Danny's life in France

after going to eat with isabelle last night, i went to stevie's place for her 21st birthday party. they were playing cards and drinking mixed-drinks made in the blender. i left to come back home and was in bed at 3. i decided to skip my 930 class this morning to sleep because i'm staying up all night tonight so i won't miss my 445am shuttle to the airport in the morning. i'm going over to stevie's at midnight to watch movies. she's going to stay up with me. other than that, today i got up, went to isabelle's and then went for a coffee. then it was off to frieda's class but we ended up watching a movie called 'la haine' (hate) because she's gone to the US for a while. hallelujah. but the movie was about a bunch of thugs and thieves. too much slang for me to be able to understand anything. then it was back to isabelle's to use her computer to register for my classes for next semester. only 1 was full, so i got pretty much most of what i wanted. nothing but criminal justice next semester, so i'm happy about that. and then 2nd semester i'll only have 3 classes to take! woohoo! i then went with her to get a new chair for her desk and carried it back to her apt for her. we all then sat down and put it together. she took us out for a drink (her friend, johann, is down from paris). now that i'm back, i'm going to do a bit of last minute packing, shower and then head out the door for stevie's. i probably won't be posting for the next two weeks (may 3, probably) because i'm going to have limited internet access. but i'll try to put the major events of my 2 week break on here when i get back to aix. bye!

it seems that i'm getting into a habit of only posting every other day. so, for yesterday's news, i skipped my 4 hour long rennaissance lit class to read a book for my arabic world class that's due the week after break. i did get quite a bit done, surprisingly...then i showered and headed off to town to read in our office's library. after that damned arabic world class, i came back home, ate and went to bed. today, i got up and went to my french history class. the prof arrived 15 mins late...we all were hoping he wouldn't show up at all! anyway, i then went and had coffee with isabelle and then she had me go with her to get a new rug for her living room floor. she needed me to carry it back for her. now that i'm back home, i did some laundry by hand in my toilet slash bidet, showered and am getting ready to go out to dinner with isabelle. so, with that in mind ladies and gentlemen, talk to all y'all later.

yesterday i didn't do anything. i didn't even change out of my pjamas! i slept until 3 (recovering from the spanish festival the day before in arles). but i did get the majority of my packing done for break. i leave friday morning on the 445am shuttle to the airport. i don't even think i'm going to go to bed thursday night. anyway, today, caitlin, joel, kirstin and i all went to climb this mountain outside of aix, sainte victoire. we had to be on a bus at 745am this morning. it was kinda chilly when we were first starting out, but after a while it warmed up. it took us 3 hours to get to the top and only an hour and a half to get down. it was a lot of fun, though. there's a chapel at the top and so we all had lunch up there (no, there's no restaurant, we brought our own eats). after we got back to aix, we went out for coffee since we all are so tired. i then came back and showered. i think i'm going to turn in early tonight.

where do i begin?? let's start with friday, a rather productive day. i got up, went with caitlin to get train tickets to arles for yesterday, saturday, went to the grocery store, came back did laundry and cleaned my room. nothing exciting but the essencials. yesterday, well, that's another story of its own. so we got up (me, justin, erin, caitlin) and were on an 813am train to arles. see, every year this is this spanish festival called 'la feria d'arles' (don't ask me what that translates to). so we get there and they had blocked off some of the streets to let the bulls out of their pin to chase people through the streets (it's the tradition). it was really cool!!! what was even cooler was when the bull broke through the metal fence and started running after spectators!!!! you want to talk about some action!! everyone started screaming and the rumble of people running away to hide in cafes and stuff. it was great!!! you would have thought that someone had opened fire in a group of people the way people were screaming and running! it was awesome!! then we went to get some coffee because none of us slept worth anything the night before. now it was off to see the bulls chase horses down the street. well, what happens was there were horses on all sides of the bull (except from behind). the horses run, blocking the bull's view. if a bull see's something running, it's gonna keep running. then once the 'possy' passes a certain line, people run after the bull to try to bring it to the ground. well, every now and then a bull would get loose and we'd all go running for our lives, sometimes 15 people jumping up to safety on top of a car! it was the best thing i've done in a long time!!!!! i've got video tape of most of it. we ate pizza for lunch. and then we saw then dragging away a bull that had lost a bull fight. yeah, you wanna talk about something that turns your stomach. this festival is really nothing but cruelty to animals. they're not tortured, but it's not really nice, either. especially the bull fights!! so since we're all animal lovers and had already spent money on tickets for the bull fight, we all decided to get drunk so it wouldn't bother us as much. and drunk we got. i ended up talking to my mom for a half hour while plastered. i don't remember who else i called. anyway. then the time for the fight to begin. after them going through 3 or 4 bulls, we called it quits. what they do is wave that little flag and the bull comes running. well, after a while, he throws a sword into its back! and then it falls on the ground after a while and people cheer! it's horrible!!! if i'd have known what exactly this 'spanish festival' was, i wouldn't have gone. but it's tradition here in the south of france and a cultural experience. then we went to eat and then back to the train station to come home. we left at 7am and got home at like midnight. what a day.

