BDAAAY!

02.19.09
So yesterday was my birthday, and I am officially TWENTY! Definitely a little scary but nothing I can do about it now! Véro returned from Paris on Monday and it seemed like she truly had a wonderful time! She surprised me with a early birthday gift.. a really funky colorful bracelet and cute earrings from Paris! She is so thoughtful and was really excited when I wore the earrings out the next night! Last night a bunch of girls from my program (15 to be exact) joined me to celebrate! My friend Jess’ host mom recommended a place we go to, called Chez Elia. It was right in the center of Montpellier and since one of her best friends owned it,she got us a great deal! It was a Brazilian restaurant and the food was delicious! We started out with the yummy chicken and artichoke salad, then had sea bass with rice, and then a delicious chocolate cake! The server was cute and even put twenty candles on it and lit it for me to blow out! It was a very fun night out! The girls were adorable and got me this GIANT card and all wrote a little something in it and paid for my dinner! Afterwards we went to a local pub for a while and then headed on home! That day Arthur sent me a text to say Happy Birthday and wrote it in English! He was so sweet to remember, since the boys still are not here and in the Alps. ‘Bon Noel’ In French can mean Happy Birthday so he directly translated and wrote‘Happy Christmas!’ I told Véro this and we both laughed for a quite some time. I'm sure I make the same errors in French which made it even funnier too.

School has still basically been a joke! That quiz I was supposed to have Monday did not happen! AND my classes got cancelled on Wednesday since the teacher “forgot what time our class started”. She rescheduled a makeup for Friday morning and we were a little upset! Two girls and myself are headed to Nice, our friend Carley to Amsterdam, Tove to Italy and Simon to Germany! SOOO basically half of our class is gone! We told our teacher this and she was like that’s your fault….. yet she was the one who forgot we had class! A little annoying but hopefully we do not miss too much.

This past Tuesday, my friend Tyra and I were done with class by 12, so we decided to go to a local museum that we pass all the time! It is called Musee Fabre and is right in the center of Montpellier and is free for local students! They are currently hosting an exposition of artist Emil Nolde. His work was incredible and all very different and colorful! He was one the Modern Era’s greatest artists and the exposition had around 150 of his paintings. It was actually really fun and I want to go back!

All of us got a little bit of a wakeup call yesterday. My friend Danielle was riding the tram home and was listening to her ipod, which also acts as her phone back at home. She said these two boys kept eyeing her but she stayed cool and did not let it get it her. A few stops before hers, the two boys were about to get off the tram, and one boy somehow stole her ipod right out of her HANDS and started running! She said she was in shock and had no idea what to do, and everyone on the tram was ranting (in French) about how stupid people are these days. The tram driver took her to the police station, but she was a little overwhelmed to go in, so she just headed home. We all felt horrible, but I’m just relived that she didn’t get hurt or corned into a sticky situation.

I haven’t really talked about missing home much yet, but I am starting to miss bits and pieces a lot. I do miss my family, my PUPPIES and my friends back home! I also really miss MOCHAS/caribou as dumb as that sounds! If you order a coffee here there are about the size of a shot glass and taste horrible! I also miss drinking milk with every meal (they drink whole!) AND I truly miss warm showers. I am lucky maybe about 2 our of 7 days that the shower manages to be somewhat ‘warm’ but most days it is FREEEZING and I dread taking one! I also miss driving and miss MY IPOD (it recently broke!). This weekend my frat back home is headed to their annual trip to CHICAGO, and I made me jealous thinking about how much fun I had last year! I am headed to Nice though (bright and early our train leaves!) so I guess that will have to do :) We are taking a train to Marseille, and then transferring to one that takes us to NICE! It was cheaper this way and it’s not too much of a hassle; we only have around a 50 minute layover. Carnival is this weekend, and is supposed to be a little crazy! I hear it is like Mardi gras, so we will see what happens! ! LOVE!
Xxx Sara