So much has happened!!!!

We have been to our classes (only one session of each - but enough to know whether we like them or not). I am taking a class about Provence history/culture/la vie quotidienne (everyday life), a class about literature and history from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, a french conversation class, and a class about art and literature of the 20th century.  So far I really like all of my classes - but the Provence one seems especially cool.  We will be doing many creative projects and the class and very little actual (read Duke style 1000s of pages of readings daily) work.  Our big project is to make a carnet (scrapbook) of our life in Provence - which is pretty much what I was planning on doing/have already begun to do.  Also in a few weeks we have a small picture slideshow/exhibition due.  So basically this is like an art class with history and culture thrown in!  Magnifique!!  Classes seem like they will be really interesting and informative (with the exception of Conversation which while immensely helpful, seems daunting - we have to read the French newspapers weekly!).

As part of our program, we eat with families 4 times a week.  They cook for us and we walk to their home for a delicious dinner!  Emily is in one group and Sara and I are in another.  But Sara and my family is really great.  It is a woman, Corinne, and her son, Cristophe (who is our age - except wait he's younger because now I am old and wise and 21! - so he's 20).  Cristophe did some sort of culinary work (or maybe study in school, it's a bit unclear) but he knows a ton about food - or at least he thinks he does, so he always critiques his mom.  But he's not mean about it and she usually just laughs it off anyway - it's just a bit strange.  Anyway, the are both very nice and our dinners thus far have been wonderful.  My favorite was two nights ago (Wednesday) when we had a really nice gratin aux courgettes (creamed zucchini) haricot verts avec des tomates (green beans and tomatoes in dressing) and fried salt cod.  And we had camembert - it was divine, I had 3-4 wedges.  But oh my!!! The cheese here is wonderful.  At some point Cristophe is going to make sushi for us - he loves sushi, so we are all looking forward to that.

Yesterday was my birthday and thanks to Emily and Sara I had a wonderful 21st.  Breakfast was fun but difficult.  The place we went to (cafe splendide) was by no means splendid - in fact it was the opposite - so awful.  The service was stereotypical French (which is mostly lies, that is to say, our service was very bad but by no means representative of french wait staff in general) and took forever.  We also had very little food for very much money.  I also had espresso - which apparently is not my friend.  It made me jittery and anxious (even more so that usual) for the next few hours.  Right before my afternoon class, the Vanderbilt ladies in charge brought me an apple and almond tarte for my birthday.  It was super delicious!  So we all had that before class started.  After dinner (my family promised me a birthday with chocolate mousse and champagne on Monday) Emily and Sara gave me my presents.  I got fresh strawberries, champagne, a mug, chocolates, and a book (Le Petit Nicholas, a french children's series thus very funny and very easy to read).  It was a lovely birthday - but then it got better.  Sara, Emily, and I plus our Vanderbilt roommates went out for birthday drinks.  A few other people in our program met us and it was very French - meaning it was wonderful and we sat at a sidewalk bar and we talked for awhile.  All in all a lovely birthday!

Here are some things we have learned about Renaud:

- he enjoys room temperature milk and grenadine (a fruit syrup) - he calls it strawberry milk
- his oven is literally impossible to use
- he has a van (with no windows) to keep his motorbike safe
- he has a movie room/theater in our backyard - apparently we can watch movies there

Sara and her souvenir from the bar last night - the Corona (beer) fedora

(I ran downstairs to snap this photograph. Sara is Renaud's new muse.  -Emily)

Memorable quotes:

Emily: "I hear Renaud making strange noises..."

La Rotunde: the main traffic circle at the beginning of the Cours Mirabeau