Avignon

Meet Marc. He's our tour guide, since he knows more about the sites than the actual tour guides. That's Avignon behind him.
My last, but not least, excursion was to the city of Avignon, built during the Roman Empire. The city is historically famous, because in the 14^th century the Pope transferred from Rome to the economically flourishing city. (small replica of the palace...I got in trouble for taking this picture. I hope you're grateful.)

Of course this then led to the Great Schism (a time when there were 2 Popes), and eventually the Papacy moved back to Rome. Luckily, the Le Palais de Papes, once the largest Gothic palace in Europe, remains in Avignon for all to tour.

And then there’s Le pont St. Bénézet where something happened with the young Sheppard Bénézet and God, but I didn’t catch what. But everyone goes to the end of the bridge and turns around because of the song “Sur le pont d’Avignon, L'on y danse, L'on y danse. Sur le pont d'Avignon, L'on y danse tout en rond" Somehow I missed that one during my childhood.

After Avignon, we toured a local vineyard while they explained how wine was made…

Into the 2^nd week of integrated French classes, I’m still not sure what classes I’m taking…as of right now I have History of French Cinema, History of Mediterranean Cinema, Spanish Literature, Spanish Text Approach, French Methodology (lots of papers), Pronunciation, and Contemporary History…I’m waiting on some Political Science courses (hopefully Great Democracies since 1945 and International Relations since 1860, fingers crossed). My brain gets a workout during my Spanish classes because the professors speak both interchangeably…my notes look ridiculous. It may seem like a lot, but it comes out to 18ish hours, AND I don’t have classes Wednesdays of Fridays!!! I’m already planning some weekend trips. -- Any suggestions/people you know I could stay with in France, Spain, UK, or Brussels (there’s a deal for 9 euro in October for a round trip through Ryan Air)?

We had a surprise party for Caroline’s 19^th birthday on Saturday night. She already knew about it (ooops, I spilled the beans…when you tell someone about a birthday party, you should MENTION that it’s a surprise! And she could tell from the way her mom was acting: “MAKE SURE YOU’RE HOME SATURDAY NIGHT!”) She still acted very, very surprised. She’s a drama queen with lots of boy "situations" (makes for good conversation). (She's the brunette. Her friend Marie also goes to my University.)

I love her, and we go ice-skating twice to three times a week. I’m getting really good! Double axels by the time I get back to the US!

Once a year, the city of Montpellier has its HUGE Foire des Assosiations with over 1000 tents of different clubs/groups in Montpellier. EVERYONE goes to sign up for their year’s activities. It was this past Sunday and I found a university choir (I have an audition next week) and a few Hip-Hop dance groups that I’m going to check out. I also went to a really tiny church Sunday morning with about 15 people. They were nice, but that afternoon I went to another church that I liked a lot better. I stayed for their choir practice, and I have an audition Sunday. We would sing at a few services and some weddings.

There was a really cool Scottish girl Kat that stayed with us to learn French last week…one week is not enough time. (That's Sarah below...we're running the 20k in Paris together with George!)

That’s all for now…Try to keep ME posted on what’s been going on with YOU!!!