Sunshine and Papillons

As cheesy as the title may come off, it's so true.

Finally, France has decided to stop being emo for a minute/week and be sunny. I like that. The wonderful weather has lead to picnics, walks in the park and lots of sunburn. Which, as I'm super white anyway, is okay because it means I have some color at least.

The one day of the week that was crappy outside, however, proved to be one of the rudest - I'm about a third of the way to my University and my bike chain falls off. I wasn't too concerned because stuff happens, so I hurriedly attempted to fix it before being caught by the rain that was looming above me in dark grey clouds. Fixed, black gunk all over my hands, hop on my bike. I swear, two seconds later it starts pouring. Greaaaat. So I rode my bike to school in the pouring rain. Good thing some awesome friends have made that day worth my while...

Next point, lunch in the park. Felix and Florian, two friends from Angers have been meeting me in the park lately for some relaxed few hours for lunch. Let's just say we geek out and it's wonderful. Hurray for geekin' glasses and gangster hats.

I suppose we're sort of moving backwards. No matter - this weekend was the last break before the end of the semester and we had Monday off. It was a pretty marvelously relaxed weekend and on Monday I went with my new host sister Chelsea, plus two other girls from Houston [Candace and Jessi] to Lac de Maine, a cute little beach in Angers where you can swim. Naturally, we all went and stayed for the majority of the sunlit day.

After we swam out to the docks, some obnoxious boys came and started bothering us, attempting to speak English and splashing all over the way boys do. Eventually they grew on us and Vincent, Demetri, Malik, old creeper and ye who introduced himself as Wesley Snipes hung out on the beach and chatted all afternoon.

::short interjection::

Wesley Snipes stole my shoes, for a minute. Keep in mind I usually wear black flats, so I need you to imagine a tall skinny guy from Amsterdam, dripping wet in his swim trunks walking around the beach, cigarette in hand, hip popped with black flats. Funny.

Also, I hate [again, still] how forward and blunt Frenchmen can be. For instance : Wesley Snipes told me I was beautiful, which I really just ignored until he said "well, except the scar isn't so good." Okay, that's cool, it's not like I'm self-conscious of them anyway, you can leave now. I mean. You don't make fun of scars that come from surgeries. Geez.

Then, I got into a little spat with Vincent, who said I was French. "Je t'ai GRILLÉE !" Quite the contraire, my friend. Just because I speak French decently doesn't mean I'm lying about being American. Demetri soon joined and Malik came to my rescue, saying he heard a little accent. I was relieved, until they all decided I must be Moroccan, if not French. Dudes. Look at my skin. I don't look remotely Moroccan. Frenchmen are Jims [Jim = familiar family term used to classify an idiot].

Now, I'm in my last week of class. One more day, one more long day of classes and I'm done [minus finals, what a killjoy]. I'm torn, to say the least, about my feelings regarding the whole leaving France business. I am excited to go back, by all means - excited to see people, cowboys, besties. Anxious to feel legally allowed to speak English in public. I'm also going to miss everything though. Hearing French and the rest of the list I created on last post. I'm going to miss Merry. Maybe I'm nervous about leaving because I know it'll be at least a year until I can come back. How is that fair ? Boo.

Last langue class today, watched a movie, talked about plans and ate food from everyone's country, followed by an enormous picture taking session. I'm going to miss everyone so much. Especially my professor. When she was saying have a good weekend today, I realized I'd never have her as a teacher again - it was the saddest I've been when realizing I'm leaving. I suppose it finally hit me that everything will go back to normal in a few weeks.

And by normal, I mean what I used to be used to. I wonder how it's going to be, re-adapting into a culture I was once so familiar with that now almost disgusts me. Only sometimes ^^

Exams ! It's high time I start to study or procrastinate, alors je vous souhaite une bonne fin de journée et bah à toute, mes amis.

"Never fall in love with an idea. They’re whores: if the one you’re with isn’t doing the job, there’s always, always, always another."
-Cheese Monkeys, Chip Kidd