So, Isabelle made us these AMAZING desserts called "Les Religieuses" (nuns). Doesn't this actually look like a nun, if you squint? It's filled with chocolate pudding-like stuff. Probably about 15 thousand calories, but SO YUMMY!
In a moment of niceness, Isabelle took us to get ice cream in town. There's this artisan ice cream shop that literally shapes their ice cream cones into flowers. You can't really tell in this pictures, but it's seriously flower shaped! Plus, the ice cream is absolutely delicious. Yay dessert! The first time I went there, with Isabelle, I got a combination of biscotti flavored ice cream and cherry flavored ice cream. It literally tasted like cherry cobbler. So...I couldn't help it, and I went back to the same place with Jenny a few days later. This time, I got caramel amaretto. Also delicious. I need to stop eating ice cream...either that or I need to start running more regularly!
The glorious heaven sent glacier that creates said flower-shaped ice cream.
So, Adam and Maxime were talking about gay marriage legality. Apparently, if a gay couple gets married where one of the partners is a US citizen and the other is a French citizen, the French citizen will not gain US citizenship because the marriage. For this to happen, they couple has to be a man and a woman. DAMN YOU CONSTITUTIONAL LAW!
This picture has nothing to do with my story. Friday night, Jenny, Zoe, Kyle, Adam, and I went to go see "Antichrist," an award winning film from the Cannes film festival. I have never been more disturbed in my life. By the end of the movie, I was literally sick to my stomach. I mean, it was VERY well made, and the cinematography was incredibly beautiful. But, seriously...disturbing. That's the only word for it. And, to make it worse, I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT. Jenny and I literally sat at O'Neill's for an hour afterwards discussing what the whole movie meant. We have not yet reached a decision.
Speaking of random movies I've seen in this last week, on Sunday, I went to see Looking for Eric with Lance and Kelby (instead of working on my resistance final). It was such a good character study... I recommend it. However, it's from the UK, and I literally had to read the French subtitles sometimes to understand what they were saying.
This picture also has no story. It's just a cool picture taken outside of Adam's apartment.
Speaking of Adam's apartment, here is the view from his door. He lives on top of the world.
Speaking of living on top of the world, here is the view from Katie's apartment. Even though I do live two miles away from the university, at least I don't have to climb stairs!
On Saturday morning, we finally went to Ville Neuve, the Avignon suburb just across the Rhône. It's kind of small, but it's CLEAN, unlike Avignon. We paroozed an antique market, bought some Provençal honey, and visited this random château. It had been our goal to visit Ville Neuve for literally two months, so we were glad to finally go!
Just a pretty flower picture...I have lots of those.
...and again.
Shawna and I love our Sunday evening walks. They are such a good relaxing way to end the weekend, to take time to chat, and to wander around the city that we've grown to love.
Shawna and I made it a goal at the beginning of the program to visit lavender fields. We failed. However, there is a tiny patch of lavender by the Pont d'Avignon. We pretended that it was a real field. =]
So, Avignon randomly erected a ferris wheel. I'm not sure why, but I'm SO excited. Isabelle says it opens next week, and I BETTER get to ride on it before I go.
It's really strange to take pictures of Avignon. I'm so used to taking pictures of all the places that I visit, but not the place where I actually live! Walking around Avignon on Sunday night with Shawna was such a surreal experience. It was our very last Sunday evening walk through Avi's winding streets. And I realized quite profoundly for the very first time how much I truly do love the city, even though it's kind of dirty and kind of dangerous at night. It's become my home, undoubtedly.
While passing O'Neill's, I just had to take a picture, even though it was kind of a creeper thing to do. So many weird things have happened here...
I also had to take a picture of good old Snack Kebab, the bane of my existence. At the beginning of the program, Shawna and I were intrigued by Snack Kebab. We thought it might make for a good late night snack. Oh, how were were wrong. The scum of Avignon tend to hang around the train/bus station, and thus hang around this Snack Kebab. I once saw an arrest happening here. Oh, Snack Kebab, how you have become such a strong image of my life in Avignon in my mind...
Here starts a series of something that I've grown quite accustomed to...graffiti! There is a series of very similar looking graffiti all over the city, and I took a picture of as many as I could find. I feel as though there's a deep and profound political statement hidden in these graffiti stamps, but I haven't quite figured it out yet. Anyhow, this one says (roughly), "And if tomorrow, nothing?"
"On Thursday."
"Forget."
"You're alive."
"Wake up."
"What are you thinking? You say nothing."
I just thought this one was cool...
