I LIKE THE NIGHT LIFE!
That is an exageration. But I did have quite a night last night.
Thrusday a bunch of the students decided it would be neat to go to Avignon for the weekend. They all left on Friday at one and two - after our return from the market in Lumeron. At 3pm Marie, Noelle, and I took a taxi to Avignon. This is a large city about an hour away. The ride is naturally stop and go up and down hills. We survived the ride but Noelle was battling motionsickness. She overcame it eventually, but dear Marie was not feeling so hot.
We started exploring the city and ran into every person from the other groups on the way. There was an H&M mmm. And lots of stores to browse. We just kept walking and checking everything out. The sun was setting beautifully on the cathedral there. So we stopped took some photos. Aviginon reminds me of New York, but way WAY older. it is surrounded on two sides by the Rhone River and has fortress walls all around. The inner city (where we spent all of our time) is not very large and there are many people. It had large central squares every now and then. The streets jut off from that main plaza. We three just wandered and eventually got hungry. We were meeting the large group for supper at 8 but food was need beforehand. We stopped into a sweet shop where they had chocolates and glaze fruits. Marie picked out a couple and at this point realized she had a fever. She hadn't been feeling well - taking nice cough syrup with codine from the pharmacy. Pharmacies in France rock! But the fever confermed her being sick. We kept going towards everyone else and Marie was quite the sport about it. We got to the square about an hour early. I ran to the nearest pharmacy (they are everywhere) and grabbed a box of green tea and we had Marie sit in the lobby of the other girl's hotel room and drink some. It helped to sit for a while.
Some people were talking about seeing a play and Noelle really wanted to so she joined them while Marie and I ran off to find something to eat. It was Creptes we settled on. I had a ham, mushroom, and cheese. Being veggie, Marie skipped the meat. Ishmal, another one of our SCADdites, followed us to the stand and got a steak and fry sandwich. We went to the guys hotel room to let Marie rest. She conked out right away and never finished her food. We sat there for a while. An old building. Everything is old - I like that. Eventually I wanted some chocolate. So Ish agreed to go with me to find a supermarche. This would have the yummies I was looking for.
After a ten minute walk I found a place still open that had what I was looking for. Just a very small closent but it carried anything a person could want to purchase after dark.
Then we chilled in the room for a while while Marie slept, but then Ish and I went to join everyone else for the thing, apparently, young people do in the city - inebriation. We found some hot spot, called Electrica or something. I chilled and watched as the id (Industrial Design) kids got the party started. After a while I got some variation of a Mahito. It tasted fine ( a lot of sugar and lemon,lime) but I wasn't going to down the thing so after an inch I gave it to someone who would enjoy it more. I think everyone had a good time. They (the id people) were also doing observational research for a product they are helping a company to launch. A sound company called Kicker asked them to help with there launch into the European market. Thus reasearching where people enjoy a lot of noise - the bar.
So closing time came and a few of us headed back to check on Marie. Noelle and I decided we should get a room for the night and some sleep. So we got one at the hotel where the girls were staying. It had a full size bed so the three of stayed warm. Both the bed I sat in the guy's room and our are not like our mattresses. These I think have memory foam or something of the sort. It is also very rare to have a tub - most of the washrooms have only showers. And the toilets flush way better than in the US. It is like full force WHOOSH!
After a good nights rest I went down stairs and requested a taxi to take us to Apt where some of those who didn't go to Avignon were at the Market. The taxi came at 10:30am. We arrived at 11:30am, just as our vans were pulling out of the parking lot - it was perfect timing and we jumped in as the vans pulled to the stoplight.
A stop at the supermarche was next. We were too late for the morning market time, dissappointing, but they happen every Saturday. The store is kind of like a Meijer but different. It has small sections of household items, lots of food, an entire isle devoted to dairy (both sides and possible another side) - they like their cheeses. Of course two isles of "beverages" and just the most widely random assortment of things. The items are all tightly put together on shelves (no wasted space). This supermarket even has bicycle tires and watercolors but the building is about the size of Elkhart or Nappanee Martins. It is a byob (bring your own bags) and pay for the carts. Aldi - esque. I just bought some shampoo and conditioner and clothespins. It is a challenge to decipher the labels on products, but I think I can do it much better than a week ago. The drive that took us to Avignon was the same man who picked me up from the airport a week ago. This made me think about how much more I know than a week ago. The girls and I (who don't speak French) were able to actually talk with him somewhat. It turns out he lives in the valley below Lacoste next to John Malcavitch. He has actually done some driving for John, who also lives in Boston. I was also able to successfully chat with more than one Frenchman. Don't worry most of them are like 60 anyway.
Yep, it was a busy 24 hours. Time for a nap.
