ah, she returns

Hello all! Yes, I'm still alive :-) I've just been swamped lately and havent had the time or energy to post. I had midterms for the past two weeks that just finished Monday. I have a lot to share, so buckle in for a long post :-)

First: A Very Quick Review of Today- Sometimes its bad to dwell.

haha, so I had a bit of a troubled moment at the post office. The woman was just rude that I was working with. It wasn't because I was foreign (though that might have had some effect later) but rather because thats just how they are at the post office here. When my French family asked me "Ca va?" today I answered "Non- pas de tout" which means that no, things were not going well. They listened and were like "Even the French hate the people working at the post office." haha I thoroughly gave my opinion to Gig (shortened version of Guillaume) and he listened. He had a bad day today too. He's studying to be a chiropracter here and its a big deal in France that chiropracters are not recognized as full doctors and don't have a medicine license. Apparently, there's a law (maybe starting today?) that said that chiropracters couldn't work with babies, do any manipulation of the neck, etc. and Gig was furious because he's been studying really hard and they've been taught to do these things. By the time he's done, he will have studied for this major for 6 years. That's a long time to work really hard and not be able to fully practice what you've learned. So, rough day here in France. But by the end, we were all laughing and watching "Nouvelle Star" here which is the French version of American Idol. I happen to be hooked and was getting choked up today when I was watching it. (One of the canidates is this really sweet cute blonde and she has a BEAUTIFUL voice and she teaches singing lessons and works with the mentally challenged because her sister is mentally challenged. It was really touching cause they were interviewing her sister about her and her sister was saying how much she loved her big sis and then looked into the camera and begged that France voted for her- it was really sweet)

haha. ok, now that all of you can follow along with the Nouvelle Star... let's go back to recent developments in my life.

we'll start with last night.

Mon Anniversaire Francais (My French Bday)
So yesterday was my bday. It was a really really great day. I had class, came back home and went running. After coming back from the run, I had a huge beautiful bouquet of flowers waiting for me from Brian :-) It was funny because my face was already so red because I had just finished running and then I was so excited and blushing- haha anyways, I was a mess. So I was cooling down by drinking water when my French mom was eating lunch. She offered me champagne so that we could toast to my bday. haha So I sat down my glass of water I had been chugging and took the flute of champagne. It was a funny moment- you have to picture me in workout clothes, still sweating from my run and taking time to drink champagne. Pretty hilarious. After that, I talked to the parents on Skype which was fun. We got to chat for a while and then I had another class. After that, one of my French cousins came over and started making dinner. Maxime helped. I kept offering but wasn't allowed to lift a finger because I was the bday girl. Ashley came over too and gave me my bday gift, a necklace I have been drooling over in Eric's jewelry shop. Soon after, my other two cousins and my French aunt came over. My French aunt gave me this very delicate shell that was supposed to give me "bonheur" (good luck) from this island off of Madagascar where they used to live. Marie, my French cousin gave me a beautiful blue necklace. It was really sweet of her. We moved into the other room and all sat down and drank the apperatif (before meal drink, which was some yummy apple? wine) and then dined on tartes specifically made for me (sans meat) and this other pizza like thing. After dinner, they dimmed the lights and brought in a tarte au pomme with 20 candles on it and sang me "Happy Bday" in English. It was really cute, especially because they forgot the "dear" in the line "Happy birthday dear _____, happy bday to you" and just sang "Happy Birthday (pause) Kelly, Happy birthday to you." Ashley and I laughed. Afterwards Ash spent the night. It was a really great bday. :-D

Last Weekend: Toulouse- la ville rose.

