May 16

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 It rained all day again today! It had better be nice in Avingon because the rain and grey skies are pretty much getting to be depressing at this point!! I still did stuff today though, despite the rain…it is just much easier playing tourist when it is not raining!! I “slept in” until 7am this morning because I did not go to school this morning. Instead, after breakfast I packed up my backpack and my bag so that I could change houses later today. I really did not even bother to unpack at this place because I was only here for three days, so it didn’t take much to pack, really. The Dr office wasn’t that far away (well, nothing here is too far away!!) so I biked there and back, and I didn’t even get lost at all! The Dr was super nice and great about taking me despite my lack of France health card and that whole bit. I got antibiotics, nose drop dealeos and some other thing. I feel like I am practically a pharmacy now – I have been there 3 times in the past week and have 5 different drugs! It doesn’t really seem like I am typically quite healthy. Ironic, I guess. Sylvie came back to get me on her break. After getting my drugs, we went back to St Joseph where I hung out in the library for an hour or so until I met Gerard for lunch. Lunch at the cafeterias here are pretty darn good. And, even if they aren’t, there is always cheese, bread, and fruit – so I’m fine! I borrowed and umbrella and walked downtown again this afternoon. Because tomorrow’s a holiday nothing is going to be open at all. I’m going to have to find something to do, I guess!! Anyway, this time I had a map and I made it downtown a lot faster than I did yesterday. It was funny walking down town from the school yesterday because I was simply following the road signs for the tourist info building, and the cars definitely go a nice round about route to get there! I visited La Musée des Beaux Arts for a good hour and a half. Pretty good for someone who lacks an appreciation for museums, if I do say so myself. It is located in Le Palais des Ducs (which is in la Place de la Libération and is supposed to be one of the most beautiful museums in France – every city has one museum that is supposed to be the most beautiful!! It is kinda funny.). Then, I made my way over to the Cathedral so I could see it again. I saw all these things yesterday on my “chouette” tour, but I didn’t really go inside anything. The Cathedral was nice…church-like and everything!! The rain was driving me totally nutty so I ended up walking around the mall-type arrangement of stores for a couple of hours. There was a really cool bead store where I spent a good chunk of time looking around as well as a supermarket. I always have fun looking around in those! I had a crêpe for a snack this afternoon around 4pm too… I made it back to the car at the lysée for 5:30 so that I could be dropped off at my new house. I was really sad to see Sylvie and Gerard go, especially because I knew what I was about to get myself into at Michelle and Bernard’s place from hearing the other OSEF people talk about them at dinner last week. The house was pretty much how I pictured it would be after meeting the two of them – about as sterile as a hospital. I would not have hesitated for one minute to eat dinner off the floor! It is kinda weird, to be honest. The bonus is that I am really only here for one day because we leave for Avignon early on Friday morning! And it is really an interesting study of people to be switching houses so often. I will definitely have a good “sample” of the “typical” French family after my two months here!! I just wish it would stop raining so that I could at least go exploring a bit without getting soaked!! It’ll be nice in Avignon. Night -Allison P.S. For those of you who keep telling me that our Prime Minister is Steven Harper...I actually do know that! As soon as I stopped trying to remember who it was I remembered!! I am not great at politics, I know, but I think I've got that one, quand même!! :)