Weekend in Tarbes!

Hey, hey, hey!

I know it's been awhile, yet again. I've had a lot of school work to do lately, and not much time to blog. But, I had two finals today, which means I only have one class left. Finance and Marketing are officially over! The exams weren't bad at all, so I'm not worried. I scheduled my classes for fall quarter today. I am taking two accounting classes, one (hopefully two if I get pink-slipped in) MIS classes, and an econ class. I was stressing about being able to get into all the classes I needed, but it all worked out.

Last weekend was a lot of fun. After class Friday we went to Tarbes, about 45 minutes east of Pau. I went with two other Americans: Jerome and Ashton, and three French students: Florence, Celine, and Mickael (a boy). We stayed in Florence's (we call her Flo) house. I was very surprised when her mother came to the gate and she was... British! Well, she's French, but she lived in London for three years so she has a British accent when she speaks in English. She was so nice and hospitable. We bought her an oil distiller and two different oils as gifts for letting us stay in her house.

On Friday night we had kiesh for dinner (I probably spelled that wrong). It was really good! Then we had ice cream for dessert and went to bed soon after. We didn't eat until around 9 and were exhausted for some reason. The next day we went to the open market. It was really cool. Local farmers come and sell whatever they grow, goat cheese, spinach, honey, what have you. It was a really neat experience to see it.

Then we drove to Toulouse, which is about an hour and a half away from Tarbes. We met Danielle's (Flo's mother) friend there, and she showed us around the city. We saw an art museum and the town square. There was a rugby game that day, and we saw all of the supports in full-out team gear and face paint. It was pretty rowdy. We walked all over and got lunch (Danielle paid), which was really cool. After that the adults let us walk around by ourselves for an hour, and I found a cool store in which I bought my Dad's father's day present. (Don't worry Mom, I didn't leave you out).

Then we went home, rested and waited for dinner. Danielle (by the way, she insisted that we call her that because the Americans couldn't pronounce her last name) made shepard's pie and it was delicious! Afterwards we had goat cheese and honey for dessert- something I didn't think I would like, but I enjoyed very much. That night we met Flo's boyfriend at a bar and then went to O2 or Oxygen, the biggest discotechque in the area. It was really cool, and we danced and had a really good time. We only stayed until 2:30, though. (Thank goodness!)

The next morning Danielle let us sleep in and we had an American breakfast: sausage, scrambled eggs, croissants with jam, and goat cheese and honey again. Then we had chantilly and fresh strawberries afterwards. Soon after we headed back to Pau and our fun weekend was over. It was really nice, though, to have some time with the Frenchies outside of class. The six of us have become really good friends and it will be sad when we all have to part ways. But, we have made a pact that 5 years from now, when we have good jobs, we will meet up somewhere and see each other again.

Okay, that's it for now! Less than a week left!! Love you!