Last weekend my friends Starlynn, Vanessa, Ashley and I went to Toulouse. It was four hours by train. Toulouse is known as "la ville rose" (the pink city) because of the color of the stones used for the buildings. The train ride passed by quickly. A kind man vacated his seat (and later persuaded a woman to do the same) so the four of us could sit together. Again another example of the French being sweet (darn that post office woman for trying to ruin my opinion of the French). We were disappointed when we walked out of the metro station that it was raining. It was a cute city and (as promised by one of our guide books) was a refreshingly unique French city. It had a slightly different look than most, probably because of the pink bricks. Toulouse is on of the biggest cities in France. Because it was raining, we decided to shop to stay warm. We hit up some stores and then got lunch. Afterwards we shopped some more and got coffee. One might characterize our weekend by shopping and eating. lol We tried to go see a movie at night but there was a huge line and no movies we really wanted to see. We walked past this huge young hippie fest in the courtyard in front of one of the movie theaters. The next morning, we walked around and saw that everything was closed. France kind of shuts down on Sundays. So we walked around in the cold rain and went to a museum. It was a pretty building. The museum was housed in an old monestary and had many Romanesque works of art. We decided to have fun by interpreting the works ourselves. You can see this in the picture album. After the museum we again walked around in the rain, found some food and then saw a little festival going on in front of the city hall. It was a festival for the region of Aquitaine (I think- I'll double check). We saw people doing American country line dancing which cracked me up. Then we saw people dressed in the traditional clothes do a dance from the region. There were tents where people were selling food representative of the region. I tried some lemonade, yogurt and some chocolate from the region- it was good! After that we headed again out of the rain, waited at our hotel and then left on the train. It was a fun weekend despite of the rain- Ash and I had a good time with the other two girls.

The Weekend Before That: Glanum, Arle, and the Luberon Region
Sat Mar 17th, I went with my archeology class to Glanum and Arle. Glanum was an archeological site. I shall now write from the brochure I kept with me, "The original settlement grew up in 7th/6th century BC around a spring. The town developed from their relations with the Greek world, namely through Marseille. Under Roman domination, Glanum was forced to accept the status of Latin colony early in the first century AD." This is all I will write about the history. It was cool to see and it was in a very pretty area. I took pictures which will be undoubtably posted for your viewing pleasure. After we walked around the ruins of Glanum, we went to Arle. Arle was another Roman city. Arle sits along the Rhone river. It was established by the Greeks as early as 6th century BC (thank you Wikipedia) and in 46 BC it was developed by the Romans. Arle was a sweet little town. We happened to be there on a day where they were celebrating their local language. Our French archeology teacher explained to us that each region had a day where they celebrated their local language (and culture) in order to demand attention from the presidential canidates, and to ask them what the canidates would do in order to preserve that culture. It was funny to be standing in front of the Arle ampitheater and to watch little old men and women dressed up in the tradtional garb (they looked like santons- the Provincial figures placed in the Nativity scenes) wearing wooden shoes, head cloths, full dresses and carrying signs. It was cute. We took pictures. Men were on horses and people played music. There was a little parade. Back to the archeological side of things, we went to the ampitheater (or arena) which was cool. It was once used for glatiator fights, now (as we learned at the bullring in Seville) it is a popular place to watch bullfights. It was beautiful weather when we were there. We had the chance to disperse and eat lunch and my group chose to eat our food from home in the arena, basking in the sun. Mmmm, it was nice. We then walked around for a bit. Then we went to the theater in Arle. Not much really remained of the theater but it was cool to see. After that, we headed to the Musee de l'Arles et de la Provence antiques (archeological museum) and checked out some more things about Roman life in Arle. Then, we piled on the bus and fell asleep. The ride to Arle and Glanum was amazing though. Again, I got to see the beautiful Provincal countryside. Tree lined roads, open fields with little cottages and usually with some mountains as a backdrop. Just beautiful.

The next day, we went with my school to the Luberon Region. It too is in Provence. That was one of the most beautiful bus rides I have ever taken. It was a gorgeous day with the sun out in full force. Again, we passed Provincial countryside and saw the barren lavendar fields. We drove through the mountains for a while and then saw more countryside. We first stopped at the town of Gordes. Talk about picturesque. It was adorable. There we saw the Chateau de Gordes (the fortified castle) from outside and then took a round about way (next to some fields) to get into the town. We had a cafe there and meandered for a little bit. Then we went to Bonnieux, another cute little town. We climbed to the top of the town where there was an old church and everybody went and found a place to eat lunch. We had a great view over the town and the region. Very fun. Then we went to Roussillon which is known for its red and pink buildings. Starlynn said it looked like Mexican buildings. It is close to what is known as le Petit Colorado, where pigment used in a special kind of paint is mined. It does kind of look like Colorado with its natural formations. Check it out in the pictures. It was a very fun day and we got to see some of the prettiest views of Provence.

Well that is all for now. Again, I promise to try to be better about posting more regularly. :-D hope all is well with all of you! Next weekend is Paris, followed by spring break in Italy. I'll let you know how it goes! Much love!