Song of the moment: (and one of my fav songs ever) Body Pillow- Atmosphere
Dose of amusement: Sadly I'm related to this one. But after these videos I deny that he's my brother. (you only need to watch the firsr 20 secs of the second one cause it's repeated)
Foucault quote of the day: The lyricism of marginality may find inspiration in the image of the ''outlaw,'' the great social nomad, who prowls on the confines of a docile, frightened order.
Okay, I'm going to kick things off with the best and most impressive part of my day, what I ate today:
Ham and cheese baguette
Choclate Eclair
Ham and cheese croissant
Ham, cheese, and egg crepe
Dessert crepe with mint ice cream, chocolate, and almonds
If I come back heavier it will be the most worth wile thing I've done :p Actually the list is long because I found out last minute that I was eating dinner with my french friends and had already eaten a partial dinner. I've trained myself to abandon my old lady eating at 5:30 ways and bumped it back to 7 or 7:30 but 8:30 is still rough. Any who...to the actual events of the day, even though my gluttonous ramblings are entertaining I'm sure.
Today I was woken up prematurely by some construction conveniently occurring outside my window, this coming after I had stayed up until 2 doing work made it all the more unwelcome. Regardless, I took the opportunity to get an early start on my day of exploration! I hopped on the bus and was off to explore Caen. I'm quite proud of myself because I finally have the buses figured out a least *knock on wood that I won't mess things up on the way home.* First I saw the castle of William the Conqueror, who founded the city of Caen. The castle is right smack dab in the middle of the city and tons of shops and restaurants just seem to fall in place around it. A majority of the pics I've attached are of the castle, and the one with the cathedral is the St. Pierre Cathedral from the view on the top of the castle.
Then I walked around the city and shopped and ate. Sadly the shopping part didn't go to well, in fact I didn't buy a single thing. It turns out most shops aren't open on mondays in Caen, I missed the memo on that one, and the only ones that were really open were pharmacies and really really expensive boutiques. Sadly, a plain tank top for $80 isn't in my price range. I still had fun looking though, the clothing was beautiful, and I compensated by getting dessert :)
Next, I went the WWII memorial, which is seen in the remaining pictures above. Seeing the exhibit cost over $30 for students, man I'm just getting out priced today, so I decided to wander around the beautiful gardens around it instead. Ooo and I almost forgot, I was mistaken for a french person today, sadly it was by british tourists, so it wasn't too legit. But I was in a store and in broken french (which was as pathetic as i'm sure my own must be) they told me they don't speak french but pointed to something on a map as if to ask for directions. I just smiled and sadly didn't have enough french under my belt to pull off the act. Oh well, at least I don't visually stick out like a sore thumb. I'm french as long as I don't speak :P
Overall, I consider the day to be quite a success, I managed to successfully navigate public transportation and see all the sights in Caen. I returned to do some work, seriously I've been a machine here. My evening then concluded with the quite sad parting with my french friends. I took them out to dinner to thank them for all of their kindness. The great thing about having two people from the area take you out to dinner is that they know the best place to go! It was the best crepe place ever, better than I could have imagined. We ate crepes, drank famous normandy cider, and talked about culture, life, and the future. It was indeed a beautiful thing. The funny thing is that the restaurant was english-friendly and had poor english translations of the food on the menu. And the one dessert crepe I wanted happened to be the only thing on the entire menu who's title was in english "the 5'oclock." Don't let the terrible name deceive you though: mint ice cream, chocolate, almonds, and whipped cream on a crepe is heaven. Ehoran and his gf teased me, asking if I was getting it because it was the only thing I could pronounce. To prove them wrong, I asked for the bill and talked with the waiter a bit in french after they had coaxed me into doing so. Saying goodbye was such a sad thing. Even though I only knew them for a few days they really took me under their wings, no questions asked, and were so warm and caring. What a blessing. And all of this at their last weekend at home, before moving to Paris. Words cannot possibly express my gratitude. This really has been a monumental experience for me, partly thanks to them, and I will never forget them and that gift.
In other, less sentimental news, after tonight, I have the kiss kiss thing down which I'm quite stoked about. So if anyone would like to greet me that way, I will accept. Also, I'm no longer alone at the abbey! Today to people, who speak english came! I met the first, an Italian man also studying Foucault as I was running to the store. I saw him and did my usual "Bonjour" and then lowered my head so as to avoid further conversation. And he said "Hi!" And I was like, wait...I understand that...was my bonjour really that bad? It turns out the woman Estelle who works in the office told him that I'm studying Foucault as well and that he should talk to me because I've been lonely all week! It was so sweet of her and he and I had a great chat. I can't wait to finally talk Foucault with someone! Joy! The other scholar is a cute woman, originally from the UK but now studying in Capetown. I saw her in the kitchen and she started to greet me in french. I dismally replied "I don't speak french" in french to which she said "Oh well bloody hell then...good, we can speak in english." Heaven love the brits. Even more impressive is that she read articles by our very own mr. david spett which he wrote on tm in capetown! What a small world huh?
Well I am deathly tired and stuffed with good food, so it's off to bed for me. I need strength and strong french coffee to get me through 8 + hrs at the library tomorrow.
