These last two days have certainly been pleins d'aventures. Starting last night, all the girls met up and shared a few bottles of wine and boxes of Chinese take-out at Kathy and Valentina's new apartment right in the middle of Old Antibes. And WOW is that one of the cutest apartments I've seen here! So not only do they have that going, but it's also right in the middle of everything happening downtown. Good work, girls.
After much stalling last night, we finally made our way out to this salsa dance club/bar in Juan-les-Pins, after Kathy and Natalie's French teacher friends invited them/us out. They went last weekend and told me how intense everyone was with the salsa dancing, and since I have NO IDEA how to do it, I -- again -- had no idea what I was in for.
Let me just say that the highlight of the night probably was taking part in this huge line of people doing some crazy choreographed dance. The thing that kept running through my mind was that one line from the prom scene in Not Another Teen Movie, "I didn't know everyone at this school was a professional dancer." Haha, and then right after that some 1950s songs came on and then everyone busts out SWING DANCING. Fantastic!
Natalie and I were asked by this gay man to salsa and he taught us briefly during one song. I was super nervous about it, but he was hysterical so that made things a little easier. But the point of this story is that this morning I was feeling the burn. Salsa is fantastic exercise, even if I only did dance to three or four songs.
Waking up in their apartment this morning -- did I mention how CUTE it was?! -- Valentina, Kathy and I all got together and made a quasi-American breakfast consisting of fried eggs, toast and jam, Italian coffee to represent Valentina's heritage, and oatmeal. Then we decided to go exploring in their quartier of Antibes. Our mid-morning journey took us to the CHRISTMAS MARCHE that kicked off today, the open-air market, and then Yves Rocher which is pretty much the French equivalent of Bath and Body Works, but much neater.
After that was all done, I said my goodbyes and made my way to the gare routière to purchase my next monthly pass for the city bus since it's finally December, the final month of 2007. Wow, already?! Then I'd been hearing rumors about us already receiving paychecks, so I went to my bank to see if that was true, AND IT TOTALLY IS! Meaning not only do I have 100 percent of my paycheck from November, but also the other 25 percent from October finally!! Needless to say, this month is probably the richest I'll be in France.
Then I came back home around noon only to remember that my roommate said her boyfriend's parents were coming over for lunch, so I see the biggest array of food ready and waiting to go in the kitchen! Oh my, I'm gastronomically in way over my head here. It was another good time. Tomorrow I think Karina and I are going to have another roommate cooking session and make MEXICAN FOOD together, since I purchased a really cheap kit from the international section at Carrefour.
So to end my day, I finally decided to sign up for a gym here in France. I rationalized that decision by a thought process that goes something like this:
"Well, I didn't end up going to Italy today. The train ticket alone would have been 25 Euros. Then I probably would have made a few purchases, including lunch if nothing else. Thus, my total for the day most likely would have been nearly 50 Euros. For one month of gym membership I can pay 43 Euros, plus that will fill up a lot of my down time that I spend eating. And if I'm going to continue eating all these delicious things here in France -- which I'm entitled to do, damnit -- and mentally refuse to give in to buying new, bigger sized clothes, then I better start working out a lot more. And I can't exactly stick to running anymore since I've exhausted all the routes, it gets dark super early, and it's freezing/raining more often than it was at the end of the summer. So it's 43 Euros well spent."
Oh yeah, and did I mention the gym's called Versace Gym and is modeled after Muscle Beach in Los Angeles, because the owner is super obsessed with 1980s beach culture?! Haha, that alone is worth my patronage.
After much stalling last night, we finally made our way out to this salsa dance club/bar in Juan-les-Pins, after Kathy and Natalie's French teacher friends invited them/us out. They went last weekend and told me how intense everyone was with the salsa dancing, and since I have NO IDEA how to do it, I -- again -- had no idea what I was in for.
Let me just say that the highlight of the night probably was taking part in this huge line of people doing some crazy choreographed dance. The thing that kept running through my mind was that one line from the prom scene in Not Another Teen Movie, "I didn't know everyone at this school was a professional dancer." Haha, and then right after that some 1950s songs came on and then everyone busts out SWING DANCING. Fantastic!
Natalie and I were asked by this gay man to salsa and he taught us briefly during one song. I was super nervous about it, but he was hysterical so that made things a little easier. But the point of this story is that this morning I was feeling the burn. Salsa is fantastic exercise, even if I only did dance to three or four songs.
Waking up in their apartment this morning -- did I mention how CUTE it was?! -- Valentina, Kathy and I all got together and made a quasi-American breakfast consisting of fried eggs, toast and jam, Italian coffee to represent Valentina's heritage, and oatmeal. Then we decided to go exploring in their quartier of Antibes. Our mid-morning journey took us to the CHRISTMAS MARCHE that kicked off today, the open-air market, and then Yves Rocher which is pretty much the French equivalent of Bath and Body Works, but much neater.
After that was all done, I said my goodbyes and made my way to the gare routière to purchase my next monthly pass for the city bus since it's finally December, the final month of 2007. Wow, already?! Then I'd been hearing rumors about us already receiving paychecks, so I went to my bank to see if that was true, AND IT TOTALLY IS! Meaning not only do I have 100 percent of my paycheck from November, but also the other 25 percent from October finally!! Needless to say, this month is probably the richest I'll be in France.
Then I came back home around noon only to remember that my roommate said her boyfriend's parents were coming over for lunch, so I see the biggest array of food ready and waiting to go in the kitchen! Oh my, I'm gastronomically in way over my head here. It was another good time. Tomorrow I think Karina and I are going to have another roommate cooking session and make MEXICAN FOOD together, since I purchased a really cheap kit from the international section at Carrefour.
So to end my day, I finally decided to sign up for a gym here in France. I rationalized that decision by a thought process that goes something like this:
"Well, I didn't end up going to Italy today. The train ticket alone would have been 25 Euros. Then I probably would have made a few purchases, including lunch if nothing else. Thus, my total for the day most likely would have been nearly 50 Euros. For one month of gym membership I can pay 43 Euros, plus that will fill up a lot of my down time that I spend eating. And if I'm going to continue eating all these delicious things here in France -- which I'm entitled to do, damnit -- and mentally refuse to give in to buying new, bigger sized clothes, then I better start working out a lot more. And I can't exactly stick to running anymore since I've exhausted all the routes, it gets dark super early, and it's freezing/raining more often than it was at the end of the summer. So it's 43 Euros well spent."
Oh yeah, and did I mention the gym's called Versace Gym and is modeled after Muscle Beach in Los Angeles, because the owner is super obsessed with 1980s beach culture?! Haha, that alone is worth my patronage.
...31 More Days Until France BANS Indoor Smoking! :)
- and -
24 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE!!
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