That is an exageration. But I did have quite a night last night.
Thrusday a bunch of the students decided it would be neat to go to Avignon for the weekend. They all left on Friday at one and two - after our return from the market in Lumeron. At 3pm Marie, Noelle, and I took a taxi to Avignon. This is a large city about an hour away. The ride is naturally stop and go up and down hills. We survived the ride but Noelle was battling motionsickness. She overcame it eventually, but dear Marie was not feeling so hot.
We started exploring the city and ran into every person from the other groups on the way. There was an H&M mmm. And lots of stores to browse. We just kept walking and checking everything out. The sun was setting beautifully on the cathedral there. So we stopped took some photos. Aviginon reminds me of New York, but way WAY older. it is surrounded on two sides by the Rhone River and has fortress walls all around. The inner city (where we spent all of our time) is not very large and there are many people. It had large central squares every now and then. The streets jut off from that main plaza. We three just wandered and eventually got hungry. We were meeting the large group for supper at 8 but food was need beforehand. We stopped into a sweet shop where they had chocolates and glaze fruits. Marie picked out a couple and at this point realized she had a fever. She hadn't been feeling well - taking nice cough syrup with codine from the pharmacy. Pharmacies in France rock! But the fever confermed her being sick. We kept going towards everyone else and Marie was quite the sport about it. We got to the square about an hour early. I ran to the nearest pharmacy (they are everywhere) and grabbed a box of green tea and we had Marie sit in the lobby of the other girl's hotel room and drink some. It helped to sit for a while.
Some people were talking about seeing a play and Noelle really wanted to so she joined them while Marie and I ran off to find something to eat. It was Creptes we settled on. I had a ham, mushroom, and cheese. Being veggie, Marie skipped the meat. Ishmal, another one of our SCADdites, followed us to the stand and got a steak and fry sandwich. We went to the guys hotel room to let Marie rest. She conked out right away and never finished her food. We sat there for a while. An old building. Everything is old - I like that. Eventually I wanted some chocolate. So Ish agreed to go with me to find a supermarche. This would have the yummies I was looking for.
After a ten minute walk I found a place still open that had what I was looking for. Just a very small closent but it carried anything a person could want to purchase after dark.
Then we chilled in the room for a while while Marie slept, but then Ish and I went to join everyone else for the thing, apparently, young people do in the city - inebriation. We found some hot spot, called Electrica or something. I chilled and watched as the id (Industrial Design) kids got the party started. After a while I got some variation of a Mahito. It tasted fine ( a lot of sugar and lemon,lime) but I wasn't going to down the thing so after an inch I gave it to someone who would enjoy it more. I think everyone had a good time. They (the id people) were also doing observational research for a product they are helping a company to launch. A sound company called Kicker asked them to help with there launch into the European market. Thus reasearching where people enjoy a lot of noise - the bar.
So closing time came and a few of us headed back to check on Marie. Noelle and I decided we should get a room for the night and some sleep. So we got one at the hotel where the girls were staying. It had a full size bed so the three of stayed warm. Both the bed I sat in the guy's room and our are not like our mattresses. These I think have memory foam or something of the sort. It is also very rare to have a tub - most of the washrooms have only showers. And the toilets flush way better than in the US. It is like full force WHOOSH!
After a good nights rest I went down stairs and requested a taxi to take us to Apt where some of those who didn't go to Avignon were at the Market. The taxi came at 10:30am. We arrived at 11:30am, just as our vans were pulling out of the parking lot - it was perfect timing and we jumped in as the vans pulled to the stoplight.
A stop at the supermarche was next. We were too late for the morning market time, dissappointing, but they happen every Saturday. The store is kind of like a Meijer but different. It has small sections of household items, lots of food, an entire isle devoted to dairy (both sides and possible another side) - they like their cheeses. Of course two isles of "beverages" and just the most widely random assortment of things. The items are all tightly put together on shelves (no wasted space). This supermarket even has bicycle tires and watercolors but the building is about the size of Elkhart or Nappanee Martins. It is a byob (bring your own bags) and pay for the carts. Aldi - esque. I just bought some shampoo and conditioner and clothespins. It is a challenge to decipher the labels on products, but I think I can do it much better than a week ago. The drive that took us to Avignon was the same man who picked me up from the airport a week ago. This made me think about how much more I know than a week ago. The girls and I (who don't speak French) were able to actually talk with him somewhat. It turns out he lives in the valley below Lacoste next to John Malcavitch. He has actually done some driving for John, who also lives in Boston. I was also able to successfully chat with more than one Frenchman. Don't worry most of them are like 60 anyway.
Yep, it was a busy 24 hours. Time for a nap.
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