Bellegarde Makes Dinner

Friday class went very smoothly. Learned a lot more about literature and art pre-20th century, and now apparently we are able to begin the course on 20th-century art and literature. Very excited. Can't wait to visit the Louvre and Musée d'Orsay for class!

For dinner I ate at La Vigne with Mickey, who I went to high school with, and she is studying in Aix for the whole year (so she is already a pro at...everything here!). La Vigne was absolutely delicious. For 15 euros, we had 3 courses: entrée (in France this is the appetizer), un plat (main course) and le dessert (self-explanatory). If you get a chance to go, please do! Mickey's friend Emily, who is also in Aix for the year, joined us for dinner and we all shared a nice bottle of red wine. Being able to legally drink wine at dinner in Aix definitely has its perks! I love France. After dinner, hung out with some more people from Wellesley (Mickey and Emily go to school there) in their beautiful auberges. After a very long girl chat, we headed back to Bellegarde to end the night. Instead found a party, but everyone soon left to go to the smelly and smokey bars, and I just went to back and chatted with Eszter and Renaud until about... 3 am? Whoops? We also watched some more 'How I Met Your Mother.' Great show.

Saturday I was supposed to wake up early and go to the markets, which close at noon. Too bad I woke up at 12:30. Oh well. Next week! Booked my february break plans... going to Italy! So excited. Going to spend a couple of days in Rome, Napoli, Pompeii, and maybe even Capri. Airplane flights were way too expensive and none actually went to any convenient places, so we're going to take an overnight train. Really inexpensive, and hey, at least I'll be sleeping for most of it anyways. Still need to plan out the intricacies of the trip, but that shouldn't be too hard to plan!

Saturday we also decided to cook a HUGE meal. So Eszter and I went out shopping all over Aix, from EuroDiscount (hint: don't go there to buy produce..ick..) to MonoPrix, and finally back to Marche Franprix. My plan was to make a goat cheese and tomato tart. Not too bad. If you ever want to find puff pastry in a French store, look for "pâte feulleuitée." Just FYI. Eszter didn't really have a plan, but I found rabbit in MonoPrix and that was it. So for dinner.. our grand total of cooked goods were:
1. Greek Salad (with sheep cheese)
2. The chouffleur
3. Ravioli (the boys contributed)

4. Goat cheese tart












5. Zucchini with parsley
6. Rabbit (Lapin) au Vin















Today was another very lazy Sunday. Since nothing was open, there was no reason to wake up early. So instead, slept again until noon. Did some SKYPEing with Dad and the Boy, finished up some homework, and somehow time just flew. For dinner grabbed Pizza Capri with Emily. Everyone says its the best pizza in Aix. It was OK. I'm kind of afraid to try the rest of the pizza in Aix. I like how they use Swiss cheese here, though. Interesting flavor. Will definitely have to try some more pizza places (if my stomach allows me to) and report back and give you the ACTUAL download of which pizza places are the best.

Have to wake up très tôt tomorrow morning for my 8:30 am (yikes) class, so time for me to hit the hay.

Oh and back in Nashville it was Bid Day for AOPi. Can't wait to hear about and meet the new AOPi panda babies! Alpha Love <3