Everybody's working for le week-end.

If I don't start writing soon, things are gonna start backing up. So far, I have Sunday, Monday, and today to cover. Let's hope for the best.

Sunday morning, I visited a small church about 20 minutes away. It was a protestant church, specifically, baptist. They are one of the few that have a site-Web. Otherwise, I would have never known about it. Despite having the address, I arrived almost too late. Almost. The service was a tad different, with emphasis on what they called louange. There were two baptême, which included testimonies from the two baptisés. This was followed by a message. And then cake, celebrating the new believers. Afterall, they're still baptists.

After the service, I left to find a baguette. Baguette, among students in France, is synonymous with 'meal'.  While at the boulangerie, I encountered a young Taiwanese woman who recognized me from the église. She did what, to date, no other person in France has done with/to me. She faire'd la bise. Elle m'a embrassé. I think the beard keeps most people at bay.

Anyway, she introduced me to a new friend Etienne, who I mistook for being French (he spoke English with a French accent). He turns out to be South African (Afrikaans); he has a job in researching the effects of climate change on viticulture. Very cool. We chatted a bit as we walked home, and agreed to meet at a café later, with a few other people. French people. At last.

I forgot to mention that the weather was spectacular. Blue skies.

The soirée turned out to be pretty fun. We went to a café, ambiguosly named Chez Toi, where I was informed that chocolat viennois is a girly drink. Not that it stopped me. We passed a pretty decent night chatting it up. The usual subjects cropped up: la musique, le cinéma, la language, etc.

The chocolat viennois didn't agree with me. Too much cream.

A short bit about Monday: it sucked. The first class I attended was, more or less, Comparative Literature. It was on Cervantes (Don Quixote) and Homer(The Illiad). You may have noticed an absence of any French writers. We did too. I've wanted to study the classics more, but I think that this is neither time nor place for it. The next class began with a presentation of the texts we'd be studying, all of which were French. The professeur than began to lecture on the first book, entitled 'Les Faux-Monayeurs'. Two hours later, I may have caught about 1/4 of what he was trying to get across. My fellow ERASMUS (they call all foreigners ERASMUS) students were just as lost. At the end of the course, the majority of us (including myself) told him that we'd be coming next time. I highly doubt that (especially on my part).

Today is proving better, albeit I've only attended one class. The exact subject of the class escapes me  (I think it might be grammar driven), but we spent the class analyzing two poems. However, the professor seems well versed in linguistics, so I was pleased. I could also understand her well, which helped.

I have one meeting left today, with the head of the institut where I'm taking the majority of my class. I should have had this meeting last week, but they don't exactly seem to have it together. I've literally been going to classes without knowing the fundamental information about the subject matter. After tonight, I should be able to attend classes with a definitive idea of what's in them. Hopefully.

A small note: there is both an Ancien Français course and a Phililogie Latine course. One way or another, I'm going to wriggle into at least one of them.