Day 4

Today started with breakfast (which I was finally able to eat without feeling completely sick) and then Christine walked me the half hour trek to school. I have the option of taking the bus to and from school but it is definitely cheaper to walk when I can. It was really nice to walk for so long with Christine because she was in the mood for practicing english! :) We talked a lot about family (hers and mine) and french ideas about health. For instance, 'walking is not only better for you than riding in a car but it is also nice to the environment.' I got the sense from our conversation that the french frown upon American eating habits when Christine told me about a very "shocking" experience she had on her first trip to American where she saw... an obese woman! (The topic of obesity and over-weight people became something of a source of humor for Guilhem at dinner. He and Emmanuelle talked about overweight people as if they only exist in magazines or movies. It went something like: "are there really fat people in America?!" "Oui." "HAHAHAHAHA").

At school, we finished up our orientation and then were free again for lunch. By the way, lunch is not just a necessity in France... it is an occasion. Rarely will you have less than 2 hours for lunch and rarely will restaurants bother to be open during non-lunchtime or non-dinnertime hours. You eat when everyone eats and you eat well. I went with a different group to "La Vague" where they were serving raviolis and a gray, fish-looking item. I got the raviolis and a piece of bread... 3 euros again. After lunch, we had a lot of time to kill so we walked around the campus and through the library. It was actually a lot of fun to just talk and walk with these people; I was able to get to know them a lot better.

Pictures from our walk:

After the walk, we went back to the classroom for a short talk about the end of the Visa process. We all have to fill out this form (OFII) and make copies of different things in our passports. Then we send the whole batch off to a certain office and our Visas are good and done. Make sense? It doesn't for me either.

"La Vague" named after the wave shape of the roof:

Now the fun part: we all departed for a walking tour of downtown Pau! It was so incredibly beautiful and is full of old world charm. After the walk, some students stayed to hang out in the area but I decided to go with the group that wanted to go back to the Université. Because, I was making the 20 min walk home all by myself. That morning with Christine was my first time doing it so I was nervous but confident. I did make time to stop in Le Clerc before with some girls my trek to buy water bottles (the French don't drink as much water as we do)... bad idea. It was sprinkling during my whole walk home so I had my umbrella out in one hand and had to juggle these hugely heavy water bottles with the other. For 20 min! Which, of course, ended up being 30 min when I got myself lost and had to turn around. I was truly beat when I got to the house but I was very proud of myself for accomplishing that little milestone. :)

Dinner tonight was the soup, again, but with a different and delicious entrée: une omelette! It doesn't look like an American omelette because it isn't folded over but lays flat in the bottom of the pan. It was plenty buttery and had some herbs and mushrooms inside. Mmmm mmmm! Accompanying that was a corn, cucumber, tomatoe, and black olive salad. And for dessert, the leftover King's Cake. Another fine meal. Throughout the evening I was able to unpack and talk to my dad on ichat. After Guilhem was in bed, Christine met both of my parents through an audio chat on the computer. Spencer joined at one point and Sabrina jumped in too... I was so happy to have everyone talk to each other! Christine told me afterwards that talking with my family meant a lot to her and the gratitude they expressed for her and Lionel bringing me into their home was much appreciated by her. I hope we can do this again soon :)

Pictures from downtown Pau: