to speak with people my age from other cultures. I know that sounds kind of silly, but it’s been one of my favorite parts about Europe thus far. I love hearing what they have to say about America. Much to my surprise, it hasn’t been quite as negative as I had expected. Contrary to “Culture Shock!”, I have had no drunken men come up to me and personally blame me for the world economic situation simply because I’m American. Again, “Culture Shock!” lied. Anyhow, I have gotten an abnormal amount of references to the show “Friends” due to my name. The Belgians were delighted when they found out my name was Rachel Grimm, which is remarkably similar to Rachel Green. Who knew?
One of my new Belgian friends (whose name has completely escaped me...) Adam and I affectionately call him “The Pretty One.”
We had such a good time last night chatting with the Belgians (and thanks to Katie’s not-so-mysterious disappearance) that we ended up staying up way later than we had originally planned. No, matter though. Walking with Adam and Katie through Avignon at night was wonderful. It’s such a peaceful, beautiful city, and I’m so glad I’m here.
Avignon at night.
Only a few hours later, I had to wake up for class (oh mon dieu!). Fortunately, I have become quite accustomed to working off of little sleep, so I was totally fine (well, I was fine after I had my coffee). This morning we started our writing class with Mme. Mathis...and I absolutely adored it. We wrote an acrostic poem (un accrostiche) with our names, and then an “I Like” piece. I know it sounds really elementary, but it was much more difficult in French. Plus, it’s nice to be able to write something that doesn’t involve intense analyses (cough*RenaissanceLiteratureTutorialPapers*cough).
Allow me to give you a brief sample (for those of you that can read it).
Moi, j’aime les nocturnes de Chopin, et ceux qui les jouent bien.
J’aime jouer du piano toute seule, sans auditoire, dans une grande salle qui produit des echoes.
J’aime les romans de Virginia Woolf, et Virginia Woolf elle-même, même sa dépression, et même sa mort.
J’aime écouter la musique si forte que je ne me souviens plus de mes pensées et de mes inquietudes.
J’aime voyager, et j’aime revenir.
J’aime le café fort, et le thé amer, et les chansons tristes, et les musiciens qui savent plus que moi, donc, les musiciens qui sont souvent déprimés.
Mais moi, je n’aime pas la viande saignante, et je n’aime pas les boissons chaudes qui sont devenues froides.
Je n’aime pas les ppoliticiens qui parlent toujours, mais ne disent rien.
Je n’aime pas les gens qui vivent sans aucunne pensée de leurs actions.
Je n’aime pas le camembert, ni la poussière, ni les moustiques.
Je n’aime pas les émissions de réalité, et je n’aime pas regarder les vies superficielles d’Hollywood.
And it goes on. Anyhow, as you can see, it was an enjoyable prompt. I felt like I was in junior high Enriched Reading again (awesome class).
Lunch was next, the the Resistance class, then Oral Production (which was a little intimidating, but not bad. Shawna and I returned to a very lovely dinner and Isabelle surprised us with little gifts! She bought us each a big piece of white chocolate nugget, some caramel popcorn, a little book of French tongue twisters (hilarious), and...PEANUT BUTTER! Strangely enough, Shawna and I were literally just talking about peanut butter on our walk home. And voila, Isabelle arrived at the table with peanut butter. It was divine. In thanks to Isabelle, Shawna and I decided it would be a good time to present our own gifts. I’m not going to lie...it was way awkward. But at least it’s now done and over with! Overall, it was a good day. I learned the difference between “baiser” and “embrasser” in French today (look that up), and I got some free peanut butter! I’d call today a success.
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