Nonsense

This weekend half of my class mates headed down South to Saint Tropez- A place the French describe as being very Cliche, very expensive, and very famous for celebrity vacationing. While all of that sounded thrilling this girl did not have the funds to sponsor the trip or really the desire. Why not go somewhere on the coast that is just as beautiful, less touristy, and less expensive? Some things we'll just never know. Besides, there was a train strike on Thursday so everyone planning to go to Saint Tropez had to wait an extra day and pay for the hotel room that they never stayed in that night. Emily here was so frazzled about it that she dropped her Saint Tropez diet and went crazy at the vending machine. You think I'm kidding, I'm not. She requested this photo after exclaiming "Screw Saint Tropez! I've cracked! I've cracked!" With all of the commotion of the day everyone was a little bit on edge. Even me. I cracked too and bought a whole Brioche to share with myself over the weekend. In class nobody would focus because there was a retirement/public transportation strike happening out of our classroom window and the guy in the crane was wearing a sombrero. When you can't beat 'em, join 'em, that's what Soya must have decided because she ended up taking the class outside where we participated in the retirement/ public transportation strike. There was a woman singing something over a loud speaker in French. I couldn't interpret her words, but even in French I knew that she sounded horrible because everyone was covering their ears. Her voice was shrill. I think one could call it a little overbearing even. If that voice wouldn't drive the French government to change their ways I don't know what would. Soya disagreed, she said the French strike too much now for it too be effective. Soya is so wise. And in case you were at all curious, which I know you were, this is what a French hotdog looks like. We went to eat afterwards and this is what I discovered. A north African Sausage tucked snuggly between a baguette with cheese crisped on top of course. I am normally not a fan of the hotdog, there is something about them that I just can't handle, but the baguette was a nice spin on an old friend.


And in case that food wasn't quite French for you, I got tres Francaise when I arrived home for the evening to discover that we were eating snails for dinner. It was possibly the best escargot I have ever had surprisingly enough, however I did not go as crazy as Axel did. After he picked the snail out of the shell he would then such the juices out. You're welcome for sharing that.
On Friday everyone of my classmates was gone for good so I passed the day exploring on my own. When I woke up in the morning I thought I was home alone so when I took a shower I also took the liberty of singing in it. Guess who emerged from his room after my shower? Leo. Had it been Axel we would have been even considering one time Axel walked out of the shower naked not knowing I was around, but it was Leo and therefore I was slightly embarrassed, but also glad to be wearing clothes. Poor Axel. The rest of the morning I spent wandering the Point du Jour Market and chatting with Leo about how men in France wear Capris. Then Leo and I took the bus together, he went to his internship as the glasses shop and I went to the Musee Beaux Arts. It is apparently the second largest in France but on thanks to the Louvre it as well known. I must say thought that it was a beautiful day so I spent much of my time sidetracked. Pictured above is a bunch of "MacDo" (Frenchy word for McDonald's) sitting on the lawn. I took this picture because French people are always complaining about how much they HATE McDonald's, how they NEVER eat it, and how that it the source of America's obesity. Wouldn't they be embarrassed to see this picture of themselves? Also if the French really never ate MacDo'd then they wouldn't exist in France. France claims MacDo is a MacNo but I don't believe them for a second. Nonetheless it was a gorgeous day in a gorgeous city. The river looked especially charming so I walked along side it, sat next to it, talked to it, took pictures of it, but did not get in it. If you eat fish from the Rhone or the Saone you get ill because the water is so polluted. Yikes. At the art Museum I found some Monet and Renoir again which was kind of nice since seeing it at the Musee D'orsay was like shopping on black Friday. I also saw a smaller, less green/moldy copy of the Statue of Liberty. USA is A-Okay. After the museum I walked all over town and meandered home slowly. I had the urge to buy a baguette and eat it for a late lunch and I did. I didn't think much of it at all as I sat there on the steps of St. Jean Cathedral devouring the thing until I noticed tourists taking pictures of me. And then it hit me, all of this time I have probably been photographing people who I think are cliche Frenchies when in reality they are probably just overly zealous tourists like myself. Do real French people eat a plain baguette for lunch? Probably not. They eat their baguette for dinner, for breakfast, but with lots of butter. Anyway I am glad that someone took a picture of me stuffing my face with baguette, perhaps they have a blog and someone is contemplating my Frenchiness. After all of that commotion went back to 7 Bis Impasse du point du jour only to find a slightly distraught Leo- He got a 42 Euro ticket on the bus for staying on too long. In case you wondered what a French ticket looks like, I took a picture. I also told Leo that in the US I could have gotten out of this ticket by being a girl, flirting with the cop, or crying. I also bragged that here I could tell the cop I was a stupid American and I didn't know better. Someone was jealous. I retired home for the evening and watched Baby Geniuses dubbed over in French with Elliott. I knew exactly what the movie was the moment it came on but when Elliott started explaining it to me like I didn't know, I went along with it for the sake of listening to Elliott try to explain the concept of babies being geniuses. It was all too perfect for me. So perfect in fact that I fell asleep there and Elliott woke me up and told me it was necessary for me to get in my bed. I feel like the roles should have been reversed there, but the Jouaret family was too quick to figure out that I fall asleep any time anywhere and they enjoy mocking me for it, just like everyone at home.