On Thursday, the lunch at the Resto U was less-than-appetizing, so one of my friends and I ventured downtown to find something to eat for lunch. Epic win. We found a SUBWAY! It was so lovely and familiar-tasting. Mmmmmm. I had a Subway Club with Chipotle sauce and pickles and lettuce, and then I had a cookie with M&Ms.
Then, our William and Mary professor took us all to see the Musee Fabre, an art museum in Montpellier. We had a really great guide who took us from 18th century paintings all the way through modern art (yick), and she was really well-informed. Sadly, unlike in the Louvre, you are absolutely forbidden to take pictures, so I have no pictures from my visit, but it was cool, trust me! The thing that struck me the most about the Musee Fabre, though, was actually its architecture. Our guide explained that the museum started out as a private home and then acquired the surrounding buildings (a library and a convent) as its collections grew. As a result, there were oddly placed little steps up and down every so often that linked the buildings. Also, and I think this was in an effort to unify the museum's buildings, everything in the museum (floors, walls, ceilings) was done in polished concrete painted grey. It was a very odd juxtaposition of gothic arched ceilings and walls made of grey concrete with 18th century paintings hung on them.
After the museum, we went to the Jardin des Glaces, an amazing ice cream place on the esplanade, where our professor treated us all to ice cream! It was so good. I had a chocolate sundae with whipped cream and sprinkles, which, as I learned, French people do not have a word for! We asked the waiter and the ice cream scooper, and neither of them knew what the little colored dots on top of my ice cream were called. Isn't that weird?
Then, that evening, I got to go see the French National Orchestra perform! It was absolutely fabulous. My ticket only cost me 6 euros, and I had a great view of the stage. Also, the acoustics in the opera house were fantastic, so it didn't matter that I was as high as you could be in the room, I could hear everything perfectly. The woman next to me, on the other hand, did not seem to enjoy the concert as much as I did...
Funny story - during the first half of the concert, which lasted around 30 minutes, I took a few pictures of the orchestra. I did not use flash, and my camera is durn quiet. However, as soon as the lights went up for the entr'acte, the woman turns to me and says, in French, "Your taking pictures is driving me absolutely nuts. The light is bothering my eyes and I can't see the stage. I really need you to stop. Do you understand me?" Then, thinking that I don't speak French, she switches into very poor Franglais, and repeats herself. At this point, I interrupt her, informing her that I speak French and ensuring her that I won't take any more pictures. She then responds, "I certainly hope not!" and huffs out of the row. Geeeeez! I turn to my friend next to me, and we both have the same stunned look on our faces. I was in no way blocking the woman's view of the stage with my camera because she was on my right and so was the orchestra. Also, I didn't use flash, and finally, it's an orchestra, not a ballet, so if you can't see it for 2 seconds, it's fine. Either way, I stuffed my camera into my purse for the second half of the concert. Until, that is, the whole orchestra came on stage. I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest not to be able to take a picture of the French National Orchestra. So, I carefully slid the camera out of my purse, turned off the screen (heaven forbid it blind this woman with its ridiculous amounts of light lol), slid it over to my friend who was sitting on my left, and then I leaned forward so as to block the fact that she was taking pictures. They turned out pretty well for her having taking them essentially blindly.
On our way out, my friend and I decided to take the elevator instead of the stairs, which turned out to be pretty cool. We took the elevator down to the bottom level of the opera house, and we expected to find a door leading to the outside. False. It was very industrial and basement-y looking with no door in sight. There were, however, signs indicating an exit. We must have walked through 4 doors before we even saw anyone else. Then we realized where we were - with the members of the Orchestra under the stage! We followed out a couple of them who held the doors for us with their instrument cases and garment bags in hand. It was pretty sweet.
Since my gripe session this past Wednesday about how much I was struggling with my classes and the workload, it hasn't really gotten any much better. In fact, I have a presentation Monday; my project is due Tuesday; and I have a test on Wednesday. So, that's about the same. I did get a chance to talk to the William and Mary professor who is leading our program about how I did not appreciate the way that my grammar professor approached me in class. She was only moderately understanding. She kept trying to ensure me that it was only a cultural difference and that I shouldn't take it personally. However, even if it is just a cultural difference, the way he approaches me still greatly offends me, so I felt like she was almost telling me that my feelings weren't valid. I did get some good advice from some of the other students who also have him (And they all backed me up on what I was saying too, including how he picks on me specifically because it seems to amuse him).
In other news, it has gotten strangely cold here?? As in I wore a cardigan and jeans to school today and yet was still cold! In fact, last night at the Estivales, even though I was wearing long sleeves and jeans and had had two glasses of wine (quite good wine I might add), I was so cold that I went home before 11:00 even rolled around. And I wasn't the only one either. Two of my friends, one of whom was wearing a sleeveless top and capris, went home at the same time.
Also, on Friday afternoon, I saw Harry Potter!!! I figured out which theatre played it in English, as opposed to dubbed in French, and went with a bunch of my friends. It was amazing. I will admit that it was not completely true to the book, but I am not one to insist that movies based on books be completely accurate because it's just not possible. There were also a few cheesy moments, but overall, it was really well done. The best part was that only my friends and I laughed at the jokes in the movie because the French translations in the subtitles just didn't do them justice, which meant that the French people seeing the film didn't get most of them. My friends and I would start laughing at a joke, read the subtitles, laugh at the poor translation of said joke, and then laugh that no one else was laughing. It was great!
Today, sadly, I had to go to class, even though it was Saturday because we didn't have school on Bastille Day. It was a little painful, and there were more than a few people missing...and not that I'm going to name any names, but I would just like to say that the Estivales wine festival downtown is meant to be just that - a wine festival...intended for people to try the different wines of the region, not for people to get schwasted...
Anywho, after class, a few of my friends and I had a lovely lunch at a cafe, where I helped out some grammatically-challenged American preteens order their lunch. I ordered a panini, paid, and then moved to the side to wait for it to be made. And this is silly, but every time French people just speak to me in French without question, I get excited because it means that my French accent/use of the language is good enough to where they assume that I must speak French well. So, I was standing in line waiting for my panini to be made when these girls came up behind me and started chatting in English. Then, one of the girls points to the menu and says, "That sandwich don't come with no fries!" I shivered. Such bad grammar! I started to worry about whether they'd be able to order... Then, came their turn to order. One girl managed to order a cheesburger pretty easily because it's the same word in French as in English, so the cashier understood. The next girl, however, did not have as good of luck. She pointed to a sandwich and asked what was in it. The cashier didn't seem to understand her question and told her that it was a panini. The girl asked again. Still no, and then the woman starts to grab it, thinking the girl wants it. At this point, I decided to intervene, since the girl was about to get served a sandwich with goat cheese and ham. I leaned over and pointing to the sandwiches, I told her what was in all of them. The look on her and her friends' faces was priceless. It was the oh-thank-goodness-an-American-who-speaks-French face. I felt very helpful :) Yay! And when they sat down at their table later, the girl I helped turned and gave me a very grateful smile.
This evening, some of my family's friends came over - another family with an 11 year-old girl and a 9 year-old boy. We had some, ermm, interesting pizza for dinner...oh how I miss American pizza. Let's see, there was salmon pizza, mushroom and olive pizza, onions and salami pizza, and finally cheese pizza. I thought I would go with the cheese because it sounded safe and familiar. Bad thought. Somehow it didn't occur to me that French people would put French cheese on their pizza. Ewwww stinky! Luckily, I have some food stashed in my room downstairs, so I will be eating Cornflakes later this evening lol.
And now I must work on the research project that appears to be consuming my life. Sigh. Here I go!
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