So, last night I set my clocks back an hour because it's daylight savings time this weekend (don't forget!) I set my watch and my alarm clock, waiting to set my computer, phone, and ipod in the morning. I woke up.....stole a glance at my alarm clock....and it said it was 4:45 p.m.
I have never slept so late in my life! I jumped out of bed, threw the window open (noted that the sun seemed rather high), then checked my watch. My watch said it was 11 am. My computer said it was 8 am. My ipod said it was 10 am. I ran downstairs. The oven said it was 17 minutes after midnight. The microwave said it was 18:53. The laundry room said it was half past 3 am. And by that time my alarm clock said it was 5 pm. I had no idea what time it was; was today really today? Had I slept for a year and missed my birthday? Had I gone to sleep at all, or was I still in yesterday? I was so confused! Finally a friend got online and told me it was 9:08, so I had to subsequently re-reset all my clocks. It was pretty hilarious :)
I spent the day pretending I was going to miss something. I laid in the sun to do my homework (in a bikini....in late October.....hell yeah for French weather!), I ate too much Nutella, and I took a nap in the backyard. Life is so good :) I had about a half-hour run-in with a renegade neighborhood cat who thought he could waltz into the house whenever he pleased, then proceeded to run through the house hiding from me, then ran face-first into the glass door in an attempt to escape. I've never laughed so hard in my life :)
Friday night I had a Halloween party!!! It was a costume party, and I had it on campus--weird thought, that we can have parties on campus, in the open (I had mine next to the university cafeteria). It was fun :) we pretty much just played card games, and my new friend Tall Man came from Tarbes to come visit for the weekend. Only 5 people showed up out of the 20 people who said they would be there,which was slightly disappointing, but then we got a hold of some spoons and kicked each other's asses....it's been a long time since I played Spoons, and it's been an even longer time (try 20 years) since I had to explain the aim of the game in French. Fun times :)
On Saturday I had to walk Tall Man back to the train station so he could catch his train back home. Lucky bastard, he's got the whole next week off school. All French students do. And the British students, too. Come to think of it, all the students I've talked to so far, regardless of what study abroad program they're with, have next week off from class. Who doesn't? The Americans. I hate it! We've got to bring our lunches to school next week because the university cafeteria will be closed since everyone is off campus. How depressing. It's probably going to rain every day. Or, worse, be gorgeous and sunny and me be trapped in a classroom! Injuste, c'est vachement injuste!
After I deposited my friend at the train station and said a Stereotypically Romantic Train Station Goodbye (you know the kind I'm talking about, with the tears and the hankie and the mouthed confessions of undying love....well, not quite, but it was close :P) I met my friend Kendra, and we spent the day roaming around downtown Pau. It seemed like everyone else had the same idea, because there were people everywhere! The day was perfect, cloudless, and you could see the mountains incredibly clearly because the humidity was so low. We roamed for awhile, shopped a little, just meandered until we found ourselves at a cathedral with violin riffs (are they called riffs on violin too? It sounds like such a rock star word!) wafting out of it. We stopped and saw an old man who invited us into the church with his bow. It was a celebration of Protestantism (irony?) and someone had taken the time to make rows and rows of posters illustrating the benefits of a life spent with Christ. It was really interesting, and talking with the old man was even more so--we spent our afternoon engaged in conversation (in French, bien sûr!) about literature, poetry, politics, stained glass, everything except religion. It was really nice :)
Afterwards we found ourselves at le Méliès, my favorite independent theatre. It's in an old hollowed out cathedral outfitted with electric blue spiral staircases, so it's pretty much a standing juxtaposition. We saw that La Belle Personne (Christophe Honoré, director of Love Songs) was playing at 5:15, and the time was 5:14, so we ran inside, bought tickets (discounted to students!) and watched a movie, completely spontaneously. The movie was grand--it's a modern-day reinterpretation of a 17th century play, la Princesse des Clèves. A beautiful girl shows up at her cousin's Parisian high school and completely shakes up the dynamic of the school. Everyone falls fatally in love with her, and she's either oblivious to her stunning looks or really well-schooled in the art the subtleties of beauty. It was a really good movie.
Afterwards Kendra and I went to a Moroccan restaurant for lamb stew with potatoes and lemon (so good!) We discussed the movie, our new French love interests, the cultural project we're doing together, everything. It was really nice to get out of the classroom setting and talk about something other than school in a language other than French :) I'm doing really well at holding my own over here, and every day I learn new phrases. Just today I learned "faire la grasse matinée"--to sleep in. Literally, to make the fat morning :) It's spectacular.
In my last blog I was trying to decide whether or not I should change host families. I have since had a revelation. It was Tuesday night, I had class at 9 am Wednesday morning, and my host brother was having earth-shattering sex. Until 3 am. In the room next to mine. I sent an email to the directors right before I finally fell asleep, saying, "This is the last straw. I need to change. Let's talk options tomorrow." Wednesday at school I met with Ryan and Robina, who were in the process of writing a letter to my host mum. Apparently she'd called several times over the past few weeks to say, "I know I haven't been doing the best job of being there for her, I've been really busy, I've got a lot going on, I probably shouldn't have taken a student this semester," etc. etc. They told me of another family with two kids who lives closer to the university (and in the same neighborhood as my best friend :)). They have internet, too, which is always a plus, and as far as I know they still have a room available for a student. If that doesn't work out, they also have some single women on the list who have offered to share their houses. Regardless, I'm happy to be getting out!
My first couple days here at the house on my own have been rough. It's an old house, it makes a lot of noise, there's a cat who can get in and out as he pleases, and I just get scared. Plus, I'm going to be blamed if the house burns down or something while I'm living here! I was hoping, before I came over here, that my host family would want to show me the hidden gems of their region--I've got friends whose host families have taken them to the vineyards at Jurançon, the beaches of Spain, the observatory atop one of the peaks of the Pyrenees. I get to housesit, eat nothing but apples and Nutella, and wait for my next home to be decided for me. It's not too bad, though--I've got free reign of the television :) Speaking of, les Experts, the French version of CSI (my FAVE) comes on tonight. I'm going to wrap up in all my blankets (I forgot to mention the heat doesn't work :|) and watch some good ole' dubbed American shows. Until next time :)
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