Day 26: Il y a des nuages dans le ciel./There are clouds in the sky.

After this morning was over with, today was a great day.

This Morning

I had my 20 minute oral presentation in Poli. Sci. After practicing it twice - one time taking under 20 minutes and the other time taking over 20 mintues- I figured I was set to present and exactly use the allotted 20 minutes.

I had expected to present after the first 5 minute Current Events presentation, but that was apparently silly of me to assume. Instead, the 5 minute presentation did theirs first and then the professor taught class (finished the lesson) for almost the next hour giving me a little over 25 minutes to present. I did my presentation and it ended up only going for 15 minutes. I think that was probably a combination of nerves (I spoke faster) and because I felt rushed because there wasn't a lot of time left in class.

So, I finished presenting and he asked if anyone had any questions for me. He then told me that I had a few minutes, and I said that it was probably because I spoke so fast. He asked if any one wanted clarification. Finally, one person asked a question (which I was able to answer!) and then the professor added his own answer (which took up the rest of the class time) after I responded.

The professor told me after class that I did a good job besides the fact that sometimes combined between my fast speaking and my in-depth/details, people seemed confused, but that I did a good job.

End of the Stressful Part of the Morning
~~~

Then I had my Literature class right after. We handed in our creative projects. The professor was really excited to look at them! We then did this exercise where we visualized a French road. Then we visualized an American road. Then we visualized each again deciding what we would like to change in the image. It was really fun! Then we looked at this book that was a compilation of this photographer's candid photos that he took of people's faces on the Paris metro. It was really cool to examine people's facial expressions, eyes open/closed, etc, and to think why I had picked the picture I described.

After that class, I was done for the day with classes. I bought this crazy delicious mustard with Provençal herbs and I also bought pesto, both to go on sandwiches. YUMMMM!

Ate lunch, watched Lost, returned home.

For dinner, we had a "les légumes du soleil" soup (sun vegetable soup is the literal translation, I think it just means the colorful veggies, not sure). Claudie said they were similar vegetables to those used in ratatouille. It tasted to me like a combo of squash and tomato soup, and was DELICIOUS! After that, we had fish and crawfish / crayfish (not really sure, whichever one is bigger is the one we ate). I think that is probably the first type of food that has grossed me out since being here. Claudie asked if I had ever eaten something like this before. I told her back home we have food like that, but it's red and bigger - in my effort to describe lobster. She said two different words and asked which one it was, but I don't know the word for lobster in french (It's "un hommard" in case you were curious.)

While eating, she explained that the little mini forks that we were using, they typically use for eating escargot. Then they asked me if I'd ever had escargot. I said no, but I'd be willing to try. They said it's very delicious. Then they asked me if I'd ever eaten frog (une grenouille) and I said no and made a face. ... I will try escargot, but sorry, I draw the line at frog. After dinner, we ate bread and cheese like we always do. I discovered/made a point to remember the name of the type of cheese: camembert. I like it a lot - and is a great way to end a meal. It is a soft cheese that comes in a "round block".

After that we watched westerns. They love westerns in France! One was with Clint Eastwood (who Claudie loves - she loves watching all his movies!), called the High Plains Drifter (L'Homme des Hauts Plaines). Clint Eastwood must have been a chick magnet in his time - well, he at least got all the ladies in the movies!

Tomorrow, I will be venturing over to l'Université d'Avignon to figure out which class to take that will fit in my schedule. It will be quite the adventure navigating the building. Let's hope the rain we're having now lets up for my walk over there tomorrow.

As Claudie says, bises (kisses) et ciao!