...and this one just made me chuckle a little inside.
So, we had our final reunion on Tuesday night with all of the teachers and the host families and such. It was a surreal experience. I remember so long ago putting the "Dernier Réunion" event in my iCal, and never believing that it would actually arrive. But alas, it has. It has, and it's gone by.
I can't really say it was sad. There were no tears. We did, however, have to read selections from certain writings we've done in Creative Writing class over the quarter in front of the group. This is what I read:
"C'est dans l'océan interminable, ou le ciel bleu et pur, ou les montagnes magnifiques, que je me vois. On ne peut pas les tuer, ni peut-on me tuer. Je vais devenir auteur, je vais produire les mots comme le ciel produit les nuages, et comme les nuages produisent la pluie. Je vais couvrir le monde avec la poésie, et comment tue-t-on les mots? Pendant longtemps, on a cherché la fontaine de jeunesse. Elle n'existe pas, sauf dans l'écoulement de l'encre. C'est dans les lignes qui se répandent sur le paper qu'on trouve l'infinité."
Translation: It's in the endless ocean, or the blue and pure sky, or the magnificent mountains, that I see myself. One can't kill them, nor can one kill me. I am going to become an author. I am going to produce words like the sky produces clouds, and like clouds produce rain. I am going to cover the world with poetry, and how does one kill words? For a long time, people have looked for the fountain of youth. It does not exist, except in the flow of ink. It is in the lines that spread on the paper where one finds infinity.
Ok, that was a really bad translation. I assure you that it sounds better in French.
In other news, I found out last night that I got an A+ on my French History final, which is considerable, considering my remarkable lack of attention span in that class. It's not as if I'm secretly listening to M. Bora and his drawling Marseillaise accent from behind my doodles and look of physical pain. No, that's not it. I really just don't pay attention. Thank goodness for Wikipedia's article entitled "The History of France," which I devoured before yesterday's final. Woohoo!
Is it bad that I have this kind of relationship with the bartender? This is Xavier, our most favorite Red Sky bartender. Last night in honor of our parting, he provided the table with a round of 12 "Red Sky" shots (a bar specialty, obviously). Then, he made our demie-framboises bigger than usual. He's a dear. When I asked him if I could get a picture, this is how he responded, hence my laughter.
One thing that I've come to LOVE about Avignon is the relationships I have with random shopkeepers and such. Xavier is a perfect example. Yet another, is the Snack Kebab men from the Snack Kebab on Place Pie. Allow me to provide you with a short anecdote. The Place Pie Snack Kebab has been a favorite lunch/snack spot from the very beginning of the program. I am constantly accompanying people there while I eat my pb&j or my granny smith apples. The Snack Kebab people noticed that I never actually eat anything when I'm there. Last week, I finally ordered my first kebab-frite. They were very proud that for the first time I had actually ordered something. Another short story. On Tuesday night, Adam went into the Snack Kebab for the last time. He was chatting with the Kebab men, and suddenly, he was being asked for money. He had never ordered. They just made his kebab-frite with mayonnaise by habit. The couple who runs le Palais des Glaces (another extremely good Avignon ice cream shop) has also gotten to know us, and we had a 10-15 minute conversation with the man there (he gives the biggest scoops, by the way) about the state of American politics. *sigh* It's these little things that I'll miss the most.
My darling roommate and me. Tuesday night, most of the OU group and our French friends as well went out to Cadillac Club after going to Red Sky to dance the night away. Of course it was fun, but at the same time, it was incredibly sad. When I said goodbye to Laurent, I literally teared up. When will I see him again? Ever? In my entire life?! It's a legitimate question! When I left my OU friends, I was clearly sad. But most of them will be there when I get back in the fall. But honestly, when will I see Laurent and Levy and Adrien and Maxime and Soufiane etcetc ever again in my life? I quite literally could have seen them for the very last time on Tuesday night. Isn't life tragic and funny at the same time? I can't wrap my head around it.
On Wednesday, we finally went to this adorable cafe that we pass every time we walk to Red Sky/Adam's house/Katie's house/etcetc. I probably walk by at least once a day. Anyhow, it's a tartine cafe, and they sell a large variety of, well, tartines. In English, that roughly translates to an open faced sandwich, but not really. It's better. And less soggy. I had pesto, fresh tomatoes, and melted mozzarella cheese on toasted bread, and Katie and Jenny both had an eggplant tartine. It seems to me that I'll remember the food the most when I think back on my time France...
Well, I am going to wrap this up for now before it gets too extensive. More blogging will be in store, have no fear.
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