Thursday

Got up just after 8 and had the same breakfast as yesterday - minus the madeleine since those are gone now. Got dressed, folded Sunday's now dry laundry and walked to school around 9 taking pictures most of the way. Searched online for hostels in Barcelona this weekend, but there was literally only one bed left and no hotels under 100 euro a night. How ironic that our trip was canceled because not enough people signed up and now we can't find anywhere to stay because everyone apparently goes to Spain for Easter.

History of Provence was slightly more interesting today - slightly. We heard presentations on the herbs of Provence and how olives are grown and processed, but one of the presenters was really hard to understand. I find it really sad that someone can get through at least two years of college French and not be taught how to pronounce things like 'aussi' (meaning also and pronounced "oh-sea") properly. (She kept'aussie' - like someone from Australia.)

Searched for last-minute travel deals to anywhere and ate my Balance bar, apple and hot chocolate from the vending machine in the cave before meeting Blake at 1:30. We finally admitted defeat on Barcelona and while trying to think of other things to do he suggested Corsica. Upon realizing that it could mean the possibility of doing water sports this weekend, I was all for it. We went to the travel agency to get our money back, but the accountant wasn't there and the person who was there could only refund us by check - a French check. Neither of us has a French bank account so that does us no good and we have to go back tomorrow to see if they can refund the credit cards.

I walked out to art - the teachers left with the full-time students for Venice this afternoon so most people came and left or didn't show up at all. I, being lazy, decided to work on my current project, but didn't feel like setting up my easel. Instead I put my palette on another stool and sat down holding my painting to work on it. Well, just for that, I got white paint all over my arm and sweater - that's why I wear older clothes to art - but I really thought I was going to get through the whole semester without that happening. oh well.

Left early and stopped by the art store on my way to Phonetics where I found out I have 32 euro left in my account... which will probably translate to a lot of really nice postcards to decorate my walls or the fridge (something I've seen a lot here...). Walked to the French University for Phonetics lab, but arrived early so I went to the bridge above the train tracks where I knew a few of my classmates would be drinking beer before class. I hung out with them for the few minutes until it was time to go to class where we repeated the lyrics to some song and lots of rolled R's and liaisons. After class, Blake and I finally ditched the Corsica idea, realizing we could get to the beach cheaper by going to Cassis (no water sports, though). It'll be good to have another weekend here without the stress of last-minute travel and it turns out there's a huge artisan festival all weekend which I'll go to. Plus I can use the money I saved to go out to dinner or a movie or something and the extra time to start organizing to come home!

Walked back up through town to my usual bus stop. The bus driver was going super fast tonight - don't know where he had to be, but I had to hold on with both hands. Dinner was beets with olive oil, lettuce, bread, goat cheese pizza, peas and cheese. Joelle said her brother, his wife and daughter might be coming to visit this weekend - don't know what'll happen with that. After dinner, I read some articles from Scientific American. You know, the ads in the back are so clearly targeted it's sad... bookshelves that hold an encyclopedia set perfectly, dating services that only accept people from the Ivies, MIT, Stanford and other similar schools, bow-tie catalogs, book-a-month clubs, etc. hahaha! Good articles though. Mom called and we chatted for a bit. Then I decided it would do me good to hear French - even in the background - and took my computer into the living room to work on pictures while Joelle watched tv. Went back to my room after she went to bed and read some Popular Science articles before going to bed just after 11:30.