The Past Week

This last weekend, Ana and I went to Avignon. It is in the Provence region of France, not too far from Aix en Provence where we went on an earlier trip. We spent all day Friday in Avignon, and we went sightseeing at the Pont du Avignon, Palais du Papes, and the gardens (can't remember the exact name). We stayed at a really cute little hotel right in the center of town by a really nice park. We ate at tiny cafe right next to a shop that sold lavender (it is one of the specialty products of the region) and we had the best ice cream ever (I had a chocolately kinder ice cream, that was homemade! The ice cream here is really soft and creamy.) After a long day of shopping and being touristy, we had the dinner of champions... McDonald's. We were so exhausted! The next day we got up, went back to this wonderful ceramic shop and bought a few gifts to take home. Then we headed out to the market to pick up some things for a nice picnic lunch on the train--fresh bread, cheese, meat (salami is really popular at the markets), olives stuffed with almonds, clementines, and cherries. Then we hopped on the train to Montpellier, which is a coastal city in the Languedoc region (opposite to the French Riviera). In Montpellier, were were met by Jeff. So the first day was spent sightseeing (as you can tell from the pictures below)-- we went to a cathedral, the arc of Montpellier, and other very touristy sites. That night we had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant in the old part of town. We got a good night's sleep, and got up early (for us anyway) to hit the beach. Before we hit the beach, we thought we would hit up the market (the manufactured goods market) but as we were looking at the map (mind you, we were all dressed in shorts, tshirts, swimsuits and flip flops) I felt something warm flooding my feet. I looked down, and I saw this massive dog urinating all over me. That's right, urine. It was a lovely start to the day, I'm freaking out and Jeff is throwing water at me from a distance, and Ana is trying to find her hand sanitizer so I can clean my feet. And I'm pretty much going hysterical.. and the man with the dogs just kept walking like nothing happened. How rude. So Jeff gave me his other pair of sandals and we decided to forgo the market and just get straight to the beach. We stopped in a little bakery first and picked up some sandwiches for lunch. Then took the tram to the very end where we had to catch a bus down to Palavas, which is the beach city. It was beautiful, the Mediterrean was such a sight to see, and the weather was a bit cloudy but it was warm enough to lay out and soak up the much needed sun. Ana and I spent most of our day strolling along the coast and picking up perfectly shaped seashells, while Jeff decided to sunbathe. While he was asleep, Ana and I snuck into town and got ice cream.. and Jeff never found out (we all couldn't go because someone had to watch our stuff, and we couldn't bring it back because it might melt... :) Then I decided to lay out for a bit so I douzed myself with sunscreen and fell asleep for about 30 minutes. When I woke up, I was burnt to a crisp, and it hurt. I was finally able to make it to the pharmacy 2 days later (holiday weekend) and they apparently don't have aloe so I bought this after sun cream that was 15 euro. Pretty pricey if you ask me, but when you're in pain it doesn't matter so much. I spent Monday and Tuesday writing papers and studying for my French final, which I feel good about (I took it last night and I was the first one done). I also got my grade back for the Marketing Research project that consumed my life for a few weeks, and it paid off. Considering most of the grades were between 45-60, we did excellent. We made B's on both parts, which apparently is really hard to do in France, so we were all excited about that. Now I'm officially done with all my classes, I just have finals starting next Wednesday. Wish me luck, only 2 1/2 weeks til I am back in Texas!