There is Pau-tential

This week has been a little less exciting. I went to the casino last night and managed to win 8 euros.. It was nerve racking for awhile since i had to lose 10 euros before i ended up winning the 18. I watched my friend lose money at the black jack table and decided that i should probably stay away from the casino for a little while. I don't want to find out that i have an extremely addictive personality and come back to the Etats-Unis broke..Although i foresee that outcome happening without the help of a casino. I've managed to turn my original 1000 dollars of abroad money into a measly 250 in a matter of 3 weeks. I blame Chase bank. They charge me an insane amount for taking out money and for just using my card. I may be forced to paint my face white and seal myself in an invisible box on the corners of Pau, just to be able to afford my daily intake of 5000 calories of french bread.

Big news, i've booked my tickets for spring break! I'll be going to Milan, Venice, Tuscany, and Pisa with my friends. The host sister of one of my friends has an apartment in venice that we can stay in, so that will help with costs. Ideally i want to eat my weight in gelato the entire time i'm there. Also if i somehow find time between February 18th and the 23rd i would love to get to Rome to see my Loyola friends, but it is a little bit out of the way. Another trip that a bunch of us are planning is one to Dublin. I have a friend studying in Ireland who i'd love to see, and i really just want to taste the Guinness there and go to the factory, to be honest. Tomorrow the whole USAC program is going to Bordeaux, so i have to be up at 7 in the morning to get to the school. It'll be worth it, and i can sleep on the bus. We're staying over night at a hostel in the center of town, and i get to see ANOTHER one of my friends who lives in Bordeaux. I can't wait!! I'll update more about Bordeaux once i'm back.

I have to bring something to the attention of all my American blog followers. It has been bothering me since day 1. French people do not get out of the way when you are walking on the sidewalk. I literally have gotten bumped into more times then i can count. I'm being 100% honest. They expect you to go around them everytime. They must have a sort of "usa-dar", similar to "gay-dar" which obviously stemmed from the original "radar." I would hate to see how this would play out with heavy machinery. But i've had to walk into the mud on the outside of the sidewalk numerous times and it stops here. I will not be a victim of this hate crime any longer. It's time to pull out the beret, striped shirt, and baguette so i can finally walk the sidewalks in peace.

Speaking of radar, a bunch of us met french guys in the army recently. I proceeded to make a joke saying "wait, the french have an army?" which clearly wasn't as funny to them as it was to me. Lots of things get lost in translation as well. It's getting a little frustrating, just because i want to be able to say the most common responses to something, quickly, but i always am going around the point that i'm trying to make, strictly due to the fact that i don't know the language well enough. It's become a drag, and for the first time in my life i'm actually thinking about what i'm going to say before i say it. Some would say that is a positive trait to have, but i say it is irritating, i just want things to start coming more easily! Ok enough complaining. In time things will get easier.

Bon weekend, GO BEARS, and hopefully my next post will not involve a breakout of bed bugs at my hostel in Bordeaux.

Tout a l'heure

Marzipan

Pau-sitively Beautiful

This past weekend was by far the best i've had in a very long time. I went back to Biarritz!! After 5 years, I finally was able to go to my favorite place in the whole world. It hasn't changed a bit. The waves were huge and extremely pau-erful (thank's ali and erin for the pau-isms). I put my feet in the water, which was ice cold, and at the same time a wave snuck up and got me soaking wet. The only acceptable solution was to lay on the beach for the next 45 minutes. It was a gorgeous day, 65 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We walked all around the town, and i saw the apartment that i stayed in when i was studying in Biarritz in summer 2006.


After we walked around we went to my favorite sandwich place and i got the same sandwich that i used to get everyday. The americain. Steak hache, french fries, onions, and ketchup on a baguette. I'm going to be optimistic and say that it's not named the Americain due to its extreme abundance of calories... regardless it was SO GOOD!! I was hoping to go to the best crepe place in the world, but alas, it was closed until february, which further proves my point of the french being lazy. Examples:
1). They take a 2 hour break for lunch EVERYDAY
2). They don't work on Wednesdays
3). No stores are open on Sundays

I'll add more as they become apparent to me.

Anyways, after the disappointment of my crepe place being closed, we decided to go vespa-ing. Which i have got to say, was the most fun thing i've ever done. I LOVED IT. I wore a helmet bien sur, and was very careful. But it was so much fun that, if i had the money, i would buy one in a heart beat. We vespa-ed up to the light house, and all way across the coast. Eventually i had to part with the new love of my life because the last train of the night was leaving Biarritz. We made it to the train station with negative 2 minutes to spare, and thank the lord, the train was 3 minutes late, and we ran as fast as we could to catch it. After wasting about 8 minutes trying to figure out the french ticket kiosk, we finally went to a real live french person, who wasn't any easier to figure out. We then got our tickets. The ironic thing is that after all that, no one even came around and checked/punched our ticket. Add that to the list i made before.

After i got home, my mere d'accuiel (host mom) had a perfect dinner ready for me. She really is phenomenal, i sometimes stay in at night just so i can sit and talk with her. Today she drove me around to the places she thinks my parents should stay when they come visit. I am the luckiest kid in the world, i get excited to come home because she is so nice. To show her how much i appreciate her being so fantastique i'm making stir fry! My real mother gave me the recipe, and now i have to do some conversions from table spoons to some french  equivalent, which really means i'm just going to have to eyeball it.

Tomorrow I have class with my extremely interesting teacher, so i'll add some original quotes to my next blog post. I'll be indisposed from 3pm until 8. It's tough because i can't seem to either a). focus for more than 30 minutes and/or b). sit still for more than 35 minutes.. So you can see i'm in a bit of a predicament. I may or may not have played dots with the girl next to me for a good hour in one of my classes last week.

I watched the Bears game tonight via skype as my parents faced the computer towards the tv, then i got frusterated because the picture wasn't clear enough, so i found a site that streams the game, and i watched them WIN!!! My host family was being very understanding about my frequent and yet still random outbursts of (in)appropriate english words. If Da Bears make it to the superbowl i think i'll add a paypal option to my blog and take donations to fly Mari back to Chicago for the game, i will provide endless entertainment as a thank you. Another fun fact is that nearly everyone else in my program is from Wisconsin, so the packer/bears game will be very interesting and i can foresee lots of bets being made. Speaking of TV I'm managing to keep up with Desperate Housewives, and Greys Anatomy while i'm away, because who can go a week without McDreamy. But sadly i won't be able to watch the Golden Globes, it must be an American awards show or something...

Well it's a little past midnight and though i've been stuffing my face with chocolate that somehow keeps reappearing brand new on my shelf, i am quite tired. Thanks for listening to me rant

Until next time,

Good night and good luck,

Stay classy,

-MT