Une Salade

Tonight I ate a salad that contained the following ingredients:

lettuce

tomatoes

bacon (sort of. it's not quite american bacon, but yummy nonetheless.)

potato slices

melted raclette 

a single poached egg

balsamic vinaigrette (homemade obviously) (i was just thisclose to using obvs as an abbreviation for obviously. unacceptable!)

it was delish. (this is an acceptable abbreviation, i swear)

Tomorrow (at 8am! jeez louise. i am now used to waking late and taking two hour lunches. i can never go back to the states...) I meet with the director of the school I'll be volunteering at. I'm going to be working with mentally disabled kids aged 7+, which should be a lot of fun. 

To get into the Saint Valentin spirit I made a garland of tiny hearts for my room with white paper and pale blue thread and scotch tape, and it makes me happy. I love my room here, even the giant horse poster on the wall. 

I need to make train reservations for my winter vacation, which starts february 21 (and for when Matthew Dearest visits in March and we go to Paris, hurrah!). I'm going to visit Emily in Menton for the lemon festival, and then I'm going to Florence. I'm really excited but kind of terrified because I've never really traveled alone, especially to a country where I don't speak the language. Also, I'm totally embarrassed to admit this since I'm twenty years old, but my mom usually does this sort of thing (booking travel and sleeping arrangements) for me and I'm not entirely sure I can do it alone without any major missteps. 

It sort of just hit me that I have to be a real grown up in just over a year, with a job and rent and massive amounts of debt and everything. I am so not ready for such things. 

More Unrelated Amusements

A Friendly Visit

Emily is here! For those who don't know, we have been friends since we were fifteen, and she is the Diana Barry-style "kindred spirit" to my Anne Shirley, except she is considerably fiestier and I have never gotten her drunk on currant wine. She's been in Menton, near the Italian border, since mid-September and this weekend she came to visit!

It's been so fun having her here--Friday we had dinner with my host family, and somehow an hour turned into five. Catherine looooves her, and wants her to come when we go to St. Tropez in the spring. Hurrah!

On the other hand, we had dinner last night with some of my friends from the program, and it was a little rough. It's always a bit of a harrowing experience trying to mix friend groups, but last night was really...not fun. No one asked her any questions, and it drove me nuts. Also, since Emily is doing a direct enrollment program, she's used to being around people from around the world, and after five months she's very aware of cultural norms here in France...needless to say, all my friends came off as being painfully American.

I was warned before I came that there would be ups and downs, and I think I'm in the midst of a downturn. As much fun as I have with my friends here, it's really hard to really get to know anyone when you're always in a large group. There's no chance for one-on-one, and you end up having all these relationships which are lots of fun but don't necessarily dip below the surface. I miss being around people who really know me. 

Unrelated Amusements

This is just like the time i got my wisdom teeth out, except i was seventeen and therefore less cute/amusing.

via for me, for you

Decisions, Decisions.

friends in the luberon...

I made the mistake of going to the theatre class today, just for kicks...I say mistake only because now I know what I'll be missing if I take archeology instead. The professor is this skinny bald bespectacled man, which would endear me to him even if he weren't amazing because my director in high school (who probably had a bigger influence on me than anyone else save my parents) was a skinny bald bespectacled man, and also more creatively insightful and brilliant than anyone else I've known. 

The class covers a bit of historical business, and then for the second half of the period we rehearse scenes in French. It was SO FUN, and time flew in a way I know it just isn't going to in archeology class. I love that material, but being as ADD as I am I cannot sit still and listen to a lecture/watch a slideshow for 3 hours with only a ten minute break...at least not without checking the clock every so (re: much too) often. But if I want to do an independent study in archeology next year, this class would help significantly. 

I'm so torn, and it doesn't seem like that big of a deal except that it's the story of my life right now: passion vs. practicality. I'm doing geo more out of a desire not to make minimum wage than out of love, and honestly? I'd be a lot happier as an English major. If anyone has any advice/life lessons or just wants to tell me what to do, I welcome your emails. 

my darling friend arielle keeps me laughing. 

she is also stunningly beautiful and has the personality to back it up.