wednesday, i slept through my french history class. i just didn't feel like going. then i headed to isabelle's place - she went with me to the hospital for a check-up xray of that spot in my lung. it's still the same size, so still no reason to worry. man, was i relieved! anyway, i went to a meeting at our office, just sort of an approaching-the-end-of-the-year-and-want-to-have-a-meeting meeting. just administrative stuff. nothing interesting. then it was home to read 2/3 of a book that caitlin and had to give an presentation on today in frieda's class. we worked until 2am, wishing at 1am that we were in the states so we could send out for pizza. today, i got up at 11 (my other french history class was cancelled today) and finished my part of the presentation. then the big moment came - the presentation. it went rather well, i think. i came home after going to the office of tourism checking on shuttle schedules for monday - we're thinking of going to "climb" this mountain that's right outside of our town. it's nothing dangerous...just a paved road to the top and there's a great view up there. i took a nap once i got home and then fixed this HUGE pot of maccaroni and cheese. then caitlin called and i met up with her, justin and erin for a drink. now that i'm back, i'm going to bed. nite folks!

yesterday nothing really interesting happened. i went to my last written expression class. she says that we've got another but if she makes us come, i'm not going. i've only missed one and we're allowed two absences. but the point is that this woman is just flat out dumb. she can't count how many classes we've actually had. she said that she thought we got 2 weeks break in february. but we all told her that we only got one (when we really did get two). we all said that because the class is just utterly pointless - we've all bitched at the administration about how worthless this class and teacher really are. she said that she's going to leave a note with the building's secretary as to if we are going to have to meet again. well, tough. nobody ever goes to that office anyway. she's just insane. in other news, we had a surprise birthday party for justin last night. his new digital camera had gotten stolen a month or so back. so some of us chipped in and bought him a new one. you should have seen his face when he walked through the door and we all screamed 'surprise!' it was too funny. and then there were rootbeer floats, but i didn't have time to stay for that. too much work to do before break and not enough time to get it done in. today, i again survived another tuesday. 2 hours of rennaissance lit this morning, 2 more hours of it this afternoon and finally my arabic world class tonight. after so many hours of classes in one day, you just have had enough. i got so tired of classes earlier this afternoon that i resorted to picking the grud out of my watchband with my pen cap! how sad is that. and now, it's time to do some more homework because i've got an oral presentation to do in frieda's class on thursday with caitlin - i haven't finished the book, caitlin has. we'll see what frieda has to say about my presentation. if she says anything, i'm going to go off. i don't care if my grade is at stake or not. she's, well, like i told caitlin, i'm going to wait until i'm back on US territory before i go off about frieda. on a much lighter note, i'm off to read. ladies and gentlemen, bonsoir.

i rolled out of bed this morning with just enough time to take a shower, eat a bowl of cereal, check my email and head out for the bus terminal. well, not like greyhound, but a place where regional busses park. isabelle, some of her asian students and i all went to marseille for a wine and cheese tasting today. it only cost 5euros to get in and you could sample all kinds of wines. and these aren't cheap ones - they're GOOD and EXPENSIVE ones. you're given a small wine tasting glass when you go in so you have something for them to pour you a 'petit fond' or a little smidgen. after several 'petit fonds' you're feeling pretty good. and the best part about it - it's nothing but adults there who are wanting to taste these expensive wines to try to buy a good bottle (or six). i pretended like i was seriously interested but ended up saying that it just didn't settle right in my mouth. HA! anyway. i then split up and went to the port of marseille to go to mcdonalds. yum. then it was back to aix. that's about it. and by the way - I'M COMING HOME JULY 9!!!! my mom got my ticket last night. i'm coming home earlier than expected. so y'all better be at the airport at 11pm to greet me getting off of american flight 514 from dallas at 1102pm!! oops...i guess i put that in yesterday's entry.

so yesterday, friday, i got up, worked and then decided it was time to take a shower. after showering, i worked some more and make a bit of headway in my reading. isabelle and i were going to have dinner last night so i went to casino (grocery) to get some stuff. i made stuffed green peppers (rice, turkey and cheese on the inside). today, i worked again and...then catherine and i decided we wanted to try to make gravy and put it over wheat bread (yeah, we're poor). but the gravy didn't quite turn out. however, i ate it anyway! and then i did a major cleaning of my room. you should have see the pile of dirt when i swept my floor! sheeze! then i talked to my family on the phone. my mom just changed my flight - i'm coming home on july 9 instead of the 23rd. i'm happy about that. i'm ready to get out of here! well, dont' get me wrong - i'm having fun, but trop c'est trop! enough's enough! anyway...that about takes care of it for today, y'all.

i actually had time to shower before my 9:30am this morning! anyway, after my other french history class this morning, i went to the university cafeteria to get a 'poulet mayo' (chicken and mayonnaise) sandwich. they're so good! then it was off to frieda's african fem. lit course. i actually went off in that class last week because she makes me feel like a fool and i sorta called her on it. so she called me into her office today to talk to me about it. i wasn't in trouble or anything (she's FAR from a position to be reprimanding me - i pay her damned salary!). but i just told her, well...i told her that i think i understand what i'm reading but her class says otherwise when we discuss texts in class. one day before the end of the program i'm going to tell her what exactly is on my mind. *sigh* only in a perfect world. onto other things - i came home, took a nap and now i'm typing this. there's something wrong with this picture - i nap everyday but yet i'm behind on my reading. oh well. "why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?" is my philosophy...