a bit of a dreary week.... with some highlights.

well, today marks the end of the Dark Week.... i started feeling really bad wednesday morning, got worse on thursday, and had been pretty miserable since then. however, after a good night's sleep and some cold and cough meds from louise, i feel better today!! i'm still not at 100%, but i felt well enough to go to my lit class at 1 and, though i still coughed a lot, i did just fine. i'm really starting to like this class. it's on "Balzac et la nouvelle musicale" - basically, the use of musical references in Balzac's Comedie Humaine. the first two classes have been pretty general introductory lectures, but we're going to talk more specifically about the music and operas referenced in the works before we start talking about the works themselves. sounds like fun, since we all know how much i want to be an opera buff ^_^ also, i must admit that there's a special place in my heart for French Romanticism... le sigh.
i've decided not to worry about my classes. if things got really desperate, i only need to get nine credits from the regular classes plus the three we got from PRUNE, and i'll have the minumum 12 credits. best case scenario, i could potentially come home with 18 credits.... but that would make me an overachiever, so that's out of the question. i may continue to sit in on art moderne and just not take it for credit, because it's interesting, but not so interesting that i would want to spend an exorbitant amount of time studying it.
this weekend was verrrrrry lowkey. we (scottie, emily, lauren, linda, et moi) wanted to go to the opera on sunday, but unfortunately it was standing room only. not wanting to stand in our
heels for 3.5 hours of intense russian drama, we came up with plan B: go to monoprix, buy snacks and girly drinks, go home and have a girls' night in. would have been a lot more fun if i hadn't been sick, but at least i was with people!! plus, seeing lauren dance was pretty amazing. it was ridiculously silly fun and i loved it.

saturday was still pretty chill... i left the apartment to go to the librarie with scottie and emily to buy books. i could have spent ages in the french bookstores! i ended up finding one of my balzac texts and some school supplies.... including a fountain pen (yay i feel euro.) we made dinner together that night - scottie made a fabulous roasted tomato and garlic soup, emily and lisa shared their quiche with a potato crust, and i made apple pie.... which turned out surprisingly well! the crust was way different that usual, either because of different proportions that usual or because of the french ingredients.... in any case, the crust was really flaky and delicious. i didn't know i could do that!
sunday was market day, which made me happy even though it was freezing.... i forgot to mention that i picked the coldest weekend of the year so far to get sick. the high was freezing and it went down from there - eek. i bought une courge, some herbs, and some creme fraiche to make some squash soup this week.... nothing else very exciting. at least, not for most people - i get very excited about fruits and vegetables, so i'm thrilled no matter what i find. sunday night i decided against going to the match du foot, but we still had a little dinner over at julia's - she made sean's potato and leek soup and i made the fruit and nut couscous. mighty tasty. then i went home and talked to mom on the phone for a while and went to bed.
mom speaks some french now!! i'm so proud. i was so very impressed when she said she wanted to speak in french over the phone.... and she hasn't even gotten very far on the tapes yet! bien fait, Maman! i can't wait till they get here - less than two weeks!!
ok, time for a snack and maybe a nap before class tonight... otherwise i'll never make it through IR!