•10:44 AM
Bonjour a tous!!

Well, I should really keep up with this better because I have a TON to write! This next post should be about Paris, but I don't have my pictures on this computer, so I'm just doing a brief update. This is post-Paris, I am in Pau, met my family 2 days ago, and I just took my first test. That's right: we've been here 2 days and we have a test already. (: It was really just a placement test, so no big deal, but still a test.

My family is wonderful. The dad is from Spain (!!) and is so Spanish. Talks all the time, very warm, very friendly, love love. The mom is an excellent cook: the first night we had a tartlette of tomatoes, ham, onions, and cheese: so good!! And of course, bread, salad, and we started off with cantoulope. Last night we had some huge (like, well over a foot long) zucchini or something from her garden. She split it in half, stuffed it with some meat, cheese, herb mixture and baked it for an hour or so. Again, really good!
They have 2 kids at home: twin 17 year olds, a boy Paul and a girl Caroline. Both absolutely beautiful. Here's a fun I'm-definitely-living-in-your-midst story: I took a shower last night before dinner, and I really agonized over whether I should wear shoes down to dinner or do they care? Really agonized. I didn't want to offend them, but I really didn't want to wear shoes either. Well, I put on my flip flops and went down to dinner. And don't worry, Paul showed up without a shirt on. All I could think of was Aunt Bea from Andy Griffith: "Opie! You can't show up to the table like a naked savage!! Go put a shirt on!" I think I don't have to wear shoes anymore. (:

This morning was an adventure. It's about 3 miles from my house to campus, but I live next door to another USAC student. Today, we used their bikes to get to class. Well, like I said, it's pretty far, and we have to go through about 5 roudabouts. I haven't ridden a bike in probably 3 years, so I was a tiny bit wobbly. We almost died about 3 times because there are no bikes lanes in the roundabouts and the cars don't stay in their lines... I just yelped a few times... anyway, we made it, but I really got the blood flowing, that's for sure!

Well, I'm waiting to go take a phonetics evaluation. Sitting in a room alone with a French person who is evaluating every word you say for pronunciation and grammar: that's not at all intimidating... (: Wish me luck!

Anyway, love to all! I'll wtire again soon!
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3 comments:

On September 10, 2009 at 3:57 PM , Carrie said...

Katie, you are so funny!! Mom says she can already tell a difference in your English...like you are talking with an accent...but it's typing...can you do that??? lol anyways, I'm loving the stories, keep em comin!

 
On September 19, 2009 at 1:02 AM , Wilhelm said...

Hey Kt - luv your pix - isn't the cover on your bed a "duvet"? Glad you have mountains in sight. Is Pau small like Auburn?

 
On September 19, 2009 at 5:00 PM , Unknown said...

comment allez-vous! tres bien [i hope!] have you considered hitchhiking to class? that bike riding sounds like hard work. maybe your dad could buy you a car and ship it over.. or a harley!