Everyone has started getting packages from home with letters and Valentine's goodies and love, so I want to make sure all my darling friends and family know how to reach me the old fashioned way, just in case! Email just doesn't replace the tangibility of a handwritten note. My address is:

c/o AUCP

19, cours des Arts-et-Métiers

13100 Aix-en-Provence, FRANCE

 I have four sheets left of the lovely stationery I got for Christmas and I'm hankering to write some letters, so drop me a note if you want a personalized update with my illegible handwriting all over it. Love you all!

love love love

graffiti like this makes me happy. 

Pain et Vin

This is a photo of France in the wintertime. Owned, Minnesota. 

I'm a little burnt out, so I'm gonna do this list-style. 

1. Yesterday we went to the Luberon. It was beautiful, even though it was winter and a bit chilly. We met a little French girl named Laurie and her puppy (a mini Jake!) in a café, and they were the cutest things I have seen in a long while. 

The town of Gordes, home of small child and adorable puppy. 

2. I got assigned a language partner, and he was pretty nice, but there were little things that sketched me out and made me not want to be alone with him:

a. Um, hi, we met five minutes ago, I don't care how cold you think I am in this fifty degree weather, get your damn hands off my collarbone. No, I do not need you to adjust my scarf.

b. I look like one of the girls in the movie Charlie's Angels, but you don't know which one? Let's see, we can rule out the gorgeous blonde and the Asian. Drew Barrymore? You think she's incredibly beautiful? Thanks...I am uncomfortable being complimented on my physical appearance by strange men, and I have a pretty swell boyfriend. 

c. No, I really don't want to wait for you to smoke outside the restaurant when all my friends are inside. Seriously, I'm not cold. Don't put your coat on me! Yes, I understand you think this is freezing, but I do not. You are being quite gentlemanly, but this isn't a date so cut it out. Did I mention my big strong boyfriend who's at least six inches taller than you?

d. You play rugby? Sweet! I used to play rugby. This means I know how sketch most rugby guys are. Yes, I probably could tackle you; no, I don't want to try in the middle of this crowded room. 

e. We met an hour ago, and you already want to bring me home to meet your mother in Marseille? Um...what? She makes good couscous, you say. I could stay with you? How convenient! You know who else lets me stay with her? The mother of my boyfriend. I bet she makes pretty good couscous too. He's of Norwegian descent...the Vikings were a proud and jealous people. Violent, too. Seriously though, please don't try to feed me your dessert. 

f. I'm a big girl. I don't need to be walked home. No, seriously, it's okay. I'd really feel better on my own. 

At first I wondered if I was just being paranoid or misinterpreting cultural differences, but I think there's something to be said for intuition. After meeting the language partners of some of my friends, I feel better about my decision to switch--they are totally chill and not sketch and don't do the creepy "you are all such beautiful girls" routine every five minutes. Only problem is, tonight he called my house. Thankfully, my host mom did a very convincing routine pretending I was on skype and yadda yadda she can't go out for coffee tonight, but I think if it happens again I need to just do what I dread and tell him I won't be able to meet up...ever. Avoidance is my chosen method for dealing with most unpleasant situations, but perhaps it's time to grow up and learn to be direct. 

Provence is known for its lavender. It's harvested in August, but there's enough to last the rest of the year. 

3. In my French Cultural Patterns class, we discussed a study an anthropologist did a while back about physicality of couples in different cultures. He observed romantically involved couples at restaurants and counted each time they touched each other (a kiss, a hug, holding hands, etc) within an hour long period. Here are the results:

London: 0

Jacksonville: 8

San Juan: 20

Paris: 110

Impressive, no? I thought this was really interesting. And given the couples I've seen around here, I believe it. Once I was just walking down the Cours Mirabeau, and I saw a couple come out of a restaurant, share a passionate, several minute goodbye kiss...and then walk off together. It's like all those pictures of train station kisses in WWII (side note: Life magazine photo archive on Google? Awesome.), the "I don't know if I will ever see you again alive so let's make it count" kind, except with more groping and no wars. 

I have homework to do, so I'm gonna call it quits for today. I miss and love you all!