We Live In a Beautiful World

i cannot believe that Week 5 of the Avignon program is over! I don't know how that happened. And apparently, the first five weeks are supposed to be the SLOW half. At this rate, I'll be in London...tomorrow!

A few notes about week 5 (the week that is supposed to be the "hardest")

Classes are still being held in the annoying building, but thankfully we get to go back to the Fac next week. Having 6 hours of class in the same room is quite painful (especially when Grammar, Literature, and History are all on the same day). Goodness, I haven't had 6 hours of consecutive class in the same building since 5th grade! I mean, 6 hours of class sucks regardless, let alone when I have to sit in the same chair. Other than the raging ADD that this building is causing, classes haven't been too bad. We got our grammar tests back, and I did well on that. We also had a resistance test on Monday, and an oral portion on Wednesday. I think I got a 100%. Yay! I'm only slightly behind on my resistance reading, and I think I'm finally caught up with grammar work! All this is good news. I'm in a much better place than I was on Sunday, when I had to read 100 pages of L'Armée des Ombres to prepare for the test.

Speaking of Sunday...the strangest thing happened. First of all, let me start by saying that I had not seen Isabelle for a week and a half. Apparently she was on vacation, but she kind of neglected to tell us. Jean-Bernard was here instead (which was lovely, by the way...he's such a dear, even if he can't cook.) Anyhow, on Sunday, I had invited Adam over to study for resistance. I went down to the garden to let him in, and saw Isabelle outside. I said good evening, of course, and then opened the gate for Adam. When she saw him, she did not say hello. She simply said "What is he doing here?" I explained that we had a resistance class the next day, and that he had come over to study. She got a little bit irritated, and told me that I had to tell her before I had anyone over in the house. She supposed he could stay, just because he was an American friend. I have no problem with rules. I do, however, have a problem with being reprimanded for a rule that was never explained to me. Plus, how was I supposed to warn Isabelle before Adam showed up? First, I can never find her, second, there is nowhere to leave her messages, and third, she was away for a week and a half, and I didn't even know that she was back.

Anyhow, Adam and I went up to my room to study. Around 11, Jonathan peaks his head in my door to say hi, and I start to tell him about what had happened downstairs. In the middle of the conversation, while I was saying something involving the words "étrange" and "brusque," Jonathan kind of slinks out of my door. Isabelle appears. It is 11:04. She promptly tells me that Adam has to leave, and that it's the principal of the house to not have late guests. She says nothing to Adam himself, even though he was sitting right there. She also tells us that we're not allowed to have music playing, because people might be sleeping. Again, I don't mind having rules. However, when a rule is as specific as "no guests after 11:00," I really would have liked to be informed of this before! And about the music...her own children were playing percussion downstairs literally an hour before. Maybe even a half an hour before. Sheesh.

I apologized the next day, and explained that I simply did not know the rules. She didn't apologize for not having told us about the rules sooner. Oh well. Now I know. I'll just study at Adam's house from now on.

On a lighter note, Isabelle has given us fresh croissants for the last three mornings. They are divine, especially with apricot jelly. Yummm.

What else... Tuesday night was Sakinah's birthday, so she had a big bash at Cadillac Café. Literally everyone we know in France was there, plus about a million other people (it was apparently singles' night at the Cadi). It was quite the experience. I also got in a small (large) fight with Nicolas, but that's a story for another time.


(I love Sakinah. She's my homegirl.)


(Sorry about the quality of this picture. But seriously, look how many people there are at Cadillac! Goodness gracious.)


(My beautiful roommate.)

My favorite part of the night is depicted by the above picture. There is the RANDOM sculpture outside of the ramparts across the road from the Palais de Justice. It has been Shawna and my goal to take a picture with said sculpture in the middle the night. We finally realized this dream.


(The Bathroom Sent By God.)

My second part of the night was was the Bathroom Sent By God. As Jenny and I were taking the 40 minute, 2+ mile walk to Cadillac, Jenny was overcome with the urge to pee. This was about 8 minutes into the walk. And suddenly, we saw the above bathroom. It had NEVER been there before, I swear. I walk by the place at least two times a day, and I had never seen it before. It was clearly sent by God in the best interests of Jenny's bladder.

So that was Tuesday. Nothing particularly interesting happened on Wednesday. Today, our class schedule was all messed up. We didn't have resistance, because we had oral exams on Wednesday. We had four hours of oral production last Thursday, so we had four hours of written production today to make up for that. Since it was so nice outside, we got to write outside instead of staying inside. We were supposed to use our five senses to describe what we were seeing around us, and produce texts that displayed our impressions of Avignon. We walked around the city for a while taking notes, and stopped at a few beautiful places to compile our thoughts into coherent phrases. This is what I came up with:

"Quand je plisse les yeux dans le soleil brillant, il me semble que les bâtiments si forts et si vieux ne sont que du sable, et que le ciel si bleu et si pure n'est que la mer. Je ferme les yeux, et j'entends le vent. Quand je les rouvre, je m'attends à ce que les bâtiments ne soient plus carrés et que les angles ne soient plus pointus. Il ne restera que la plage..."

Translation: "When I squint my eyes in the brilliant sun, it seems to me as if the buildings so strong and old are nothing but sand, and that the sky so blue and pure is nothing but the sea. I close my eyes, and I hear wind. When I reopen them, I expect that the buildings will no longer be square and that the angles will no longer be sharp. There will only be the beach..."

"J'ouvre la bouche, et je goûte le pollen. C'est comme si j'étais en train de manger la vie elle-même. Quel beau sentiment! Mais le pollen, quand il se mélange avec l'eau dans la rue, le mélange ressemble à de l'urine. Je vois les fleurs qui viennent de ce mélange du pollen et de l'eau. Les pétales tombent, et elles ressemblent au sang sur la pelouse. C'est beau, la vie. Elle n'est que l'urine et le sang."

Translation: "I open my mouth and taste pollen. It is as if I were eating life itself. What a beautiful sentiment! But pollen, when it mixes with the water in the street, the mixture looks like urine. I see the flowers that come from this combination of pollen and water. Their petals fall, and they look like blood on the grass. It's beautiful, life. It's nothing but urine and blood."

"C'est étrange que l'endroit de la renaissance spirituelle soit si silencieux, avec l'air rance et la poussière qui bouche les poumons. Les murs sont decorés de tableaux qui représentent la naissance du Christ, sombres, et en or. Toutes les chaises sont dans une ligne. Les murs sont effrités, et les plantes sont pourriés, et il n'y a pas de penitents. L'eau bénite est protegé par des lances en or. Le Dieu te bénira, et te sauvera, dans cet endroit en train de mourir.

Translation: "It's strange that the place of spiritual rebirth is so silent, with stale air and dust that clogs the lungs. The walls are decorated with paintings that represent the birth of Christ, somber, and gold. All the chairs are in a line. The walls are crumbling, and the plants are rotting, and there aren't any penitents. The holy water is protected by golden spears. God will bless you, and save you, in this dying place."

After four hours of written production, I strolled a little among the shops with Erin before she went back to her house. I bought some post card stamps and a granny smith apple, and went to the Théatre des Halles where I made a little progress on La Silence de la Mer (my resistance reading), and got a little burnt in the sun. I returned to the house to play a little piano, lay out in the sun with Shawna, write in my French journal, and play with the dog. It truly has been a lovely day so far.

I think I'm going to take a little nap...

Much love to you all.