Jennifer and I had a nice walk to History of France and Africa -- well walk/metro, and did a little venting in English (oops). Sometimes it's necessary to make it through the day to have a little language break. Although, I do have to say that the language this is getting a lot easier each day, and my head doesn't hurt every night because of all of the French!
The History of France and Africa continues to be an interesting class -- a bit disjointed and sometimes hard to understand, but the professor is extremely enthusiastic which is always a plus. Today, we discussed the relations between France and Africa after World War II. And I signed up to do my "expose" (that's ex-pose-ay) on November 3rd where I have to speak for 15 minutes about the colonial exposition of 1931 in Paris. We've already read a bit about it, but it should be interesting to look into it further.
After class, I headed home and did a little reading of "La Pluie d'Ete" by Marguerite Duras which is the next play for my theater class -- definitely different than Moliere....and quite odd if I may say so. It will be interesting to discuss it on Monday and then see it on stage next Wednesday.
I walked to practice -- which is always a pleasant walk. It's nice to be able to walk to a destination, and not just wander aimlessly -- it's always a good time to listen to some music or a podcast or just ponder life in general. I did some abs and then got in a half hour early with one of the other guys in my group -- I actually did a total of 6000! It was great! It just goes to show that even if I don't always want to go to practice, sometimes those are when it's the best, and there's nothing like the feeling after finishing a good workout.
I decided to walk home -- I had a nice burst of energy and at least while the weather is tolerable, I figure I should take advantage of it. Marilu left me two small puff pastries that had a creamy cheese filling -- so good. And then she had also made kind of like a vegetable stew with squash, zucchini, eggplant, and onions -- again, super delicious. I had a slice of her apple tart (with apples from Normandy, of course) for dessert -- also incredibly yummy.
Some random things that I've been meaning to talk about --
Tuesday, I talked to a girl in my France/Africa class who goes to Smith (15 minutes away from Amherst), and is -- wait for it -- from Rochester, and she went to Pittsford Sutherland! How crazy is that. And not only that, but we both worked in the same PLAZA this past summer -- I was at Black and Blue and she was working at Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters which is about a 30 second walk away. The world is so small -- it continues to blow my mind.
Also, the French "greeting" -- the kisses -- continues to be a bit baffling. For example, when a girl greets a girl, they 'kiss', when a girl greets a guy, they 'kiss', but when a guy greets a guy, they do this manly handshake and puff out their chests a bit (actually pretty funny to watch). But what I find really interesting, is like when one of the girls on the swim team gets to practice and then greets the coach, and they 'kiss' -- for those of you who know the Amherst swim team, can you imagine getting to practice, and greeting Nick with a "kiss" on each cheek? I think not....
Anyways, here's a picture from Chenoneau on Saturday -- this was just by the labyrinth that we walked through on our lengthy approach to the castle -- Lord of the Rings or Narnia anyone?
A bientot!
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