Tour de France.

Blogging has been down for the month of July. Sorry folks. In my defense, I've been busy with class, friends, and other culturally frenchy things.

Today marked the end of the Tour de France in Pau, which was definitely the most exciting time I've experienced in the city of Pau so far. Tuesday after class I went downtown with some friends, and watched the cyclists finish. I read online that it's the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France visiting Pau, but I'm not completely sure this is true. Anyway, I spent way too much money on t-shirts and souvenirs for my family... but it's the Tour de France.

This week when someone asked me if I was a tourist passing through I was able to say no, I live here as a student for June and July. My friends and I felt legit. We're practically Paulois.

Last night I witnessed the most bizarre parade. In the states, you get candy. In Pau, you get female condoms and people dressed in post apocalyptic gear. There were two: one in the late afternoon/evening and another one at night. The last parade snaked through the main parts of downtown and ended in the main square, Place Clemenceau. People on the floats started yelling "Roi au velo," or king of the bikes. Felt like I was joining a cult. These people are crazy over their cyclying. Anyway, they ended in the square and they hoisted this huge metal ball made of bikes, which a person had been walking in during the parade, and it resembled a hamster ball, with two bikes and bikers to go with in front of it. As they were cycling in the air, fireworks went off. It was pretty grand and ridiculous but nonetheless awesome to watch. There was inclined makeshift stage that led up into the air and people dressed up as cyclists climbed over each other in order to be "first." The two people in the front had a huge sign that said "arrivee."

Teaser Pics. More later!

Aujourd'hui.

Today was the first day of classes. I knew I was going to get placed into a lower class than last time. Yesterday we took the placement test, and I got SO nervous during the oral part. The woman I had was stern, and I kept stammering. Whoops.

So I got placed into Group 3. Last month I was in group 4. Trying not to get to bent out of shape about it. I'm here to learn french, and it doesn't matter which group I'm in as long as I'm still learning. There's a lot more diversity in my classes this time around, which is awesome. There are people from South Korea, one from Ghana and Argentina, Spain, China, Sweden. All in my class! Spanish to french is the hardest accent for me to understand. They pronounce everything differently. All of the swedish girls look the same. It's kinda creepy. Tall, thin, and blonde.

Today we went over adjectives, and it seemed like people struggled a little bit. If it doesn't get more interesting I'm going to see if I can get bumped up. I'm not very good at communicating and expressing myself orally, but I can read and write. Or at least I thought I could..

Speaking is getting easier and easier. I just have to stop being so shy and put myself out there. I'm in France and should make as many mistakes as possible. More mistakes I make here, the less I'll make aux etats-unis.

Today was sooo hot and humid. Feels like I haven't even left Iowa! Saturday I'm going to Saint Jean de Luz, which is on the coast, and I'm super pumped. I get to see Nate in Bordeaux a week from tomorrow for my birthday weekend. This month is gonna be a good one. I'll be home before you all know it on July 28th :)

P.S. Last night I made dinner for two of my friends in the dorms. One of them is sick with what I think I had at the beginning. I remember how awful I felt, so I made him homemade chicken noodle soup and another friend assisted me. We also bought some brie cheese for dessert, which was SO good. Also made avocado boats as an appetizer. Spiffy stuff to with chicken noodle soup huh? Chicken noodle soup is a cure all. My friend felt better already today a cause de moi. Not to give myself too much credit or anything.. It is my mom's recipe! She can cook!!... sometimes.

A Paris. Day Two,

Started off day two bright and early. Around 7:30ish. Free continental breakfast = lots of baguette and nutella pour moi! Definitely not counting calories here. We commenced with a tour of Sainte Chappelle, a beautiful church with amazing stained glass windows, and the coniergie where prisoners were kept. Robespierre was kept and died there as well.

Before entering Sainte Chappelle, we all had to go through security. I forgot I had a wine opener in my purse, and that caused a small commotion with the scary french guards. Oops! Luckily the man I had to check the opener with just laughed at me. Silly American.

Before these sites, we attempted to visit Notre Dame. Ambivalently we couldn't go in because there was something going on with a cardinal. It was cool to see so many people outside, but I really wanted to see the inside! Anyway, there were so many people there for it that they overflowed outside, and when they chanted their catholic stuff (for lack of a better word), it was haunting with so many people! The directors of USAC were with us, and they told us they had never seen anything like it before.

These sites were in the morning. We ate lunch wherever we felt like going, and after that we took the metro to the opera house. I was blown away. I was expecting the opera house to be very stunning, but the place ended up being one of my faves (second only the centre pompidou, museum of modern art). I'll post some pics at the end of the post. The phantom of the opera was inspired by this opera house. There really is an underground lack under the opera house. The story was inspired when a chandelier fell because they blamed a phantom. Ta-da. There's also a giant ballroom there, which the ballroom for Beauty and the Beast was inspired from. You'll see the resemblance in the pics.

After all these, I was pooped. A friend and I stayed behind for a little shopping and wearily went back to the hotel for some much needed rest. It was hot, and the metro is like 10 degrees hotter than the outside with little to no air circulation. I felt like I had at least a couple of layers of sweat on me at the end of everyday. Gross.