No New News.

Well, not too much has happened since my last post.  But I will let you all in on what little has happened!
Last weekend we had our second free excursion.  We went to a small fortified medieval city called La Couvertoirade.  The place literally looked like it was designed as a set for Walt Disney and I was just waiting for Belle to come walking around the corner.  This little town is home for only 27 people!!  We learned a lot of history....which unfortunately (or fortunately?!?!?) in a group of 40-50 people is quite difficult to hear.  But I posted pictures on Facebook if you haven't already seen them!!  One really cool thing about the town was that they had these flowers posted on every home door, which lived for up to 6 years even after having been cut from the vine.  These flowers would open when dry and close when wet (or maybe the inverse of that...can't remember).

So this is obviously a picture of one of those flowers!!

Another weird thing that happened while we were there is that it "rained"  I truly don't believe that the french know what true rain is, because they have the softest, lightest rain, which I call Pansy Rain.  Well this rain was confusing.  It was super sunny out, and not a cloud over our head.  It was also quite windy, so what "rain" was coming down was blowing all over the place.  It was so light that is almost felt like snow!!  

Our next stop was to the highest bridge in Europe.  I quite honestly don't remember the name of it, but it was pretty neat.  On one side it looked over a village, and on the other it was pretty much hills and such. We parked in a parking lot and climbed the hill to get on the same height as the bridge.  We thought the wind at La Couvertoirade was bad...Then we walked up several meters and we were all worried about blowing off the side!  

After that we went to Les Caves de Roquefort.  What an interesting tour.  We saw several  videos that portrayed the cheese as if it were Mother Teresa, a wartime hero or a Saint.  I will write a small excerpt from their brochure : 

"Roquefort was born in an extraordinary setting, where the whims of the formation of the earth met the century-old passion of men and the astonishing adaptation of a breed of ewes.  Roquefort cheese has asserted itself as a monarch of taste for centuries.  Throughout its wondrous history, it has conquered the palaces and enraptured the palates of kings and queens..."  

Anyway, there were light shows and short films during our tour.  Which leads me to the cheese itself.  This cheese is made in a microclimate perfect for Roquefort Cheese.  They mature in these naturally made caves with a steady temperature of 8 - 10 degrees C and 95% humidity year round.  While we weren't supposed to take pictures, I managed to snap a few.  It was crazy how much cheese they had!!  

And this was just one of the 3 giant rooms!!

Now, I wish I could put a smell of this place on my blog.  If you will, imagine the smell of damp, humid cave, accompanied by the smell of blue cheese.  I walked out feeling like I smelt like a pair of used socks...Also, the spider webs growing so closely to this cheese made me not really ever want to eat Roquefort cheese again.

That was it for our excursion.  Then last Sunday I went to another fortified city called Aigues-Mortes.  I remember learning about it in my French Civ. class last semester, but unfortunately I didn't and still don't  remember why. We didn't do too much there.  We walked around the little streets and went into an awesome little candy store!  Oh yes, we did stop at a bakery that makes a specialty from Aigues-Mortes called Fougasse.  Fougasse is  (of course) a sweet treat.  It is essentially brioche with a layer of sugary-orange blossom glaze on top.   It was interesting..I kind of felt like I was eating a flower, but in a good way!  My host family took me so that when I go next weekend with my dad I will at least know the place a little!

Then yesterday I went to the beach!!  This was my second attempt...the first was with Chris.  Now you would think that something like the beach would be so simple!!  My friend Simone and I were going to meet up with some friends at the flea market that was on the beach.  Well we got there (after our 30 minute walk due to a yet again, another confusing bus ride...), and after probably an hour and a half of wandering around, we realized that we were not on the same beach as our friends, but they were on the beach in our next town.  Well we could at least see where they were in the distance, so we walked to the next town, on the beach!!  It only took us a little over an hour to get there.  Well they left right as we got there, so we just sat on the sand and played a little.  The Sand there was marvelous, truly the softest sand that I had ever felt!!  It was quite a beautiful day and I even got some rosy cheeks and nose to prove it!

I am getting excited because my dad comes in just 3 days!!!  Our plan is to spend a few days in Montpellier, and then one day in Nimes and one day in Aigues-Mortes.  According to my countdown, I have 53 days left!!  It helps knowing that I am on the downhill side of things, and the days ahead of me are not quite so numerous.  I know that these last weeks (7 + some days!!!) will fly by so quickly and then I will get to go back home!

Also, I would like to mention that I did two weird things today:

1. I watched the Grinch. Kind of a weird sensation to watch a Christmas movie in the middle of Spring on a rainy day.

2. I took a nap!!  So the weird thing above can kind of be voided because I slept during the Grinch!!  This has not happened since the very first weekend that I was at this house and when I could nap because of the jet lag!  This time I could nap because there was nobody in the house!!  It was wonderful; no yelling, no loud footsteps and no moving of furniture!

A bientôt mes amis.