Out and about in Avignon-

So, as you can see, I'm not totally alone in Avignon. It's been really fun so far. There are two places we go most often: O'Neill's Irish Pub and the bar Red Sky on the Place Pie. Furthermore, I've started hanging out with Farah, my completely fabulous correspondante, and her friends a bit, so that will be amazing. Especially for my French. It's funny though, as my French gets better, my English dies. My syntax of sentences has become more formal as a result of French, I think. Example: It is necessary that we do this (In French, we say "Il faut que..."). Also, I use "one" a lot more, as the pronoun "On" is used ALL the time. Finally (and horribly) the worst part is my spelling. When writing in English, I know the words, I just spell them the way they sound evidently. My most recent errors have been: 'write' instead of 'right,' 'won' instead of 'one,' and 'their' instead of 'there.' I have a feeling this is going to come back to bite me in the you-know-what when I get back to school and start writing papers again, as spell check will most certainly not catch these.

Anyways, here are some pictures of us out and about this weekend:

Ian with his carafe of red wine @ the pub. Here, wine is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than beer. Though we did mock him mercilessly as he ordered an entire carafe for himself.


Kristin, James and Kendall decided it would be a good idea to do a cucaracha at the Red Sky... It's a shot where the bartender lights it (and the bar) on fire... and then to drink it you plunge a straw in it and drink it from the bottom up... While it's on fire.


Outside the club café Bokaos on Friday... This was before we all wanted to die from walking (but proceeded to go dance for hours at The Cage anyways). From left: Marie, Céline, Farah et moi! You'll notice that the fact that I wear a TON of black fits in much better here.


Yesterday, Marie (our 12-year-old host sister) took Caitlin, Justin and me on a walking tour of Avignon. It was a beautiful day and she definitely showed us a lot of new stuff (like a store where I'm going to buy most of my presents for people at home... very cool). This particular photo is at the top of the Palais des Papes area in a garden. There were people EVERYWHERE reading, making out, playing with kids... you name it. On the whole, I think the French are much more into PDA than we are. Anyways, this grotto was beautiful. Marie said that usually you can take steps and go up to the top, but the chantier was closed yesterday. Still, very pretty. Also, it's super fun to hang out and talk to Marie. She's an amazing violinist and is also super helpful with our French. If we make mistakes, she goes ahead and corrects us (after we encouraged her to). Very good day, yesterday.


Finally, to end today's photos... Cait, Amanda and me with our steak-frites sandwiches on the rue de la République last night. They're essentially the equivalent of eating a heart attack (steak, fries, mayo on a baquette-type bread)... and they're delicious. We seriously have to limit our steak-frite intake or else any of that potential weight-loss/healthy lifestyle will disappear poof! into a cloud of smoke. Alright... I leave you now, my cousin Michel should be here a half hour ago to pick me up. À tout à l'heure!